Here Are 2 Common Questions We Got About Marrying a Thai Lady in Australia
Question #1: Is there a difference between a fiancee visa and a prospective marriage visa?
Answer: You need to secure a prospective marriage visa or a fiancee visa for her so that your union can proceed smoothly. What is the difference between the two? For the short answer, there is absolutely no difference at all. But pursuant to the Australian Migration Regulations, the correct term for a fiancee visa is the prospective marriage visa. Or if you want to get really technical, the term would be a subclass 300 prospective marriage visa but we can all simply refer to it as a fiancee visa.
As you may already understand, you have to prove that you are in fact engaged to be married before you can apply for a prospective marriage visa. This is the main criteria for a successful grant of a fiancee visa where your Thai girlfriend can now enter your home country. The applicant (your Thai fiancee) and the sponsor (you) should be able to clearly present that you both have a genuine relationship and really intend to marry in the future when she already stays in Australia.
Once a fiancee visa is granted, it is valid for 9 months from the date of visa grant. Bear in mind though that this type of visa is just temporary. Your Thai girl under this visa should enter Australia within the period of 9 months and marry you there. If she fails to do so for whatever reason, or you both get married prior to entering Australia, then this means she has breached a condition of her visa. Once you have brought your fiancée to Australia, you can now set in motion your wedding plans and conduct the actual wedding ceremony within the 9 month period. Some prefer intimate ceremonies most probably because most of their fiancée’s Thai relatives will not be present.
On the other hand, some like to splurge and conduct a grand ceremony to celebrate her coming to Australia. Either way, it is up to you. After all, a wedding is about the couple celebrating their love and starting a new journey together. When you have succeeded in marrying her in your home country, she must apply for a partner visa afterwards. This is another visa application and your wife (as she would then be) should make an application for a temporary partner visa.
At the same time, she must also apply for the permanent partner visa, but you have to wait for two years before this type of visa will be granted. This is to determine if the relationship between the sponsor and applicant is still authentic and strong before your Thai girl can be granted with the Australian permanent residency.
This would benefit you and your partner greatly as part of starting a new life together in Australia. This would open up employment opportunities for your Thai fiancée which is a big help for anyone starting a new life in a foreign country. The chance to work and be assimilated into the community and learn about the people and the Australian culture would enable her to adapt to her new environment.
Question #2: What to do if your Thai girl is not granted a fiancee visa?
Answer: What are other options in case your Thai fiancee is refused a fiancee visa grant? You can actually let her apply for a tourist visa first which grants her 3 months of stay in Australia. Can you marry there at that time? The answer is yes, you can as long as she exits Australia after the 3 month period. However, she has the option to stay longer if her tourist visa does not have the ‘no further stay’ condition (8503) attached to it. If this is the case, she can apply for a partner visa while in Australia after your marriage there without having to return to Thailand. But if her tourist visa has the ‘no further stay condition’ (8503) attached to it, she cannot stay beyond 3 months. Therefore, she must depart Australia prior to the tourist visa expiry. By then, she can apply for the partner visa offshore, in Thailand most probably.
To determine whether her current visa has the ‘no further stay’ condition attached to it, you should look at her visa grant in case you have opted for the tourist visa, and it will either make mention of Condition 8503, or it will not.
For more information on the no further stay condition, you can refer to this website http://www.australianvisaforum.com. Once again, you have to bear in mind that any partner visa application must show evidence that you both have a relationship that is continuing, mutually exclusive commitment and genuine as to having a shared life together as husband and wife. For related details about this, you can read the relevant section of the Migration Regulations that sets out the factors considered when assessing whether a genuine spousal relationship exists through this resource
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/s1.15a.html.
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