Can my Thai partner/ Thai wife/ Thai girlfriend extend a tourist visa whilst already in Australia? and normally the answer to this question would be it depends on the length of the visa and how many entries are given. A tourist/ holiday visa to Australia can be given for different lengths of time including 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months
If your Thai partner has never been to Australia then more than likely they will be given a 3 month tourist visa which cannot be extended and has a clause called a 8503 no extension allowed and the first visa is normally a test to see if your Thai partner will return back to Thailand or not so giving them credibility ready for future visa applications.
After 3 months you will normally be then given a 6 months visa to Australia which again has a 8503 clause so no further options and is normally only given in a single entry format so when your Thai partner enters Australia they can stay a full 6 months block but if they leave they cannot return on the same visa to Australia.
If you are legally married to a Thai national or you have children together you could be lucky enough to be given a 12 months multiple entry tourist visa, now this visa means your Thai partner can stay for a 3 months block and then has to leave and re enter Australia again, most Thai’s tend to go to Bali and then come straight back in to Australia ready to start another 3 months so if you wished your Thai partner to nstay for the full 12 months then you would have to cross over a border at least 3 times to get the full 12 months.
Many Thai applicants and Australian sponsors/ husbands presume their Thai wife can just stay the full 12 months this is not correct so be careful and make sure you understand the visa rules correctly otherwise your Thai wife could overstay their visa causing major problems for future visa applications.
So in short the 3 months is always a block of 3 months if you leave Australia the visa is then cancelled “called a single entry”
The 6 months tourist visa to Australia also is a 6 months block if you leave Australia then it is cancelled “called a single nentry”
The 12 months multiple entry means your Thai partner has to exit Australia every 3 months and then can return to do another 3 months and you can do this for 1 year “called multiple entry”
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