Spouse Visa To Aus

[HowardB]

I'm sure this topic has been covered many times but it doesn't harm to keep people informed of personal experiences. Everybodies story is different. I see many people asking about time allowances, procedures and fees, maybe this will help.

I arrived in Bangkok early morning October 28 and after a quick shower headed to the Australian Embassy. To register a marriage in Thailand I needed a stat dec from the Australian Embassy, basically saying I was free to marry, this only took about 30 minutes to do. This document must be translated into Thai script which can be done at a number of businesses aroung the city. I opted for a translation company just around the corner from the embassy. I should point out that time was a critical factor in my case and I probably paid more for translation services than I needed to in order to have them done quickly (1400baht for 3 documents). I collected the translated documents the following morning and in the afternoon of 29 October we registered at Bangrak Amphur. I've heard of amphur's requesting people supply witnesses but we werent asked for any. It was a very pleasant experience when we registered and the only delay was having some documents photo copied, which we did at a business 20 metres from the Amphur. It was a bit tiring going from one place to another at times, but if you can endure it is possible to do the whole procedure in one day. Our ceremony was scheduled in Phichit 10 November. In order to apply for our spouse visa we needed to change some documentation. My wife wanted to apply for her new passport in her married name before applying for the visa. First we had to go to Phichit to change her id card, which we were told could only be done in her province. After this was done we then headed back to Bangkok to apply for her new passport. After the ceremony we went back to bangkok to apply for my wife's spouse visa. To apply for her visa she needed to translate ALL her documents into English. This included her passport, divorce papers, family book, birth certificate, any change of name etc. We were armed with a whole wad of supporting evidence, such as telephone accounts, hotel and flight booking with both our names on, photo's together at places we told them we went, photo,s of us with my friends in Australia, 2 stat decs from friends supporting our claims and evidence of a bank account my wife opened when she was in Australia on her tourist visa. The application took maybe 40 minutes to complete including payment, which was the killer. As I said, we wanted to do this quickly and at the time the exchange rate was at its worst. The visa actually cost me 52000baht, which is a small price to pay to have my wife in Australia. After we completed our application my wife then needed to have her medical and police clearance done. We went straight to the nearest authorised hospital to the visa application centre (BNH Hospital, Convent Rd, Silom). This didnt take long at all and after that we went to the specified police station for her police clearance. One issue that we were unaware of was that her son, even though he wasnt included in the application, also needed to have a medical. We weren't aware of this until my wife had returned to Phichit and I was back in Aus. Apparently all children of the spouse need to have a medical even if they are not included in the application. So she had to travel with her son to the nearest authorised hospital to have his medical which basically involved peeing in a cup and some other minor checks, no xrays. Why he couldn't do this in his own province is beyond me. My wife received an email within 48 hours of applying for the visa confirming receipt and telling her that her interview at the embassy had been arranged for 8 December. As you can see she has already had her interview and the only thing they requested was more pictures of our ceremony including guests and pictures of our visit to Chiang Mai last year. I really can't stress the importance of photo's. So here we are now waiting for the final word to say it's been approved, which given the comments of my wife's contact officer is only a matter of time. She said the usual time is 3 months from date of application but could be sooner. Im hoping for sooner. If any further problems arise I will post them here. I hope this has been of some use to some body.

[Sporting Dog]

...paragraphs can be your friends.....

[patongster]

I'm sure this topic has been covered many times but it doesn't harm to keep people informed of personal experiences. Everybodies story is different. I see many people asking about time allowances, procedures and fees, maybe this will help.

I arrived in Bangkok early morning October 28 and after a quick shower headed to the Australian Embassy. To register a marriage in Thailand I needed a stat dec from the Australian Embassy, basically saying I was free to marry, this only took about 30 minutes to do. This document must be translated into Thai script which can be done at a number of businesses aroung the city. I opted for a translation company just around the corner from the embassy. I should point out that time was a critical factor in my case and I probably paid more for translation services than I needed to in order to have them done quickly (1400baht for 3 documents).

I collected the translated documents the following morning and in the afternoon of 29 October we registered at Bangrak Amphur. I've heard of amphur's requesting people supply witnesses but we werent asked for any. It was a very pleasant experience when we registered and the only delay was having some documents photo copied, which we did at a business 20 metres from the Amphur. It was a bit tiring going from one place to another at times, but if you can endure it is possible to do the whole procedure in one day. Our ceremony was scheduled in Phichit 10 November. In order to apply for our spouse visa we needed to change some documentation. My wife wanted to apply for her new passport in her married name before applying for the visa.

First we had to go to Phichit to change her id card, which we were told could only be done in her province. After this was done we then headed back to Bangkok to apply for her new passport. After the ceremony we went back to bangkok to apply for my wife's spouse visa. To apply for her visa she needed to translate ALL her documents into English. This included her passport, divorce papers, family book, birth certificate, any change of name etc. We were armed with a whole wad of supporting evidence, such as telephone accounts, hotel and flight booking with both our names on, photo's together at places we told them we went, photo,s of us with my friends in Australia, 2 stat decs from friends supporting our claims and evidence of a bank account my wife opened when she was in Australia on her tourist visa.

The application took maybe 40 minutes to complete including payment, which was the killer. As I said, we wanted to do this quickly and at the time the exchange rate was at its worst. The visa actually cost me 52000baht, which is a small price to pay to have my wife in Australia. After we completed our application my wife then needed to have her medical and police clearance done. We went straight to the nearest authorised hospital to the visa application centre (BNH Hospital, Convent Rd, Silom). This didnt take long at all and after that we went to the specified police station for her police clearance. One issue that we were unaware of was that her son, even though he wasnt included in the application, also needed to have a medical. We weren't aware of this until my wife had returned to Phichit and I was back in Aus.

Apparently all children of the spouse need to have a medical even if they are not included in the application. So she had to travel with her son to the nearest authorised hospital to have his medical which basically involved peeing in a cup and some other minor checks, no xrays. Why he couldn't do this in his own province is beyond me. My wife received an email within 48 hours of applying for the visa confirming receipt and telling her that her interview at the embassy had been arranged for 8 December. As you can see she has already had her interview and the only thing they requested was more pictures of our ceremony including guests and pictures of our visit to Chiang Mai last year. I really can't stress the importance of photo's.

So here we are now waiting for the final word to say it's been approved, which given the comments of my wife's contact officer is only a matter of time. She said the usual time is 3 months from date of application but could be sooner. Im hoping for sooner. If any further problems arise I will post them here. I hope this has been of some use to some body.

[HowardB]

...paragraphs can be your friends.....

Yes you're right ... paragraphs can be my friend ... unfortunately the same cannot be said for the way TV changed my format.