Australian Passport For Thai Wife

[M71]

Hi all - can anyone let me know what is involved in getting an Australian passport for my Thai wife.

We have been married for 18 years and our son has both Australian and Thai passports - we live permanately in Thailand and visit Australia once a year.

Any advice is will be much appreciated.

Cheers

[lopburi3]

Passports are normally only issued to citizens - is she a citizen of Oz?

[bdenner]

Sorry, you have about as much chance as my TW has! Her 2 years of Temp Residency plus another 5 years of Permanent Residency has now lapsed and because we only visited Aust on an irregular basis her chances of getting the RRV (Residents Return Visa) is slim. It was our choice to live in Thailand but in the early days when I was working here and going home every 2 months the Embassy thought it best we apply for residency as TW's passport was getting full of tourist visas so at the time they rubber stamped the application in 28 days. Been a great convienience but I still do not think we will go back down that path. Back to the Tourist visas.

ANYWAY, from what you are saying your chances of getting your wife an Aust. Passport are nil. She has to have residency and at least 2 years full time occupancy of the country, plus the other criteria to apply for citizenship.

[RegularReader]

Sorry, you have about as much chance as my TW has! Her 2 years of Temp Residency plus another 5 years of Permanent Residency has now lapsed and because we only visited Aust on an irregular basis her chances of getting the RRV (Residents Return Visa) is slim. It was our choice to live in Thailand but in the early days when I was working here and going home every 2 months the Embassy thought it best we apply for residency as TW's passport was getting full of tourist visas so at the time they rubber stamped the application in 28 days. Been a great convienience but I still do not think we will go back down that path. Back to the Tourist visas.

ANYWAY, from what you are saying your chances of getting your wife an Aust. Passport are nil. She has to have residency and at least 2 years full time occupancy of the country, plus the other criteria to apply for citizenship.

Excuse my ignorance on this, but I thought I read on the Australia Govt. Immigration website that if you have been officially married for more than 5 years (my Thai wife and I have been married for 16 years) it was possible to waive the 2 year residency and go striaght on to obtaining citizenship - as long as you met certain other criteria.

But, I do recall last time I checked you (as the spouse) need to have taken up residency there again, to do this.

[Eureka]

Sorry, you have about as much chance as my TW has! Her 2 years of Temp Residency plus another 5 years of Permanent Residency has now lapsed and because we only visited Aust on an irregular basis her chances of getting the RRV (Residents Return Visa) is slim. It was our choice to live in Thailand but in the early days when I was working here and going home every 2 months the Embassy thought it best we apply for residency as TW's passport was getting full of tourist visas so at the time they rubber stamped the application in 28 days. Been a great convienience but I still do not think we will go back down that path. Back to the Tourist visas.

ANYWAY, from what you are saying your chances of getting your wife an Aust. Passport are nil. She has to have residency and at least 2 years full time occupancy of the country, plus the other criteria to apply for citizenship.

Excuse my ignorance on this, but I thought I read on the Australia Govt. Immigration website that if you have been officially married for more than 5 years (my Thai wife and I have been married for 16 years) it was possible to waive the 2 year residency and go striaght on to obtaining citizenship - as long as you met certain other criteria.

But, I do recall last time I checked you (as the spouse) need to have taken up residency there again, to do this.

The waiver you mention is for couples married for 5 years or 2 years with children.

Check with the embassy but you will be told that you have do a double application. The first 2 years does not give residency rights only permission to stay basically but this is NORMALLY waived when couple have met or exceeded the periods outlined above. It has nothing to do with how long either you or your wife have stayed in Aust or with citizenship. This is at the descrecion of the Immig Dept.

For Citizenship you do need to have stayed in Australia for a minimum period of time in the previous 4 years of you Resident Visa.

Resident Visas last for 5 years and basically give you full rights as a Permanent Resident including social security & medicare. Citizenship gives you the right to vote.

Renewal of the Residency visa can be do in Aust or overseas and costs about TBT8500.