Tourist Visa To Australia

[peter991]

Thank you scumbag for your very detailed post about your experience, when your Thai GF applied for a Tourist Visa to visit Australia.

I will be going through process on 10 April with my Thai BF. I have all the paperwork and photos assembled.

Obviously we both want to make a good impression. Should we both wear dress pants, shirt, tie and polished shoes, or would this be over-doing it? Would clean, pressed jeans, a polo shirt and sneakers (runners) be acceptable?

Your thoughts please.

Peter

[Mighty Mouse]

When I went with my g/f for our interview, I only had jeans and runners with me in Thailand. I had the jeans washed and pressed for the interview and I bought a plain coloured shirt to wear. My g/f wore a dress.

If I had a pair of trousers, a nice shirt and leather shoes at that time, I would have worn them, but in the end we had our visa application granted, so dressing to the max really wasn't necessary.

If you look like a slob with last nights gravy stains on your tee-shirt, you won't make a good impression on your case officer.

Advice: Dress to impress.

[mav]

Thank you scumbag for your very detailed post about your experience, when your Thai GF applied for a Tourist Visa to visit Australia.

I will be going through process on 10 April with my Thai BF. I have all the paperwork and photos assembled.

Obviously we both want to make a good impression. Should we both wear dress pants, shirt, tie and polished shoes, or would this be over-doing it? Would clean, pressed jeans, a polo shirt and sneakers (runners) be acceptable?

Your thoughts please.

Peter

Hi

Correct me if I am wrong but there is no interview required for a tourist visa.

The VFS is just an agency responsible for collecting your application and payment and making sure that all the required paperwork is included.

The person who takes your application at the VFS does not have anything to do with the approval process - as your application is sent to the Australian Embassy

Good luck

[gburns57au]

Peter

What would you wear to any meeting with government agencies....really answers itself if you think about...

Wear clean respectable clothing...

Singhlets, stubbies and thongs are not appropriate.

[Simmo]

There is no interview for Aus tourist visa. Just prepare the paperwork and lodge it with payment.

[Scumbag]

Hi

Correct me if I am wrong but there is no interview required for a tourist visa.

The VFS is just an agency responsible for collecting your application and payment and making sure that all the required paperwork is included.

The person who takes your application at the VFS does not have anything to do with the approval process - as your application is sent to the Australian Embassy

Good luck

This was my experience too. When you submit the application all they do is verify that the application conforms to the basic requirements. VFS is just a collection agency and as mav says they just pass it on the embassy to be processed.

peter991, thanks for the thanks and good luck with your application. I believe that if an application is strong approval is no problem.

[aussiestyle1983]

since you are both male, you should both wear board shorts (length must be below the knee) design on board shorts should be a flower pattern with many colors, wear a stinky old white bonds singlet with a few holes in it and sweat stains under the arm pits, rubber thongs and a sawg hat (must have at least twenty corks hanglig from it) Also for bonus points, carry a 24 pack of VB stubbies under you right arm (but dont block the sweat stains on the singles

All jokes aside, My wife never got interviewed for the TV, but when we lodged her spouse visa at the embassy, she wore a skirt and casual/ dress top and I wore Dirty old jeans and a polo shirt (the spouse visa tha twas suppose to take 9 months got approved in less than 24 hours!)

So yeah, you don't need to dress over the top, remember, you are the customer and the one who is paying for the service. If you dress to formal, they will think you are a stiff and are trying to suck up or hide something. Jeans and a polo shirt are what i always wear to visa interviews and so far, ive enver been refused a visa, nor my wife

Edited April 4, 2007 by aussiestyle1983

[Guemlum]

Whether you visit the application centre or have to attend an interview at the embassy, I would always dress smart. My girlfriend and I dressed smart when we visited the UK application centre as we wanted to make an impression. Smart jeans, shoes, and smart shirt for me, whilst the missus wore trousers, shirt and shoes that covered her feet as apposed to open toed.

Some of the applicants we saw dressed in shorts and trainers while there partners wore flip-flops and looked like they were on their way to the beach afterwards. Would you wear shorts and trainers for a job interview back home?

IMO I would treat the process like a job interview. I'm not sure whether they make any notes upon application about general appearance but it doesnt hurt to dress smart.

Alternatively, dress code as per aussiestyle1983's tips

We got our visa in the end.

Guemlum

[Tolley]

There is no interview for a tourist visa as others have stated.

The most important thing to do is have all the required documentation and be honest.

I don't think it really matters what you wear to the VHS office within reason of course.

[fishhooks]

Slightly to the left-side of this topic, but can anyone advise me if the following situation has changed?

In 1990, my Chinese girlfriend from Shanghai visited me in Australia on a "normal" Tourist Visa which she obtained fairly easily over there. Can't remember if it was 3 or 6 months.

During her stay and only after some weeks, we decided to marry which we did in Melbourne and immediately applied for PR status for her.

For memory, we needed to go through a fairly detailed process of application etc with details of the prior relationship and contact details which was only over several months, anyway to cut a long story short, PR was obtained without any hassles whatsoever, save being detailed with quite a few forms etc.

Thus the Tourist Visa was used as the basis of PR, without her needing to return to China in the interim.

Anyway after 14 years of marriage we have gone our own ways and I now have a good relationship with a Thai lady whom I have known and visited several times over the past 18 months. (Have many photos and phone records over all of that time).

My partner would like for us to get married in Thailand later this year and I intend to get a Retirement Visa and live mainly in Thailand and us both commute between Thailand and Australia at times.

Why? a Retirement Visa! Seems reading thaivisa often, if you have the funds there is a lot less hassles at the Thai end, particularly if the marriage goes sour in the future.

My question (sorry for the long intro) is:

"Can I bring my girlfriend (or wife if after marriage) to Australia more easily and readily on a Tourist Visa than a Spouse Visa and go through the PR application here in Australia, as I did before some 14 years ago, even if it means getting married here rather than Thailand".

I just figure if she has PR status, coming and going from here in Aus from time to time will be much less of a hassle.

OR: Is a Spouse Visa obtainable with us both being in Aus, with her on a TV, without concerning ouselves with PR?

I'm mainly asking as I'm reading of late of many difficult and lengthy applications for a Spouse Visa at the Thai end and I imagine some other members may have a similar situation!

Thanks in anticipation,

Pete.

[Mighty Mouse]

My question (sorry for the long intro) is:

"Can I bring my girlfriend (or wife if after marriage) to Australia more easily and readily on a Tourist Visa than a Spouse Visa and go through the PR application here in Australia, as I did before some 14 years ago, even if it means getting married here rather than Thailand".

I just figure if she has PR status, coming and going from here in Aus from time to time will be much less of a hassle.

I don't know what requirements the Embassy had in place back in 1990 but these days the Embassy emphasize that Tourist Visas are issued for touring purposes only, not to be used as a means of obtaining a Spouse Visa.

I do know of some people who have been married in Oz on a Tourist Visa, so rather than categorically state that you can't now do it, I suggest you make some enquiries, both at the Oz Embassy, Bangkok, and at the Immigration Office in your Oz capital city.

Generally speaking, Tourist Visas are a lot easier to obtain than a Spouse Visa, (far less paper work) but once a Spouse Visa has been obtained, it is good for life and she will have her permanent residential status granted.

OR: Is a Spouse Visa obtainable with us both being in Aus, with her on a TV, without concerning ouselves with PR?

It may be better for you to consider obtaining a "Prospective Marriage Temporary Visa" or "Fiance Category" visa, marrying in Oz and obtaining your Spouse Visa after that.

I'm mainly asking as I'm reading of late of many difficult and lengthy applications for a Spouse Visa at the Thai end and I imagine some other members may have a similar situation!

Some Spouse Visa applicants in Thailand have had their applications approved within 24 hours. Their success resulted from having a strong and complete application at the time of lodgement.

Click here to read through the Partner Migration Book.

Thanks in anticipation,

Pete.

[fishhooks]

Great detailed and informative reply.

Thanks a lot.

[helicoptor]

Why not wear something like this???

[Krub]

Thank you scumbag for your very detailed post about your experience, when your Thai GF applied for a Tourist Visa to visit Australia.

I will be going through process on 10 April with my Thai BF. I have all the paperwork and photos assembled.

Obviously we both want to make a good impression. Should we both wear dress pants, shirt, tie and polished shoes, or would this be over-doing it? Would clean, pressed jeans, a polo shirt and sneakers (runners) be acceptable?

Your thoughts please.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Tell us how it went

Wishing you both all the best

Cheers

[Doug]

I'm a Canadian, and lived in Australia for 9 years. I found Aussies to be warm and friendly people, but their Immigration Department has some very strict rules. Although my wife and I are both computer consultants, and made over $1000 a day when on contract, we were never able to get residency. We owned a house worth $500,000, and had a small business doing consulting and selling some hardware. Our clients were the big banks, telecomms companies (AAPT and Optus), state government, etc.

Immigration told us to start a restaurant and hire 10 people as waiters and waitresses and maybe they would think about it.

The Australian Tax Office says all small businesses with 10 employees or less are essentially tax frauds and must declare corporate income as personal income. Corporate income gets taxed at a lower rate, I think it was 36%, compared to personal income, which rises to 48%. (Compare that to Canada, which says, "wow, another small business! Here's a lower tax rate: 25%.")

So it depends on the age of your Thai wife, as well as the family assets. Don't take anything for granted.

In our case, we said p*ss on it, closed our business, sold our house, and left.

Edited April 15, 2007 by Doug