CbrLad

I am looking at taking my long term thai Gf back to the Uk to see if she likes it. However do I need any special visa or checks for her to get out of thailand. we are only traveling for a month before returning to BKK as this is where we both work.

Expat advice would be kindly appreciated?

She just needs to apply for a tourist visa and meet the requirements. There is nothing special or special checks. Goto this website http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pa...d=1018696642519 and have a search of this site and your questions will be answered.

Quite correct graham it was a typing error. One could imagine the problems that could occur if the temp spouse visa application was refused if a "bridging visa" was granted to a tourist visa 676. This is why DIAC want applicants to apply offshore. Bridging visas are usually issued to refugees and persons who have overstayed in Australia to enable their appeals to be heard by bodies such as the MRT.

She could get a financee "prospective marriage" visa 300 in Bangkok and then apply for the temp. spouse visa after marriage, that might be better as she would not have to leave Australia.

In that case, they would give her a leave by date....it would be along the lines of " your application for a Temp Resident visa has beem refused. You are required to leave Oz by such and such a date" or words to that effect.

Bridging visas can be used while an application for a temp resident visa is in process....usually for the prospective spouse visa running over the date.

Here is some information on bridging visas

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1024i.pdf

It could be possible to apply for a spouse visa in Australia after marriage on a 676 visa but very much on a case by case basis. Would get advice from DIAC to make sure and they may ask why you wish to go this route.

You really have to look at the options and see if you can meet the criteria before you apply could save a lot of problems later.

Interesting debate, but it doesn't apply to what the original poster was asking. He made it clear they would apply for the spouse visa having returned from Aus being married. In which case the answer is a clear yes. What you couldn't do is have applications in for two visa's at once, but nothing stopping someone applying for a different visa, such as a spouse visa when they still have a valid tourist visa in their passport.

This is more or less what my soon to be wife will be doing. She has her 12 month ME tourist visa, we marry in Aus next month, and then sometime later in the year she will apply for the Aussie spouse visa.

I once had 3 small cans of mackerel (with the pull-ring tops) confiscated from my carryon.

Yep. They flagged my bag because the security dolt initially got all hyper at seeing my two high-capacity hard drives in the x-ray scanner (I specifically heard him say the word "computer" excitedly to his supervisor, mixed in with the other Thai that he said). He was obviously going to try to seize those but his supervisor waived him off and told him to seize the mackerel instead. <deleted>?

He turned kind of glum at that point, took the three cans of mackerel, then waived me on.

And this was at the domestic terminal at Suewannaboondoggle.

True story.

As Bernard Trink would say, "more cases of T.I.T."...

Not as stupid as it sounds. First a small tin like that would like a HDD, but they wouldn't have been sure so checked it only to find a seal metal box with what you say is mackerel inside. But without opening how could they tell? Bottom line is don't take sealed metal tins through security ANYTHING could be inside and the x-ray cannot get through.

Not sure if it is related but my Australian bank (NAB) gave me a refund on overseas charges about 6 months ago. One day some money appeared in the bank (only about $30AUD) and then a letter advising of the overcharge. Like I said not sure if it is related or not.

In March I flew into London Heathrow with some deodorant, water etc. all OK. 3 days later I flew back out and they confiscated the deodorant which had less than 100ml left and my water. The people doing this were BAA employees, the very people who own and run the airports.

Now am I the only one who sees that people are naffed off with the high prices charged at airports and i presume the shops must be naffed off with the mega rents. Solution: force people to buy stuff at the airport by making up some stupid security rule about bomns etc.

Total crap, not believeable, no evidence. Just a con to extract more cash at the terminal.

Nah you are not the only one. Back on the main thread think the same about Sydney, lobby the aussie government to limit what duty free can be purchased o/s thus forcing eveyone to buy it in Sydney. No other country (other than US maybe) has a problem with allowing duty free that is sealed at POS and which has not left either an airport or aircraft from flying, except Australia. The Europeans have the best soloution to it all.

I tried buying whisk(e)y in BKK last month - presentation of boarding pass resulted in no sale. Tried taking 100ml of water past the scanning section to be told it wasn't allowed past. Great, sit in the sun, under a window for an hour without water. Someone has a lot to answer for. It should be pointed out that the location oif the scanning section has a lot to do with what can be taken on the flight. In Sydney, it's passport control - scanning - duty free - plane. Take on whatever you buy in DF. In BKK it's passport - duty free - scanning (or should that be scamming?) - bag search - plane. Lose most of what you buy in DF.

Don't blame the people at BKK, blame Australian Government policy. If there is scamming it is at the Australian end, because of course you can still buy your duty free when you arrive in Sydney, so why not lobby the Aus government that it is a security risk and have people buy them there. Also you cannot miss the duty free shops on arrival in Sydney, you have to walk through them to get to passport control.

I think the same about some of the bizzar UK policies such as the one bag rule (soon to be discountinued BTW). I have always felt that was a way to force people to spend in the BAA airport shops.

My future wife picked up her passport yesterday with a nice new Aussie tourist visa inside. First application to Aus (but has been to the UK before) and she got 12 month multi-entry, so got to be happy about that. She applied on 12th Dec, it was issued on the 14th, no phone call for information, no interview.

Now the reason I even mention it is the application was simple and honest and was in no way over done. All it took was a letter from me stating our relationship status and our intention in Aus (which is to get married), a copy of my passort and my bank statements to show I can pay for her costs. Thats it, nothing more. I guess the moral is if the case is strong and clear there should be no reason why a visa should be refused.

Guess now in 12 months the wife to be will apply for spouse visa for Aus, no doubt it will be more complex but I cannot see why there would be any problems with that either, provided the case speaks for itself.

First .....congrats on the visa....

Now.....dont get too cocky.... the spouse visa can be hel_l....the application is ok but the evidence they require is a lot tougher....and if they suspect even a hint of falsehood they will be tough at the interview.

Graham

Yeah don't worry about that I know they are two different beasts indeed.

My GF and I are lucky that we have the luxury of not needing to apply for a spouse visa for about 12 months when my contract in the UK ends. By that time we will have been married and living together in an European country for about 12 months. That should give plenty of time to make a case for a spouse visa that would hard to find hole in. But yes reading these pages we will know what to do between now and then to make the case solid.

My future wife picked up her passport yesterday with a nice new Aussie tourist visa inside. First application to Aus (but has been to the UK before) and she got 12 month multi-entry, so got to be happy about that. She applied on 12th Dec, it was issued on the 14th, no phone call for information, no interview.

Now the reason I even mention it is the application was simple and honest and was in no way over done. All it took was a letter from me stating our relationship status and our intention in Aus (which is to get married), a copy of my passort and my bank statements to show I can pay for her costs. Thats it, nothing more. I guess the moral is if the case is strong and clear there should be no reason why a visa should be refused.

Guess now in 12 months the wife to be will apply for spouse visa for Aus, no doubt it will be more complex but I cannot see why there would be any problems with that either, provided the case speaks for itself.

Why don't we all have a group hug and just agree that it is CHEAPER and EASIER to pay the $1390 here in Oz

Because most people pay it at the VFS office in Bangkok and we need to know how the system works.

The fee is set in Australia at $1390 AUD. When paid in Thailand it needs to be payed in Thai Baht as we all know. The DIAC website has a calculator where you can convert it into Thai baht. The calculator seems to use a rate that was set as of 1st July.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/partner.htm

As for being cheaper and easier, guess that all depends on the exchange rate on the day. As for easier, that is also debatable too as the application in most cases will be submitted in Thailand. Although the site says you can pay in Aus, can you submit an app without payment in BKK?

It took 14 months for my spouse visa to be approved ( We were told it could take up to 9 months )

My fiancee had already been to Australia with me three times on tourist visas , we gave the embassy

far more proof of a genuine relationship than they asked for .

In the end I got very pissed off , sent a long email to the case officer ( Aussie ) reminding him of his

obligations and responsibilities as a public servant .

Visa approved same day .

We just got word that ours is ok and she can get the passport stamped on the 27th....nearly six weeks from the final lodging of papers and abourt 2.5 months in all from date of application lodgement

Good to hear mate.

I would just like to add:

The fact that I am Canadian and she is married to me - would that change anything to her application? Should we file a joint application or something particular mentioning that she will be traveling with me? Could it be a good idea to buy the plane tickets and hotel reservation (refundable) and show them along with her/our application?

Being a Canadian should have no problems, being married will certainly assist your wife to obtain a tourist visa.

You can pick up the form 48s from VFS in Bangkok. State the dates when you plan to travel to Australia and the estimated date of departure. Do not buy your tickets until your visas are approved.

Being a Canadian citizen you are eligible for an electronic visa valid for 3 months.

Actually it is an electronic travel authority, slightly different from a visa, but only slightly!!! Also it is valid for 12 months for a max stay of 3.

Now with the orginal poster, just stop and think for a moment what the visa people would be looking for. Remember being married to you, being Canadian is slightly different to being single or married to an aussie. One of her main reasons to return is the fact that you don't live in Aus. Also being married, your own finances even if it isn't in a joint name is still relivant. There is no such thing as a joint application (many on this board just don't get this simple fact). That being said your joint circumstances are relevant and if you read the 48R form you will see quite clearly where your plans together get documented.

I would say you will have few if any problems at all, provided you keep it simple and don't try too hard. (another common mistake which leads to suspicsion BTW)

Yes but at Heathrow do Star Alliance fliers have to travel to other airports like Stanstead or Gatwick - I think not

If you are going to Edinburgh say and flying in on Thai, Luftwaffe or AA from their home countries you would make you connection at Heathrow.

If you we flying from say South America to Asia you would come in to Heathrow and make your connection at Heathrow

I think that is the point the Thai President is making - its part of being in the alliance - easy flying for its members.

No, but One World members may have to change airports in London. Say you arrive on Qantas and change to one of the many flights that BA only operates from Gatwick.

In anycase I think in Bangkok it is silly, the airport is more than capable of a lot more flights, it would make sense to build the extra terminals now if things are already getting chocka, or as I suspect do things more efficently.

I am not sure if the OP is in the UK or elsewhere. I obtained an Australian Visa (valid for 1 year, multiple entry) in London within 3 working days. I submitted marriage certificate, flight and hotel bookings and a copy of a credit card statement along with a copy of My husband's passport and a letter explaining the application. All in all it was very straightforward.

It should be about the same process and same processing time. The only major difference is in the UK the applocation goes to the Australian High Commission in the first instance, in Thailand due to the higher volume of visa's it does to the outsourced visa processing company.

It is not a processing company....it is merely a collection company, you lodge the application and the evidence there and usually with in 24 hours it is sent to the Embassy for processing.

Wrong wording in my post.

Getting OT a little, but someone above mention BAA's one bag rule. I understand that the government has now lifted this restriction and requested BAA to change the rule as soon as it is capable. This is going to happen sometime in Jan 2008.

7 for carry on and 20Kg for in hold seems to be the normal for all international flights on routes that do not go to the US. The US government stipulates airlines that fly to the US adopt different rules, for some unknown reason. These rules are known as the peice rule.

But as I said 7kg carry on and 20Kg in the hold is pretty much the norm. The problem is how many airlines enforce the carry on rules, although I do note in the first post they enforeced a rule for a bag smaller than their published limits which seems wrong.

I am not sure if the OP is in the UK or elsewhere. I obtained an Australian Visa (valid for 1 year, multiple entry) in London within 3 working days. I submitted marriage certificate, flight and hotel bookings and a copy of a credit card statement along with a copy of My husband's passport and a letter explaining the application. All in all it was very straightforward.

It should be about the same process and same processing time. The only major difference is in the UK the applocation goes to the Australian High Commission in the first instance, in Thailand due to the higher volume of visa's it does to the outsourced visa processing company.

We flew back from Chiang Mai to Phuket today, lovely flight and no change of planes in Bangkok - very convenient and a good flight. But the plane was late by about one hour, as indeed it had been on the outbound leg, but on that occasion it was more than three hours late. The reason for the delays, well, according to the spokesperson it was all to do with Airbus Industries.

The "captain" apologized for the delay and stated, and I para phrase here but keep as near to the message as I can recall: we're sorry for the delay but the reason is because during this high season all our planes are flying to so many different destinations that we don't have enough planes. We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years. My fellow passengers, mostly as far as I could tell were Nordic and Western Europeans and many groaned or laughed at the "captain's" remarks.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

Airbus press release dated 15 January 2004, states that "Thanks to these orders, Airbus is able to maintain a high delivery backlog of 1,454 aircraft, which at current rates, represents some five years of production."

It would depend on when the airline placed the orders, at the rate of plane manufactering vs a goal of 300 planes per year. 2003 they produced 305 planes. They have now in production their new monster aircraft and it'll further clog up the schedule.

I wouldn't doubt the pilot too much, sounds like he might be accurate.

It is a good line that one. Funny indeed. But as for orders and order back logs it doesn't quite work as easily as you have suggested. Just because they have a back-log doesn't mean they will build them as fast as they can and it doens't mean a new order cannot jump into slots in the middle. Jetstar for example has just annouced a new order for 60 odd A320 series aircraft with some of the first of the NEW orders due in the middle of next year. Quite often an airlines will stagger the time delay to suit their own operational requirements.

As for Thai they do have new aircraft on order but as far as I can see all are on track for their orginal delivery dates, as clearly agreed to by Thai at time of order.

With the ALP now the new government in Australia it will be interesting to see if there will be any changes to the Immigration policy.

If there is any change you can bet it will be in relation to refugee's and not the kind of immigration issues we generally discuss here.

After reading this thread one can only come to the conclusion that you are living in a fantastic fantasy world samran

We may have a vastly superior army, but vast in general it aint!

Indonesia has just ordered the latest Sukhois as well as a couple of MI-35 multi role helicopters.

I suppose you were happy living back in the days of 32% sales tax on your TV and video, 22% on your computer stuff etc, and 17% for your mortgage.

Howard took over at 10% and brought it down to 6% or so, now its at 8.5, well deary me we had a few rate rises, as an economist you should be able to tell us how inflation works and why its been climbing so rapidly. interest free everything for 3 years ring a bell??

That is in interesting take. I will admit the GST is good, probably the best thing Howard did. But you analogy is a bit lame though. There were lots of things, services and food for example that had 0% sales tax. Yes I know SOME food is still taxed at 0%. You also need to remember that they were wholesale rates taxed once. The GST is cumlative, the equivelent rate is about 16% but that does depend upon how many hands the product has gone through and how much value they have added.

As for mortages, the times of 17% were not good, and yes I remember them. But you know what the good economy that Howard has had the last 11.5 years is all because of this pain. Even Howard himself said that the economy has been going good and growing for 15 years. Which is true, but think how long was Howard in power for, yep 11.5 years. So what about the 4.5 years before. Well that was when Keating was the PM and before that the treasurer. People hated Keating for the receission we had to have, but he was right and the pain of high unemployment ad rates is the main reason we now have a strong economy. The problem is it is going too strong, Howard should have put the breaks on about 4 years ago, but didn't. You know why? He probably would have lost the last election. Howard was lucky because when he came to power he had the money to pay for the so called black hole. That money came from Labour policy under Keating and of course selling off governent assets. Do remember it takes about 2-3 years for a governments policy to have any real effect on the economy. As for the black hole again it was large but the bulk of that was to pay for initiatives that help stimulate the economy after the recession. That is what we lack now, even with Rudd, a government who is willing to invest in infrastructure.

Oh I think you will find that cash interest rate in 1996 was about the same as now and ironicaly when Howard was Tresurer under Fraser the cash rate was 22%, the highest EVER for an Aussie government. The only difference was the banking sector was regulated so it didn't effect mortages, but it sure the hel_l effected business and the running of the Government.

One more thing to remember when it comes to interest rates is to compare affordability. Housing was more affordable under Keatings 17%. Nowdays not so easy. For example I am on an income of about $90,000, I brought my house in the suburbs of Canberra for $160,000 in 2000. My house is now worth around $370,000. I pay a mortage of about $1200 per month. I dread to think what the payments would be if I brought the house now. I couldn't afford it, I know that for a fact. And this is for a 12square house in the outter burbs of Canberra, ie an entry level house. Now I guess I should think myself lucky, because of Howard I have made $200,000, well on paper, but it is worthless except to borrow against and if i want to upgrade my house or move on it will cost me a whole lot more. I would rather my house was still closer to $160,000.

Rudd faces a challenge because he will now have to live with the effect of Liberals 11 years in Government, in particular their fiscal policies. Ie high inflation in particular. In 3 years I have no doubt interest rates will be higher and growth slowed and the Libs will claim how they told the public so, but nup, the reason will be the last 5 years in particular of Howard and Costello.

Have a good read yourself matey,thats the first complaint in this post is it not? and things snowball from there. If i ruled out every bad experience in the last 20 years I would probably be only flying Concorde. Well maybe not.. I have been inconvenienced by some of the worlds best airlines including Qantas, Singapore air, Lufthansa and have been left stranded for 20 hours in a hot smelly airport. So which airline that is perfect do you fly with at a competitive price that never lets you down by choice? cant wait to book my next flight

Well I have, and actually his comment about the 3 hour delay is a statement of fact not a complaint.. Not one of his complaints is about an operational issue, especially one outside their control like a delay. His complaint is what happened after that, ie taking 4 hours to be processed when you are 7th in the queue and being messed around by the almost non existant staff who didn't have their ducks in a row. Now any airline worth their salt would have known that the passengers would miss their flight (afterall they had the 8 hours or so it takes the flight to get from BKK to Abu Dhabi to work that out) and have already started making what ever alternative arrangements could be made to accomodate them, clearly Ethiad didn't do that. I have had Qantas on 2 occasions know I was going to miss the last flight SYD-CBR after a delay and on arrival they have someone at the gate with your name with all the details for the hotel that they have already booked you into and details of the flight they are going to get you home on. Now that is customer service. So the question is why have so many attacked Shrek for complaining about the poor service he received and bringing his personal experiance to our attention. That is what a discussion board is all about I thought.

Now as for the post overall, I will agree with you that if i refused to fly every airline I have had a bad experiance with then there wouldn't be many left, the difference is I didn't attack Shrek for making his feelings know, whereas others here did. I have to ask the question why? I personaly like to hear of companies that give poor customer service so that when the time comes for me to make a choice I can weigh up the benifits and make my own mind up.

Interesting perspective now let me add mine

For £2000 I expect to be transported from A to B as promised and be afforded a modicum of good service and pleasantness.

19 intelligent replies to 1 moron...about the usual ratio I suppose

By the way shreck I also have a commercial pilots licence but I guess any "moron" can get one of those. There are many many reasons why you were delayed, to many possibilities to list here but feel free to pm me if your intersted. A good/sad example is the one to go crash ( he was warned about wind shear). The pilot was more concerned about his schedule than he was for the safety of his pax. A divertion back to Bkk would have caused a 2-3 hour delay for all flights already booked on that aircraft for the rest of the day. 3 hours for a life is surely a small price so be happy shreck you arrived frustrated but you did arrive

Maybe you and others should read his post more carefully. He wasn't complaining about being delayed, sometimes shit happens. But read his post and you will see he was complaining about how the delay was handled firstly in the UK (promises of hotels etc) and then how it was handled in Abu Dahbi and then the lost baggage issue. Having been a passenger in the back of more planes than I can count and been delayed many times, I can tell you I won't fly airlines that handle situations badly by choice, but those who handle it well I will happily fly. That has nothing to do with safety, that is to do with customer service. I guess a pilot doesn't need to worry about that, afterall their job is to drive the plane safely and as efficent as possible.

Quite true about using the right products for the colder water. You will find the reason why it isn't in the kitchen in many places is because of cost and many would see the need to do it anyway.

BTW my Aunt lives in Australia, in a house in Newcastle. Her kitchen and many of the houses around her don't have hot water in the kitchen either. I guess the oldies who live there are too fixed in their ways to both to have it run. In my aunts case all it would take is about 5m of copper to come off the hot water heater in the bathroom, which might I point out is one of those 120l jobbies, not the instant systems often found in asian bathrooms.

I always find that my problems with airlines are not that things happen but how they go about handling the problem. That is where they fall down big time. I got caught up in the Air France striked a few weeks back. I got messed around something cronic by the barbaric manner in which the crew striked. The ground crew were almost useless and messed me and others around for hours. All I wanted to do was get my bag out of the system and jump on the next Eurostar to London, but no I had to put up with their crap.

What you say about the travelling through the middle east is true though. In that part of the world it seems to be all about "me". There is no one else that matters. Pushing in, showing disrespect the whole lot. I am surprised none of them wanted to buy your wife!!! To some extent Asian's can be a bit 'rude' by queue pushing, but they do it in a nice way, if you know what I mean. With them if you push back they are ok, but try doing that to someone who thinks they are important in the middle east and you are likley to get shot!!

Our family are going to Australia for a holiday in March.

I've got British and Thai passports for my two daughters and will get their visas electronically.

My question is about my wife - would it be ok to get it a day before flying?

She went with me 4 years ago and there wasn't a problem getting a visa. Surlely, as she's been already and didn't break the law etc, she will get the next one easier?

I would say you won't have too much of a problem provided you meet all their criteria. The only issue is you won't get one the day before you fly. Their website as can be seen in the link below says allow 3-5 days to process. Considering you are going in March there is ample time. If you are not in BKK you can do it through a courier service, again details in the link.

http://www.thailand.embassy.gov.au/bkok/DIMA03.html

Hello.

Does anyone have any idea as to how often I should feed my lawn here in Isaan.

I dont know the technical term but am using the white granules that look like sugar.

The grass looks ok till you look close where the top third of the stems are nice and green but the bottom 2 thirds is a bit straw like.

Maybe this is normal here I do not know.

Thanks.

Sounds like you might be using Urea. If so don't use too much. We did last year. My wife and I ran outside, naked, one midnight after a very long dry spell, during a heavy downpour, -and threw the stuff about with much gusto. It was fine for about a week and we were very pleased with ourselves. Then large brown patches appeared all over the lawn, like the aftermath of a wedding where huge quantities of beer are consumed and there's no trees or toilets.

Anyway use a mugful for your average sized lawn, and water it well in. Also don't mow it too short or the weeds wil grow and suck the moisture out. Leave the grass clippings on if its fairly weed free as they will mulch it. Tim

Chicken crap is a good fertilizer, stinks a little after you put it on but works well. A couple of times a year is always good, I would suggest just before and just near the end of the wet season. The latter is probably the most important as it will help strengthen the roots for the dry season.

Just one point on leaving clippings on the ground, you have to be careful. Some types of grass do not break down fast. If they don't break down they will form a mat called thatch which then stops the water getting into the soil. The best tip there is to try it and see if it breaks down. If it does then yep it is a good mulch, if it doesn't break down say after 1 month then take the clippings away because it will do more harm than good.