Hi!  Ricmack 

      For  my opinion , when the  Aus Government Immigration  let Thai people , they have to be sure Thais  will not go to work there or go to Aus and not come back.

      So if u want your Thai friend visit Aus by apply Travel visa the important document is:

1]        The Certificate of work  -show job title and salary  [ It show that yr friend have stable me

            job , have salary  it made the Embassy sure yr friend does not go for work  and will come

            back Thai.

2]        Financial  statement  [6 mts] that show the acct movement

3]        Inviting Letter fr  Aus Host [U have to write such as

3.1       Introduce yourself : yr address ,  job  , family

3.2       Attach yr financial statement [some Thai people Have the money left  Bht 30,000.-on  the  acct  can  pass this subject if u have strength financial  statement [ for travel visa].

3.3       Write to show that u will support her everything such as ticket , food  , place , cost of living during her travel.

3.4       Yr passport  that  show  u ever visit Thai . [ Some Thai don’t have pics between Thai and Aus but she show Aus passport ]

3.5       The message on the letter show u invite her to visit Aus ,take her to travel Aus  , write her full name , passport no. , Thai ID Card no. , her birthday , age , attach her pic , her job, her job ‘s address , her phone , her company phone , and know her about 1 yr.

4]        Picture  between u and her [ Some Thai don’t have pics between Thai and Aus can use Aus passport show u ever visit thai , it is ok  for some case ]

5]        The letter between u and her , may be on internet , that show u and her know for 1-2 year . on the letter don’t show she will go for work.

     If she apply for the first time , I suggest  her  should let  the agent apply travel  visa for her and the fee for agent  should not more than Bht. 2,000.- [ travel visa] . the agent will suggest  the detail for making visa . Good Luck

Hi Khun Rick, welcome to the Forum and your article is a "hot" topic

The comments from Khun Janis are very good. Janis visited Perth WA from Bangkok last year so she certainly has some experience and she kindly volunteered to display a travel diary ... see this link to tag words called homestay-wa

When your friend visits perth please consider being a volunteer for a travel diary. The Aussie Govt (Tourism office) will be grateful and of course it helps people in Thailand.

ok to answer your question

We created a special section in the forum to focus on the topic of "Visa for Thai" - click here

To put it simply - it's a massive problem!

warning for 1st timers
The websites can be difficult for 1st timers, if they confuse, you will want to call someone and then you will face these obstacles when contacting

The Gov officers -
they are difficult to approach; based on there view; that they are understaffed, overworked and under paid, therefore it's not their problem and you should be referring to the website (as they are busy)... there is some logics to this but it's the manner in which they dictate. Unfortunately some will say somethings that are not correct (it happens) so make sure you make it clear that you are recording their name and detail of their comments as a reference (this makes some people more accountable).
 
3rd party people 
Many are happy to give advice, but often it is not current knowledge - it's free but not accountable. so you must ask then competency questions.

Go to the experts
In Aust - they are expensive (they are qualified sadly it does not mean they are articulate in the topic)
In Thai - they have no credentials so it's not qualified - they (loving thais) offer to help but often it's not really helping

we continue to investigate with the view to create a recommended panel of people to contact - we are slow as we are volunteers

if you contact anyone of any office you must record their name and summary of the discussion as a reference and you should tell them that you are recording the detail to show you are relying on the info

we have created a website to help Thai Travel to WA - click here - be warned it is largely incomplete because we find it so difficult to collect data from Aust govt depts (what the) and we are not sure how the Thais like to see it displayed (but mainly because we don;t have the resources) ANYWAY there is a section called Immigration and we embedded the webpage that allows you to check visa types and download a checklist

As we progress thru the topic we will update the forum and website but for now be aware... the visa office is absolutely focused on protecting Australian soil (not helping you but your Country). You must focus on giving them as many comfort statements as possible then you make them happy and they will then make you happy..