Requirements for a non-immigrant O visa (parent of a Thai child)

[dottie]

Hi

In October, I will be going to Australia to change my non-immigrant B to non-immigrant O visa after I finish working here in Bangkok.

I am the mother of a Thai child but am not married to her father. I'm not over 50 years old. My child and I are both on my tabien baan (she on the blue book and myself on the yellow book) and she has a Thai passport as well a British one.

What are the requirements for getting a non-immigrant O visa in Australia?

Will I initially only get a 90-day visa and then have to apply for an extension when back in Thailand?

What documents will I need to present?

Will I also need any paperwork from her father?

Are there any financial requirements (e.g. THB 400k in a Thai bank for 3 months prior to applying) for the initial application or is that just for the extension?

I have searched all over the web (including TV) and found lots of different information so I'm not at all sure now.

If anyone has any useful information, that would be great.

Cheers!

[Mario2008]

You would get a non-O visa based on your child's Thai nationality.

In Thailand itself you can get extensions of stay every year if you can show either:

- an income of 40,000 baht a month (can be from abroad)

OR

- can show 400,000 baht in a bank account in Thailand in your name.

Seasoning of mney should not be required if based on your child.

Papers of the father should not be required, but they might need proof that you are living with the child.

Note that you do not have to leave Thailand after your work ends. You could get a 60 day extension based on your child (no finanacials needed, except the fee) or even directly apply for a 1 year extension of stay.

[dottie]

Hi Mario2008, thank you so much for your very quick and comprehensive reply. I've been having some problems with the TV website lately so I've been trying to write to say thanks for some time!

How do you know all this stuff?

It's great information. Most of what I found online doesn't relate to a non-Thai mum of a Thai child so I thought things might be a bit different. The info about not having to show the financial requirements and 3-month "seasoning" is one less worry now. My 400k was going to come from a Provident Fund but obviously I wouldn't get that until I left work so it wouldn't have "seasoned" in time.

I have plenty of evidence that I live with my child...she has a disability so we make regular visits to government hospsitals under the social security system (lots of hospital receipts!). We have a good relationship with her dad who pays for most stuff for her, so he'd be fine with writing a letter in case we need it.

I'm going to Australia anyway so it's good timing for changing my visa. However, it's good to know that I wouldn't have to leave the country immediately if anything changed for me workwise.

Good news for me...and thanks again from one exhausted working mum who needs a break. If I get any further information after my Aussie visit, I'll feed back on this!

[Mario2008]

When going abroad with your child, use the Thai passport of your child and join her in the line of Thai naitonals. That one is often shorter.

Do take her birth certificate with you, to confirm you are her mother. immigration can ask for it.

[jrtmedic]

When going abroad with your child, use the Thai passport of your child and join her in the line of Thai naitonals. That one is often shorter.

Do take her birth certificate with you, to confirm you are her mother. immigration can ask for it.

If doing this you must also make sure that an Australian e-visa is obtained for the childs British passport. (Easy on line process)

Leave and re-enter Thailand using the childs Thai passport. Use her British passport to enter/leave Australia.

[dottie]

Thanks guys, I do all this already...all sound advice it is too!

The only time I use her Thai passport for entering other countries is when we go to Singapore (need to save those valuable pages in her expensive UK passport). If we ever go to Laos, Cambodia etc, we'll use the Thai passport.

People with small kids actually usually get summoned to an express lane at immigration, whether they're Thai or not. I just wished they would do this in Heathrow, one of the most user-unfriendly airports I've been to.

Thanks again!