CrankyCarrot

@dbrenn Hey, thanks for that.

Checking into those other options you mentioned. 

My Thai partner and I are trying to get all the info I can on what our options are for bringing her to Australia on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Of course, Google is my friend, but there's a lot of stuff out there and if you're reading this and have the time/knowledge impetus to reply then any nudges in the right direction are appreciated.

Due to ill health in the family I am pinned to Sydney for the time being, having spent some years living with her on and off in the LOS, hence why we're just now thoroughly exploring this path.

She is just north of 35, which as far as I'm aware precludes typical work visas and may even impede her coming as a student (double checking). Her English is pretty good, although I couldn't say the exact level as it's not been tested. She's been working retail/sales in various capacities consistently for years, having put it about 4 with the latest company. We're not married and don't have kids but we have been together over 5 years. She has visited Australia before on a tourist (Visitor) visa without issue. 

The #1 suggestion I assume would be to apply for a partner visa, but this is over $7000 Aud and may require some things we don't have, such as evidence of joint bank accounts or leases in both names (neither were needed or practical during our time together in the LOS. We cohabited there, but the lease was/is in her name). If it's the only way, I have followup questions I'd like to run by those with relevant experience in the forum.

ALTERNATIVELY how else could she live in Aus, if there is any other viable way?

I know there are pathways in where skills shortages are being filled or in the case of specialty professions, though I don't know how I could present her to fit that category, nor what might work for NSW/Sydney specifically, which is where we need to be.

Does anyone have any useful info or ideas for other angles we could look at working to bring her over?

Is it worth going through an agency/what do they normally charge for helping with a partner visa or other? My hunch is that if we're capable of filling out forms and following protocol correctly there'd be little reason to pay someone else to do it.

TLDR: Looking for ways other than partner visa to help a Thai woman (over 35) move to Australia.

I'll be sure to steer clear of Sri Lankan airlines and Malaysian A. Too much death and unpleasant mystery surrounding that last one.

It's almost exclusively Jetstar or Air Asia for me anyway.

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

A one way ticket to any nearby country will be accepted. You can find them on a low cost carriers for not a lot of money. Many people get them and toss them if not used.

Sure, I guess that's the best workaround. So that definitely changed in 2017, right? I'm not imagining things?

https://thaiconsulatesydney.org/docs/forms/visitor-visa/visa-application-form.pdf

The Sydney form asks for dates of arrival, departure and flight numbers. I know the likely flight number but I guess the question is: will they demand to see a boarding pass.

Thanks guys,

The form and price have changed since my last application a while back and sometimes things aren't 100% clear or they're stated as requirements but in reality aren't enforced.

If the Canberra embassy wants it as then I'm presuming it's something new for all applications from Australia (if not other countries as adammike indicates). Damn, the flexibility was useful.

Have the rules changed around 60 day tourist visas with regards to onward journey?

It used to be (circa 2016) that if you had a tourist visa you didn't need to have pre-booked a flight out of the Kingdom. Is that still the case?

I tried calling the consulate multiple times this afternoon during their biz hours 2-5pm, but nobody answered.

Asking as Australian citizen well under 50.

Checking the Transferwise history, the amount they say they paid is identical to the amount received in the BB account. It just so happens to be 1% less than the estimated rate they gave me. Not huge, but worth noting IMO.

I don't know the answer to sas_cars question but I got my money today. It was about B70 short of what I was quoted. I think I read somewhere that Bangkok Bank takes B60 out of domestic transfers before they hit the account, so it was either that, a slightly lower exchange rate or a combination of both.

Thanks Dmaxdan.

I also bit the bullet and transferred a relatively low amount last night, but the estimated day of completion is Friday so I guess I'll have to wait and see. Sounds promising so far. I got the "first time transfer fee free" option, so as long as they don't swallow my cash it shouldn't be any big loss even if I cop a B200 fee from Bangkok Bank as part of their min charge for receiving foreign funds (unlikely since the whole point is that TW does a local transfer and you also said you received no fees.)

Earlier in the thread people were complaining about the commission hike from 0.5% to 1.5%, which is understandable. In my situation though it's still preferable to withdrawing from my Aussie account (Westpac), as they purloin a fat 3% and whack on a $5 overseas transaction fee (worth currently about B125). They also use the Mastercard rate, which was about 0.4 baht lower than what TW quoted. The only thing that would cause me to break even against the usual in branch OS debit card withdrawal is if Bangkok Bank charged the foreign funds receiving fee of 2.5%, putting the total fee paid to 4%.

I'll be curious to see whether I get the exchange rate quoted by TW as well (which seems to be updated about every 9 minutes, as the aud is fluctuating a bit at the moment (well, it's on a downward slide).

If I broke even on fees vs going into a branch and withdrawing, then there'd be no point as waiting 4-5 days is a PITA.

CC

I asked Transferwise what Bangkok Bank would charge to receive the funds and they said they had no way of knowing (despite presumably having made such transactions many times).

Here they say the funds are shifted to Thai banks via domestic transfer though, which presumably does not incur a fee.

Has anyone used Transferwise recently?

I want to move Aussie dollars to a Bangkok Bank savings/deposit account but I'm wary of surprise fees. Does Bangkok Bank impose any fees when receiving the money and if so what are they? Can they be reduced or avoided by using any of the other Thai banks (Kasikorn, Krungsri etc)?

Nobody replied to the last post in November and I don't know the dif between a current account and a savings account.

Thanks for any info.

Firefly and Air Asia fly direct to Penang from Phuket from around B2400 each way, but at late notice it's hard to get flights at that price on days that fit around dropping off and picking up a visa.

Just spoke to the visa company. They said they're using the Sadao border (which I've heard has been a bit of a no-go recently). Regarding the B20,000 requirement, she wasn't sure about British or Australian citizens, but said people from the Ukraine or South Africa definitely needed to show it. Hmmm...

So Penang it is then. Question remains whether to go via plane (more $$, more planning) or minivan (much, much more discomfort, less $$). One agent quoted B3900 to go by minivan using A&B (who use the least homicidal drivers last I checked). They pick you up and drop you off everywhere, and give you a couple of modest meals plus a night at the Continental Hotel in Penang. Of course there's the small matter of being cooped up in a van for 12-15 hours or so (?) each way, which is kind of a nightmare.

Then there's the B20,000 they ask to see at the borders - is that going on now?

It's tempting to get ticket to fly to KL instead of Penang (from Phuket) as you save a few bucks, but after reading all the horror stories about the embassy in KL I guess it makes sense to avoid it in favour of the Penang consulate.

From what I've read here, it sounds like Penang don't concern themselves with onward flight tickets and accommodation receipts where KL obsess over them. Is that the case?

I don't nail down my plans re hotels and flights/travel months in advance, but I also don't overstay or sleep on the beach.

@ubonjoe Thanks for fast response and good news.

On a related note: I have a double entry Thai visa and have extended both entries. No overstays and just that one double entry visa stamp in the passport for 2015.

Noting the above, what are the chances I'll be knocked back if I apply for a single entry tourist visa in Penang?

For anyone interested, including myself (I often end up Googling my old posts to recall info I need again down the track);

Jungceylon has about 5 or 6 banks in close proximity to each other on the lower ground level on the Bangla side, inc. Kasikorn, Krung Thai, Siam, Bangkok, Krung Sri, and Aeon (technically a lending institution with some bank-like facilities like an ATM).

Krung Sri had the best cash exchange rate advertised on screen at B24.85 per Aud, but according to staff they charge B180 (or B150, it was impossible to get a straight answer out of them) for in branch withdrawals just as with the ATMs. So I went with Bangkok Bank who had the second best rate at B24.75 per Aud and no charge for withdrawals made with a passport in-branch.

Withdrawing 25,000 baht from my Aussie debit card (Mastercard), I asked the girl processing my transaction what rate I would get, specifically if it was the same as the 24.75 on screen for cash exchanges. She said yes. This was not the case. In fact I got the Mastercard rate for the day (Fri 11 Sep 2015), which was the slightly higher 25.15. By Tuesday the final breakdown of charges was showing on my bank account. My bank deducted the same $5 it does when you use their debit card in an overseas ATM that isn't part of their network. I believe that goes to some banking network as somewhere on their site it says that fee doesn't go to them. The biggest chunk that does go to them is the 3% "Foreign transaction fee," which amounted to just shy of $30.

Had I made a cash advance with a credit card, it looked like I'd be hit with the same 3% conversion fee as well as another 2% cash advance fee, which would have presumably cost more.

So basically it cost $35 Aud in fees to make a B25k withdrawal at B25.15 to the Aud (xe posted 25.5). In other words I got 24.3 baht per Aud after accounting for fees. Pretty bad, but the Aus isn't exactly experiencing stellar performance at the moment. At least you can avoid the extra B150-180 if you go to a branch with your passport and have a rough idea of the rate you'll get by looking up Mastercards exchange rate for the day.

I notice that for the same day Mastercard gave B25.158594, Visa's rate was about 25.658007, or roughly 0.5 baht more. For B25k, you pay $993.69 with MC and $974.35 with Visa. $19.34 isn't exactly a negligible on a withdrawal of that size. Yet when I Google MasterCard vs Visa, the top results declare Mastercard has better exchange rates. Hardly. Running comparisons in rates between the two in other currencies like the USD and the EURO show Visa on top as well in recent dates. Wish my debit card was issued by Visa.

Thanks for the detailed reply Pib.

Figuring out the best way to access money from my Australian bank account (without opening a Thai one) and after searching, I still have a few unresolved questions. Appreciate anyone with the time/info to answer.

1. Aeon used to offer ATM-fee free withdrawals, but now neither they nor any others do. Is that the case?

2. Are all Thai ATMs now charging B180? It was B150 last I checked.

3. If you go into a branch and use your passport and debit card to make a withdrawal, you can avoid the B150/180 ATM fee, but do you get the same exchange rate as you would at the same bank's ATM?

4. If you get the same exchange rate in the above example, which part of the transaction benefits the Thai bank? My home bank charges $5 for overseas transactions (including in-branch withdrawals, I assume) and a 3% conversion fee. If the ATM fee is out of the equation, then they would make money only on a low-ball exchange rate, right?

5. I went into Krung Thai yesterday (Thursday) and was quoted B24.67 on the AUD. Who or what determines this rate? It was B0.28 below what was shown for them on that site most people seem to use (BankExchange) to guage rates online. I've heard the real rate banks use is the current Mastercard/Visa rate (depending on your card) or the rate offered by those companies the day before. In my case, the Mastercard rate for Wed/Thu was 24.71/25.08 - I suppose the Mastercard rate for the preceding day was the closest, so is that the best thing to go on?

6. To sum it all up, today (Fri) at 1.29pm Thai time:

a.) xe says the AUD is buying B25.45

b.) The BankExchange site referred to in 5. above says Bangkok Bank is paying the highest TT rate (aside from UOB, which isn't anywhere near me) at B25.11, and

c.) Mastercard is citing B25.21 for today and 25.08 for yesterday (Thurs).

Which of the above, if any, should I use to estimate the rate I'll get walking in to a branch?

I have a feeling I could walk into the three different banks near me (Kasikorn, Bangkok Bank and Krung Thai) and get three different rates quoted. I tried simply asking KT where they got their seeminly low B24.67 rate from yesterday, but the question was lost in translation.

Well I went ahead and tried them out yesterday. They seemed to be in a big rush, but at least I didn't have to wait and we got right to it. Took about 25 mins for the raised mole to be burned off with a laser. Mostly painless except for the initial anaesthetic shot - would've been nice to have been given a heads up about that, but anyway (mole was on my back so I couldn't see what was going on).

Price was B500, where a lot of other places were asking B1000, or even B2900+ at my local clinic!

No biopsy, which I'm sure is normal for a cosmetic place and then you buy some anti-bacterial cream for B70.

Staff were friendly and the surgeon in charge spoke "enough" English. The whole place is pretty small and some adjustments were made to fit a big farang like me (or potentially you) in there. No big deal.

Despite what you might hear enquiring on the phone (probably a language barrier thing) they only use laser and not a knife/blade to slice off moles. I'd heard moles are more likely to grow back when burned with a laser, but the doc assured me that it wouldn't and guaranteed as much... for one month. My definition of "not growing back," equals forever, but we'll see what happens.

The next day and it looks like it's still there, but that's just the bloodied, circular spot where they fried it. Time will tell if it scars or leaves much of a mark. If it seems to stay away and heals over ok, I'd go back to get others done.

Anyone have any experience with these guys? I'm planning to have a mole (or 5) removed and maybe some other minor stuff. The price seems reasonable (around B500 per mole).

I got the paperwork from immigration last time and they didn't charge me anything for it.

The hold up was with getting the owner of my apartment to provide/sign off on a rental agreement, since I was paying monthly for a hotel type room and there was nothing to show for that but a receipt. Will give it all another shot this time.

I wouldn't have thought the embassy would provide a statement saying I reside there when I'm on a tourist visa, even if it is a multiple entry one (meaning a longer term stay within the Kingdom). Again, I'll call them up as it's worth a shot.

ATF

That's something I looked into also, but I believe you need a "certificate of residence" before you can sit the tests. To get the cert. of residence, you need a "tabien baan," - signed documentation from a landlord to say prove you live there (which seems counter to the idea of being a tourist, but there it is).

A little complicated, but still a possibility I suppose.