watchoutfarang

Hi,

I have got a budget of about 2 million baht for a one bed condo. Does anyone have any recommendations of complexes offering affordable places for the money or below?

Cheers

watchoutfarang

Does Nirin Condo Complex include Karat 9 Condo complex?? Just interested as I was going to look at buying on of the shells there.

Cheers

watchoutfarang

Greetings all,

I am sure many of you have seen posts like this before. I am a UK citizen currently working in Oz as a Recruitment Consultant. Having worked in this area for some time I have had enough and have been toying with the idea of teaching. There are many horror stories I have heard and I wondered if anyone had some advice or indeed want to put me off. I wouldlike to teach in in or around Pattaya. The only reason for this is that my girlfriend and her family live in this area and she has a better chance of making good money in this town (she is a qualified nail beautician before you ask)

I am 34, have a MA in History and a Postgraduate in Marketing. Any info on if I can realistically expect to be employed, war stories etc etc would be appreciated. Would it be better to go to the Uk and become TEFL qualified etc?

I already have a relatively lucrative pension in place, which will allow me a satisfactory living in LOS and I understand salaries for newbie teachers are not to western standards.

Thanks

watchoutfarang

I know what you mean mate - I'll be careful and it will be under my watchful guidance!!

Thanks Guys,

It was all thanks to the advice I got on here. Gburns was a great help and I would advise anyone to read all the info on this site before you apply. She is coming next Saturday morning and I guess it will be a biglearning curve but I intend to get her to integrate with the large Thai community here in Sydney

Cheers

watchoutfarang

Hi,

today against all odds the visa for my TG was granted.I have to thank gburns for all the input he gave me.Also pete991 for the support. Cant believe it

Thanks guys watchoutfarang (pissed)

Mate if you go the vfs there is one downsairs

Thanks for the optimism Graham,

Yeah I flew off the handle a bit and I know it is along road ahead but we'll see how we travel if she gets here - keep you all posted and thanks for all the input

watchoutfarang

Thanks Guys,

Well lets hope we get a positive result!! Pretty much all the other paperwork was in place so we shall see. Even sent an original contract of employment from my boss. I could not have sent anything else my end and she could have done nothing else than have a little more cash in her bank. Will update you on Friday - Decision day!!

watchoutfarang

I am sorry you will have a nerve-wracking week, WOF. Please don't lose hope. My Thai BF hadn't worked for over 2 years as I have been supporting him since we began our relationship. His bankbook was the same as your GFs - empty. All it showed was the money he made before we started our relationship and the money I had been sending him ... on the day we went to VFS, he had 19 baht in his bankbook.

What is important is for you to show you have an on-going relationship: photos of the 2 of you, bank statements (from you), emails or letters (if you have any - we had none), mobile phone bills (with calls from you to her highlighted), an itinerary of how she will spend her vacation in Oz, a Stat. Dec. letter of invitation from you to her inviting her to Oz and stating you will cover all her medical, legal, meal and accommodation expenses (not valid in a Court of law - but looks good), a letter from local Member of Parliament etc.

You can never have too much paperwork ... all I can say is it can be done and best wishes. Please don't be too hard on her.

Peter

Thanks for your kind words Peter and PM - I have a lot of paperwork for her but expected her to atleast save a small amount of money to show in her bank. I have proven savings of $30K her in Oz and a job, but a 457 visa which is not ideal, a lease agreement which is paid in full until August, letter from a Oz citizen saying his wife will look after mewhen I am at work and a letter from the apartment I stayed in with her in LOS saying we were a couple, emails and phone calls. It just would havehelped if she had a bit ofcash. It is in the lapof the Gods now and I have just gone through her on the telephone. If she does not get it i will have to call an end to the relationship since i am not supporting her without being with her. I am just upset she did not use the one brain cell that she was blessed with.

Glad all is well for you though and may you enjoy your time in Oz with your partner.

watchoutfarang

Hi Guys,

Well, after along hard slog to get all the paperwork together my Thai Girl I think has gone and blown it. She went to the vfs office today The result will come on Friday, but stupidly she gave them her bank book with no money in it. I told her to wait until I sent money and as some of you know I have been supporting her while she is working. Now she does not get paid until 20th May and I think she had nothing to show, apart from contributions from me. Surely with not a penny in her bank they will not grant the visa although I have said that I will support her with everything when she is here in a stat dec. Initial feelings arewhatawaste of effort and money! All she needed to do was wait a day or two!

What are the chances now - needless to say I am very angry with the stupid woman.

watchoutfarang

Gburns,

You are the man and if the application is successful I owe you more than a beer.

Will keep one and all posted - going to send the paperwork to her in Thailand and then it's up to her. She is a smart girl and the genuine purpose of her coming here is to be with me and experience the great life that Australia has to offer.

Best

watchoutfarang

Ok guys,

I am sorry for all the questions but my thai lady is currently working in her aunties salon since Jan 19th - not a long time. Her auntie has a problem with her kidneys and need dialisis every week hence she is helping out running the salon. There is no company headed paper, but a letter can be provided that she works for her, doing acrylic nail fitting (or whatever you call it) would it be better to get a letter from her old employer too even though she did not work when I was in thailand. The previous emploer was a small salon- no headed paper

You must be sick of me but I am not confident.

Thanks

watchoutfarang

I have some GOOD news. I went with my 22yo Thai BF to Thai CC Tower on 10 April. We arrived at 10am - straight up to the 34th floor. Security Officer opened the door for us, quickly scanned his form 48R (Thai) and told us to take a seat and a number.

Less than 3 minutes later - he was ushered to a desk where a very polite officer went through his paperwork.

It consisted of:

* Form 48R (in Thai)

* His passport and ID card

* 3 months of bank statements from me - showing bank transfers to his linked account.

* His bank books

* 3 months of mobile phone records, indicating overseas calls from Australia to Thailand by me.

* His house book (required a 3 baht photocopy)

* A photocopy of my passport

* About 19 photos, A4 size, laminated, with a few lines of description in English on the back.

* A letter from my local Member of Parliament

* A Statutory Declaration inviting him to have a 3 month vacation in Australia - with me covering all accommodation, meals, legal and medical costs and agreeing that he will NOT work in Australia.

* A detailed itinerary describing what he will be doing during the 3 months in Australia - complete with a few brochures.

* Because he lives at home and doesn't work - my masterpiece - a letter from his mother's Doctor - stating that she is an old lady and requires constant medical care (which she does).

* Finally - a letter from his sister, stating she will move into our house for a maximum of 3 months to look after their mother.

Because of Songkran, my BF had to phone Australian Visa Services after 1.30pm on 18 April ... 10 days of what if / yes / no, etc.

Phoned at the alloted time - to be told - YES, your passport (BF's) is ready for collection. Did he get Visa, I prompted. Can not tell! Due to Privacy Regulations, he has to go in person!!!

Only seat available from KKC to BKK is Thai Airways (Business Class) on 12 April. Cost 6000 baht! BF phoned to say his 3 months tourist visa is approved.

I had my doubts - despite all the paperwork ...

Sure, we have been in a relationship for 2.5 years - but he has no 'real' reason to return. I am just glad that everying went smoothly.

Peter

The interview process too 10 minutes

Nice one Peter hope all goes well - it sounds like you had everything in order why were you sweating so much??

Another question, sorry want to get it right first time and not confident that i will.

With regards to her employment, how will this letter be validated as an official document. In effect this could be hand written by anyone. She has also changed jobs and re-registered at her id and tabiaban at her home in Khon Khen - is this a problem?

watchoutfarang

Thanks again gburns,

Anything I should concentrate on putting im stat dec letter?

wtchoutfarang

Also forgot to askwhat is the number of the form i need for this application - there are so many

Thanks for any help

watchoutfarang

Ok guys I have just started work in Oz, I have the following documentation or am able to get it in the next two weeks

Thai lady in Question

1. Tabiaban - now registering at her home in Khon Khen

2. Passport and ID Card

3. Letter of Employment

4. Certificate of recent Study

5. She has a son - what does she need to prove she has one?

6. Bank account showing c 20K a month for last 2 months

My paperwork

1. Contractof Employment stating salary

2. Stat Dec (what should I put in this)

3. Bank account stating 2 months salary

4. payslips - done online but can print off

5. Emails to and from

6. Tenancy agreement here in Oz

7. 5 photos of us together

8. 457 work visa

9. Letter from Ozzie friend stating the seriousness of our relationship

10. Not sure if i can get phone records I use skype to call and text her - some texts done from Virgin mobile but I am on pay as you go contract

11. Anything else I need to show ie Tax File Number etc

12.Letter from place we stayed together in Thailand for 6 months.

13. Air tickets for trip to her home and Phuket

14. Savings of $35K

Any other suggestions

I am going to start the process in a month. I am hoping to get her a tourist visa to kick off with. This will only give us 3 months together. I assume there is no way she can get defacto sponsorship, what with jer being Thai and it being after the fact of my application. I want her tocome out here, but wouldlike her to do something with her time other than watch TV when I am at work.

Look forward to hearing any more ideas

Cheers

watchoutfarang

Thanks for all this guys - didn't realise that Thai's are now included in Working Holiday Visa - I assume that this is difficult to get??

Think the best thing is to apply for a Tourist Visa and take it from there. Have to see if she likes the place before trying anything else!!

No doubt I may have more questions - gburns57au - ok to PM you when I near finish the applivcation to run over a few things??

Thanks

watchoutfarang

If it helps, 2 years ago my Thai girl friend got a tourist visa without any help from me and she only had 5000 THB in the bank.

Now she is my wife and just got a spouse visa to Australia with me sponsoring her, I dont have any job to use as income but I have only savings of 22K AUD to show i can support her.

I help that info will help ease you worry about the financial issues, I believe the Embassy will base their decision on how strong your relationship is.

I think it comes down to the individual application and here we can only generalise according to the info we get....In the end it is upto the individuals as to whether they lodge applications or not. They are some I thought had no chance that got through and others I thought had a great chance that got rejected.

Ok guys,

I have got the Sponsorship Visa and will start work in the next couple of weeks with any luck. My base salary is $70K Aus dollars. I am going back to LOS in April to apply for the tourist visa for my TGF. If it helps, she is currently attending one of the top BKK beauty schools to obtain a certificate. One thing is, whilst we have lived with each other for 7 months in LOS it is very difficult to prove this - apart from perhaps getting a statement from the place we used to live, saying we were together for 7 months. I also have very few pictures of us together, maybe 3-4 at best. Do you need a lot to prove the strength of your relationship? Emails too - only a few now seeing as how we are away from each other. We talk mainly on the phone I supose I can save all text messages she sends?

So many questions I know, but the prospect of applying for thisTourist Visa looks a nightmare - is it really so hard to get?

Cheers

watchoutfarang

samui estates seem to have gone quiet on this matter> what was it all about????? Dont hear them talking anymore... i wonder why

5 Farang have left since October 06!!!

That really does not surprise I would imagine that very few houses have been sold in Samui over the last few months. Where have they all moved to - other estate agencies? Or saw sense and gone back to falangland?

Best wishes wtchoutfarang

The simple answer to this is if you SWIFT money in to LOS in the first place, keep the FETF form and therefore you can prove that you actually brought it in for a reason. If you go to your bank with this and other relevant ID, you will have no problem whatsoever SWIFTing monies.

Thanks

watchoutfarang

I moved 5 milion baht to LOS last year at 71.36 to the pound for the purchase of a condo. For many reasons the condo sale fell through and I have had to move out of the country for the time being. My money is in a high interest acccount in Thai Baht and intend moving it out of Thailand in April - looks like I might make some money??

Cheers

Watchoutfarang

The crux of the matter is that you must be an Oz Permanant resident to sponsor her for a partner visa so she can live here. If you are on a sponsored visa as you suggested then you can not sponsor her.

Regards your savings and the tourist visa....it has happened that people with massive savings and no job or they fail to meet the income requirements have been refused. This is because the Embassy has no evidence of how the funds were acquired....for all they know it could be illegally acquired wealth. As long as you have a provable income, they dont want to know what you have in the bank.

Sounds like the most I can hope for is a tourist visa then - bit of a bummer - my profession may not give me the right to apply for residency straight of the bat - I need to do a lot more research and see how the relationship develops. There will be no chance of her being sponsored by a firm out here I daresay???

Thanks for the input so far.

Cheers

watchoutfarang

Your nationality is not a problem....however your work situation could pose some difficulties....To sponsor your gf you need to show proof of income...this usually requires something like 6 months worth of pay slips and it needs to be full time work. This is to show that you have ongoing funds to support her. Now if you do gain employment then a letter from your boss or the Managing Director etc...of the company stating your wage and guaranteeing ongoing work may substitute along with any payslips that you have gained.

In order for her to move here permnantly with you as a sponsor then you will need to be an Oz resident.

Have a read of the immigration website, there is a link in the pinned threads on the opening page of this topic.

Thanks gburns

I forgot to mention that I can prove funds of up to $150K Aussie Dollars for the Embassy as of April and 500,000 baht in LOS. A letter from the MD should not be a problem if I get a job which should pay c$100K Aussie Dollars per year. What if I were to get married after she got her tourist visa and returned to work in Thailand for a few months with me having been here for say 9 months? Might be too much too soon but I have been with her already for 8 months constantly in LOS and have all the proof of a solid and constant strong relationship

Thanks

watchoutfarang