How did a persistent visit to the Thai consulate help resolve a visa issue for a trailing spouse?

Question

Hello,

This is an update to my post last week regarding my trailing spouse wife being issued the wrong Non O visa (retirement vs. work) in Shanghai.

Background & advice: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/thaivisaadvice/?multi_permalinks=3749502742040234&notif_id=1692263890095956&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif](https://www.facebook.com/groups/thaivisaadvice/?multi_permalinks=3749502742040234&notif_id=1692263890095956&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif)

First, thanks to all for the inputs. Here is the follow-up, which is great news!

We sent another strongly worded email last week to the Thai consulate in Shanghai to every email address we had for them (3 different ones – same time).

However, we also had our secret weapon, my 73 year old Shanghainese mother-in-law (MIL). We sent her to the Shanghai consulate early Monday morning. My wife tried to explain the entire situation to her mother about being issued the wrong type of Non O visa as a dependent/trailing spouse who is age 47 for retirement, not work related. We are pretty positive her mother didn’t really understand it, but we sent her anyway.

So, she goes to the consulate with her boyfriend. As they are early, they wait and boyfriend offers security guard a cigarette (helpful for next part). MIL marches up to the window as it opens and tries to explain the situation. Window person says we can’t help. MIL is also now continuously facetiming/wechatting with my wife at this point. They consult. My MIL returns and is a bit more strident. Rejected and turned away. More consulting. Third time return and even louder and energetic. She now has a small audience of other people waiting for help. Rejected more forcefully, but security guard doesn’t want to get involved (especially as older person)

More consulting and returned for the 4th time. This time my MIL is successful to get a Thai person in charge to hear her story. The Thai official takes our information and promises to call my wife about it within 3-5 days and my MIL leaves satisfied.

So, next day, around 2:15 pm Thai time, my wife receives this updated visa via email (see picture). It has been revised. We go to Phuket Immigration on Wed to double check that there will be no problems when she tries to extend and we are told that this is fine.

So, happy spouse, happy house. Just wait for extension application Sep. 25, and if that goes through, we made it this far!

Ask Thailand · Answer

The post details a successful attempt to resolve a visa issue for a trailing spouse who was incorrectly issued a Non O visa for work instead of retirement. The author describes how their 73-year-old mother-in-law visited the Thai consulate in Shanghai multiple times, ultimately persuading a Thai official to review the case. After sending a detailed email to the consulate and having the mother-in-law advocate in person, the issue was resolved, and the wife received the correct visa via email the next day. This story highlights the importance of persistence and support in the visa application process.

Anne-Marie ********** · Answer

🤣 Great story.

We did a similar thing back in the Middle East several years ago when having to do visa runs for a while and like a lot of Countries they changed the rules and required different documentation nearly every time we went depending on mood and which way the sand was blowing 🙄 not fun when it was a 4 hour drive to the border of Oman with two small children…. Until we found our “secret weapon”.

The smallest of the small children, she was around 1 at the time. We found that if we took her in line with us and she smiled with her big beautiful brown eyes at the officers, they absolutely loved her and then they were all concerned that she was waiting in line in 50 degree heat, so they’d laugh at her, play with her, offer her food and water, usher us along quickly and THUD.. stamp in passport “please take your baby out of the heat”….. GLADLY SIR, GLADLY!

And off we went with our new visa’s, worked like a charm every time. Moral of the story… find your secret human weapon. 😂

Biff ******* · Answer

Persistent aunties/mother in laws are a force of nature. Underestimate them at your peril!

Tod ********* · Answer

What an incredible story of perseverance and kudos to your MIL for being able to pull that off 🙂

Congrats, to you and your wife..

Thanx for the update (y)

How did a persistent visit to the Thai consulate help resolve a visa issue for a trailing spouse?

Activity

Related

Resources