Schengen Visa Delays for Thai Citizens

[John Phuket]

We are supposed to travel to Italy in the third week of September this year. Although my Thai wife submitted her Shengen visa application via VFS more than TWO  months ago and despite repeated phone calls to VFS she has heard nothing back at all.  The VFS tracking system states her passport is at the Italian Embassy but the application has not been granted or refused. She has also tried calling the Italian Embassy many times but all calls go unanswered.  I mention she has previously been granted more than five Schengen Visas including two from Italy.

 

Therefore the Italians have kept her passport which means she cannot make any alternative travel plans or travel outside the country. We will also have to shortly cancel our travel plans at a very considerable expense. 

 

Checking online this does not seem to be an isolated problem. It seems to me that the Italian Embassy treats Thai people with utter contempt.