Posted 2006-08-02 16:32:41
 Mighty Mouse, on 2006-07-26 09:32:55, said:
Embassy staff come and go but as long as they remain working for Immigration, their email addy stays the same.
If you are now in Australia, you can phone the Immigration office in your capital city and they will tell you where Rob Chambers is now located and provide his email address.
Not quite. When Immigration staff return home they revert to the Immigration network which has addresses, I think that end in @immi.gov.au. They only have DFAT addresses when posted overseas.
Posted 2006-08-17 13:17:46
interesting and intelligent comments guys.
what about the other reason for the snail's pace.
the unofficial gov policy.
"all asian women are prostitutes and we don't want them in australia"
"all other asian women divorce you after 12 months and bring their family here and we don't want them"
i have limited experience.
years ago in melb. just asking about a TV for a Myanmar woman, the young lass said to me,
"yeah, they all wanna come here"
Application was denied,
review only done after I asked a gov. minister I know to assist.
how long does it take for a USA wife i wonder?
I am an oz citizen and I know how racist my current government and fellow citizens are.
as for the quality of the staff my only insight was the chap from the hanoi embassy i met on arriving in Yangon, in taxi into town, his only questions were where he could find prostitutes and if he can take them to his hotel.
Posted 2006-09-02 11:50:51
Early this year the Aust Embassy advertised for a new position abt 60000 baht pcm to be a medium for applicants of visa' between front counter staff and the aussie staff (among other duties of course). Part of the job discription indicated that people that wanting to find out information about their application could contact this person? Has anyone got an update as to this person or if they were appointed? 
Posted 2006-09-02 13:53:43
I have read this thread with great interest.
Rather than have another non-constructive rant about the Australian Embassy in BKK and their methods, I was thinking about the difference in Visa processing between the same type of Visa for Thailand and Australia.
Another thought that comes to mind is the difference in attitude concerning the Visa's. Australia seems to take this rather precious attitude and in some way they are more special than any other country. This is then augmented by the compliccated and lengthy process to get any kind of visa.
The policy is at a minimum discrimination. Its another example of the institutionalised xenaphobia of the Australian government. As an examle If my wife came from England or the USA, it is simple to get a tourist Visa, if one is required at all. The following countries can apply for the Electronic Visa. But if your partner is outside these countries, then really you are not going to have an easy time.
* Andorra .... * Iceland .... * Portugal
* Austria .... * Ireland .... * San Marino
* Belgium .... * Italy .... * Singapore
* Brunei .... * Japan .... * South Korea
* Canada .... * Liechtenstein .... * Spain
* Denmark .... * Luxembourg .... * Sweden
* Finland .... * Malaysia .... * Switzerland
* France .... * Malta .... * United Kingdom
* Germany .... * Monaco .... * United States Of America
* Greece .... * Netherlands .... * Vatican City
* Hong Kong SAR .... * Norway
The tennant in Australia that all people are equal etc, does not seem to translate to Immigration policy.
Posted 2006-09-02 20:12:35
This is a place where we can find out who to contact at the embassy....if you want to discuss goverment immigration policies or other subjects...then do it in the main area.... 
Posted 2006-09-02 21:40:23
gburns57au, on 2006-09-02 20:12:35, said: This is a place where we can find out who to contact at the embassy....if you want to discuss goverment immigration policies or other subjects...then do it in the main area....
What was the point of the post khutan? How can things be improved?  
Posted 2006-09-03 17:57:47
Chris Lawrence, on 2006-09-02 22:40:23, said: gburns57au, on 2006-09-02 20:12:35, said:
This is a place where we can find out who to contact at the embassy....if you want to discuss goverment immigration policies or other subjects...then do it in the main area....
What was the point of the post khutan? How can things be improved?
This is not the place for this discussion....
Posted 2006-09-03 20:12:57
gburns57au, on 2006-09-03 17:57:47, said: Chris Lawrence, on 2006-09-02 22:40:23, said:
gburns57au, on 2006-09-02 20:12:35, said:
This is a place where we can find out who to contact at the embassy....if you want to discuss goverment immigration policies or other subjects...then do it in the main area....
What was the point of the post khutan? How can things be improved?
This is not the place for this discussion....
Graham, is this a "flaming" comment. I just re read the forum rules and I can't see where it said the reply was not appropriate.
Maybe Khatan had some further constructive ways of dealing with the DIMA staff? I don't know. When I started the original post I was hoping to see if people had some other ways of dealing with DIMA in Bangkok; one of the ways was to get to know the staff.
The other was a forum where people could share their thoughts. Many people can be affected by the political process both their spirit and their emotions. Sometimes first timers to the forum may find it hard to put this down; go easy on their spirit, I know I wouldn't want to break them any more.
The fact of the matter is that DIMA does go about their business in a strange way, as reported by the Ombudsman's annual report. A rational person may draw the conclusion that the Department acts in a rascist way?
I just think it was great that a legacy of the problems that I shared in this forum continue here. The more the shortcomings of a service are exposed the better for all.
Anyway did you find out about the person who was appointed to the new position? 
Posted 2006-09-05 19:34:35
Chris Lawrence, on 2006-09-03 21:12:57, said: Graham, is this a "flaming" comment. I just re read the forum rules and I can't see where it said the reply was not appropriate.
I had forgotten that this started as a general post but was pinned after some good info was given, so my apologies for that...
I think a "Whos who at the Embassy" is a great idea....keeping up to date contacts at Immigration and the Embassy who can assist with application enquiries when the need arises for it, without having to trawl through piles of posts to find them.
Perhaps a current list could be compiled and a new pinned thread started...
Edited by gburns57au, 2006-09-05 19:57:45.
Manly73
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Posted 2006-09-12 15:37:34
Chris Lawrence, on 2006-06-22 14:13:18, said: I like your style doggie. Well put.
I have just spent the last few months dealing with a few govt. dept. back here in Oz. What a relief to speak to people that show some compasion and understanding. If we do as doggie say's 'the more incompetence that is exposed the more power to anyone ever abused!!!'.
The need is always to identify culture that has been set up to serve the people who serve us. If it is bad then say it is bad. Sometimes people will support this culture because they believe it is the only one they are entitled to, or that it serves them the best.
I understand that DIMA was to appoint a new officer in Bangkok to handle problems with delay.Has anyone dealt with them or seen this new person? Have they been appointed? Remember its your right to have clear and transparent communication. The principles for service always remain the same.
Keep posting information that shows the pathway in DIMA. You will help them to improve service.
I have only recently joined this forum and have read with great interest all the comments from forum members.
I want to thank everyone who has posted so much helpful info.
My experience is as follows.
My girlfriend applied for a visitor visa in mid may this year. I helped her with the app and we supplied photo's, emails and ph accounts to support the app.
It was approved in less than 2 weeks!!
We only asked for a two week visa but were granted a visitor visa for 12mnths with multiple entries permitted max stay 3 mnths per stay.
The CO was a Kuh Sutin very helpful lady indeed.
After my ladies holiday here we returned to Thailand and married in Udon Thani on 5th July.
Couldn't register the marriage due to lack of time and me missing some doc's.
We still lodged the SV app at VFS anyway. No probs their quite helpful.
A few days after I rang the embassy and on first attempt got our case officer a Kuhn Varisa. Explained what had happened and that we would marry in Oz when we returned{ which we did however have to give a mnths notice, married 25th Aug} she was very understanding and said would process app and pls call her when we had a marriage date booked so that she could schedule our SV interview{ by then I couldn't believe how easy this was going}.
Low and behold we are back in Oz for 1 week and she calls us wanting to book our SV interview{she had forgotten she spoke to me in LOS} finally it all clicks and she books our interview for the 5th Sept. Sends a letter to confirm this I am speechless!!!!
We go up to LOS and attend the interview on the 5th Sept it goes really well.
She asks how long are we staying and I tell her till Friday{ have to go back EaglesvSwans sat nite!!} she says wish you could stay longer as visa may be granted within 10days. I apologise profusely. She says maipenrai I will do my best and will call you Thurs to let you know how it is going. We are thrilled and gobsmacked this is to good too be true.
She rings Wed @ 10.00am says the SV is approved come and get it Thurs. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
The whole process took 2 months max.
We prepared a good app plenty of supporting info eg Stat Dec's' photo's' ph bills and evidence of jnt accounts.
In summary I can only say that the service from the Visitor Visa thru to the Spouse Visa has been first class.
I was prepared for 4-6 mnths but 2 mnths is a dream come true.
Hope this helps anyone.
My best advice proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Be humble always and don't rock the boat unless you really have no choice.
Go the EAGLES!!
Posted 2006-09-23 03:28:38
PaulPerth, on 2006-03-25 21:54:20, said: You have provided some great information and insight Chris.
I did phone Immigration in Oz about a month ago when we were thinking of applying for a tourist visa whilst waiting for the SV to be processed. The young guy who answered my call told me that allowing travel whilst the visa is being processed was purely up to the discretion of the case officer. He also told me that Thailand is a "high risk" country and that an SV will normally take a minimum of 6 months to process. I disputed this and told him that we belong to certain web forums and are in contact with a large community involved with gaining SV's and the process has been taking between 2 and 4 months as the norm. He seemed quite surprised.
Getting consistent infromation has been almost impossible and my wife and I find oursleves making up many reasons and scenarios why our visa application is now at the three and a half month mark.
I have been employed by the same company for 12 years on a salary twice the national average. I own my own house and am more than capable of supporting my new wife and her son. My wife has been employed by the Thai Education Department for the past 10 years and has travelled abroad to Europe and Australia for her vocation. We met in May 2004. Since then she has visited me three times in Perth and I have visited her four times. The evidence we have provided about our relationship certainly does spell out the obvious, THIS IS THE REAL THING!
My wife was very thorough with the application preparation and provided all required documents, medical, police clearance, etc, up front, all translated using a certified translator even though she was quite capable of doing them herself. We applied on December 12. At the interview, the CO hardly spoke to me at all. I waited outside for about an hour whilst she interviewed my wife.
All we can say to each other now is "can't they see we are genuine, why is it taking so long?"
I will be taking your advise and writing/calling to try and get more information as I am perplexed as to why it should take so long.
Many thanks
Paul
Paul I went through similar to you except my wife now,fiancee then had been to Australia once already on a fiancee visa so had a blotch on her visa,I was lucky enough to know a guy whom works for a federal politician who had also worked in immigration before so knew which buttons to push for us,but then I had a friend who waited ages also and he also went to a Federal Politician and got excellent results.Some times all needs is a push and if they know some one is looking at a case where the application should of been dealt with many moons ago they seem to move their asses very quick.
Posted 2006-09-29 20:44:01
Two interesting experiences applyin for visas in OZ embassy BKK.
1. Not married. Wanted to take my teruk to Sydnet as a visitor:
At the counter I supplied all of the documentation. The little (Australian) pric* behind the counter asked me: : she is a hairdresser from Surin? we have an alert on girls who put this on their application form" ...Grrr. "Oh, said I. but you have her hairdressing school radutaion certificate, see, here it is".
He: "please wait"
Thumbs twiddling'
Called to hte counter again.
"let me see your passposrt " I gave him my passport. Examined it..."you know this could be a forgery"
Fuming but in control...."well it's not, if you want verifiation please contact Mr. xxx.yyy in UN ESCAP BKK and Mr. ZZZ KKK who is deputy director of Customs in New Zealan. Here is a photo of us at a dinner with this fellow."
"please take a seat."
GRRR Little pric*.
Called to the counter again....
" Well, I am inclined not give this visa"
Me: OK, what appeal mechanism is there available to me?
"I am inclined not to give the visa but on tis occasion I will."
I fell on my knees, and thanked him for his compassion and excellent service...NOT.
2. Applying foe a spouse visa: the interview. (note here that my spouse id 20 years younger than me)
A very nice woman took us into a small room (BKK ). We were well armed with photos, receipts, letter with postmarked envelopes.
She asked some personal questions like:
"Did you meet her parents prior to marryig her?"
"how did you meet?"
Well, short story, we got the spouse visa and happily settled in Sydney for the last 7 years...
vanderlay
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Posted 2006-11-11 11:56:54
Im new to the site and the spouse visa thing but if you did the police thing all the medical stuff how long does it take, my wife has to go to the embassy next week and it the first time what is that about
#64
dr_Pat_Pong
Posted 2006-11-11 13:22:41
aussiecollin, on 2006-09-29 20:44:01, said: Two interesting experiences applyin for visas in OZ embassy BKK.
1. Not married. Wanted to take my teruk to Sydnet as a visitor:
At the counter I supplied all of the documentation. The little (Australian) pric* behind the counter asked me: : she is a hairdresser from Surin? we have an alert on girls who put this on their application form" ...Grrr. "Oh, said I. but you have her hairdressing school radutaion certificate, see, here it is".
He: "please wait"
Thumbs twiddling'
Called to hte counter again.
"let me see your passposrt " I gave him my passport. Examined it..."you know this could be a forgery"
Fuming but in control...."well it's not, if you want verifiation please contact Mr. xxx.yyy in UN ESCAP BKK and Mr. ZZZ KKK who is deputy director of Customs in New Zealan. Here is a photo of us at a dinner with this fellow."
"please take a seat."
GRRR Little pric*.
Called to the counter again....
" Well, I am inclined not give this visa"
Me: OK, what appeal mechanism is there available to me?
"I am inclined not to give the visa but on tis occasion I will."
I fell on my knees, and thanked him for his compassion and excellent service...NOT.
2. Applying foe a spouse visa: the interview. (note here that my spouse id 20 years younger than me)
A very nice woman took us into a small room (BKK ). We were well armed with photos, receipts, letter with postmarked envelopes.
She asked some personal questions like:
"Did you meet her parents prior to marryig her?"
"how did you meet?"
Well, short story, we got the spouse visa and happily settled in Sydney for the last 7 years...
Nice to hear. Congratulations. 
Posted 2006-11-11 14:18:42
vanderlay, on 2006-11-11 12:56:54, said: Im new to the site and the spouse visa thing but if you did the police thing all the medical stuff how long does it take, my wife has to go to the embassy next week and it the first time what is that about
If you look in the main forum you will find this info....but anywhere between 6 weeks and 3 months, sometimes extra info is sought by the embassy so it can take longer
Posted 2006-11-12 07:37:07
Chris Lawrence, on 2006-03-25 21:09:03, said: I am sorry to offend anyone here but the case officers I dealt with were like a bad Nurse Ratchet from One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest. Both I was told had 11 years and 23 years experience. Their gratest downfall was lack of communiction. I won't go into the 1st one's behaviour but I lodged 7 complaints against her and the way she dealt with the application. After 1 month I am still waiting to here back from the new PMO.
I think you just ran into a typical Oz woman mate.
Now you know why we're all over in Thailand getting gf's and wives.
Posted 2006-11-12 13:16:03
dgoz, on 2006-11-12 07:37:07, said: Chris Lawrence, on 2006-03-25 21:09:03, said:
I am sorry to offend anyone here but the case officers I dealt with were like a bad Nurse Ratchet from One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest. Both I was told had 11 years and 23 years experience. Their gratest downfall was lack of communiction. I won't go into the 1st one's behaviour but I lodged 7 complaints against her and the way she dealt with the application. After 1 month I am still waiting to here back from the new PMO.
I think you just ran into a typical Oz woman mate.
Now you know why we're all over in Thailand getting gf's and wives.
No mate, this was your more educated Bangkok type Thai woman working for DIMA. Then again if you had read the thread you would have realised this?
Posted 2006-11-12 14:12:15
In my experience with Oz embassy and dima in BKK, never once talked to an Oz behind the counter, all hi so Thai shielas.
Gemma Jackson is an imaginary person, she sends anonymous emails but never responds.
she changes her voicemail message but never responds to messages.
I know you read this gemma so how about a response from you.
Posted 2006-11-12 16:34:32
bronco, on 2006-11-12 14:12:15, said: In my experience with Oz embassy and dima in BKK, never once talked to an Oz behind the counter, all hi so Thai shielas.
Gemma Jackson is an imaginary person, she sends anonymous emails but never responds.
she changes her voicemail message but never responds to messages.
I know you read this gemma so how about a response from you.
I think you just ran into a typical Oz woman mate.
Now you know why we're all over in Thailand getting gf's and wives.
Posted 2006-11-12 16:41:05
it wasnt an Oz woman I ran into it was a hi so Thai woman on many occasions,Khun W####e
Posted 2006-11-12 19:21:14
bronco, on 2006-11-12 09:41:05, said: it wasnt an Oz woman I ran into it was a hi so Thai woman on many occasions,Khun W####e
Are you talking about the hi-so woman at the consular (passports) section. Curley hair, older woman? Well, she is gone now....though she was always really nice to me (I have very very good suck up Thai language skills). Having said that, I know she was a cow to most others.
Younger lady there now.....efficient is the best word for her. She tried to catch us out on my daughters passport application (my wifes maiden name on bubs birth certificate...married name on the application form), neccessitating a return trip to the embassy, but I was too well prepared. She almost looked shocked that she couldn't KB us there and then...
Posted 2006-11-12 20:05:31
There are two sections that I dealt with, the DIMA staff level and the general enquiries where I did apply for our new born passport. The DIMA staff would not respond well to questions out of the ordinary, in fact I found it very hard to get a response from them once they took the money. These people wanted to remain under a vail of secrecey.
On the other hand the people at the other counter were completly the opposite. I did not fill in some detail on the form, they were very helpful as they even called the manager in to help. They appeared human!
Look some of the people that will post here have had a run of bad luck with the staff, but you really do need to do the application well. The DIMA front counter staff will not help; except in exceptional cases. Don't know why. The staff back in Aus are not like this. This was my experience.
If all else fails, you can revert to writting to the poly's. They seem to push things along if things are at a stalemate.
Posted 2006-11-12 20:07:13
That young woman is sure efficient
I was there last month applying for a passport for my son
She picked me up on two things
In the Passport photo of my 2 week old you could see the tip of my wifes little finger in the photo
I tried some sucking up in my own stye she said she had to go and see if it was ok came back, all is well Whew!
Then she noticed on the witness section it had been white outed and signed over the top
I got quite a lecture about it and I thought i was going to be turned around then and there and was looking at another 800 klm round trip
Tried the charm thing again ,she dissapeared for a while and when she returned accepted it
As i found out after calling the wife when i left the Embassy she had called my wife to ask if she had signed the form and also rang the witness (a high ranking Police MIB) to check if he signed it .
Efficient Very! Fair Absolutley .
vanderlay
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Posted 2006-11-21 16:54:12
I think most people are the same as myself we go in blind with any visa application.
And we can only ask questions and in melbourne and in bkk i dont believe helping is part of there general practice,I think they Intentionally are instucted to make it hard.
It's sites like this that you get the answers to the questions not the people at imagration or a embassy.
I was in bkk to do a visa application and they would not let me in the gate.
So my exsperiance when your in another country and your a australian citizen is your on your own.
Posted 2006-11-21 20:48:31
gburns57au, on 2006-09-05 22:04:35, said: Chris Lawrence, on 2006-09-03 21:12:57, said:
Graham, is this a "flaming" comment. I just re read the forum rules and I can't see where it said the reply was not appropriate.
I had forgotten that this started as a general post but was pinned after some good info was given, so my apologies for that...
I think a "Whos who at the Embassy" is a great idea....keeping up to date contacts at Immigration and the Embassy who can assist with application enquiries when the need arises for it, without having to trawl through piles of posts to find them.
Perhaps a current list could be compiled and a new pinned thread started...
If you want to do that Burnsy, I can close and pin it, people can PM me with new additions.
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