Me and my wife will put in our application for the Spouse visa in a few weeks, she has been to aus a bit over a year ago on a Tourist Visa..Just wondering if the Spouse visa if/when issued has to be used by a certain date or can we keep it for the day we wish to move back to Australia, as right now we have no solid plans but would like the option there if we did one day decide to leave Thailand, it will most likely be in a year or so when our baby is nearing school age...and as the application can take up to 6 months to process we would rather have it all approved and ready to be used when the right time comes..is this possible? Ive had a hunt around and cant seem to find info about "enter before" details of a spouse visa...

My wifes spouse visa was issued in mid Mar and it had a use by date of Jan 09.

Me and my wife will put in our application for the Spouse visa in a few weeks, she has been to aus a bit over a year ago on a Tourist Visa..Just wondering if the Spouse visa if/when issued has to be used by a certain date or can we keep it for the day we wish to move back to Australia, as right now we have no solid plans but would like the option there if we did one day decide to leave Thailand, it will most likely be in a year or so when our baby is nearing school age...and as the application can take up to 6 months to process we would rather have it all approved and ready to be used when the right time comes..is this possible? Ive had a hunt around and cant seem to find info about "enter before" details of a spouse visa...

The clock starts ticking from the date they receive the first documentation from the applicant....not the date of application....there is a 12 month validity on the visa.

If the first documents are received on the 12/7/08 the "must enter before date" will be 11/7/09. If the applicant doesnt enter by that date then the visa will in all likelihood be cancelled.

Thanks for your help guys, and one more thing in relation to the Visa...is it multiple entry..for example can she come home to visit family in Thailand whenever she wants? If so whats involved...re-entry permits etc?

From what I have been led to believe the visa allows the wife to enter and leave whenever she likes until notification of the permanant residency status. There should be no requirement for re-entry permits similar to what we have to go through to leave Thailand and remain on our long term visas.

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful

Thanks for your help guys, and one more thing in relation to the Visa...is it multiple entry..for example can she come home to visit family in Thailand whenever she wants? If so whats involved...re-entry permits etc?

The temp res visa and the permanant visa both allow for travel without the need for rentry visas

The temp res is a 2 yr visa and the PR is a 5 yr visa....once the PR has expired....re-entry visas will be required.