Moving back to Australia with Thai Wife....and baby!

[Didge 79]

G'day

I'm 30yo aussie, been living and working in Thailand for the past 5 years, self employed (company director average 170,000B/month income) I have not been empoyed in Australia during the past 5 years but do have a small income from a reantal property. Returning to Australia I would be self employed also.

I have been living with the same girl for 4 years (Thai National 32yo), we both work her income is 30,000 B/month somtimes more depending on commision. We have already done the Thai marriage ceremony and have the blessing of her family but we never went any further as we didn't see any need.

We are now expecting our first child, who will be born in Thailand, very excited all-be-it unprepared!! Our plan is to both continue working in Thailand for the next 2-3 years then move back to Australia (we have spent holidays there several times already with no Visa issues) Given our background how should we proceed? Register a Marrige in Thailand? Retun to Asutralia on a turist visa and get married while we are in Australia,, is that even possible?

Best case senario my Wife and Child end up with dule citizenship, possible? Any advice on the right move to make first? I'm sure making the worng decission now could make the process much more difficult

(BTW wifey speaks perfect English and very much enjoys Australia, she is very keen to move so long as she can stay employed, which I feel is no problem given her skill and work ethic)

Cheers

[Tomtomtom69]

Sounds like you are doing very well, earning almost as much as the average Aussie does and you're only 30! You don't say what you do, but if you want to move back to Australia, make sure you find a job before you make the move.

You can get married legally in Australia and then register your marriage there - not sure about how long it would take to process a marriage visa or similar for your wife but expect it to take a few months. In the meantime, keep working and have her try to find some work by searching job websites in Australia - her chances of success depend on the industry she is qualified in and wants to work in.

Dual citizenship for your wife is possible but would probably take a few years of residency first. I have never heard of anyone gaining citizenship of Australia without having been a resident and merely for being married to an Aussie, it doesn't work that way - otherwise thousands of people would be able to immigrate to Australia on that basis alone and possibly get divorced soon after, placing a burden on Australia's resources. On the other hand, the child of a citizen can be registered as an Australian citizen even if born abroad - check with the Australian Embassy for details.

[Jasun]

It's all possible and not too difficult judging by your circumstances.

Getting married in Thailand before you come back will save one round of visa applications. Otherwise, you'll do the whole visa thing twice: entering on a prospective spouse visa, then again for the spouse visa after you're married. She can enter on a simpler tourist visa, but a substantiated visa will count for her PR. She'll also be entitled to citizenship after 4 years from the date she arrived in Australia with a minimum of a year as PR. You can be outside of Australia for up to a year during this 4 year period, and in some cases even longer.

When you're coming back permanently, you might want to come home a month or two before her to get yourself set up in work, place to live etc. It'll make the application easier. And start taking photos and collecting evidence of your relationship now if you haven't already.

BTW, your child can get citizenship (by descent) as soon as it's born, just need to apply at the Oz embassy in BKK. Takes a couple of weeks.

[harrry]

There is no need in Australia to get married. Your partner does have all the rights to property etc after you have lived together for two years.

You should register you child at the Australian embassy (if born outside australia) and the child immediately gains australian citixenship.

[simple1]

OP: access the URL below and it should provide answers to most of your questions. You can marry in Austalia whilst on a tourist visa, but normally your partner would have to apply for residency upon return to Thailand. I believe the current applicable visas are Partner (Temporary and Permanent) (subclass 820 and 801) visas; again a bit more detail at URL below.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books1.htm

http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/#vw=%23a_results

[krisb]

Id probably take this path. Since your planning a return to Aus in 2 or 3 years, get the partner visa. This takes time to get, just use the visa wizard on the DIAC website for all the info on it, but heres the jist. She can work in Aus, get Medicare and TFN. The partner/married visa is 2 part. First is temporary which lasts 2 years. Then it goes to permanent for 4 years. After that she can get full resident status. This visa allows her to travel freely between Aus and Thai similar to being an Aussie. Since your not planning on a coming back to Aus for a while, you have time to concentrate on 1 decent full time visa, not the short time visitor visa while also saving the cost of 2 visa applications. We got our partner visa easily enough and we are both in our 30s. I sorted it out myself, wasnt hard and Im quite hopeless at filling out these Govt forms, gives me a headache!

ps, dont forget to check the baby bonus out for bubs.

Good luck with the new baby!

[Didge 79]

krisib, simple 1, harry, Jasun, Tomtom69

Thank you all very much for the replys helpful, constructive and encouraging. I'm surprised I had not found this Forum in the past. Its all seems much more achievable now that it did after reading though the pages in Thai and Australian Immigration websites.

krisib, big shout-out for the baby bonus tip I would have missed that one alltogether!

Cheers

[simple1]

OP: Don't forget the baby bonus is only available if meeting Australian resident criteria. Baby Bonus is only payable if your family's estimated combined adjusted taxable income is $75,000 or less in the six months after your child is born or enters your care. You have up to 52 weeks from the birth of your baby or from the time your child enters your care to claim Baby Bonus and provide your income estimate.

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/baby-bonus

[harrry]

OP: Don't forget the baby bonus is only available if meeting Australian resident criteria. Baby Bonus is only payable if your family's estimated combined adjusted taxable income is $75,000 or less in the six months after your child is born or enters your care. You have up to 52 weeks from the birth of your baby or from the time your child enters your care to claim Baby Bonus and provide your income estimate.

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/baby-bonus

OP: Don't forget the baby bonus is only available if meeting Australian resident criteria. Baby Bonus is only payable if your family's estimated combined adjusted taxable income is $75,000 or less in the six months after your child is born or enters your care. You have up to 52 weeks from the birth of your baby or from the time your child enters your care to claim Baby Bonus and provide your income estimate.

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/baby-bonus

Also it may reduce next year if plans are passed

[mickjn]

Sir I do not know a lot about this but I will tell you something I heard from a Thai Lady.I went to LOS and bought an sons fiancee out as he was working.2 days later at the weekend he came and got her and they went back together to where he was working.They would come back here now and again then go back to his work.She stayed for 3 months.When the time was up and she was going home another lady from her village turned up at Brisbane Airport with a present for her son for Kat to take back with her.I was talking to the lady,how do you like Australia etc and she was say how much she liked it etc.She told me the only mistake she made was they didnt get married in Thailand.What that meant or that it does I do not know it is just what the lady said to me

[oldsailor35]

Well, good luck, hope you have plenty of money, but you will be going at a good time with a change of government for the better in september.