redfish44

12 hours ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

If the Thai consulate in Canberra can have a visa processing progress page (which they do), it can't be beyond the wit of the Australian Immigration IT department to provide the same. However all it's likely to show is "In progress", "Approved" or "Failed". They're unlikely to show where it is up to in the "In progress" queue. I understand contacting your local MP's electorate office to enquire will, at the very least, provide you with a lot more information - but that's all it will be, "information" not "acceleration"

I think it might be more than coincidence that the 2 times we contacted our federal MP's office in Aus we had action from Bangkok within days.

Twice.

Speaking to acquaintances that worked in embassies and immigration in other countries apparently calls from politicians offices really do get things moving.

Check out my earlier posts - we were stunned that hubby's visa was issued the week of Songkran, as was convinced they would all be maxing out their holidays at that time.

I do firmly believe based on this thread you have to go completely nuts first though.

I was losing my mind and hanging by a thread when it suddenly arrived late one afternoon (the night before we were flying back to Thailand to visit him).

Good luck!

On 27/06/2016 at 9:24 PM, Bootsnugget said:

Hi all on the forum.

Just a quick one,

I am in BKK at the moment. A week ago I head an Aussie mate who is working in Thailand fill out a 888 stat dec for me.

Now I need to know who can witness this form to validate it?

The lady on the counter at VFS said it can only be done at the embassy, but that is very difficult for my mate to get to as he is mostly away from BKK.

I thought I had read that if a 888 stat dec was done in Thailand it could be witnessed by any similiar entity as is accepted in OZ, ie. Teacher, accountant, Police etc...

Also, I stuck my head inside a vise office downstairs at the Trendy building and asked them the same question to which they answered just send it in without any witness...

This is an important and expensive application so I do want to try and get it right.

Apreciate any clarification in advance

Cheers Garry

We got ours done by an Aussie federal police officer that was living in bangkok. I was mates with his wife (they have mvoed back to Sydney). We just dropped the forms off to his house and he signed them.

I think anyne that meets the Aus requirements for JP kinda stuff counts.

Might be worth askeing Aussie organisations in BKK such as ANZWG (Aus-NZ women's group) or the other Aussie groups. They are generally pretty friendly and happy to help with this stuff.

Good luck

Free translations for 2 years:

"The Department of Social Services provides a free translating service for people settling permanently in Australia. Permanent residents, Australian citizens and some temporary and provisional residents can have personal documents translated into English during their initial two year settlement period.

Requests for free translation of personal documents from eligible persons can be lodged at any AMEP tuition centre, which will then dispatch them to a translation service provider. Clients need to provide evidence of their eligibility for this service when lodging documents for translation. More information about this service is available or you can contact your local AMEP service provider."

under "Document Translation" on
https://www.education.gov.au/adult-migrant-english-program-0

Updated links as of June 2016 (hubby arriving this Saturday - thank heavens as didn't realise how much cooking he did):

Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) provides up to 510 hours of English language tuition to eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants to help them learn foundation English language and settlement skills to enable them to participate socially and economically in Australian society

https://www.education.gov.au/adult-migrant-english-program-0

Medicare:

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/forms/3101

Immigration Life in Aus etc links via here:

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Life

Australian permanent resident information:

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Life/Aust-1

Settlement & multicultural affairs info:

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Life/Sett

Certificate of status:

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Life/Cert

There is also a VEVO thing that is not youtube but allows employers to check visa status online - not gone there yet but i here:

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/check-your-visa-and-work-entitlements

translation service:

https://www.tisnational.gov.au/

There is no requirement to declare foreign property or other assets to the ATO for personal income tax purposes, if said assets are not producing income, unless these assets have been disposed of within the tax year leading to capital gain. Assets themselves are not taxable for Australian tax residents, only income or capital gain from those assets is taxable.

dbrenn - what if we sold our car in Thailand? and took the cash to Aus. Is that a capital gain/loss? How do we figure it out if so?

thanks for the info by the way

* and of note, date of emails/grants was 19 April, so seems someone did not take a really long Songkran holiday, as I had expected

We got it!

Woody087 & Gopro you were right!

The afternoon before myself and our daughter flew back here to LOS to visit daddy, I got 2 emails to say that these had been granted:

Notification of grant of a Partner (Provisional) (class UF) Partner (Provisional) (subclass 309) visa

Notification of grant of a Partner (Migrant) (class BC) Partner (subclass 100) visa

309 is temporary? 10 is permanent? right?

I wonder if also had to do with contact with staff of federal member for parliament in Aus I went to school with (again).

Apparently 3 days after my hubby flew out my godmother ran into our federal member on the street and he asked her if she had any concerns (election looming), and she said "why did my god-daughter's husband have to leave Australia again, it is ridiculous" (love her) and apparently he told her to get me to go see him. I contacted his staff and the guy there wouldn't get me an appointment, but called Immigration and spoke with Bangkok, and 3 days later we had 2 grant notices in our inbox.

Also coincidental that last year after talking to his staff on insistence of my dad, the staff called immigration etc and that evening we got an email from Bangkok to say all documents were accepted and was under final review... coincidental? twice?

Yes I would agree with all that you go crazy just before it arrives...

I wonder if they wait for us to post on this forum or the thai wife version before granting - the final hurdle maybe"

"hmmm... all the paperwork is here, I see they have not been ranting on public visa forums,,, let's wait a bit longer... there they are... they've lost the plot... let's put 'em out of misery and go for the next one"

I was think about obtaining a second one when this one expires. As ideally I'd like to return to Australia and start working again but don't want be separated from my partner and two month old daughter.

I thought if I lodge the application this week, I'm allowed to stay in Thailand until March the 8th, then we plan on travelling to Australia for 3 months. Effectively using up 4.5 months of processing time.

Instead of me having to come and live in Thailand again, I'd like to again try for a tourist visa in June.

rqs85 - you know you can get a Non-O visa as a spouse of a Thai and wait in Thailand for a year? You just have to report to immigration every 90 days. Don't get it in Adeaide though as the crazy woman there puts a read "no extension of stay" stamp on it, and you can get an extension of stay every year there after.

I say this as I think I read somewhere you were in the south of Thailand (as we were), and immigration there was helpful to keep me there as "mother of thai baby, no problem". They even fixed up the issue I had re the crap red stamp (got new passport and swapped Thai via stuff over).

While am happy never to have to do another extension of stay, I will kinda miss their funny antics in rural immigration.

- although just read you OP of "don't fancy waiting it out here"... in hindsight waiting it out in Thailand would have been cheaper and possibly less stressful for me. We came back when we did though to get our child settled in kindy at the start of the Aus school year. Wish we had aplied earlier basically

Thanks Will.

Yes hindsight is spot on. I keep telling myself it will be better soon!

We did what the Immigration officers on Thrusday Q&A at VFS advised - lodge both at same time. As I was not ready to leave Thailand at that point, and they advised applying from Aus would take longer (an extra year).

This advice does match with what have heard from this side since coming over. Applying in Bkk means that no one here can do much to speed things up there. A mate here that is in state parliament says one of the other members is powerless to speed up her partner's visa also, and they have been waiting longer (not Thailand).

In the meantime, just wait it out.... trying not to go "luba" about that... wish there were more left in the waiting thread, feel rather alone over there now

Home with a sick kid today, so have let a lot of the stress go while rereading these forums.

If I'm reading this correctly, someone on a stock standard visitor visa wouldn't be eligible, unless they're in your situation.

Foreign passport holders, permanent migrants and temporary visitors – TFN application

You can apply for a tax file number online if you meet these three conditions:

1. You are a foreign passport holder, permanent migrant or temporary visitor.
2. You are already in Australia.
3. Your visa is one of the following:
   • a permanent migrant visa
   • a visa with work rights
   • an overseas student visa
   • a visa allowing you to stay in Australian indefinitely (including New Zealanders automatically granted a visa on arrival).

​

We thought that, but turned out no.... seems logic doesn't not apply as Aus govt wording can actually mean very different in reality to what someone such as I think it does.

And as he didn't meet the conditions of visa above he couldn't apply online, had to go to tax office to lodge a paper form in person.

Now the tax office is part of the "mygov" labyrinth, and you need to call a number to make an appointment to see an ATO person (used to just walk into the ATO). You speak to someone in a different city that gives you an appointment in a week or 2, and then when you go there, the ATO staff say "gee it has been slow today, you are the second person in" - at 11.45am....

We did clarify with them in person that the 183 day rule applies irrespective of the visa someone is on these days, unless is some seriously special condition (diplomatic hoo-ha, medical thing).

Was dead easy to do the application once talking to an ATO person - very friendly and helpful. This can not be said for the rest of the mygov empire.

I stick the link to that form here for anyone else reading this thread down the track that needs all this info as took me months until a single lovely man at Centrelink said "that's not right, let's have a look" and helped me find it (he has avoided eye contact with me since though )

https://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/TFN---application-for-individual-living-outside-Australia/

I thought the same, but we went to the ATO in person.

We got a foreign TFN for the FTB thing, but they advised that as long as he spends more than 183 days in Aus he needs to lodge a return regardless of wheather we applied for FTB.

Rang some bells from back in the day.

There is a load of it on the ATO website, worth checking out.

*my hubby is unlikely to be here for more than 183 days though - we applied for the TFN regardless of that.

The ATO site is here:

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/International-tax-for-individuals/Work-out-your-tax-residency/#Commonsituations

and example 3:

"are visiting Australia for more than six months and for most of that time you live at the same place, and you either have or establish ties in the local community"

then

"an Australian resident for tax purposes (see the example)"

or example 4:

"are visiting Australia for more than six months, and for most of that time you are travelling and working in various locations around Australia"

then

"a foreign resident for tax purposes (see the example)"

and also the ATO site here:
https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/international-tax-for-individuals/work-out-your-tax-residency/residency-tests/

in particular here - the 183 day test

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/International-tax-for-individuals/In-detail/Residency/Residency---the-183-day-test/

which includes:
"Under this test, if you are actually present in Australia for more than half the income year, whether continuously or intermittently, you may be said to have a constructive residence in Australia unless it can be established that:

• your usual place of abode is outside Australia
• you have no intention to take up residence here."

and in our case "usual abode" is Thailand, but due to partner visa application submission, there is an intent to take up residence.

just spent the day re-reading this whole thred. Seems I went a but "luba"... have calmed down now thanks to reading over those bits.

We actually submitted 26th June, which is 9 months and 11 days ago.... or 285 days.... gees I hope it comes through soon!

Last email we had was late March:

"...When applicant is in Australia, the decision will not be made. Thus, in order to make a decision for a partner visa, applicant must be outside of Australia. It is likely that the application will be finalised so soon in the next 2-3 months. We will keep you informed once the decision is made to your application."

although earlier we had

"The application is in queue for the final decision. It means that no need to submit any further documents as all were satisfied to make a decision on your application. Thus, at this stage, you can wait for the final decision"

and

"Please be informed that Mr Superdad has been granted of a visitor visa on [July] with multiple entries allowed. He can travel to Australia while waiting for his partner visa application to be approved. He is able to stay in Australia up to 3 months for each visit. His visitor visa will be valid till [July 2016]. Please note that this will not affect his partner visa application. "

.... so I thought he would be fine to wait here, but from the latest email that seems not to be the case

The lady that emails us seems quite pleasant though. No idea who our case officer was (is?). She said one would be assigned but never heard anything there.

Let's hope it all comes through when he heads back next week... although will be Songkran so am guessing the staff are all on holiday already... this time of year is a Thai public holiday festival for a few months so not holding my breath

If the child is not yours it is longer the application will take longer than 12 months - i say this from reading a lot of other threads on ThaiVisa over the years. have a good poke around on the old threads, like this one:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/736813-aussie-partner-processing-wait-times/

which really should be pinned

As a wife of a Thai national and mother of a dual national that moved back before his was granted - wish had applied earlier as the waiting stinks. Waiting it out together in Thailand would have been much better as every day here drags more and costs a lot more too

Good luck!

Also something to be aware of: more than 183 days in Australia means you need to file an Aus tax return and apply for a Aus tax file number as a foreigner.

Thai hubby granted multiple 3 month entries for 12 months, here on second 3 month stay. Just found out about the above while trying to get my daughter's medicare card to cover her dental.

I needed to apply for Family Tax Benefit (took 4 months), which mean hubby had to get a tax file number as Medicare is now linked to Centrelink here. Also needed official NAATI translations here - which could only be done interstate, and had to be from JP signed original sighted copies (all found out after getting ones from scans) Nightmare. Still no dental for our Aussie kid - going back to get it done in BKK at Samitivej as cheaper.

Moving back is a monumental red tape nightmare now... if you think Thai bureaucracy stinks you have no clue how hard it is here now - "it's all online!" which means the "culture of No" is how it works, and you are not allowed to talk to a real person anymore. You get 7886 different answers to same thing, and none applies if your spouse is a foreigner that does not have a valid residency visa.

Enjoy the fact that in Thailand at least eventually the bureaucrats do their job. In Thai govt. Not referring to people granting aus residency obviously as still waiting there.

Wait it out in Thailand as long as you can before coming to Aus on tourist visa (in hindsight).

When we applied for spouse they tofd us (immigration Officers in Thrusday Q&A, VFS staff) to apply for both at same time. i had forgotten the letter of intro for the tourist visa - so applied for spouse Friday and tourist Monday.

Had seen a link on german Aus embassy site saying can enter Aus on tourist visa while application under consideration.

Bkk Immign staff confirmed "no problem".

Now I find out has kinda delayed the whole thing..... which is a pain down the track now

Been looking for this thread for ages - asking to pin it please!

We applied 28 June 2015 at VFS Bangkok (it was a Friday)

Australian wife

Thai husband

Together since 2007

Married 2010

Child 2011 - Thaisie (dual national)

Applied for tourist visa on the Monday (I forgot the letter I had to write)

Only granted for 3 month stays multiple entry.

Moved back to Aus 1 October.

Hubby came with me on tourist visa.

Emails back and forth to Aus embassy with no replies until spoke with local member here on my dad's insistence - got one that arvo.

Advised "have necessary documentation to make a decision".

Had been asking when interviews would be as I would only be in Bkk for a short holiday Dec-Jan.

Returned to Thailand xmas day 2015 as a family unit.

I returned to Aus 11 Jan with child, he returned to Aus next day, and been here since.

Got email last week saying "no decision will be made on application until he returns to Thailand, and then should take 2-3 months" (no direct quote).

Losing my mind as he could have been back in Thailand the last 3 months working....

Our kid (4 years) is not coping with the fact that daddy is going back to Thailand and she is not (she wants to go back every single day still).

Still have not got work here (teacher - been through a thousand red tape hoops, and now am eligible to work is last 2 weeks of term and kid is sick - of course). Aus red tape makes Thai red tape seems like a fun walk in the park. Wishing I had got a job at Woolworths when we returned instead of chasing a career...

Freaking out though.

Have blown a lot of our savings since returning and our kid's medicare card counts for squat now that is linked to Centrelink - still trying to get that sorted, but terrified will screw up his visa application as no govt official willing to say it won't.

Hubby going back this Sat, we will visit in late April school hols for 2 weeks & come back without him. he will wait there until this waiting is over.

Hoping this time next year all will be better.

Has anyone else lodge an application where their partner has not been able to provide a copy of their birth certificate?

On the application it states if unable to provide a certified copy of the applicants birth certificate you must provide a stat dec detailing their date and place of birth and full names of their parents.

I am wonder what is the procedure for a Thai person to fill out a stat dec? Is it needed to be done at the Australian Embassy? Is she able to do it locally here where we live?

Thanks to anyone that provide me with some help on this matter.

Hi rsw85

You probably have it sorted now, but in case anyone else reads this:

My husband (Thai) only had his birth certificate discovered after a coconut tree fell on his mum's house and a box of docs wa found in the rubble - this was 1 year before we applied for spouse visa.

When we submitted it to VFS they took one look at it and said "not original, no good" and after much arguing from me I got them to write something in Thai that we had to take to the amphur (very small town nearby his village) to request the original.

So he had to go down there in person.

When he went in the amphur looked at the birth certificate and said "this is the original". They just put a bunch of stamps and signatures on it.

Then he took that back to VFS and they accepted it.

have known plenty of Thais with no birth ertificates. All required a trip to the amphur and/or police with the tabien baan to get some letter/stat dec I think.

The process to get the first visa in our case (fiancee visa) took around 8 months, applying in Bangkok.

Hi

I am an Aus female, husband Thai. We have a 4 year old, been married since 2010.

We applied for spuse visa last June. Still waiting.

My big tip is to go to the VFS Q&A appointments on Thrusdays. We met other couples while waiting and got a lot of info from them.

Biggest help was that we could pay the visa application in AU using a credit card, which saved us $580.

Fee went up drastically 1 July and again since I think.

Is a horrid wait.

Hardly any communication. We don't even know who the case officer is. been told they have enough documentation to make a decision (December), went back in Jan, were told no probs he could come here on tourist visa while waiting. Last week got told no decision will be made while he is outside Thailand, once he returns will be 2-3 months. gee thanks...

dbrenn and anyone else - do you know where the thread about people waiting for spuse visas is?

I was halfway through reading it last year and can't find it again. it should be pinned.

The 2006 Oz embassy one not so useful but is pinned - nothing new since 2011.

I should have added - there really isn't much traffic on highway 44(? Surat Thani-Krabi), so it isn't too bad when things are on the wrong side of the road as you can usually see them a long way off if you aren't going too fast.

Also, sometimes they do roadworks and shut of a section of one side to retarmac. If they put up signs, they are all in Thai. Sometimes they forget the signs. In these cases you have to turn at the u-turn point and drive on the wrong side of the highway and kep your fingers crossed. Usually we just wait and let another car come along and go first and follow them.

Most signs are in Thai only, so you might want to check a few out on the next before you go - roadworks, road close, bridge out etc. Everythwere except highway 44 has lods of signs and warnings though.

We drive Bangkok - southern Krabi or Phuket often. We take 2 days as have a small child and Thai husband who needs to stop for insanely long eating breaks every 3 hours.

Used to stop outside Hua Hin or Pratchup Kiri Khan and also Bang Saphan Noi. Coming from Australia Hua Hin actually wasn't very pleasant, neither was Cha-am.

Now we overnight in Chumpon.

Chumpon (town) is a parellel universe within Thailand where people seem to have driving licenses, obey road rules, leave safe distances between cars, follow speed limits and drive lower than speed limits when it rains. they evern have speed signs. People are friendly and helpful. And it is way cheaper than most other places. Only place I have never seen anyone drive on the wrong side of the road. Oh Chumpon... I love you so...

The 'new' highway between Surat Thani and Krabi-Phuket road (highway 44?) looks great but just be careful:

there are km between uturn points, and everyone that lives there drives on the wrong side of the road rather than go km to make a u-turn. This includes buses and trucks carrying rubber tree logs or palm thingies.

Also - most of the highway is in amaing condition, but sections of it are not (mostly in Krabi), so suddenly it can get uneven.

And one of the major bridges is still nto fixed, so for a few km not far from Surat you have all the traffic on one side - drive slow here as occaisionally psychos decide to overtake between the drums of concrete diving the road.

There are also NO petrol stations on this highway, so fill up at the PPT near Surat before you get on this road if you are low on fuel.

Our d-max does the whole trip on one tank, but I often fill up in Chumpon/Surat as prices go up in the village in Krabi and further south.

Have driven a lot in Thailand and find Krabi drivers the worst. Krabi province has sections of the major highways that are still not 2 lane with a median strip - not found anywhere else on the drive south.

Only been done speeding once - and I was, cause the car I was following turned off and automatically follwed a Fortuner doing 130km - in Chumpon or Surat.

The highway south of Hua Hin goes to crap fast. It is a lot better in sections in Chumpon though now.

Do drive in the right lane when it is bad, as the potholes are often so huge the trucks have to swerve around them (so be careful passing trucks).

also sometimes the tree cover is too low and wild and trucks have to merge into the right lane as they would get a tree through their windscreen.

Generally I find 95% of truck dirvers to be pretty good. They generally follow their speed limits and are rather safe (suprising when you see what some of them drive). There are really no hug road-train style trucks like in Australia where I learnt to drive, although they can be packed to extremes.

Take your time, enjoy the drive, some lovely scenery, the beautiful paint work on some of the trucks, and play a few games of "guess what's in that truck" along the way.

That bit of road from the pools out of Klong Thom going south towards Trang is the worst.

I would hate for my child to end up in Klong Thom hospital - Krabi hopsital is definitely better, even though not much fun.

Poor kids must have been terrified. Luckily they were ok.

I drive Lanta to Bangkok often, and the 2 most dangerous and worst bits of the 900km trip are the single lane highway stretches either side of Krabi - between highway 44 and Krabi to the north of Krabi, and then after the dual carriageway ends at Klong Thom and until the turn off to Lanta. The worst and most dangerous driving I have seen in Thailand has been on these 2 stretches of road, and the road surface is very poor also, especially in and around Klong Thom. We call it "the dodgy bit" of the drive from Krabi to Lanta.

I rekon the bus driver was most likely suddenly confronted with an idiot driving on the wrong side of the road (probably around a blind corner) plus a very poor piece of tarmac and over the bus went.

Have come close many many times myself over the years due to complete idiots driving as if it is a ractrack and not a poorly surfaced narrow road with small houses, pedestrians, cows, and other wildlife about.

Ironically one of the worst bits is outside Klong Thom hospital - they drive like psychopaths racing past there, even though the narrow highway opens up to a dual carriageway to the north in a couple of km, and to wider roads in the town itself in a km to the south. Am always amazed there are not actual crashes outside the hospital too.

Thanks for looking!

I have gone with QBE as they say if I have an accident in Pattani just call Bangkok and they will contact people from there.

They also have a reasonable looking policy doc in good english.

Friend also recommended them after they had an accident on songkran and the call centre spoke fluent englush and sorted it all out fine.

Driving in Pattani - the most probable accident is actually getting hit by an insane bus speeding through. All the checkpoints and lower economics mean those with cars usually have licenses and want to look after them, and the military and police presence etc also mean generally people don't drive as crazy as elsewhere (except buses). I found it much calmer and easier to drive there than Krabi.

Also discovered LMG have policy identical to QBE and cheaper (found out after accepted qbe). In case anyone else was curious. AA also had another option with a conpany I hadn't heard of but I had already accepted qbe.

Real red plates should have a small circle pressed into the metal with the thai letters for tiger - saw sua, and egg - kaw khai, inside (sorry not thai font on my phone).

There is an image in another thread from memory.

Red plates are dealer plates that are issued while waiting for motor reg to issue the tabien rot which states your plate number.

The threads from last year included links to motor reg sites where they stated dealers should take no longer than x(?) days to get the paperwork sumbitted snd these issued.

Last year there was a plate shortage so heaps of cars with tabien rot but no plates.

Reasons for long times on red plates relate to 3 things from memory

Dealer incompetence or laziness

Status of red plates by show offs

Wanting to delay issue of tabien rot to indicate car is newer than it really is.

On another note: we saw a lamborghini parked near us in BangNa with a black matt stealth paint job and red plates of "tiger" "puying" 5555.

No way would I want my daughter near that guy.

You may be happy with the AXA rep, but this "AXA have no policy wording in english either" is simply not trtue. I am insured with AXA, and have an English policy and conditions.

 

Stevenl - can I ask you too have a look is

Your AXA policy covers the 3 southern provinces?

Or are they listed under exclusions as part of the red zone?

AXA lady is adamant no cover in the south or english policy so can't see how I can get coverage without her losing face.

AA never phoned me but Chaz did and are asking around.

Edited for typos