Australia spouse migration question

[patongphil]

Our position is married with 2 young kids, both dual citizens with both passports. Have decided to head back to Oz for kids schooling. Wife of 5 years is Thai and mother to both, our oldest kid is due to start primary school in Feb 2017.

Anyway if we apply for migration visa now with the 12 month waiting period we will be too late to be in Oz for the start of the school year.

The way I see it is we have 3 options.

1) Apply for migration visa here in Thailand now, wait on approval and head over in early 2018. This will leave oldest kid doing first year of primary here which is not a real problem.

2) Apply for migration visa here and if not received before end of year head off on a tourist visa having to return to get the migration visa once approved. This could have issues with our youngest who requires full time care from Mum.

3) Apply for a tourist visa and then apply for migration once in Oz.

Can anyone correct me in these assumptions and/or add any other possibilities.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[machans88]

I am in the same situation as you family wise. We put our application forward in January, hoping to make school year next feb.

Hoping it will be a 10month wait, as seems to be more common. I think you have to register your child in October before the school year starts as well.

I personally would put it in as soon as possible, register your child for the school year in October and either go over youself first with the school age child and wait for spouse visa or more sensibly just wait in Thailand, at 5/6 yo a few months missed school wont matter, he could attend here for a while or do a bit of reading/homeschool with child yourself.

[simple1]

Only a tip. Ensure children are up to date with their vaccinations (bring translated vaccination history doco from Thailand) otherwise cannot be enrolled at school nor are you able to apply for family tax benefits through Centrelink.

[Will27]

3) Apply for a tourist visa and then apply for migration once in Oz.​

There is a high probability that a tourist visa will have 8503 No Further Stay condition

which means you will be unable to apply for migration in Oz.

If visa doesn't have 8503, you can apply from Oz.

[Clamhua]

My understanding, to apply in Oz the application fee is some $2000 aud more than if you apply outside Australia

[patongphil]

Well looks like we may just apply for the migration route asap and then see what happens. If it takes us well into next year then just stay here a bit longer as pretty loathe to move kids in the middle of a school year.

Another question. How do you deal with passports expiring during the process. Wife's passport will expire mid next year so should we try get new passport before we start the application or is not too big an issue to change mid stream?