Oz tourist visa for Thai girlfriend - here we go again

[BananaGuy]

After a three-year cross-Covid, mostly remote and now failed relationship, i embark on the journey again to help new Thai gf acquire her first Oz tourist visa.

 

Neither of us are great candidates, practically no history together, me not super-rich but able to pay for her trip and support her financially ... but she has no regular job, no property in Thai etc etc.

 

I'm familiar with the Oz IMMI process and, as shared here, fluked a three-year visa for GF #1 in early 2020. She ended up allowing it to lapse (grrr!).

 

This time though, i'm in Oz and new gf is in Thailand (Phetchaburi) so i can't assist directly - a Thai-based agent seems to be the best option.

 

 

She has (randomly) found one in Buriram - one-person business by the look of it - advertising a service for B7,000 - which sounds suspiciously low to me.

 

I've e-trawled the usual suspects - Siam-Legal etc - which offer deals for B10,000 upfront and B20,000 on success - which sounds suspiciously high to me.

 

Anyone got current recommendations for an agent? Phetchaburi would of course be ideal but more desirable features would be :- 

(a) ability to massage her application

(b) talk her through the biometric and document-gathering stuff

(c) hopefully some pay-by-results component - we can't afford multiple bites at the cherry.

 

Positive responses* welcome either here or via DM

 

 

* but please, no 'Walking ATM'-style comments 

[ezzra]

A friend of mine is a lawyer in pattaya and she just organized a 3 months visa to Oz to a thai lady, however the woman has her own home and a business, her boy friend in Oz has his own home and no money issues AND it still took 2 months plus to get the visa, a lot of running around and lots of documentations and other stuff that takes time and cost money, so my advice to you tale the 30K offer, it's cheap, just make sure that they will not come to you with extras...

Edited September 24, 2022 by ezzra

[BananaGuy]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

A friend of mine is a lawyer in pattaya and she just organized a 3 months visa to Oz to a thai lady, however the woman has her own home and a business, her boy friend in Oz has his own home and no money issues AND it still took 2 months plus to get the visa, a lot of running around and lots of documentations and other stuff that takes time and cost money, so my advice to you tale the 30K offer, it's cheap, just make sure that they will not come to you with extras...

Thanks.

 

Far as I can make out, the B10k + B20k outfits do not even include ‘extras’ such as translation … their fees seem to go 100% to them.

B30k cheap? All relative I guess … but regardless of whether I can afford it or not, I’m naturally reluctant to pay the price of a return Scoot airfare for a visa that’s got a base price of about B4k …

 

… hope there’s some middle ground here!

[Will27]

18 minutes ago, BananaGuy said:

Thanks.

 

Far as I can make out, the B10k + B20k outfits do not even include ‘extras’ such as translation … their fees seem to go 100% to them.

B30k cheap? All relative I guess … but regardless of whether I can afford it or not, I’m naturally reluctant to pay the price of a return Scoot airfare for a visa that’s got a base price of about B4k …

 

… hope there’s some middle ground here!

30 000  Baht for a 4000 Baht visa is exorbitant.

There isn't that much paperwork involved for a stock standard visitor visa.

 

 

From the little information you've provided about your relationship, the chances

of obtaining a visa for her at this stage are pretty remote anyway.

 

If circumstances allow, a trip to Thailand to try and establish some sort of history with her would be

money well spent.

[Lacessit]

I'd say choose another tourist destination.

It seems the automatic assumption by Australian authorities about Thai women is they are coming to Australia to work as prostitutes.

 

I took my GF to Australia about 6 years ago. Our first tourist visa application was rejected despite ample evidence I could afford to support her, and she owned a home in Thailand. It must be wonderful to work in a bureaucracy that does not have to account for any of its decisions.

 

A Brisbane-based lawyer, who boasted a 100% success rate, got the visa on the second try. It does beg the question of how he did that without some corruption involved. $1200 thank you, plus the cost of the first and second applications. In four weeks, I spent about $15,000 on the holiday.

 

It's either BOHICA, or saying f##k Australia as a tourist destination. They certainly won't see my tourist dollar again.

[BananaGuy]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:22 PM, Will27 said:

30 000  Baht for a 4000 Baht visa is exorbitant.

There isn't that much paperwork involved for a stock standard visitor visa.

 

 

From the little information you've provided about your relationship, the chances

of obtaining a visa for her at this stage are pretty remote anyway.

 

If circumstances allow, a trip to Thailand to try and establish some sort of history with her would be

money well spent.

thanks Will for that (gloomy) assessment ... i believe you helped me with advice back in 2019/20 too ... yes, i maintain an optimistic face but likely you're correct.

 

i have seen Thailand before - she has not seen Oz ... better for us to use scarce resources to get her here first ... but meeting her in Thailand is our Plan 'B.

 

Nevermind. I'm happy to 'invest' a small amount in an application - just looking here for recommendations that will give it the best shot.

[BananaGuy]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:49 PM, Lacessit said:

I'd say choose another tourist destination.

It seems the automatic assumption by Australian authorities about Thai women is they are coming to Australia to work as prostitutes.

 

I took my GF to Australia about 6 years ago. Our first tourist visa application was rejected despite ample evidence I could afford to support her, and she owned a home in Thailand. It must be wonderful to work in a bureaucracy that does not have to account for any of its decisions.

 

A Brisbane-based lawyer, who boasted a 100% success rate, got the visa on the second try. It does beg the question of how he did that without some corruption involved. $1200 thank you, plus the cost of the first and second applications. In four weeks, I spent about $15,000 on the holiday.

 

It's either BOHICA, or saying f##k Australia as a tourist destination. They certainly won't see my tourist dollar again.

Thanks for that. I sense the pain of that $15k 'investment' rightly lingers ... agree with you 100% about Oz attitude to inbound visitors ... still very 1950's and difficult not to compare/contrast with the reverse situation - as an Oz citizen i can show up on arrival in Thailand with a toothbrush and swan around indefinitely.

 

I have a slim hope the huge Oz backlog in visa processing, new government here and a collapsed Oz inbound tourist industry may produce another fluked success for me.

 

Hopefully, DFAT are automating a lot of their processing these days. As an ex-IT guy, i have faith their systems misfire frequently and may yet spit out a 'Computer says 'Yes'' result.

[PhanomR]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:22 PM, Will27 said:

From the little information you've provided about your relationship, the chances

of obtaining a visa for her at this stage are pretty remote anyway.

This is pretty much spot on, getting a visa for a different girl 2 years ago and now after a visa for a new girl is a big hurdle to overcome and raises a lot of red flags. 

 

 

[BananaGuy]

15 hours ago, PhanomR said:

This is pretty much spot on, getting a visa for a different girl 2 years ago and now after a visa for a new girl is a big hurdle to overcome and raises a lot of red flags. 

 

 

Actually three years and for what it’s worth at least one contributory reason for that relationship failing was the total shutdown of Australia immediately after the visa was granted.

 

But thanks for the response.

[PhanomR]

2 years or 3 years doesn't make much difference really, its still a hurdle you will have to overcome. So think about how you are going to address it and make sure you are across your timelines and the information you have provided in the past is consistent. 

 

Success for a visa will depend on a number of other factors also, which you haven't given any details on.