What are the advantages of the Digital Nomad Visa (DTV) compared to traditional tourist visas for long-term stay in Thailand?

It's a scam

To get video coverage to draw people to Thailand and spend money for classes- yoga, language, cooking.

Positive coverage & attract money.

I been here 90 days traveling, flew out to Vietnam and came back in after a week away..

Got abit sticky at the airport to say the least. Wanting to see booked flights home, travel arrangements for Loas where I am traveling to next (which I hadn't organized yet) and all sorts of questions🙈

Honestly didn't think was gonna get let back in🤯

- You can legally work remotely without having to pay taxes in the country

- You can stay six month or one year with an extension. It's better to stay 6 months than 2 months and having to apply for an extension to get 30 more days

- You can come and go as you please, there's no special rule or restriction (tourists have to book an outbound flight). That means you can base yourself in Thailand and travel as much as you want in and out without any impact on your visa status. You can't really do that as a tourist.

All in all it brings you peace of mind. You don't need to worry about visa run and whether you'll be denied entry.

Frequent visa extensions and border runs waste a ton of time and fair bit of money. The DTV saves you time and money. It also guarantees your entries a lot better than a regular tourist visa. There are plenty of people that have border bouncesdfor a while , but plenty have came across issues one day. It works for 90 days, maybe 180, but do you really want to do that for years? Of course if you’re not committed to 5 years, a tourist visa + 30 extension is an excellent choice. After that though if you’re thinking long term the DTV is a lot more secure and better choice.

After 2 of those border bounce methods, most people get denied entry. You're not supposed to live in Thailand on a tourist visa or visa exemption, and they are cracking down on it even harder than before.

This is Thailand, though, so of course there are ways to pay your way around that. But the DTV costs way less and gives you headache free entries for 5 years.

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Because it is not ok to live here full time on border bounces and extensions which will most definitely add up to a lot more than 10k baht with a once a year bounce and extension over the 5 years. It is ok to live here full time on the DTV, no questions on entry because it is multiple entry, that’s the point.

If you stay in Thailand 180 days a year or less then you still ok with visa exempt and DTV isn't required, if you living here and border bounce and stay longer than 180 days per year then you need a visa, as others has said it's not as easy as before living here on back to back visa runs and will get questioned

Wait until the DTVers get slapped with a Thai Language and Culture request from authorities....

You have been doing a course for 12 months but you can't communicate in basic Thai...

Long long ago, people lived in Thailand for years on visa exempt border runs. You could get a bank account no questions asked. I got an O visa simply by saying I was visiting friends and submitting a guarantee letter from my parents who are English and live in England. At some point around 2005, an agent was caught taking people's passports on border runs. Fast forward to now.....

Get to stay 180 days, without hassles, cost and risks of 2 extensions and a border bounce. And with one extension or re-entry your up to 360 days. Valid for 5 years, for $400 it wasn't even a debate.

It is basically a replacement for that constant bouncing in and out and for people who don’t fit in to any other visa etc. Although, you won’t be playing the system and you won’t have issue as you would with constant playing the bouncing game

They’re stopping border runs. 2+ and can be denied. And not just denied but legally forced to fly home is possible.

What you're not gonna do anymore is live here (long term) on 60 day free entry stamps w/30 day extensions 😮

That was something you could do years ago, when it was 30 days by land or air but since July last year when they went to 60 days for 90+ countries they got a LOT harder about people living here on free stamp entries

I think last week between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi they denied entry to close to 2000 people (which believe it or not is a super SMALL number compared to how many stamped in overall at those two airports) BUT for those people it sure ruined their day

You would probably get a couple bounces (especially if you used a service to take you to the border, bounce you out/back because they grease the wheel so you can get back in)

BUT

trying to do it yourself you'll find much sooner than later you'll get pulled aside, asked WTF you think you're doing living here on free stamps, told in no uncertain terms to find a visa and/or just denied entry outright and shipped back to where you flew in from on your dime.

It ain't the thailand of years ago, where you could live here milking free stamp entries

(As a Tourist) It all depends on how often you intend to go Thailand & how long for.

My next trip will be roughly 6-12 Months, It will work out cheaper for me to do Border runs & extensions.

Tourist visas and visa exemptions does not allow you to work in Thailand, not even remotely.

DTV allows you to work remotely, as long as your customers/clients are not Thai.

People are being questioned more when they bounce around a lot on regular tourist visas and visa exemptions, and a lot are being denied entry because Immigration thinks they are trying to stay long term on them.

If you are a remote worker then this visa explicitly allows for this in Thailand. This visa also cuts down on the number of border bounce as stuff can happen..

So far I haven’t found any apart from the much longer stay. It’s a glorified tourist visa. For the price, it’s still worth it.

On a tourist visa, I think in theory you're "not" allowed to work from Thailand as a remote worker. On the DTV you can, yo sou can go saying out loud you work from Thailand. But, the most important thing, many countries were (and aren't still) elegible for 60-day visa exempt entry, so for us (my country of citizenship is one of those) it is indeed a game-changer. Also, expensive? Nah, like US$300 for a 5 year multi-entry visa? Very cheap, actually.