What should I do if my wife's visa application was issued as a TR 90-day tourist visa instead of a non O dependent visa?

Question

My wife and I have been living here in Thailand for over 10 years. We overstayed while abroad and our Thai visas expired. I have had the non O retirement visa and my wife being under 50 has had the dependent to my non O retirement visa for the past many years. So we were told at Thai immigration here in Thailand that I could process my non O retirement visa here but my wife would have to apply for her dependent non O at any Thai consulate outside of Thailand. So I now have my non O retirement visa with the one year extension, and we recently flew to Tokyo to apply for her non O dependent visa. We applied online while in Tokyo and checked off the non O dependent visa on the online application, and all went through fine. But the approved visa came back as a TR 90 day tourist visa. We actually made an appointment and went to the Tokyo Thai consulate and they told us that was the only visa they could issue to her, and that we would have to have it converted to a non O dependent visa here in Thailand. So we are back here at the Thai Immigration and are being told they can’t convert her TR 90 day tourist visa here, again telling us it must be applied for at a Thai consulate outside of Thailand. Anyone have this problem and any advice?

Ask Thailand · Answer

The post describes a scenario where an expat couple in Thailand faces challenges with visa status after overstaying and applying for a non O dependent visa. The husband has successfully obtained his non O retirement visa, but the wife, who applied for a dependent visa at a Thai consulate in Tokyo, received a TR 90-day tourist visa instead. Upon returning to Thailand, immigration officials informed them that they could not convert the tourist visa to a non O dependent visa, necessitating further action outside of Thailand. Comments suggest limited options, including obtaining a different visa status, using an agent, or waiting until the wife turns 50.

Terrence ********* · Answer

Use an agent.

Brandon ************ · Answer

Unfortunately, you screwed up pretty badly.

Immigration WILL NOT convert to trailing spouse non-O visa inside of Thailand. They have never supported this.

You used to be able to get it through embassies, but they also stopped, as you found.

It's no longer possible to get a trailing spouse non-O visa based on you having a non-O visa. Some embassies still allow it if you get the 1-year non-OA visa, but that is going to require mandatory insurance.

Please note: NEVER listen to anything immigration tells you about embassies. And NEVER listen to anything an embassy tells you about immigration. They are completely different government agencies, with different policies, who have no idea how the other works and they do not communicate.

You have very limited options since you let your old status expire.

1) get your wife a DTV until she turns 50.

2) use an agent to get her on the trailing spouse visa in Thailand.

3) get your wife on a different non-immigrant visa status. I've heard of people using an education visa for this. Sign up at a language school for 6 months. Then get the 90 day non-ED visa. Since the first extension must be the same as the visa, you get a 90-day education extension. After that you apply for a new extension based on trailing spouse. Since she's already on non-immigrant status at that point, she should be able to just change the reason from education to trailing spouse.

What should I do if my wife's visa application was issued as a TR 90-day tourist visa instead of a non O dependent visa?

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