Tourist Visa With Pregnant Wife?

[quumLupCup]

Hello fellow forum members,

To start with i have been researching this forum thoroughly but cant find any answers to some of my concerns,

any feedback is very much appreciated in advance,

I have been married to my Thai wife for 10 months now and been together for about 14 months, she has been over to Australia with me on a 3 month tourist visa last xmas, her first trip abroard,

i work in the offshore maritime business where as i spend 5 weeks working and 5 weeks living with my wife in Thailand on rotating basis, my company is sending me to school for 9 months to do master unlimited captains certificate in Fremantle, West Australia which i was planning to apply for my wife to get a spouse visa to stay with me for my schooling, but only to find out that the processing time had blown out to 10 months which does not suit as my school starts in 2 months,

the other thing is my wife is 4.5 months pregnant with our first child which i really want her to have in Australia,

Sorry about the long winded babble but i think my best option would be to apply for a 6 month tourist visa but i do have some concerns,

1. for a 6 month tourist visa im not sure if mentioning about my wife being pregnant and us wanting to have the baby in Australia would help or hinder the aproval process?

2.a letter detailing the reasons that we dont have time for a spouse visa aproval before baby is due should help with question 1.?

3. is there any other options such as a bridging visa for my situation?

4.Is it possable to apply for a spouse visa in Austalia for my wife if we are in Australia after having the baby?

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated

sorry again for the long questions,

Damo

[bridge]

quumLupCup,

A tourist visa is for those intending to visit Australia for tourist purposes only. Given that your wife is currently 4.5 months pregnant and you are thinking of applying for a 6 month tourist visa, it is clear that her intention would be to have the baby in Australia. Pay very particular attention to questions 22, 25 and 28 on the Form 48. Providing false information can result in her visa being cancelled if issued.

You may want to look at the possibility of a Medical Treatment Visa (Long stay - subclass 685) that can allow for stays in Australia from 3 to 12 months. This visa is very expensive in the sense that you effectively have to be a full fee paying private patient and evidence that you have made arrangements to pay for ALL medical services etc. There is no access to medicare.

Another important issues is that your wife will have to undertake at radiological examination to be granted the visa. This is something she will need to discuss with her medical practitioner.

Whether your wife can apply for a spouse visa in Australia depends upon whether condition 8503 has been imposed on whatever substantive visa she may have at the time.