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Posted

I just have afew more questions as we are in the final stages of putting our application together....

1- As im not working here, how much saving do you think I would need to have in Oz as a minimun to proove I can support the wife?

2- Would a job offer letter from Oz saying i will have a job there when i return also help to proove I can support her financially?

3- We are in no hurry to change her surname, but do you think it would make any difference if she uses her Thai surname or changes it to my surname before she applies for the visa?

4- I dont have phone bills to proove I called her when we were apart, I always used calling cards and I have about 50 calling cards, do you think this would be suiteable to show as i can not show phone bills?

5- How many photos would be to many to send, Ive gone throught the thousands of photos we have and I have put together an album with about 300. is 300 to many or not enough photos?

6- All the e-mails she sent me were deleted from my e-mail ages ago as I did not know i would need them for this, but she has about 50 e-mails that i sent her, would this be enough e-mails? We also have lots of letters in origional envelopes.

7- I can only find 2 money transsfer reciepts only for a total of about 1000 AUD, would this be ok to proove i sent her some money?

8- Does the medical and police check need to be done in BKK before we submit the application as they get sent straight to the embassy?

I was thinking of lodging the application at the Embassy rather than the visa app center and then taking her to get the medical and police clearance check so when the embassy recieves her medical and police clearance, our application would al ready be in the system.

thanks for all the help guys and gals, but that is all we need to know before we start this long headache of a process................

Posted

My wife got her visa a couple of weeks ago (she's arriving this SATURDAY!!!!) and maybe our experience could assist.

1. I had next to nothing - had been living in LOS so not earning a lot of money. I did have a job and income to go back to and provided proof of that.

2. Yes undoubtedly.

3. My wife didn't change her surname even tho we were married in Oz, and then returned to live in Thailand. She applied using her maiden name as that was the name in her passport, ID card etc. I don't think it made any difference. Besides many women keep their maiden names these days.

4. Write about the phone cards in the supporting letter - name the companies etc. It must be a common occurrence these days - phone cards are so much cheaper!!

5. I would have thought 300 was too many but I guess if they are ALL relevant it would be OK.

6. Same same for me - just provided the letters and envelopes.

7.If thats all you've got, well so be it.

8. The medical check was sent to the embassy before my wife's application was lodged and there were no problems. BUT I have heard of them being lost. I wouldn't be too worried if you do the medical check a little bit before the application goes in (say within a month). The police check was done by my wife and it was given to her to be translated and certified at the Thai Foreign Affairs Office. They didn't send anything to the embassy as far as I know. So do it so it goes in with the application.

So good luck. Stay positive, it could take a while (maybe not) and remember that when dealing with bureaucrats and policemen its always "yes sir, no sir, whatever you say sir!!"

Posted

:D Thank you....Op's circumstances sound fairly similar to ours. (we had a couple of other issues to sort out so it ended up taking 5 months)

AND

Up the mighty Eagles....what a heart stopper!!! :o

Posted

MY MAIN CONCERN IS THE MONEY ISSUE BEING ABLE TO PROOVE I CAN SUPPORT HER.

I am only 23 years old but i have a very good savings history, so I hope by showing all my past bank statements of my account which now has AUD 30,000 that will be enough.

I have 2 letters from my employers here saying how much i earn here, about 50,000 THB per month, but I have been working with out a work permit and i dont know how the embassy will take this. I doubt they will make a hassle for me here in LOS but they might think I plan to cheat the system when back in Oz, so if the 30,000 AUD savings should be enough I wont declare me under the table money ive earnt whilst here. This is whats giving me the head ache...................Should i use my so called "illegale" income here or not?????

Posted

$AUD 30,000 is more than enough to prove you are able to support her.

Any bank statements that you produce should show a steady increase of these funds over a period of time, as opposed to one or two substantial deposits which would look suspect.

If your Thailand employer is prepared to supply a Statement of Earnings for you, use them in your application by all means. I can't see any need to disclose the fact that you have no working permit.

The Embassy don't need to know that, and I can't think of any valid reason why they might ask.

Posted

Thanks for all your help. All the money was transfered and deposited into that account mostly last October before I came here, money from selling car, motorbike and savings. Its just been sitting there getting interest and sometimes i transfer a little ammount between accounts to pay for credit card, but last Oct it had a balance of 30K and it has remained around the 30K mark for over 1 year now.

I dont want to lie to the embassy, so im happy to use my letters of employment from here as proof i have been working here, not just bumming around doing nothing. If i told them ive been living here not working for 1 year they might be curious on how i have been supporting myself or might not believe me, so yeah, maybe it would work in our favor to provide those letters......................I just dont want them to make a deal out of it that i have so called been cheating the system here or make problems with the ATO for me.

Posted

This is relating to translation services.

Before I start translating doccuments, i just want to clarify what needs to be translated. The only doccuments in Thai that we would need to submit are her Household Registration copy, ID card copy, Birth certificate copy, Name change cert copies and Marriage certificate/ marriage extract from amphur copy.................correct?

We don't need the other doccuments as we havent been divorced before nor have children.

Now my question is.....................in the partner info book and on the internet it says "You should also provide an English translation of any doccument in another language"

It does not say it needs to be certified or done by a translation agency, can we do it our self because my wife has translated doccuments before, or does it need to be done and stamped by a translation agency? And after a translation has been done, do they need to be stamped by the ministry of foreign affairs?

I have no problem paying afew thousand baht for translations if we cant do it, but its a head ache to go to foreign affairs. Any opinions on what doccuments and how we should get the translations done.

Can anyone recomend a good translation service that is not to expensive?

Thanks again guys..............

Anthony

Posted (edited)

I was under the impression that translated official documents had be certified. If I remember correctly it does say that somewhere but I could be wrong. I doubt very much they would accept just your wife's translation. Maybe she could translate them and then get them certified.

Its a hassle getting them certified but a bigger hassle would be to get them sent back a month after putting your application in saying they have to be done again.

There's lots of places that do translations, particularly near the embassies. I'll bet they're all about the same price!!!

Edited by Sporting Dog
Posted

"You should provide original documents and a set of clear copies. All originals will be returned to you after the copies have been certified. You should also provide an English translation of any document in another language. "

After reading that from the Oz embassy BKK website I am under the impression that I will need to take origional copies of all the relevant doccuments to the embassy. I will have the origional Thai doccuments and a set of Translated copies, with the translation agencys stamp on them. If they will certify the doccuments at the Embassy, then there is not need to go to froiegn Affairs to get them certified after being translated, correct? If so that will make the whole process simple...........................

1- Get origional doccuments.

2- Copy origional doccuments.

3- Get a translation into english and get the translation agencys stamp on the copy.

4- Take copies and origionals to the embassy.

5- The embassy will certifiy the copies and return the origionals to me.

Meaning i dont have to go to foreign affairs..................correct? :o

Posted
"You should provide original documents and a set of clear copies. All originals will be returned to you after the copies have been certified. You should also provide an English translation of any document in another language. "

After reading that from the Oz embassy BKK website I am under the impression that I will need to take origional copies of all the relevant doccuments to the embassy. I will have the origional Thai doccuments and a set of Translated copies, with the translation agencys stamp on them. If they will certify the doccuments at the Embassy, then there is not need to go to froiegn Affairs to get them certified after being translated, correct? If so that will make the whole process simple...........................

1- Get origional doccuments.

2- Copy origional doccuments.

3- Get a translation into english and get the translation agencys stamp on the copy.

4- Take copies and origionals to the embassy.

5- The embassy will certifiy the copies and return the origionals to me.

Meaning i dont have to go to foreign affairs..................correct? :o

Call this translation service, apparently it is on the Oz embassy official list.

Interlanguage Translation Centre, just off Sukkumvit road at Wireless Road I am told by Bronco.

Phone:- 022527450 and ask to speak to Titita Murphy, she can organise everything. :D

Posted
"You should provide original documents and a set of clear copies. All originals will be returned to you after the copies have been certified. You should also provide an English translation of any document in another language. "

After reading that from the Oz embassy BKK website I am under the impression that I will need to take origional copies of all the relevant doccuments to the embassy. I will have the origional Thai doccuments and a set of Translated copies, with the translation agencys stamp on them. If they will certify the doccuments at the Embassy, then there is not need to go to froiegn Affairs to get them certified after being translated, correct? If so that will make the whole process simple...........................

1- Get origional doccuments.

2- Copy origional doccuments.

3- Get a translation into english and get the translation agencys stamp on the copy.

4- Take copies and origionals to the embassy.

5- The embassy will certifiy the copies and return the origionals to me.

Meaning i dont have to go to foreign affairs..................correct? :o

Correct....

just pay the fees...

Posted (edited)

I was under the impression that while the embassy will certify that they are true copies of the originals, they wouldn't certify that the translations are 'correct' from Thai to English. That is what the Thai foreign Affairs does. I didn't think a stamp from the translation company was adequate to show that the translation was correct....they've all got a bunch of official looking stamps they've had made up.

I had all the Thai document translations certified as correct by Foreign Affairs and a few of the other people I worked with had to do it too when they presented transaltions of Thai docs to their embassies.

Edited by Sporting Dog
Posted

Interlanguage Translation Centre - Ive used them before, actually, they were the translation agency i used when i got the stat dec from the Oz embassy to say i was single before i got married translated. they were very professional and I was intending to use them again, so that gives me confidence to hear you mention that place. Thanks.

I guess when ready, ill just take all the doccuments that need to be translated, ablout 7 or 8 doccuments i guess to Interlanguage and take it from there, im sure they will advise me what to do after the translation is complete. Hopefully i can just go the the embassy and skip foreign affairs.......hopefully :o

Posted
Interlanguage Translation Centre - Ive used them before, actually, they were the translation agency i used when i got the stat dec from the Oz embassy to say i was single before i got married translated. they were very professional and I was intending to use them again, so that gives me confidence to hear you mention that place. Thanks.

I guess when ready, ill just take all the doccuments that need to be translated, ablout 7 or 8 doccuments i guess to Interlanguage and take it from there, im sure they will advise me what to do after the translation is complete. Hopefully i can just go the the embassy and skip foreign affairs.......hopefully :o

They are good and can handle all aspects of marriage and translation documentation required

Posted

Will the embassy accept typed letters from myself and my wife about our relation ship, or do they have to be hand writtn? We have signed every page on the letters we typed.

I have just completed 1 stat dec form 888 stating how much i love her and how i will take care of her financially and make sure she does not dreak any rules under her visa, shit like that. To add to that, I have typed a 7 page letter containing all relevant details about our relation ship, as the stat dec form 888 is not enough space. So will they accept typed letters? Or does everything need to be hand written on the stat dec forms?

Posted

I forgot to add.......................

It says date of marriage on the form, Is that the date we got our marriage registered? Because we had our wedding about 2 months before we went to the amphur to register our marriage.

And, where is says when and where we first met........................Is that the date we first met in person, i mean face to face or is that the date where we first knew each other (example: met on the internet)

Thanks for all your help.

I called Interlanguage Translations, and worked out for each doccument to be translated and then stamped by foreign affairs, it will be a total cost of around 800 baht per doccument times 8 or 9 doccuments!!! Plus what ever the embassy charges to then certify the doccuments............

Posted

They would probably prefer typed letters etc....rather than try and translate someones handwriting...I have used typed Stat Decs before.

They want the date of the actual marriage which should be on the Amphurs records when you registered it.

Yes the date you first met in person...if you cant remember that then a close approximation will suffice, it is not something that can be checked.

Have your wife find someone who can translate the documents and someone who is authorised to certify the documents, I am sure she will find someone cheaper...

Posted
They would probably prefer typed letters etc....rather than try and translate someones handwriting...I have used typed Stat Decs before.

They want the date of the actual marriage which should be on the Amphurs records when you registered it.

Yes the date you first met in person...if you cant remember that then a close approximation will suffice, it is not something that can be checked.

Have your wife find someone who can translate the documents and someone who is authorised to certify the documents, I am sure she will find someone cheaper...

Thanks mate. I guess ill put the date we met in person then, by using the date we met in person it kind of makes the rest of the dates (Date we began relationship, Date we decided to get married)close to gether, i mean it makes it look like we rushed into a relationship and engagement but we actually knew each other 6 months before we met in person. Maybe ill write about that in a letter so they can see that we actually knew each other before we met and that we did not rush into things. Do you think this would help? Thanks mates.................

Posted

Hi there

I have just read your questions about stat decs and statements etc so I thought I'd tell you what we did. This may help you. We did it around 2001 but it was onshore application based on de facto relationship. I was in Australia at the time but I think it makes no differences in term of what they call "Evidence that your relationship is genuine". I have read the current migration booklet it hasn't changed at all.

You must not get confused about Form 888 (which must be written by your witness of the relationship) and the applicants statements (written by you and your wife, separately).

What we had with our application:

- 3 (you only need 2 but better having more than less) x form 888 written by our friends and my husband's mother, which are Australian citizens (Permanent Resident will do too). Your witness should be a person with steady job and sounds mature. We get them to attach 1 A4 letter with the form; they described how they know us and why they think that our relationship was genuine. Your witness will sign form 888 and then he/she will need a JP (or similar) to sign as witness of his/her declaration.

- 2 x statements written by each of us. We typed the letter and did not make them as stat dec but you can also have them as stat dec signed by JP. We did write quite long letters (about 3-4 pages each). You don't really need to sign or put you initial on every page but they really should be in English. Basically I wrote how I met my husband (for you I think it should be first time you know that this person exists in the world, not the day you met in person), how my relationship has developed, how we keep in touch (if you have ever separated), how we support each other financially, emotionally, socially and physically, and what I think your future with this person going to be. Just make it up, pretend that you're writing an essay or research paper (seriously, like when I wrote about our trips, I said "see picture number 25", or when I said we were members of the same club, I said "see the club's membership newsletter, document number 10") We were actually laughing as we wrote this really sickly sweet statement. I could imagine our case officer would almost throw up reading this. :D

Sorry :o ... I am just trying to be funny I know this is stressful believe me I was so worried too even though I knew our relationship was real and we did everything by the book. We had collected every single piece of letters, opened joint bank accounts 10 months before lodging application and put like $1000 in it every month, printed many emails out, attached like 100 photos, submitted every plan tickets and hotel bills. We ended up with 4 gigantic A4 folders.

My advice, mate, don't rush. Prepare as much as you can. Check and re-check the list of everything you need for your application. Read the booklet at least 10 times to make sure you don't miss any single thing. I spent like 1.5 months doing nothing (I wasn't working back then) but preparing application. It paid off though, we were granted the visa at the spot (interview was set like 2 hours after lodging --- too good to be true), pending on my Aussie police record check (because I had been living in Australia for the last 12 moths --- I did have Thai police record check done prior). Our case officer did say that we had too much evidence and it would have been quicker if we didn't give her this much!

Well, we didn't know! Everyone said it would take at least 3 months. Back then DIMA advised that you should lodge your visa in the same time as your request from police record. 2 weeks later, my police record check came, and whoopee, I got my Temporary Resident visa stamped!

Good luck! :D

Kateb

Posted

Thanks for your reply. I will have about 6 stat dec form 888's filled out by my mother, father, aunty, friends in Oz and friends in thailand. i hope the stat decs from my family will help as they are all Oz citizens and they love and approve of my wife and our relationship.

I have a specially made photo album for the embassy with about 180 photos of us and family and friends in it, with lables attached.

I also wrote a 7 page letter about our relation ship and My wife will do the same (I doubt hers will be 7 pages because she is not a native english speaker) but anyway, thanks for your help. I am really confident but I want to apply plenty of time in advance just incase they have issues, which i doubt as we are both young, we have never been married before and we dont have any dependants/ childred.

I will ask the embassy what date I should put in regards to when and where we met, im sure they can advise me what would be more appropriate, bucause I just want to make sure i put in the application with the correct information.

Thanks,

Anthony

Posted

Anthony

Sounds like you're in the right track! I will leave to you to it then :D.

You know sometimes in the middle of summer when my hubby and I are having mates for a BBQ with cricket on the background, I am drinking bubbly with the girls, preparing salad, thinking that I am so... happy but I still remember first question DIMA officer asked us "how would you like to pay for the application fee?". :o

Cheers,

Kateb

Posted
Hi there

I have just read your questions about stat decs and statements etc so I thought I'd tell you what we did. This may help you. We did it around 2001 but it was onshore application based on de facto relationship. I was in Australia at the time but I think it makes no differences in term of what they call "Evidence that your relationship is genuine". I have read the current migration booklet it hasn't changed at all.

You must not get confused about Form 888 (which must be written by your witness of the relationship) and the applicants statements (written by you and your wife, separately).

What we had with our application:

- 3 (you only need 2 but better having more than less) x form 888 written by our friends and my husband's mother, which are Australian citizens (Permanent Resident will do too). Your witness should be a person with steady job and sounds mature. We get them to attach 1 A4 letter with the form; they described how they know us and why they think that our relationship was genuine. Your witness will sign form 888 and then he/she will need a JP (or similar) to sign as witness of his/her declaration.

- 2 x statements written by each of us. We typed the letter and did not make them as stat dec but you can also have them as stat dec signed by JP. We did write quite long letters (about 3-4 pages each). You don't really need to sign or put you initial on every page but they really should be in English. Basically I wrote how I met my husband (for you I think it should be first time you know that this person exists in the world, not the day you met in person), how my relationship has developed, how we keep in touch (if you have ever separated), how we support each other financially, emotionally, socially and physically, and what I think your future with this person going to be. Just make it up, pretend that you're writing an essay or research paper (seriously, like when I wrote about our trips, I said "see picture number 25", or when I said we were members of the same club, I said "see the club's membership newsletter, document number 10") We were actually laughing as we wrote this really sickly sweet statement. I could imagine our case officer would almost throw up reading this. :D

Sorry :o ... I am just trying to be funny I know this is stressful believe me I was so worried too even though I knew our relationship was real and we did everything by the book. We had collected every single piece of letters, opened joint bank accounts 10 months before lodging application and put like $1000 in it every month, printed many emails out, attached like 100 photos, submitted every plan tickets and hotel bills. We ended up with 4 gigantic A4 folders.

My advice, mate, don't rush. Prepare as much as you can. Check and re-check the list of everything you need for your application. Read the booklet at least 10 times to make sure you don't miss any single thing. I spent like 1.5 months doing nothing (I wasn't working back then) but preparing application. It paid off though, we were granted the visa at the spot (interview was set like 2 hours after lodging --- too good to be true), pending on my Aussie police record check (because I had been living in Australia for the last 12 moths --- I did have Thai police record check done prior). Our case officer did say that we had too much evidence and it would have been quicker if we didn't give her this much!

Well, we didn't know! Everyone said it would take at least 3 months. Back then DIMA advised that you should lodge your visa in the same time as your request from police record. 2 weeks later, my police record check came, and whoopee, I got my Temporary Resident visa stamped!

Good luck! :D

Kateb

Thanks for the input and some good advice....there have been a lot of changes since 2001 due to various events and increased security measures.

Posted
Thanks mate. I guess ill put the date we met in person then, by using the date we met in person it kind of makes the rest of the dates (Date we began relationship, Date we decided to get married)close to gether, i mean it makes it look like we rushed into a relationship and engagement but we actually knew each other 6 months before we met in person. Maybe ill write about that in a letter so they can see that we actually knew each other before we met and that we did not rush into things. Do you think this would help? Thanks mates.................

You can address that in a covering letter or on a stat dec.

Posted

I called the visa app center in BKK today and they told me. "After you get the thai doccuments translated into english, make sure the translation agency stamps their stamp on the doccuments. Then you can bring the doccuments here to apply for your visa. You dont need to go to foriegn affairs to have them stamped there as well"

Too much conflicting information.....................

I might just go there next tuesday afternoon and speak to the Australian Embassy visa staff that will be there during that time unless someone else can confirm that info about translated doccuments.

Also they said I can use the date we first came into contact with each other or the date we first met in person, as long as I can proove it. (I have e-mails to proove that we knew each other 4 months before we met in person)

Do you think it will look bad if I wrote we met on the internet? Well we are married now anyway and have been together for over 2 years so i dont see how they could hold that against us..........

Posted
Well we are married now anyway and have been together for over 2 years so i dont see how they could hold that against us..........

Answered your own question there....

Posted

In regards to presentation...................

Any advice on how well the application and the evidencs needs to be presented? Any tips?

Ive put together a special photo album with about 180 photos in it, all labeled.

We have all of the e-mails in a folder, each e-mail in its oum plastic sleve, making it easy to read.

We have all our letters and envelopes in their own plastic sleves.

How should the application forms be presented? Should they just be pepercliped together and put into one plastic sleve, or can each page be in its oun sleve in a folder, making it easy for the staff to flick through and read?

Should a table of contents be added?

Any other advice would be apprieciated.

Posted
In regards to presentation...................

Any advice on how well the application and the evidencs needs to be presented? Any tips?

Ive put together a special photo album with about 180 photos in it, all labeled.

We have all of the e-mails in a folder, each e-mail in its oum plastic sleve, making it easy to read.

We have all our letters and envelopes in their own plastic sleves.

How should the application forms be presented? Should they just be pepercliped together and put into one plastic sleve, or can each page be in its oun sleve in a folder, making it easy for the staff to flick through and read?

Should a table of contents be added?

Any other advice would be apprieciated.

Upto you....it is the quality that is looked at not the presentation....keeping similar items grouped together would probably be a good start

Posted

How flexibale are the case officers who are handeling your application in regards to your visa grant date???

What I mean is, I will apply for my wifes visa along time in advance before we want to go to Australia, What happens if its granted before we want to go ? Does the case officer talk to you so you can express your intentions? is there some flexibility? or do they just say, <deleted> you, here is your visa, use it or loose it?

I ask cause we would like to go to the USA in around June / july 2007 and then come back to Thailand for 2 weeks then move to Australia. However, we will only go to the USA if her Oz visa is granted first, cause if her Oz visa is not granted, I would obviously not quit the job here to take holidays to the usa. Another reason for the holiday to the usa is to Visit my mum and family who live there, we know there are some restrictions that she will not be able to travel out of Oz for a certain period of time after arriving, so we want to visit all the family overseas so when we get to Oz, we can just settle down.

How would the caseofficer take this? Do you think they would be flexible or not?

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