redwine

I looked at the Immigration website giving information on charges for the Spouse Visa to Aus. In Aus dollars it is $1420, but to pay here they want more than 45000 baht. It seems the conversion rate was set in July.

I have a credit card and I am thinking of trying to ring Aus and pay in Aus dollars using it. Has anyone tried this?

I have since been contacted by an Australian living in Chiang Mai who is awaiting registration with the Migration Agents Registration Authority and he will be able to certify documents once this process is complete. If I am reading other replies correctly, it seems that people living in Bangkok have physically taken original Thai documents to the Visa Application Centre. As we live in Chiang Mai I don't want to take the risk of sending original documents in case they get lost.

Sezzo thanks very much for your reply.

It is not the English translations that need to be certified, but the original Thai documents eg our wedding certificate etc.

The Application Document Checklist form from the Australian Immigration Department which I got from the internet says

"Do not provide original documents unless requested. You should provide 'certified copies' of original documentation."

It then goes on to mention that documents not in English must be accompanied by accredited English translations.

Did you get your Thai documents certified by anyone?

Has anyone had recent experience in having documents certified for a spouse visa for Australia. We live in Chiang Mai and we have been told that we need to go to Bangkok. We were told that the price would be 400 baht per document and that we would need to wait 3 days for this to be done.

Any help much appreciated.

Just to add to all the confusion over aged pension payments.

I was in Aus in October and I went to Centrelink to try and find out what the rules are. I was told I would be eligible for the full pension but that I would not be eligible for payments until 2 years AFTER I turned 65. In other words for people who were living overseas before the age of 65 and who re entered the country to make the application, then returned to their overseas home, payments would not begin for 2 years.

Of course we have also had a change of goverment so who knows what changes to the existing legislation are in store.

I will be visiting Korat for 3 days just after Christmas and then going on to Buriram on either the 29th or 30th. I have about 50 secondhand books I would be interested in selling. Most are standard novels, Jeffery Deaver, Greg Iles, Michael Connelly etc, but I also have a few golf biographies - Nick Faldo, Payne Stewart, Paul Azinger.

Anyone interested?

Mods if this is an inappropriate use of the forum then please delete.

I read recently that from Jan 26 documents for visa applications for Thai people wanting to visit Australia could be lodged at Chiang Mai. They would then be couriered to Bangkok. I rang the new visa application centre in Bangkok and asked them where in Chiang Mai I could lodge the forms. They gave me 2 Chiang Mai phone numbers to ring. Both were for the same place and they did not know what was going on except for the fact that they had already received 10 other phone calls with the same request. Anyone know anything?