Best Way To Bring My Girl To Australia?

[althemighty]

Me and my Thai finace plan to get married on 24th of december this year in her village. After we are married I want her to move here to Australia in january.

What is the best way to do the visa? should I apply now? Do I get a fiance visa or a spouse visa if we are not married yet but would be before the date she comes to Australia? Will it be easier to register marriage in thailand before comming to Australia or do it here? Is it worth using an agent to ensure my finace can move to Australia?

We have only been engaged since october. I spent the last four weeks living with her in thailand and want to spend the rest of our life together. We are both teachers and I'm back in Australia untill april teaching. I thought the visa aplication process would be easy for us but after reading this forum I am very worried about not being able to have my wife move here at the end of the year.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Al

[meatboy]

december is a long way off,a lot can happen between now and dec.dont rush into things,take time to read the topics about getting married and moving away,on the do's and donts,your extended family,take it from me after over 21years of being married and 30years exp.of thai ways i have or i think i have seen it all,but y always read other stories which y couldnt make up.so take time to read up on thai visa and take the advice given to you,y might not like some but if y read what i have said y will understand.good luck and keep us posted.

[KamnanT]

You have a choice of getting legally married in Thailand and applying for a Partner Visa (subclass 309/100) in Thailand or applying for a Fiance Visa (subclass 300) and then getting married in Australia. Note that the processing time for either visa is likely to be 10-13 months. Technically, you can apply for a Partner visa before you're legally married as long you marry before a decision on your application is made, however practically I would think it will make your application much stronger if you were already married. The village ceremony doesn't count as legal marriage, only the registration at the amphur fulfills this requirement. One alternative would be to get legally married now so that you can submit the application and then have the village ceremony as planned in December.

You will be required to include evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing and that you "share a mutual commitment to each other to the exclusion of all others." This will include describing and providing evidence of the history of your relationship (how and when you met, the progression of the relationship), your domestic arrangements (cohabition, financial and emotional support for each other), when you decided to marry or enter into a de facto relationship and any periods of separation. This information is important, as the mere fact of being legally married is not, in and of itself, sufficient grounds for the issue of a Partner visa. The marriage must be de facto (true in practice) and not just de jure (true in law).

You could also submit a Fiance Visa application now, but be aware that this route to a permanent visa will be more expensive ($2,960 in government fees vs. $1,995) and that Fiance visas are potentially subject to capping (annual limits) whereas Partner visas are not. If granted, a fiance visa will allow your GF to travel to and reside in Australia for up to nine months, during which period you must get married and apply for a Partner visa.

Key to this choice will be the length of time since you and you GF met and how much of that time you have spent together (i.e. cohabiting). It's not clear from your initial post if the last four weeks in Thailand is the only time you've stayed together or if there were earlier periods of cohabition.

Edited January 22, 2012 by KamnanT

[althemighty]

Thanks for the help so far. I am thinking of doing a potential spouse visa. From the inital contact with various agents some believe it takes around 5 months compared to the 10 - 13 months a spouse visa would take.

My current plan would be to apply for a potential spouse visa, have my fiance come to Australia in october then apply for spouse visa here after registering marriage in Australia. Would go back to thailand for wedding for family then back to Australia to live our life together.

Only problems I see is that some people are saying 5 months and others 10-13 months for potential spouse visa. Does anyone know which is true? Also anyone know how long it takes to go from a potential spouse visa to a spouse visa. Does it still take 10-13 months doing it this way and will my fiance have to go back to thailand if it does?