Obtaining Visas For Thais With Svs

[chareehusbee]

My wife has just received her Oz SV (yippee!) and after she comes here we want to take a lil holiday to NZ for our anniversary. Because she will be an Oz resident will it be easier for her to get a NZ tourist visa, or is she still considered Thai for TVs to other countries?

[vinny]

If she is an Australian permanent resident, then she would require no NZ visa. I'm not sure if an Australian SV holder would also be eligible for this exemption too. However, if she does need a NZ visa, being an Australian SV holder, she can apply for it in Australia rather than having to come back to Thailand. See Are there any special rules for Australian citizens and residents?, from the Online help system using the question "married to Australian".

If you’re an Australian citizen, you don’t need to apply for residence to live, work or study in New Zealand indefinitely . You will need to show a valid Australian passport on your arrival in New Zealand.

If you are an Australian permanent resident entering New Zealand with a current Australian Resident Return Visa, you will normally be granted a Residence Permit on arrival. However, you can still be refused residence if you are not of good character.

Any person who falls under the guidelines of Section 7 of Immigration Act 1987, is not considered to be of good character. For details of who falls under Section 7, please refer to the Online Operational Manual, under policy A5.20(adminstration)

[chareehusbee]

If she is an Australian permanent resident, then she would require no NZ visa. I'm not sure if an Australian SV holder would also be eligible for this exemption too. However, if she does need a NZ visa, being an Australian SV holder, she can apply for it in Australia rather than having to come back to Thailand. See Are there any special rules for Australian citizens and residents?, from the Online help system using the question "married to Australian".

If you’re an Australian citizen, you don’t need to apply for residence to live, work or study in New Zealand indefinitely . You will need to show a valid Australian passport on your arrival in New Zealand.

If you are an Australian permanent resident entering New Zealand with a current Australian Resident Return Visa, you will normally be granted a Residence Permit on arrival. However, you can still be refused residence if you are not of good character.

Any person who falls under the guidelines of Section 7 of Immigration Act 1987, is not considered to be of good character. For details of who falls under Section 7, please refer to the Online Operational Manual, under policy A5.20(adminstration)

Don't want to move there just go on holiday!

My question is: will it be easier for her to get a tourist visa if she holds an Oz SV?

Not just specifically NZ, but other places too like Europe, Japan, etc...

[vinny]

In general, visa conditions to different countries depend on her citizenship and/or residency. She may have advantages with respect to certain countries when she becomes a permanent resident in Australia. In the above example, if she was an Australian resident, she would not need to consider applying for a NZ tourist visa because she would have more rights on arrival (without a visa) than a tourist.

The notiable exception that I know of is for spouses of Europeans. If she was married to an EU citizen she should get EU family visas easier and without cost.

For countries that Thais can go without visas, see also Q: Thai citizen - what countries can visit without visa before travel or you can search the IATA database which is publicly available on a number of websites. Click here or here or here to go to such websites.

The IATA database will also take account of residency in a third country. But I'm not sure if holding a SV is equivalent to being a resident for visa purposes.

[chareehusbee]

Thanks for the info! That Delta site is pretty dang useful actually!

But will she still need a RRV if she has a SV? Isn't a SV multi-entry (after initial activation)?

[gburns57au]

I would think the passport would be the key for this....as a Thai passport holder she will require a visa to enter NZ...the passport is the document that you enter a country with. When she is an Oz citizen and has an Oz passport then she can travel the same as all Aussies.

Her temporary residents visa allows her to travel to and from Oz a certain amount of times in an undisclosed period of time. whether or not she will require an RRV to re-enter Oz is a question to ask the Immi Dept here....

[vinny]

Yes, I beleive that a SV is multi-entry. However, there are two stages to an Australian Spouse Visa. See Part 1: Spouse Visa.

Applying for a Spouse visa is a 2-stage process. You apply for both a temporary and permanent visa at the one time on the same application form. You are granted a temporary Spouse visa if you meet all the legal criteria. This visa remains valid until a decision is made on your permanent visa application, which is generally 2 years after you applied for the Spouse visa. If you continue to meet all legal requirements, you will be granted the permanent Spouse visa.

The RRV is for Permanent Residents Travelling to and from Australia.

Australian permanent residency can make a difference to some destination countries' visa requirements, as shown by the IATA database. NZ is one example. However, it will be up to the destination country whether they will treat her holding the SV the same as her having permanent residence in Australia for their visa purposes.

Edited March 14, 2006 by vinny

[gburns57au]

Australian permanent residency can make a difference to some destination countries' visa requirements, as shown by the IATA database. NZ is one example. However, it will be up to the destination country whether they will treat her holding the SV the same as her having permanent residence in Australia for their visa purposes.

Yes I concur.....

the RRV is for permanent residents who have exceeded the 5 year limit on the initial visa and havent taken up Aussie citizenship.....

So I stand corrected there.....

I guess then that the next step would be to contact the NZ Embassy and find out what their take on the visa situation would be...

I would also run it past the Oz Immigration as well just to make sure that you are doing everything right. Just in case

Good accurate post Vinny.

Edited March 14, 2006 by gburns57au