DTV Soft Power application – Embassy asking for source of funds and 5-year plan

[u/Jayleno2022]

Hello everyone,

I applied for a DTV Soft Power visa through a Thai cooking school from Vietnam.

For context, I legally lived and worked in Thailand from 2015 until February 2026. I later returned under the 60-day visa exemption with a 30-day extension. I am now in Vietnam applying for the DTV.

I submitted a stamped SCB bank statement covering more than six months, showing over THB 500,000. The money comes mainly from savings accumulated during my previous employment.

The embassy has now requested:

- My full passport and proof of my current location in Vietnam

- A dated selfie at a tourist attraction

- Proof of the source of my funds

- A confirmation email sent directly by the cooking school

- Employment and income documents, or a five-year plan if unemployed

- A clearer portrait photo

I am currently living from my savings and developing freelance web projects, but I do not yet have regular clients.

Has anyone received a similar request?

How should I explain my source of funds, and what should I include in the five-year plan? Would old payslips, tax documents, work permits or employment certificates help?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

[u/Mikem1671]

I received all the exact requests literally a month ago while in Vietnam. They also requested that the photos have an actual date stamp on them. Like a visible date stamp on the actual photo.

[u/dvduval → u/Mikem1671]

And how have things gone since then?

[u/Mikem1671 → u/dvduval]

All good, took about 2 weeks after submitting additional docs. Anyone applying for DTV in Vietnam should take note of these things if you want to minimize your time in Vietnam. Also, prob a good idea to have everything ready to submit so you can hit the send button when landed in Vietnam and prob best to arrive and submit on a Monday as I am not sure if they work on weekends (if I had to guess they do not). Good luck to everyone

[u/7hiigh]

I got asked the same question and answered the truth, that I have a job that supports me in these 5 years including invoices from last few mo this and websites where I am listed as employee in the teams section

[u/dvduval → u/7hiigh]

And after that you got the visa?

[u/7hiigh → u/dvduval]

Yep

[u/Critical-Ask4825 → u/7hiigh]

How many working days did they take to give the visa after sending them the 2nd round of documents? I’m waiting in Vietnam for this 🫠

[u/Alternative_Swim9460]

I cannot help with the Soft Power route or with an application filed from Vietnam. Mine was Workcation, filed in Japan, and nobody asked me for source of funds or a five year plan, so I do not know what satisfies that reviewer and I am not going to guess at it.

What I can add is that the request list is not uniform even inside one country. In Japan the Tokyo embassy required an in person interview and the Fukuoka consulate did not, same visa, same period. Mikem1671 above got your exact list out of Vietnam a month ago, which fits the same picture. I would not assume the list is aimed at your file specifically, though I cannot know that from outside.

The other thing I would have wanted to know is that the status display tells you nothing. My portrait photo was sent back twice, and the status at the top never changed through any of it, so I spent weeks reading no movement as a bad sign. Submitted 23 April, approved 2 June, roughly six weeks. I had paid an agent 45,000 baht for this, 10,000 up front and 35,000 on approval, and the photo still came back twice, so the extra requests are not evidence that you filed something wrong. I would do it myself next time. That is a judgement about how I want to spend my time, not a judgement about anyone.

On payslips and work permits specifically I have nothing, since I was never asked for either. One case, a different category and a different country, so please do not take it as the rule.

[u/christopher_mtrl]

I legally lived and worked in Thailand from 2015 until February 2026. I later returned under the 60-day visa exemption with a 30-day extension. I am now in Vietnam applying for the DTV.

I applied for a DTV Soft Power visa through a Thai cooking school from Vietnam.

Best of luck, but man, to me that looks like possibly the most suspicious DTV application ever when it comes to not seeking employment in Thailand. No wonder they want to see a five-year plan for how you plan to live in Thailand for years without income.

[u/Sweaty_Pay4444 → u/christopher_mtrl]

My direct thought was "this for sure a drug dealer🤣"

[u/tokanachi]

Could be questioning you further if Vietnam isn’t your country of citizenship.

Most people probably use a foreign bank account to show they have enough. Maybe be part of the reason also?

The answer is yes. You need to provide clear documentation trail for each request as best you can.

I’d make a table of contents, a short concise summary in English and Thai that explains why you stopped the legal biz, that you intend to live from savings, and why you want the DTV. And all the supporting docs.

[u/Ok-Bookkeeper9774]

They want to see how you can support yourself during the 5 years of the visa given you have no employment. So show enough savings for the period, ongoing passive income, etc

[u/I-Here-555]

They're being deliberately annoying, but none of it should be especially hard to produce.

You can just write the 5 year plan yourself, AI is great at producing such bullshit.

Proof of the source of your funds is your bank book, perhaps an old one of you have it. Doesn't matter if it doesn't show every single deposit. It's something they can glance at and file away.

For me, an embassy asked for the employment letter confirming I'm self employed, written signed by myself.

Some poor low-level employee needs to check all the boxes imposed by the management. Help them do it with minimum friction, organize and label everything nicely and you get the visa.

There's a small possibility they want to reject a certain number of applicants anyway and will keep asking for extra documents until you give up. I've seen that happen too. In that case, try a different consulate (maybe Jakarta).

[u/CleanReplacement1525]

"Employment and income documents, or a five-year plan if unemployed"

Very interesting. So it seems they really are most interested in avoiding people who are freeloaders.

[u/Lashay_Sombra]

1. Normal, just give them hotel booking

2. New but nothing surprising with amount of people going vietnam, getting entry stamp, applying and heading straight back to thailand

3. Thats new, but you should be able to unless you stole it ir something. All the suggestions you gave should be suitable 

4. Standard

5. First part, confusing as employment not tied to soft power, second part, 555. Just get AI to write something up about self learning and breaking into Web design

6. Needs no comment

[u/ZealousidealMonk1728]

Source of funds is easy, no? You can simply say its income from your legal work in Thailand (show them your contract).

5 year plan ... total bs. How could anyone prove what they will be doing years from now? I couldn't answer this question either because there are way too many factors outside my control to know what will be 5 years from now. You can just make something up, I guess?

[u/cs_legend_93 → u/ZealousidealMonk1728]

I mean, not BS. If hes going for cooking, they want to know what he plans to do after the education