The dependent visa is the most misunderstood part of the DTV. It is not a parallel application. It is a linked file: most posts ask for a copy of the principal’s DTV, so the principal usually files first and the spouse and children follow. Filed correctly, every dependent’s file points back to the same principal. Filed loosely, the consulate sees four unconnected dossiers and asks questions.
Who counts as a dependent
Two categories, both narrow.
- SpouseA legally married partner. The relationship is evidenced by a marriage certificate. No post we checked asks for an apostille or a legalisation on the DTV upload. Common-law partners, civil partnerships in jurisdictions Thailand does not recognise, and engaged couples do not qualify.
- Children under twentyBiological or legally adopted children under the age of twenty at the date of the application. Evidence is a birth certificate or adoption record, plus the child’s own passport.
What the principal applicant must prove
Everything they would prove on a solo application, plus the relationship. The principal carries the lane (remote work, soft-power activity, or recognised study) and the financial test of 500,000 Thai baht held over three months in a non-blocked account. Whether each dependent also shows the money is where the posts differ - see below.
This is where couples get caught out, because no post says whether 500,000 THB is needed per person or once per family. The e-Visa portal and London list financial evidence for dependents as well. Washington and Los Angeles accept a family bank statement, provided proof of relationship comes with it. Paris accepts a sponsor for minors and accompanying applicants, so a dependent can rely on the principal’s statement with a sponsorship letter. Check your own post’s page before deciding who shows what.
Why the linked file matters
A linked file presents the consulate with a single, coherent story. The principal qualifies under a clear lane. The relationships are documented. The dependents are listed. Each application still gets its own decision: no post says a family’s files are approved or refused together.
Filed without those links, the consulate sees several separate applications and has to reconstruct the relationships from inference, and queries follow. Because each file is decided on its own, every dependent’s file has to stand on its own documents as well as point back to the principal.
The age cut-off at twenty
Children must be under twenty: every official page we checked says so. None of them says whether the age is read on the date of filing or at another point, nor what happens to a dependent child who turns twenty while the visa runs. For a family with a nineteen-year-old, that uncertainty is the reason to file sooner rather than later, and to ask the post before relying on either reading.
Unmarried partners
The DTV does not have a partner category. Couples who are not married either marry before filing, or each partner files independently as their own principal under their own lane. Both routes work, neither is a shortcut. For applicants who plan to marry anyway, doing so before the DTV file removes a meaningful amount of administrative friction down the line.
The short version
One principal. One lane. The spouse and the children under twenty file as one linked family, with their relationship to the principal documented end to end. The DTV is a family visa when it is filed as a family file, and a procedural mess when it is not.