This is the first issue of the Barometer — a monthly weather report on every consulate accepting DTV applications. We track decisions, document requests and shifts in requirements at each of them all year round; once a month we publish the essentials. The detailed observation data stays inside the workshop — it’s what we use to decide where and how to file each particular profile.
The weather on the board
- Calm zone: Ankara — everything online, interview included; Vientiane, Manila, Astana, Hanoi.
- Watching: Ho Chi Minh City — May’s tightening is holding.
- Risk: Kuala Lumpur — thin flow, unpredictable timings.
- Crisis and stop: Jakarta, Colombo, Phnom Penh.
The month in brief
Ho Chi Minh City issues decisions in batches. The busiest consulate in our base works in bursts: decisions come out once or twice a week in bundles, with pauses of up to two weeks in between. The real waiting time is around three weeks. May’s tightening hasn’t gone anywhere: the consulate looks at where income originates and asks for two years of statements. Status — “watching.”
Vientiane is a conveyor belt, only slower. Laos absorbed part of the flow that used to go to Vietnam and Cambodia, and timings have grown from one and a half to two weeks up to two and a half to three. Approvals, meanwhile, keep coming in a steady run — for reliability this is currently one of the strongest routes.
Moscow — the 2-NDFL filter is holding. The barrier cuts off sole traders and the self-employed entirely; applications without the income certificate are not accepted — details are on the consulate page.
Hanoi has been rehabilitated by the data. A blind review of a large sample of cases disproved the “50/50 lottery” myth: the outcome is decided by the document package — applications carrying several types of income proof go through noticeably more often than those with a single balance statement. Details are on the consulate page.
Jakarta and Colombo — no signs of life. Both crisis consulates spent the month on the floor: our chronicle records no new DTV approvals. The story of Colombo’s collapse is in this piece.
How to read the Barometer
A status is weather, not a guarantee: the outcome of any given application depends on the profile and the document package far more than on the choice of consulate. Where the filing window has moved for your profile this month becomes clear at the first review of your documents: message Mira and she’ll send the document list and filing order for your situation.
The next issue of the Barometer comes out in August.