DTV visa extension

[JoseThailand]

I went to immigration in Jomtien to ask about a DTV visa extension. From what I can tell, they were not super happy about it. One nasty lady at the information desk outright lied to me that they don't do DTV extensions and I need to exit and reenter. Of course, I didn't buy this BS and went to ask the information desk "boss" (the older lady sitting on the left). After a few shouts between them she told me that I can extend it but need to come within the last month of the current 6 month stamp.

[DrJack54]

And .....

[JoseThailand]

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

And .....

 

Just sharing my experience so far and will be happy to learn about others' experiences

[Briggsy]

I have a DTV and I understand that a 180-day extension is feasible and allowable. However, I have no plan to do this as experience tells me that it will be a much harder experience than a border run.

 

I understand there are locations in Thailand that are inconvenient for border runs, Koh Phangan, perhaps, or rural Western Thailand. Also, some foreigners may have mobility issues that make long journeys difficult. So, for them, it is an attractive option.

 

Just because you have a stick and there is a bear, there is no need to poke it.

[Phillip9]

On 12/13/2024 at 5:57 PM, Briggsy said:

I have a DTV and I understand that a 180-day extension is feasible and allowable. However, I have no plan to do this

 

Me too.  For me the best part of the DTV is that you never have to visit immigration and deal with any of their nastyness if you simply leave the country twice per year.

[DrJack54]

Interested to see how the passport renewal is done regarding transfer of stamps and visa information. 

[Maestro]

On 12/13/2024 at 3:40 PM, JoseThailand said:

...she told me that I can extend it but need to come within the last month of the current 6 month stamp.

 

How many months and days had you left of your permission to stay when you asked about the possibility of an extension of stay?

[Seppius]

Don't you have 4 years to worry about this?

[DrJack54]

35 minutes ago, Seppius said:

Don't you have 4 years to worry about this?

No the allows stay of 6 months.

You then either apply for extension or exit and reenter Thailand.

Sounds to good to be true. 

Hopefully no surprises in the future.

 

Thinking folk with DTV will just mini break to somewhere nice (eg Saigon) rather than deal with immigration 

[Seppius]

10 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

No the allows stay of 6 months.

You then either apply for extension or exit and reenter Thailand.

Sounds to good to be true. 

Hopefully no surprises in the future.

 

Thinking folk with DTV will just mini break to somewhere nice (eg Saigon) rather than deal with immigration 

OK I get what you mean, if immigration not doing them, then it's a trip out and back

[NorthernRyland]

8 hours ago, Phillip9 said:

Me too.  For me the best part of the DTV is that you never have to visit immigration and deal with any of their nastyness if you simply leave the country twice per year.

As I understand the department responsible for creating  the DTV visa is not technically the same department as immigration and there has been no public statement on how re-entries are going to work and if they will even allow them. Maybe someone else can clarify this.

 

This is typical in Thailand that two departments will not communicate and coordinate with each other so I would expect surprises once  the first 6 month period arrives.

 

Personally I can't see immigration giving out a 5 year visa so easily, especially since it undercut the elite visa now. None of that makes sense does it? All these retired and married people still have all these steep requirements and annual extensions but they're going to let anyone that can prove a job and 500k baht in their HOME bank get a whole 5 years? I very much doubt this.

[DrJack54]

17 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

All these retired and married people still have all these steep requirements and annual extensions but they're going to let anyone that can prove a job and 500k baht in their HOME bank get a whole 5 years? I very much doubt this.

Agree.

What's that saying : "if it sounds to good to be true......." 

I have been suggesting in various threads that anyone currently living in Thailand on extensions based on retirement/marriage to hold on for the time being

[Phillip9]

41 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

As I understand the department responsible for creating  the DTV visa is not technically the same department as immigration and there has been no public statement on how re-entries are going to work and if they will even allow them. Maybe someone else can clarify this.

Immigration is not resposible for issuing any visas outside of Thailand.  The embassys and consulates issue all visas outside of Thailand.  So there is no difference in who issues a DTV, retirement visa, tourist visa, etc.

 

It's a multiple entry visa.    

[Rob Browder]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

Personally I can't see immigration giving out a 5 year visa so easily, especially since it undercut the elite visa now. None of that makes sense does it? All these retired and married people still have all these steep requirements and annual extensions but they're going to let anyone that can prove a job and 500k baht in their HOME bank get a whole 5 years? I very much doubt this.

No, immigration would not, because their policies / treatment of us makes clear they don't care about the Thais our spending employs. 

 

But, the MFA, who issue "Visas" at Thai Consulates, does seem to care, hence creating this visa, to help all those with money to spend, who have been "locked out" of a way to stay in Thailand longer-term without being hassled and/or extorted via agents to stay here.

 

I would expect immigration to hassle DTV re-entrants at some point - with an agent-workaround, of course - as-is at Bangkok airports now for "come too much" visa-exempt entrants.  If that doesn't happen, be pleasantly surprised.

 

If over 50, retirement-extensions are simply too easy to bother with the DTV.  But for younger folks, much better than the alternatives - including the annual nightmare of a "married to a Thai" extension, where if your Thai wife doesn't leave in tears, it was a "very good year."

[mikebike]

4 minutes ago, Rob Browder said:

No, immigration would not, because their policies / treatment of us makes clear they don't care about the Thais our spending employs.

Yeah, that 0.01% expats contribute the the Thai GDP is SO important to the economy 🤣🤣🤣

[JoseThailand]

5 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

How many months and days had you left of your permission to stay when you asked about the possibility of an extension of stay?

 

I have 3 more months left.

[JoseThailand]

Actually I asked about an extension just because I was there for a 90 day report.

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, JoseThailand said:

 

I have 3 more months left.

Suggest you could apply for extension up to 30 days prior to expiry. 

Or prior to expiry exit Thailand and reenter 

[Rob Browder]

1 hour ago, mikebike said:

Yeah, that 0.01% expats contribute the the Thai GDP is SO important to the economy 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, they have special visas because "it doesn't matter" - right?  Each one of those spenders = multiple Thai jobs.  I guess because they are not "hi-sos," who make most of the money from the GDP figure, they don't matter?

 

Sad that you laugh at / ridicule those Thais - like immigration do.  I watched friends / family screwed when immigration "cracked down." 

[NorthernRyland]

3 hours ago, Phillip9 said:

Immigration is not resposible for issuing any visas outside of Thailand.  The embassys and consulates issue all visas outside of Thailand.  So there is no difference in who issues a DTV, retirement visa, tourist visa, etc.

 

It's apparently one level deeper in that this other department created the visa which is then issued through the embassy/consulates. What I heard though is that the ministry of the interior (which is "immigration"?) has made no comments on this new visa and stated clearly how/if it can be extended.

 

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The people that created the visa may have been interested in juicing tourist numbers during high season but never actually coordinated with immigration (the ultimate authority on who enters or not)  and agreed on letting all these people in for the entire 5 year term  of the visa. This is classic Thai government at work and the same reason we see immigration offices have divergent polices and making up rules as they go.

 

My only point is to be cautious because it's never been the policy of immigration to allow entry so easy for any non-immigration visa. There's always hassle and asking why you're in the country so often etc... Does anyone really think they've had a change or heart, especially given their silence on the matter?

[NorthernRyland]

Oh and one other point, they just announced a new bronze Thailand elite visa for 5 years right? Why would they allow the vastly cheaper DTV to cannibalize their sales so easily?  None of this makes sense to me so I would expect surprises down the road.

[NorthernRyland]

3 hours ago, Rob Browder said:

If over 50, retirement-extensions are simply too easy to bother with the DTV.  But for younger folks, much better than the alternatives - including the annual nightmare of a "married to a Thai" extension, where if your Thai wife doesn't leave in tears, it was a "very good year."

Yes but the money can be a problem. The DTV basically drops the in-country banking requirement with the tradeoff of having to leave every 6 months. Many retired people would do this anyway so they've basically made it much easier for people with less money to retire in Thailand. Again, this is out of character for them to drop requirement so easily. Something doesn't add up.

[DrJack54]

18 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

My only point is to be cautious because it's never been the policy of immigration to allow entry so easy for any non-immigration visa.

Has me bemused.

I have posted in other threads that chatted with switched on young UK guy in Bangkok (yes in a bar) 

Anyway he had just returned to Thailand with a new DTV eVisa obtained in the UK.

His was category 1 online work.

At least that has substance over "soft power" nonsense.

The process took 3 days.

He actually does fully work online for UK company. 

And here I am doing extensions retirement keeping 800k in bank.

Ridiculous. 

BTW: I'm glad for him

[NorthernRyland]

23 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I have posted in other threads that chatted with switched on young UK guy in Bangkok (yes in a bar) 

Anyway he had just returned to Thailand with a new DTV eVisa obtained in the UK.

His was category 1 online work.

At least that has substance over "soft power" nonsense.

The process took 3 days.

He actually does fully work online for UK company. 

And here I am doing extensions retirement keeping 800k in bank.

Ridiculous. 

BTW: I'm glad for him

 

Exactly, 40 million tourists per year is too much and not looking for the traffic but happy for them all the same.

 

The reason I'm commenting on this is because I've seen many YouTube videos promoting this new visa and it could potentially seriously ruin peoples life if it goes the way I think it will.

 

Imagine quitting your job, or selling your house because some person who's been in Thailand 12 months has you sold on the idea you can have 500k in your bank once every 5 years, leave the country overnight once every 6 months and then work online and live in Thailand for the rest of your life. 

 

These people have no history in the country and may not even know about the other visas and how they all interact but if they did they should get this distinct impression this is too good to be true, what's the catch?

 

The scenario I think plays out it is that in 6 or 12 months you go to re-enter and immigration says "why are you staying in Thailand so much, you need a proper visa for staying more than 12 months" and you say "I have the 5 year DTV", and they respond "yes you can use it for 5 years but you can't live in Thailand without the correct visa". You argue with them and they remind you nowhere in the terms does it say you GUARANTEED 5 years of back to entries, you've made that up. Boom your whole life is wrecked now  and you're in panic mode all because some slick kid on YouTube got your hopes up. Tragic if this happens to people.

 

I've been there before and lived through this. It doesn't matter if you have the visa, they'll issue you tourists back to back but entering the country is another matter. I've always been able to buy the visa because it's not their job to scrutinize your immigration history, that happens at the border when you try to enter.

 

 

[DrJack54]

15 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

I've been there before and lived through this. It doesn't matter if you have the visa, they'll issue you tourists back to back but entering the country is another matter

Watched the video. Very switched on guy.

Back to my post about UK guy with work online option, I get that.

Same as guy in guy in the video.

What I don't get is the "soft power" options 

The agents I have contacted offer full package to Loas for soft power only.

 

[NorthernRyland]

8 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Watched the video. Very switched on guy.

Back to my post about UK guy with work online option, I get that.

 

 

yeah but he can't predict what immigration does with this oncoming deluge of online workers wanting to live in Thailand for years on end. That visa has the capacity to attract hundreds of thousands of online workers to Thailand and could really upset the balance of things. It's very hard for me to see them allow such a massive policy change.

[DrJack54]

14 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

It's very hard for me to see them allow such a massive policy change.

I agree. 

Just by way of example. Even as an old bloke living in Thailand on extensions retirement,.....

It occurred to me me that I could construct an "online working" profile to obtain DTV 

Smells like scam is a scam.

We all recall when ED visas were abused. 

 

[Caldera]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

What I heard though is that the ministry of the interior (which is "immigration"?) has made no comments on this new visa and stated clearly how/if it can be extended.

 

It was the Minister of the Interior himself who countersigned the cabinet resolution that created the DTV, so the provision for an extension was definitely made with involvement of his ministry.

[NorthernRyland]

1 minute ago, Caldera said:

It was the Minister of the Interior himself who countersigned the cabinet resolution that created the DTV, so the provision for an extension was definitely made with involvement of his ministry.

 

isn't this like a tourist visa though? they'll issue tourist visas but if they think you're in the country "too long" they won't admit you and warn you etc... I don't see any reason why this isn't like a tourist  visa where they'll decide if you've been in the country too long on said visa.

 

It's not like a non-O where you've reapplied every 12 months, it's just one application process. My guess is this will raise eyebrows with immigration. Even people on business extensions need to re-apply every 12 months so I don't see them giving this great privilege to online workers who have 500k in their home bank account, let alone people who paid 600k upfront for the "elite" visa which is not looking so elite now.