The DTV changed the picture for a whole category of people who previously had no clean option: the remote employee, the freelancer with foreign clients, the person who comes for three months of Muay Thai every year. Before it existed, these people cycled through tourist visas and border runs.
It is issued as a five year multiple entry visa, and each entry gives you a long stay that can be extended once from inside Thailand. That is a genuinely different proposition from anything else on the menu.
The two qualifying routes
- Workcation: you work remotely for an employer or clients outside Thailand, as an employee, a freelancer or a digital nomad. You evidence the relationship with contracts, an employment letter or client invoices.
- Soft power activities: you are coming for Muay Thai training, a Thai cooking course, a Thai language course, medical treatment, a sports event or a seminar. You evidence it with a booking or an enrolment from the provider.
Where the applications fail
The DTV is applied for at a Thai embassy or consulate through the e-visa system, and the standard applied is not identical everywhere. Two applications with the same facts can be treated differently in two different countries.
What we see rejected: financial evidence that does not clearly show the required funds in the applicant's own name, employment evidence that does not establish that the work is genuinely for a foreign entity, and soft power bookings that look like they were made for the visa rather than for the activity.
What we do
- Assess which of the two routes fits you and whether you should apply at all.
- Review your financial evidence against the current requirement and tell you if it will not hold.
- Prepare and structure the whole document set for the e-visa upload.
- Guide you through the application itself.
- Handle your extension, 90 day reports and TM30 once you are here in Pattaya.
How it works
- 1
Route assessment
Remote work or soft power. We look at your actual situation and tell you which one you can genuinely evidence.
- 2
Document build
Contracts, letters, invoices, bank statements, bookings. We structure them the way a consular officer expects to read them.
- 3
Application
We guide you through the e-visa submission and respond to any request for further documents.
- 4
Once you land
TM30, 90 day reports and the in country extension when your stay runs down. All handled from our Pattaya office.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for the DTV from inside Thailand?
No. The DTV is issued by Thai embassies and consulates, so the application is made from outside the country. Once you hold it and you are in Thailand, the extension of your stay is handled in country, and that part we do for you at Jomtien.
Does the DTV let me work for a Thai company?
No. It covers work performed for employers and clients outside Thailand. If you want to work for a Thai company or earn income from Thai sources, you need a business visa and a work permit, which is a different service we also provide.
Can my wife and children come with me?
Dependants can generally be included. The evidence set is different for them, and we prepare it alongside the main application so the family is processed together.
How much money do I need to show?
There is a financial threshold that must be evidenced in your own name. The figure and the acceptable forms of evidence have been interpreted differently by different consulates, so we check the current position for the country you are applying from before you submit.
Working remotely and tired of visa runs?
Tell us what you do and which country you would apply from. We will tell you honestly whether your DTV application will hold up.
Related services
- Visa servicesThai retirement visa in PattayaThe one year extension of stay based on retirement, prepared, filed and renewed for you, without the Jomtien Immigration queue.
- Visa servicesBusiness visa and work permit in PattayaThe Non-Immigrant B entry, the work permit and the yearly extension, handled as one file instead of three separate problems.
- Visa services90 day reporting in PattayaYour address notification filed for you at Jomtien Immigration, usually the same day, without you setting foot in the building.
- Visa servicesRe-entry permit in PattayaThe document that keeps your one year extension alive when you leave Thailand, even for a weekend.