Here’s my personal experience applying for and obtaining the DTV at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, Laos.
I want to preface this by saying my experience happened in July/November 2024, and rules and requirements may change in the future.
I have a USA passport, however I don’t think this matters in the context of the DTV (Destination Thailand Visa). I met many people of different nationalities (EU nationalities, UK, Myanmar) who successfully obtained the DTV in Vientiane.
In total, I spent 10 days in Laos to get the visa, however this was only because I was rejected the first time (more on that in a bit).
If you are successful the first time you apply, it should only take you 2-3 days (not including weekends).
When the DTV was unveiled, my friends and I were quite excited: 5 years for 10K THB is an amazing deal! However, I didn’t know anyone who had actually obtained it and visa agents were charging exorbitant sums to process it (I heard quotes of 60k-80k THB).
So I pieced together stories from online, and decided to travel to Vientiane, Laos to apply by myself.
There are 2 ways to apply for DTV:
- One is online through the website for all Thai Visas: https://www.thaievisa.go.th/. After a successful application, you still must travel to the Thai Embassy outside Thailand that you specify in your application to get the visa.
- The other is by booking an appointment at a Thai Embassy (outside Thailand). I opted for this, as I was able to get an appointment 3 days ahead of time. I’ve heard I was lucky and other people were looking at a month or more of waiting time.
Going to Vientiane
This was the page I consulted for information on required documents:
I heard the visa took 2 days (= 2 nights) to obtain, so I booked an appointment at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane on the morning of August 26, a flight from Bangkok to Vientiane on the early morning of the 26th, and a return flight on the 28th. I made my return flight refundable as insurance, which turned out to be the right decision.
Unless you are from a visa exempt country, you will need to purchase a Laos visa on arrival at the airport. The cost is 40 USD or 2000 THB at the time of writing. They also accept RMB.
I recommend bringing the required 10K THB for the application from Thailand, as there are not many places to change currency in Vientiane.
Thai Embassy
I checked into my hotel (Grand Hotel Vientiane right next to the Embassy), then went to the Thai Embassy at the time of my appointment.
You walk straight into the gate and the person at the desk behind the gate will check your queue number (you will get it by email after applying).
Then, you will go line up at the counters inside to give the application documents to the Embassy officer.
There is a tent that offers printing/copying/scanning/photo services outside of the Embassy. If you are missing documents, the Embassy agent will tell you, and you can go outside and print your missing documents, then come back.
The cafes outside the embassy are filled with people working on various types of visa applications. Since this includes DTV applicants, you may be able to meet people that can give you advice.
I submitted my documents to the embassy officer, and then waited for 2 days.
First Rejection (required document missing)
On the 28th, I went to the Embassy at the specified time for retrieving my passport, and found out that I had been rejected.
I was not allowed to take my application form back, only allowed to photograph it.
The reason on the form was:
“No information on what you do and what you will do in Thailand?”
Now let’s take a step back. Here are the documents I applied with:
- Application form with 2 photographs glued to it
- Passport
- Financial Evidence: 6 months of bank statements all showing a balance greater than the required 500K THB
- Documents to prove purpose of visit:
- I have a company registered in the US, so I included all the registration documents
- Presentation slides about what my company does
- Pay slip from vendor
After talking with some people in the Facebook Thailand Digital Nomad group, I identified what was my error: I had supplied them with many company documents that they were not actually interested in, but had neglected to include a formal employment letter.
It felt a bit strange, since I am the only person in the company, but I wrote an employment letter from my company (represented by my friend, who I made CEO for a day), saying that I had been hired on X date for Y position, and made Z salary, and hoped to live in Thailand as a digital nomad.
If you are not self-employed, but are employed by a company I’m certain you will have an easier time, as you have these documents already.
Immediately after leaving the embassy following my failed first attempt, I checked appointment times. I booked another appointment on August 30th, 2 days after the rejection. I think this was quite lucky as well.
Second Attempt
On August 30th, I went to the Embassy again.
Looking through my documents, the officer asked for my Employment Contract this time.
(I wish he had asked for both the employment letter and employment contract the first time).
I didn’t have this prepared.
I told him I would be back, and left the embassy to go to the cafe next door. I quickly filled out a template I found online, and had my friend, the “CEO” of my company sign it.
This time I went with these documents (this application was ultimately successful):
- Application form with 2 photographs glued to it
- Passport
- Financial Evidence: 6 months of bank statements all showing a balance greater than the required 500K THB
- Documents to prove purpose of visit:
- Employment letter with date hired, position, salary
- Employment contract with further details
- Registration documents of my company
- Presentation slides about what my company does (don’t think this was necessary tbh)
- Pay slip from vendor (don’t think this was necessary tbh)
Since it was Friday and the Embassy was closed on the weekend, I would have to wait 5 days until Wednesday, September 4th to get the decision.
Success
On the 4th, I was back at the Embassy in Vientiane to collect my passport. I prepared myself for the worst, but lo-and-behold, I obtained the DTV this time. It looks like a regular visa, but the category is “DTV”.
Elated, I booked a flight back to Bangkok the same night.
I was told by friends you could take a bus across the border to the Thai city of Udon Thani and get a cheaper flight from there, but I did not want the hassle.
Conclusion
Laos is a beautiful country with kind people, and I enjoyed my time there, even if it was not fully intended.
I would be careful of any agent charging a high price for something you can do yourself. Even though I was rejected the first time, it was due to my own error. Maybe an agent could have caught this mistake, but I still don’t think that’s worth 60K+ THB.
If you’re waiting a long time…
With nothing else to do for the 5 days after my second application, I decided to take a motorbike trip.
Since you need to submit your passport for visa application, the only way you can rent a motorbike is to pay a cash deposit, usually $1k+. To pay, I withdrew a tall stack of LAK from the Bangkok Bank ATM.
I traveled from Vientiate to Vang Vieng, riding for around 5 hours.
I recommend you take a car or bus if you make the same trip, the road is quite poor and full of holes.
If you do opt for the motorcycle route, I recommend going further than Vang Vieng. The road from Kasi, a small town north of Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang is one of the most beautiful that I have traveled on.
Other notes
- I also got a temporary SIM card when I first landed at the airport, which was very helpful for the duration of my stay.
- Laos uses the ridesharing app Loca, which I recommend downloading because there are not many taxis you can flag down on ordinary roads.
