Australia (Sponsored 457 Visa) Questions

[trevorg]

Thank you for you help in advance!

Whilst I'll be sad to leave Thailand, my current opportunity in Australia is better. I've carried out all the research and therefore my questions are quite specific! I will be appointed a migration/ relocation consultant to assist me, but I would like to know the cost of certain things/ the correct paperwork before I engage with them.

I will be relocating with my Thai wife, however our 12 yo daughter (my step-daughter) will remain in Thailand as she wants, and has been accepted into a Performing Arts Boarding School. I have been recommended by my employers to include her as a dependant on the 457 visa in order that she can travel freely to Australia and move with us in the future.

Specific questions:

1) My step-daughter doesn't have an ID card or a passport, my wife is divorced from the father and we are married, my wife has a copy of the birth certificate, Tabien Bahn and her divorce paper and believes that there is an original certificate, either in the local (Ta Phraya) or less local (Aranya Phratet - 50km) (but not provincial - 100km) office of a Divorce's Memorandum certifying sole custody from the Thai Consul website). Is anyone aware of this document/ what does it look like/ where is it held etc?

2) If this doesn't exist already, my wife and I don't believe that there will be any issue with my step-daughters father signing a sole custody form, is there a template and where do we get it notarised?

3) I understand that passports may be applied for and collected from Chaeng Wattana, but my wife renewed hers in 2010 somewhere else (nr Bang Na) is that the place to go for a new passport for my step-daughter?

4) I've found the hospitals, from the 'pinned' threads above, can anybody give me a recent price for the medical and chest X-ray at the Bangkok and BNH, the sponsors are paying, but I'd like to have an idea of what this is costing them (as I will probably need to show it in my FBT's in my next Oz tax return)?

That's it for now, I look forward to your responses. Especially the knowledgeable ones!

Trevor

[gburns57au]

As you have been appointed a consultant to assist you with the move, I think you may find that there will be a certain reluctance for people to comment as it may conflict with your consultants advice. Remember too that your consultant will not be looking at the cheaper options for you as you are not paying his fees, he may be a little more fee driven

As to point 2......the father merely needs to write a letter giving permission for the daughter to travel out of the country....however if you can get him to do it as a Stat Dec at the local Amphur then it may be be better option.

Medical costs per hospital will differ by sometimes quite an amount...you could shop around for a ballpark figure or you can wait till it is done and ask at the hospital that is used

Edited April 21, 2012 by gburns57au