Australian Tourist Visa Application

[Silvermane]

1 hour ago, omegaman said:

So, you will need to put sufficient funds into her account to cover her stay, must be her account. She needs to provide a copy of a bank statement as proof.  DIBP dont care where the money came from as long as she has access to it when onshore.

As long as the letter of employment is verifiable, by a phone call from DIBP to the employer, that should be OK. Cash employment is common in Thailand and the DIBP understand that.  What they dont have time for is not being able to contact the employer by phone, or the companies name is not registered.

The kids are the best evidence for her return.  Include copies of their birth certificates as proof.

Include a letter stating the passport was lost and that the dates are not accurate. Hopefully you have the original passport number to quote, but regardless DIBP will have her travels on the system.

Get a new passport BEFORE you apply for the VV.

You completing the application is fine, everyone does it and you dont have to be a agent.  As long as she signs it of course.

Thx for the response Omegaman!!!

Yes of course we would be requesting a new passport first as without it I can't create her Immi-account anyway. We unfortunately have no idea of her previous passport number Will DIBP still be able to confirm her past travel for us or is that just for travel to Australia (which she has never done in the past anyway)?

 

As far as the funds in her bank account go: I actually read in this thread advice to the contrary on putting a lump sum in her bank account :s So still not sure what to do on that one.

 

Any thoughts on the question relating to processing times of paper versus online by any chance?

 

Thanks again for the help and the advice on birth certificates and the agent section. You've probably noticed that I'm very keen to get it right first time so I want to have all my bases covered :)

 

 

 

[Peterw42]

7 minutes ago, mrjackbroddy said:

You should contact the embassy. 

 

7 minutes ago, mrjackbroddy said:

They will help you better.

Australian Embassy does not process visa applications or give out information, VFS does visa's on behalf of the Australian Gov.

[MrPatrickThai]

On 10/4/2017 at 5:07 PM, AustralianVisa said:

Hi Mr Patrick

 

For the children much better to apply online for an e-visa through an Immi Account - https://online.immi.gov.au/lusc/login

Their visas will be free and almost instant.

Your wife's application will be more complicated - and you will need to do a full application (providing supporting documentation). It should not be too difficult, showing you are married, her land  and an Invitation letter, funds available etc.

 

You can also do online however she will have to go to VFS Sukhumvit Soi 13 for her Biometrics (fingerprints and digital photo) so can do paper if you prefer - https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1419.pdf .

 

I hope that helps...

Thanks again, is it best to download that form and take it to Trendy? Or is there another form to take to apply?

[Surin13]

On 19/10/2017 at 5:08 AM, omegaman said:

So, you will need to put sufficient funds into her account to cover her stay, must be her account. She needs to provide a copy of a bank statement as proof.  DIBP dont care where the money came from as long as she has access to it when onshore.

Very poor advice to follow this, unexplained money in her account just raises concerns for DIBP. 

 

DIBP are very very concerned where the money comes from.

 

Better just to be truthful about the circumstances. 

 

There is no need to supply a bank book if she doesn't have one, if she does you will need to. 

 

Again just explain the circumstances.

 

On 19/10/2017 at 5:08 AM, omegaman said:

The kids are the best evidence for her return.  Include copies of their birth certificates as proof.

Kids aren't considered as the best reason to return as it common for Thais to leave kids with family while the mother works away. The fact the kids aren't going with her kind of lends weight to this. 

There is no best evidence, it a combination of evidence to show this.

 

The best advice is to be honest, explain everything so you don't leave gaps for DIBP to make guesses on. 

 

If you don't have something explain why. 

[Surin13]

On 19/10/2017 at 5:14 AM, omegaman said:

You can certainly request no 8503 and the reason on your application, 

No you can't, the law states clearly that you can not ask for an 8503 condition not to be applied. 

 

Please don't advise people if you don't know your facts. 

[Surin13]

On 17/10/2017 at 12:24 PM, Silvermane said:

Hi everyone, I've done my best to read as much as possible on the Tourist Visa (600) request procedure but still have some questions remaining that I hope you'd be able to help with.

 

I would like to bring over my TG to visit for the first time in Australia for a couple of weeks and we plan to travel within Australia as well.

The problems I'm seeing are as follows:

 

- even though she can get a letter from her employer approving her holiday, she is not in a position to back this employment up by way of bank book as she gets paid cash and hands most of her money over to her mom. While I have more than sufficient funds in my accounts as well as can provide proof of my ample income, I'm concerned that not being able to provide bank book statements for her at all will work against her... I read that my support will be the main factor, but have also seen it go the other way so am happy to take any advice on this. As I read that it's not good to transfer money to her account, I'm failing to see my options right now and I don't know if it would be wise to show statements of the limited amount of funds she holds in her own account. So should I submit her bank book statements at all or not?

 

- My TG also still lives with her mom (hence why she gives most of her money to her mom) but as a result does not own any land or title. I don't suppose referencing the ownership of land of her mom would do her any good? Her mom also owns a shrimping business and associated land if that matters at all :) Aside from her job she also has 2 kids that provide a reason for her to return home.

 

- My TG has traveled before and has always complied with Visa requirements for the respective country she has traveled to but has lost her passport and will need to request a new one prior to applying for the visa. This means she can not provide proof of her previous travel and her compliance. The requested scans from the passport are for stamped pages only and with a new passport all we would be able to provide are scans of blank pages :) As the 1419 form also requests information on previous travel, will it be enough to mention the travel in there? As we are not 100% sure of the dates/duration anymore I'm also concerned that I provide conflicting information in case Immigration can look into her previous travel history in another way.

 

- If I submit online for my TG can I complete part J (43 - 46)  as myself having assisted her in the completion of this form without any repercussions? I'm of course not a registered agent but am not getting paid to assist and have read that that's the main point of differentiation and it should be fine. Just looking to double-check whether this is ok.

 

Additionally, I've read about the processing times for Tourist Visa applications currently estimated at 14 days for 75% of applications. This is across online as well as paper based submissions. If anyone has any clear understanding as to whether VFS paper submission will be quicker than online or not, I'd appreciate that input as well. As biometrics will need to be collected anyway, we could go paper based but the main draw point is to have the Visa as soon as possible so would prefer to go the quickest route. Ideally though I would like to do everything online (if that happens to be the quickest way as well) as I can then submit for her. Travel is scheduled for mid November so we would like to know the outcome asap so that we can start booking tickets without prices skyrocketing too much.

 

 

Appreciate any and all answers (and I promise to be profusely grateful :D)

 

 

 

- Supply the bank book as is, don't put funds into it. 

 

Explain about the bank book, her funds, how she is paid etc.

 

Get the letter from the employer, get it cover the point about cash. 

 

Supply evidence of your funds as part of your support.

 

- As to living with her mother, again explain this and evidence it.

 

-Passport, if she has lost it, again explain the situation. Explain about previous travel. Supply a copy of the police report for lost passport.

 

- You can assist with filling out the form.

 

- VFS will be quicker, but not by much. You have to go there to do the biometrics anyway so take that into account.

 

The biggest thing is to explain about you girl friends circumstances in the application. They are not mind readers, they can only really go on the information you supply, so make sure you explain everything that not clear cut. Otherwise they will make assumptions. 

 

[Silvermane]

Hi Surin, thanks very much for your help. I will also add the police report as suggested and explain the situation.

As for the Bankbook, I'm still a bit scared to do it this way, but hopefully honesty is indeed the best policy and it won't be counted against her.

 

Just 2 quick additional questions though:

- for some documents like the police report, can I just submit a picture instead of an actual scan? It's just much easier to do it this way and it is actually more legible than the scan she provided :)

- I've read conflicting information on the actual need for certification of things such as passport and birth certificate. Will a simple scan/picture of these suffice, do I do certification Thai style (scan with a personal statement that this is a copy + signature) or do I need to go and have it officially certified after all?

 

 

Thanks again and fingers crossed. I will be submitting the online application today if possible and will let you guys know the outcom

 

[Surin13]

15 hours ago, Silvermane said:

Hi Surin, thanks very much for your help. I will also add the police report as suggested and explain the situation.

As for the Bankbook, I'm still a bit scared to do it this way, but hopefully honesty is indeed the best policy and it won't be counted against her.

 

Just 2 quick additional questions though:

- for some documents like the police report, can I just submit a picture instead of an actual scan? It's just much easier to do it this way and it is actually more legible than the scan she provided :)

- I've read conflicting information on the actual need for certification of things such as passport and birth certificate. Will a simple scan/picture of these suffice, do I do certification Thai style (scan with a personal statement that this is a copy + signature) or do I need to go and have it officially certified after all?

 

 

Thanks again and fingers crossed. I will be submitting the online application today if possible and will let you guys know the outcom

 

DIBP only care about you doing something illegal or misrepresenting the truth.

 

As to the bank book, I lodged visa applications for family who have never held one, or if did had less then 1000baht in it. 

 

The key is explaining this, and supplying evidence if you offering support. Ie your bank account details, your payslips/ income. 

 

Obviously if your supporting the application you need to supply evidence of this support and relationship to the supportee. 

 

They don't care if she is poor or worked in a bar etc before. They care that she has enough money to support her stay, comply with her visa and has reason to return.

 

A clear photo should be fine, if its not they should contact you and let you know it isn't.

 

If submitting online no need to certify anything. If via paper copy, it won't hurt to certify the Thai way.

 

If they need better than this they should contact you. 

 

The key thing is to explain everything, think about as a person looking at the application without know you or your partner, but yet think you and your partner maybe dodgy. It's your job to supply evidence to back up everything you claim to the best of your ability. 

 

ie. You say her passport was lost, I say bullsh_it, prove it. Hence the reason for the police report. 

 

You say she has no money in her bank account, prove it.

 

You say you will fully support her stay, prove it.

 

You say we been in a relationship for X long, prove it.

 

You say she has reasons to return, prove it.

 

If you claim something, you need to prove it.

 

I think you get what I mean.

 

If you're not sure if you have supplied enough information or the correct thing, ask them to contact you. 

 

Your job like with any government department is to supply them with enough information for them to tick all the boxs. 

 

 

 

 

[Silvermane]

Thx again so much Surin! Khob kun mak mak kap!!! Really appreciate your help and your insights!! I'm not too far off from pressing submit now as I'm trying to do this in between stuff at work, so fingers crossed I haven't missed anything :)

 

 

[Ooladolla]

On 02/11/2017 at 6:08 AM, Silvermane said:

Thx again so much Surin! Khob kun mak mak kap!!! Really appreciate your help and your insights!! I'm not too far off from pressing submit now as I'm trying to do this in between stuff at work, so fingers crossed I haven't missed anything :)

 

 

Let us know how long the process takes if you wouldn't mind. I have to submit the same soon. I have booked accommodation in Bangkok so as to do the biometric requirement so I am trying to work out how long I have after I submit the application to do all that part . Thanks and good luck with your application 

[MrPatrickThai]

On 10/4/2017 at 5:07 PM, AustralianVisa said:

Hi Mr Patrick

 

For the children much better to apply online for an e-visa through an Immi Account - https://online.immi.gov.au/lusc/login

Their visas will be free and almost instant.

Your wife's application will be more complicated - and you will need to do a full application (providing supporting documentation). It should not be too difficult, showing you are married, her land  and an Invitation letter, funds available etc.

 

You can also do online however she will have to go to VFS Sukhumvit Soi 13 for her Biometrics (fingerprints and digital photo) so can do paper if you prefer - https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1419.pdf .

 

I hope that helps...

Thanks, I've got the kids' passports now so I'll go ahead and get out visas. It's free???

 

We travel in March and my wife is just getting her new passport today. 

 

 

Do we still have plenty time?

 

Btw, does anyone have a tel number of where to call to make an appointment to hand in the visa application fro her?

 

[MrPatrickThai]

Just now, MrPatrickThai said:

Thanks, I've got the kids' passports now so I'll go ahead and get out visas. It's free???

 

We travel in March and my wife is just getting her new passport today. 

 

 

Do we still have plenty time?

 

Btw, does anyone have a tel number of where to call to make an appointment to hand in the visa application fro her?

Also, is there any standard letter template I can give to my sister in Oz to write to us?

Just now, MrPatrickThai said:

 

 

[Silvermane]

On 11/3/2017 at 3:57 PM, Ooladolla said:

Let us know how long the process takes if you wouldn't mind. I have to submit the same soon. I have booked accommodation in Bangkok so as to do the biometric requirement so I am trying to work out how long I have after I submit the application to do all that part . Thanks and good luck with your application 

No worries, I'll let you guys know how long everything took.

 

As for the biometrics I can already say that we got an invitation about 30 mins after having submitted online.

I then booked an appointment online via the VFS website (appointment mandatory since 1 November 2017!) and she was in the next day to have her fingerprints and picture taken.

[Silvermane]

One question I have myself though:

As I said, after having submitted the application, we got the invitation for biometrics pretty quickly via email. We also noticed in our immi account the status of our submission changed to 'further information required' as well as 2 extra buttons in addition to the  'add attachments' button.

 

One was for a health examination notification (which basically just said that no medical was required) and the other for the biometrics.

The latter stated that this button would disappear as soon as biometrics were done.

 

The strange thing however was that after the biometrics were completed in the VFS offices, the button effectively disappeared but that the status of the submission remained at 'further information required'.

Since I didn't receive any other requests for further information, I decided to click on a button stating that you had submitted the requested info. It's a bit scary though as a notification pops up to say that this will finalize the submission and it would basically now all be in the hands of the person reviewing the submission. If I overlooked any other request for further information other than the biometrics (not that I could see how that would be possible) I'm now well and truly in a position that I can't do anything about that anymore.

 

If anyone could therefore confirm that I interpreted this procedure correctly, that would be great info to have.

I was afraid that not clicking the 'requested information submitted' would just leave my application sitting there even though we had done everything required thereby unnecessarily delaying the process... Hope I did the right thing...

 

 

 

 

[Silvermane]

Damn.... I just came to the realisation that I may have botched the application

If someone could pls assist, that would be great....!!

 

When I came to the section about 'funding' the first question asked online is:

"Give details of how the stay in Australia will be funded"

You can select a bunch of options from a drop-down and I selected "Supported by other person" because I am effectively intending to support her.

 

The next question is

"What funds will the applicant have available to support their stay in Australia"

The response used was that she was invited by me as her friend and that I would provide proof of my income and savings that would demonstrate that I would be more than capable to support her for a 3 week holiday and would also be taking out a travel/medical insurance for her.

 

The problem now comes from the next section...

I was now asked to "Give details of the person that will provide support to the applicant" but the only options available were those of family members.

I selected one that matched closest but obviously I couldn't select that I was just a friend.

 

I'm now very worried that I have automatically pushed myself into the family sponsored strean that I only now have found out about. Processing times for this are substantially longer and require additional forms to be submitted by the sponsor as far as I can see.

I'm happy to provide a bond or whatever to get this done, but I'm just afraid that I have now pushed the application back in time by a substantial margin. 

 

We have always maintained throughout the application that I am a friend and not a family member and that I have invited her as such. This was the case for the online sections "purpose of stay" where we described this, as well as the funding section described above as well as evidenced by my letter of invitiation on top of a letter written by her in which she gives more background to her reasons for appliying and describes how and when we met and why we thought we had to use the 'supported by other person' option in the online application which left us with no choice but to select a family member. After learning about the family sponsored tourist visa stream however, I now afraid that this won't be enough though...

 

 

 

[Silvermane]

Ok, crisis averted... probably...

 

I just created a temp immi account just to see what my options were in the initial stages of the submission as for the life of me I couldn't remember if there were any options dedicated to a family sponsored stream. Fortunately there are and I did not select that one obviously.

 

 

I selected Tourism purpouses on both options so I think I should be allright. Pfffeeeew...

 

 

Still begs the question on why only relatives are up for selection in the drop-down box in the funding section when you select to support someone during their stay with you but hey, as long as I'm still in the Tourist stream, I'm happy. They should be able to determine in more than one place of my submission that I am inviting her as a friend and am not purporting to be anything else.

 

 

 

[Surin13]

2 hours ago, Silvermane said:

Still begs the question on why only relatives are up for selection in the drop-down box in the funding section when you select to support someone during their stay with you but hey, as long as I'm still in the Tourist stream, I'm happy. They should be able to determine in more than one place of my submission that I am inviting her as a friend and am not purporting to be anything else.

 

 

 

 

Only a partner or family can provide financial support, hence the restricted drop down boxes.

 

A friend can only offer support in the letter of invitation. 

[Silvermane]

Holy cow.... I could have saved myself the trouble of writing all my fear-riddled posts 'cause guess what came in the mail today!!!

I don't know if this is a new record or not: submitted Thu afternoon Oz time, biometrics taken Fri 1pm Bkk time and visa grant notification today 

 

For the record, I ended up not submitting her bankbook statements and just using her payslips, my payslips and my bank account overview

 

Again, thanks for all who helped and especially you Surin!

 

 

[Ooladolla]

Glad it all worked out. It's understandable to be anxious about the application as there are many boxes to tick and you want that visa. So many negative stories abound about how it's hard to be granted a visa and westerners can't bring their partners home. Hope you have a good holiday together 

[Ooladolla]

One other thing, did you receive a visa which granted entry for twelve months - at 3 month maximum stays ? That is , a multiple entry visa ?

[Silvermane]

3 hours ago, Ooladolla said:

One other thing, did you receive a visa which granted entry for twelve months - at 3 month maximum stays ? That is , a multiple entry visa ?

Hi mate, in all the excitement I had actually forgotten to look at that... :D

I requested single entry on the application as we haven't been together that long and since I focused so heavily on my sponsorship of her, I didn't want her to be able to come back into Australia without me actually being involved if you get my drift. 

But to my surprise, if I'm reading this right, she actually got the multiple entry one:

 

[Surin13]

On 11/8/2017 at 6:44 PM, Silvermane said:

Hi mate, in all the excitement I had actually forgotten to look at that... :D

I requested single entry on the application as we haven't been together that long and since I focused so heavily on my sponsorship of her, I didn't want her to be able to come back into Australia without me actually being involved if you get my drift. 

But to my surprise, if I'm reading this right, she actually got the multiple entry one:

 

Not only that, you can also apply for another visa while in Australia, do I hear weddings bells  in the future 555.

 

Glad it worked out for you. 

[Silvermane]

1 hour ago, Surin13 said:

Not only that, you can also apply for another visa while in Australia, do I hear weddings bells  in the future 555.

 

Glad it worked out for you. 

Haha, early days still Surin, but appreciate the sentiment :)

[Ooladolla]

Thanks for that. Yes it's handy being multiple as I had the same and entered just on the last day of the visa for another 3 month visit.

I'm looking at the forms now and forget if I did this part last time, you might be able to help.

Did you complete part K and form 956 ?

also, the part about your signature on form 956, what did you do there ?

thanks

[Ooladolla]

Sorry about this but I'm writing as I go through the forms..the signatures on Part N ? Did you have to print the form sign them and then send a photo of the form ? 

[Silvermane]

8 hours ago, Ooladolla said:

Thanks for that. Yes it's handy being multiple as I had the same and entered just on the last day of the visa for another 3 month visit.

I'm looking at the forms now and forget if I did this part last time, you might be able to help.

Did you complete part K and form 956 ?

also, the part about your signature on form 956, what did you do there ?

thanks

 

Hi mate,

 

sorry but I didn't use the paper based forms as I did everything online and and they differ substantially from the online version.

There was probably a question online about having had assistance from an agent, bust since I could say no to that it didn't ask any further questions online.

 

In terms of the communication and allowing other people to receive it, for convenience sake (since I was basically submitting everything online on her behalf) I had setup an email account for her so that I could manage all the comms on it. That also meant that there was no need for me to complete any sections on allowing others to receive communication on her behalf.

 

As for the biometrics, all I had to do online was tick a box that she agreed to the information being collected and that was it.

 

I'd recommend online versus paper based any day of the week tbh. So much easier!

[Ooladolla]

Ok thanks for that. A little heads up for you when you do arrive in Oz, take your gf straight to the Aussie line of immigration with you. Don't let her line up with all the predominately Chinese tourists. It will save you time .?

[MrPatrickThai]

I'm about to apply  for Oz visas for my family and Thai wife. Is there any advantage to doing them all at the same time? 

And is this the correct webite?

[MrPatrickThai]

On 11/13/2017 at 9:52 AM, Ooladolla said:

Ok thanks for that. A little heads up for you when you do arrive in Oz, take your gf straight to the Aussie line of immigration with you. Don't let her line up with all the predominately Chinese tourists. It will save you time .?

My wife was taking aside and interrogated by 2 <deleted> officers who assumed she could speak English. When I offered to translate, they told me to go away.

[Ooladolla]

Just completed the process online.  It's a a cow of a system - takes forever. If Farangs had to do this to come to Thailand it would be empty of tourists ..end of story