Married To Thai Wife For 1 Month

[zidaney]

Thank you everyone for your input.

I am honestly overwhelmed by the amount of replies to this and the help that people have offered. Our relationship is genuine, and the fact that people have been in my position or know what it's like makes it easier. It will be a long and frustrating time, but help like this it will be a little easier. My wife is confident of applying for the spouse visa based not only on some replies from people here but also from other thai women who have successfully applied and have been in similar situations to us. However, the importance of a long, accurate and thorough application is stressed by everyone, considering our situation.

I guess a question I have regarding my declaration citing the genuiness and details of our relationship is: Is it preferable for my declaration of our relationship to word the details in a sincere way (detailing feelings for each other etc) or stick to only fact-type description? The hope is the person assessing the application will see the sincerety used by myself to see our relationship is genuine, however they may not and it could backfire.

Some people have said that spending only 36 days together in person is not a problem for the visa, others have said it is not enough time together. This is a major factor I need to be clear on if it is long enough or not. If a wedding ceremony is essential then planning another trip over there would be inevitable it would seem, and although it would be very difficult in my financial situation to do so, if it is entirely necessary for that to happen I would need to know as it ould be months atleast before I could return to LOS.

Thanks again.

[Mahout Angrit]

If a wedding ceremony is essential then planning another trip over there would be inevitable it would seem, and although it would be very difficult in my financial situation to do so, if it is entirely necessary for that to happen I would need to know as it ould be months atleast before I could return to LOS.

Dont worry about the wedding ceremony or planning another one in Oz. Plenty of people the world over these days have only a registry office ceremony. You are married and thats it. Concentrate and spend your money on the other points that have been brought up here and good luck with it.

[Mighty Mouse]

Assuring the Embassy of a genuine and continuing relationship can be accomplished in many different ways. Whether you stick to a fact-like submission, a personal feeling submission, or a combination of both is really up to you.

A fact like submission would entail all the things that a genuine, caring marriage should have.

Such as: a joint bank account, property in both names, a will nominated your partner as benefactor, proof of socialising together, stat. decs. from family, neighbours and friends supporting the genuineness of the relationship etc.

Part of a personal submission would include details of how, when and where you both met, how the relationship has developed since 2005, your feeling for each other, your future plans, how you communicate and how often, acceptance of you by her family and friends etc. etc.

Supporting evidence has been mentioned throughout this thread, emails, phone records, photographs, letters, details of visits etc.

The fact that you are now married to her carries a lot of weight, so I can't see you having any problem in convincing your case officer of the genuineness of this relationship.

Don't put all your effort into this aspect of the application alone and neglect the other areas. You need to devote an equal amount of time to the other requirements as listed in the Partner Migration Book.

[zidaney]

MM,

I have found time to look further through booklet 1127.pdf (Partner Migration).

Concerning "Financial aspects", "The nature of the household", and Social context of the relationship" under the heading of "Evidence that your relationship is genuine" it does severely weaken our argument for proof of a genuine married spouse relationship. The point everyone is making points to the ability of my wife and I to prove our relationship in the other areas such as "The nature of your commitment to each other" and "History of your relationship". Those two areas are basically our strongest arguments for our case as a genuine married couple. Whether or not we can find enough to balance out the lack of evidence in other areas and lack of time together remains to be seen, but I have become doubtful that we would even go remotely close to proven that. We have the usual evidence of plenty of photos together, i have sent flowers to her on a number of occassions, letters/parcels we've sent, we have telephone bills, emails, sms, msn histories...but not too much more than that. I plan to arrange financial support for her in the way of proveable evidence such as Western Union, as I have provided money to my wife via cash only. When you're in a relationship you don't usually think to keep receipts/proof and obtain evidence for every little thing you do together, because initially you don't consider a visa, and so you don't look at those requirements until you decide you want to marry, spend your life together etc.

The only other option seems to be the 12 month multi entry visa, using 48R. I don't have the large amounts in my bank account for any other type of tourist visa that requires a reasonably substantial amount of money to be saved. Also, my wife does not have a job, although she was employed for approximately 6 months and currently has no income. So i believe that is a large bearing on that particular visa. Whether or not an application for the 12 month multi entry is approved and taken by wife will be enough evidence for a spouse visa application, I don't know. So I am still completely unsure of the path we should take.

A spouse visa appears to be a huge risk, but with the best outcome of being together permanently. The tourist visa (multi entry) appears easier to get and may work in our favour for a spouse visa, but may not due to the long time apart still spent apart and not together in a formal relationship environment. Me living over there for approximately 6 months seems the strongest proof for our marriage, but will put a large financial strain on myself due to loans etc, unless I can ideally find a reasonably well paid job...

Ideally I would like to provide good financial support to my wife via Western Union tranfers from now on, and apply for the spouse visa. Second option would be the 12 month multi entry tourist visa, and 3rd moving over to Thailand.

I have taken confidence from people insisting that we do have a chance with the spouse visa, providing a very good application is prepared, but my doubts remain that we can achieve that...

My apologies for putting anyone to sleep with my thoughts...if I could spice it up with some attached music I would!

Zidaney.

P.S. The following statement from the Partner Migration booklet confuses me: "show that you and your partner are living together or, if not, that any separation is only temporary".

The only reason we're living apart is because we're waiting to be approved for a permanent visa...but I do see that is said in the context that it's presumed you're living in the same house together, and any long time spent apart should be explained...There's a lot of confusing things to absorb in the visa process...

[Mighty Mouse]

Zidaney,

All that we can do here is offer you advice based on our own experiences with the Oz Embassy, Bangkok. The rest is up to you.

I believe that all your doubts/fears regarding a spouse visa application are unfoundered but my opinion does not hold water as far as the Embassy is concerned.

You don't need to be a millionaire to satisfy the financial aspects of the application. If your wife has certain skills that could be utilised in Australia, her prospects of obtaining well paying employment are enhanced. If not, there are many other jobs that she could do quite well.

Take a look at some of the international five star hotels in your capital city. Their room attendants, waitresses, cooks, laundry personnel etc. are mostly from Asian countries. Staff turnover is quite high, so jobs are always available and many of these hotels offer full time employment.

The same thing applies with staff in licensed clubs, nursing homes, retirement villages etc. but mainly part time/casual employment.

You can use your covering letter in any spouse visa application to highlight the family income potential. You can't do that if applying for a tourist visa.

You don't have to be physically together to satisfy the Embassy of the relationship. You can prove within your covering letter that you are together emotionally and are working towards a permanent living arrangement with each other as soon as circumstances permit.

You are both from different countries, different cultures. The Embassy understands that it takes time to set up the household. There have been other successful applicants in this forum who have been in a similar situation to yours. If you dig back through some of the past threads, you'll find them.

I strongly suggest the you make contact with your nearest Oz Immigration office, explain your situation to them and be guided by their advice.

[damo]

Hi Zidaney.

After reading your last post I tend to think allthough you would like to settle on a sponsored visitor visa, you may be bighting off a little more than you can chew. IMO 48R is a good means of bringing your wife to Australia. At the least a 3 month tourist visa is easy to get and will not only give evidence of 3 extra months spent together, but it will show that your wife knows what Australia is about which will all help in later stages when you may apply for PR.

Unless things have changed within the last 9 months, DIMA will like I said earlier be looking for around AUD$1000.00 for each and every month you wife plans to stay in Australia.

Some good advice Zidaney. Get your married name in your passport in your wife's before she comes here. When she comes to Australia open a joint bank account ASAP and when she returns to LOS she can use a redicard to draw on funds in your account. At the least this is better than the WU option. DIMA loves to see stuff like joint bank accounts, other thing worth mentioning would be, take plenty of photo's with not only yourself but with your other family members. There are truckloads of things you can do to achive a successfull outcome.

I don't want to brag, but my wife got temp residency within 8 weeks of applying and without ourselves having an interview. just paid the fee, lodged the application, two phone calls and recieved the acceptance letter.

Dont be overly daunted Zidaney.

[gburns57au]

Unless things have changed within the last 9 months, DIMA will like I said earlier be looking for around AUD$1000.00 for each and every month you wife plans to stay in Australia.

Some good advice Zidaney. Get your married name in your passport in your wife's before she comes here.

There is no requirement for $1000 pm if the applicant is being sponsored. Whether it be a tourist or Spouse visa.

Be careful when changing passport names as it could have a consequence later.

What I did was open a second Credit Card and made my fiance an additional card holder.....much the same as Damo is saying...all that is required is for the bank to open a file so a passport ID will be needed.

Zidaney...I cant see any reason why you cant apply for a spouse visa given what you have told us...But in the end it is up to you...we cant give you any ironclad guarantees that you will succeed.

[zidaney]

gburns57au,

What are the possible implications involved in my wife changing her last name in her passport?

My bank advised that my wife cannot be joint holder of an account with me because she would physically need to go to the bank branch and hand in appropriate ID.

We have decided to apply for the spouse visa, due to (but not entirely relying upon) the information and opinions of people in the forum here and other people who have gone through the spouse visa process in a similar situation to us.

Therefore, we won't be able to open a joint bank account before the application, which is relatively annoying, but understandable to a certain extent.

Zidaney.

[Mahout Angrit]

What are the possible implications involved in my wife changing her last name in her passport?

There was lots of discussion on this subject about a month ago but I cant remember in which forum (you may be able to search for it) the conclusion was that it didn't seem to matter which way you did it. There were those in favour and those against. My wife has kept her Thai name throughout and opened bank accounts etc in her Thai name in UK, we have never had problems getting visas as you can always show the link to your spouse via the marriage certificate. The disadvantage of changing names used to be that it made buying land for your wife impossible in Thailand but that is no longer the case.

My bank advised that my wife cannot be joint holder of an account with me because she would physically need to go to the bank branch and hand in appropriate ID.

You can certainly open a joint account in two different family names but sure your wife will have to present ID to the bank.

We have decided to apply for the spouse visa, due to (but not entirely relying upon) the information and opinions of people in the forum here and other people who have gone through the spouse visa process in a similar situation to us.

Good idea and the best of luck with it.

[gburns57au]

gburns57au,

What are the possible implications involved in my wife changing her last name in her passport?

My bank advised that my wife cannot be joint holder of an account with me because she would physically need to go to the bank branch and hand in appropriate ID.

We have decided to apply for the spouse visa, due to (but not entirely relying upon) the information and opinions of people in the forum here and other people who have gone through the spouse visa process in a similar situation to us.

Therefore, we won't be able to open a joint bank account before the application, which is relatively annoying, but understandable to a certain extent.

Zidaney.

It can have an effect on her status as a Thai citizen. eg; land ownership, voting rights.

Yes you are right....she would need to be here to show ID to be a second card holder or to have a joint account. This advice was given on the premise that you applied for a tourist visa first.

Wish you luck with the application...

[zidaney]

My father is going on a short holiday to Thailand. My wife hasn't met any of my family in person. She's in a remote location. Is it worth her travelling several hours to see my dad for evidence purposes (photos), or it wouldn't hold much weight?

[pumpuiman]

My father is going on a short holiday to Thailand. My wife hasn't met any of my family in person. She's in a remote location. Is it worth her travelling several hours to see my dad for evidence purposes (photos), or it wouldn't hold much weight?

The more evidence/paperwork you can come up with...the better.

I saved every bit of paper(receipts,phone bills, e-mails, packages sent or received, photo's.........everything.)

Overkill is a good thing when dealing with immigration.

My case was a fiance visa to the U.S......but had to deal with the same stuff.

Put together everything you have, apply and see what happens. At worst you will be denied, but will be told why and what further documents are needed to accomplish your task.

You will be together eventually. You are genuine. Start the ball rolling, tell the truth.....and you'll get there.

Good luck to you, I'm sure it will work out.

[gburns57au]

My father is going on a short holiday to Thailand. My wife hasn't met any of my family in person. She's in a remote location. Is it worth her travelling several hours to see my dad for evidence purposes (photos), or it wouldn't hold much weight?

While any evidence is good evidence...I would say that this wouldnt hold much weight...If you had pics of her meeting your family in Oz or you meeting her family in Thailand then it would hold more weight....all the Embassy would see is a pic of her and some other guy, not you....can you imagine what they may think ??

Also she has to travel from a remote area to a populated area and try and locate a man she hasnt seen before and a man who hasnt seen her before....could end up a wasted trip.

[zidaney]

Thanks again everyone for your input.

My wife is currently preparing to translate our documents from thai into english. From her birth certificate to her her passport and various other documents her thai last name has been translated 4 or 5 different ways!

Should all those documents have her last name translated as the same spelling for her last name, and if so, what document such as her birth certificate should she base that spelling on?

I think there should be an official office called 'Department of names translation' to maintain the one spelling of their name/s into the english characters. It becomes confusing and annoying!

Cheers.

[Mahout Angrit]

Thanks again everyone for your input.

My wife is currently preparing to translate our documents from thai into english. From her birth certificate to her her passport and various other documents her thai last name has been translated 4 or 5 different ways!

Should all those documents have her last name translated as the same spelling for her last name, and if so, what document such as her birth certificate should she base that spelling on?

I think there should be an official office called 'Department of names translation' to maintain the one spelling of their name/s into the english characters. It becomes confusing and annoying!

Cheers.

Dont know about the Oz embassy but the UK embassy has Thai readers and translations of official documents is not required (even if advised in some circles). A translation of your marriage certificate is wise though as she will need it when she gets to Oz

[Mighty Mouse]

My wife is currently preparing to translate our documents from thai into english. From her birth certificate to her her passport and various other documents her thai last name has been translated 4 or 5 different ways!

Should all those documents have her last name translated as the same spelling for her last name, and if so, what document such as her birth certificate should she base that spelling on?

Your wife will need to supply a copy of her family book. This will show the original spelling of her name.

The Spouse Visa application form asks the applicant to provide other names that they are known by and other ways the name is spelled. These questions allow you to tie all the different names/spelling to the one applicant.

Generally, she should spell her name the same way as is recorded in her passport.

She can use both her Thai signature and her Western style signature on the application form. If her passport has her Thai signature, she should supply both to avoid any confusion.

[gburns57au]

Thanks again everyone for your input.

My wife is currently preparing to translate our documents from thai into english. From her birth certificate to her her passport and various other documents her thai last name has been translated 4 or 5 different ways!

Should all those documents have her last name translated as the same spelling for her last name, and if so, what document such as her birth certificate should she base that spelling on?

I think there should be an official office called 'Department of names translation' to maintain the one spelling of their name/s into the english characters. It becomes confusing and annoying!

Cheers.

For all your documentation purposes....use the spelling of her name as is in her passport irrespective of how anyone else spells it. Less confusion this way...also her signature should be the same as the signature that is in her passport.

[zidaney]

Thanks for all your replies once again.

A quick update on on where we're at:

Since getting married i've acquired a better job that has allowed me to send regular amounts of money to my wife which is obviously good for evidence but it's left me with little time to do much with the visa since i travel a lot. We've gathered more evidence/information since then and are going for the spouse visa.

I've read other posts that have suggested having a local member of parliament endorse your application for a visa. Is this only necessary for a refused application? My local member of parliament happens to be the federal opposition leader so if I was able to extract a letter from him for the visa it should be of at least some value.

Is this something that should only be used in the case of a refused application?

Cheers.

[Aussietraveller]

With the date for a Federal Election now set, your local member may soon be PM.

Could be a great signature to get supporting your application.

Anything that you can get to support your application should be used.

Lodge as strong an application as you possibly can the first time.

[gburns57au]

Thanks for all your replies once again.

A quick update on on where we're at:

Since getting married i've acquired a better job that has allowed me to send regular amounts of money to my wife which is obviously good for evidence but it's left me with little time to do much with the visa since i travel a lot. We've gathered more evidence/information since then and are going for the spouse visa.

I've read other posts that have suggested having a local member of parliament endorse your application for a visa. Is this only necessary for a refused application? My local member of parliament happens to be the federal opposition leader so if I was able to extract a letter from him for the visa it should be of at least some value.

Is this something that should only be used in the case of a refused application?

Cheers.

It has been about 8 months since you first started this thread...you would be in a better position now to apply for the spouse visa than before.

As I said.....any evidence is good evidence....I would hold the letter from Mr Rudd as an ace in the hole....if it starts looking like it is getting to be a hard task then throw it at them. Or save it as a back up in case of a refusal. But get the letter as soon as you can....he aint going to be home much over the next 6 or so weeks.

Not that my own document evidence has been good...considering the extras I have needed to supply them.....Guess I am great at giving advice and less at taking my own...

[zidaney]

Graham,

I think the documents you left out or needed to update were not much of an issue as it seems the most important and strongest points of your evidence had already put you in good stead and the other documents were not 100% necessary to be shown at the time of application although it is obviously a better idea to have them submitted then.

I'll start a new post since the heading for this discussion is no longer relevant.

Graham, keep us up to date on your application in the other post...

Aussietraveller thanks for your posts too.