Paris covers France, Monaco and Algeria, Brussels covers Belgium and Luxembourg, and Ottawa and Vancouver split Canada between them. One post out of the four has reflected the 31 August rule. Paris rewrote its DTV page on 28 August, without an announcement and harder than the general form. Brussels’s checklist has not changed since June 2025. The DTV page in Ottawa is a ministry image from July 2024, and Vancouver does not write about the DTV at all. The French press missed the reform entirely.
What changed
| Before 31 August | From 31 August |
|---|---|
| Paris: an electricity bill, a titre de séjour for foreign nationals | Paris: “proof of permanent residence (latest tax return)” |
| Paris: no criminal record certificate | Paris: a clean certificate no older than three months, for everyone, spouses and children included |
| Brussels, Ottawa, Vancouver: any document with an address | the sites say the same; the form requires permanent residence and the certificate |
| a Belgian could file from Hanoi and have a visa in five days | only from the country of citizenship or permanent residence |
One more new line from Paris: a child going to an international school is assigned an ED visa, not a DTV.
Paris: the tax return and the contradiction
The embassy’s general rules still name the carte d’identité, the titre de séjour and a justificatif de domicile. The post edited them on 1 September and left the old wording standing. What a citizen with no recent avis d’imposition is supposed to show, nobody knows: the question was put on 30 August, and as of 4 September the embassy has not answered. The separate line for a foreign national with a carte de séjour is gone as well.
Money the Paris way: no less than €15,000 in the account in each of the three months — at the ECB rate on 3 September about 575,000 ฿, 15% above the general threshold. The applicant stays in France, Monaco or Algeria for the whole processing period.
Bulletin n° 3: minutes, free, and in French only
- 1.Ordered through FranceConnect: the PDF arrives in a few minutes, for anyone, regardless of citizenship.
- 2.The certificate is in French only. The “automatic English translation” from the forums is the standard form for EU countries, a glossary rather than a certificate. If a translation is needed, it has to come from a sworn translator.
- 3.By its own text Paris requires neither a translation nor legalisation: only “clean, less than three months old”. If it does ask, legalisation has been handled by the notarial profession since September 2025, at €10 and three working days, followed by the Thai embassy, €15 per stamp. An apostille only becomes usable for Thailand on 28 February 2027.
Monaco: the bulletin n° 3 from the Parquet Général, €5, five days. Algeria: the Ministry of Justice site would not open, so we cannot confirm the price or the timeline of the certificate.
Brussels: a 2025 checklist and a visa shorter than the passport
The embassy’s PDF has an internet bill as proof of address, €15,000 over 30 days, and not a word about the certificate; a package built from the PDF will arrive incomplete. Which cards Brussels will read as permanent residence the post has not said. Under Belgian law unlimited stay comes with cards B, K, L, EU+ and F+, while cards A, H, EU and F do not grant it; that is our reading, not the post’s position. In Luxembourg it is the attestation de séjour permanent, not the attestation d’enregistrement of the first five years.
The visa is issued until the passport expires rather than for five years: one applicant ended up with four and a half years, and the embassy confirmed that this is intended. With a short passport, get a new passport first.
The criminal record certificate:
- 1.Belgium: the extrait de casier judiciaire modèle 595 from your own commune, through eID or itsme, free of charge. The everyday “certificat de bonne vie et mœurs” is the same document, but at the counter you have to give the model number.
- 2.Luxembourg: the bulletin n° 3 through MyGuichet, free, in French.
- 3.Legalisation, if it is demanded: ask the commune directly to upload the certificate to eLegalisation, then the Belgian foreign ministry at €25, with the sticker collected in person because the Thai embassy accepts only the paper one, €15 per document, five to seven working days.
Whether Brussels requires the certificate at all, and in what form, the post has not announced; we have seen no filings after 31 August.
Canada: the most expensive DTV and two different certificates
Vancouver takes only British Columbia, Alberta and Yukon; the rest of Canada, Quebec included, files in Ottawa. Neither post has a French version. The fee at both is 650 CAD, about €406 or 15,500 ฿, 55% above the general fee and the most expensive DTV of all the ones we have checked.
Before 31 August, proof of residence was anything with an address on it: a driving licence, an electricity bill, a credit card statement. What the posts will accept now has not been announced. Vancouver decided cases in two hours, in a day, and in five to six days in August 2026. Ottawa runs from a day to 20 days, with a reputation for being “sadly slow”.
In Canada the certificate comes in two kinds:
- 1.The name-based check from the local police: in Ottawa 74 CAD and 7 to 10 working days, in Vancouver 89 CAD. The fast route.
- 2.The RCMP certified check based on fingerprints: a 25 CAD federal fee plus fingerprinting, 56 CAD in Ottawa, 114 CAD in Vancouver with the federal fee included. With no match in the database, three working days; with a possible match, up to 120. The result arrives on paper by post only.
- 3.Which of the two the posts will accept has not been stated; until there is an answer we order the RCMP check, which will be accepted either way, and allow three weeks or more for it. Legalisation at Global Affairs Canada, about 25 working days plus 30 CAD at the embassy, only if it is demanded: before 31 August the certificate was never once requested from a Canadian.
Filing from a neighbouring country is out: the form asks where you are, and the Algerian who filed as a resident of Algeria from Malaysia was refused.
Family and 15 September
A spouse and children under 20. In Paris they need the certificate too, and a sponsorship letter is for minors only; in Brussels it is for children under 18 only. From 15 September visa-free entry for citizens of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada drops to 30 days.
What to do now
In France: the avis d’imposition, the bulletin n° 3, three months with €15,000, and no travelling out before the decision; with no tax return, or with a carte de séjour, start with the Preflight Check — it shows where the package will stumble before you pay the €350. In Belgium and Luxembourg: match your card against the list above, check the passport’s expiry date, and ask the commune for model 595. In Canada: fingerprints and the RCMP check first. The details are on the Paris, Brussels, Ottawa and Vancouver pages, and the state of every consulate is on the board.
If you are not sure whether your residence status qualifies or where to start collecting documents, message Mira: she will check your citizenship and status, tell you which consulate is yours and send you the preparation steps. A package you have assembled yourself can go through the Preflight Check — $300, a written report within two working days; full support all the way to the visa is the Solo Route and Family Route.