Australian trying to sort documents for Family Visa

Yes "officially" you need to have both your wedding certificate and degree authenticated back in Australia by the Ministry of Education and the Department of Foreign Affairs PLUS the Saudi Embassy . But that is not set in stone, the Istiqdam people give lots of allowances on this, so the best advice is for you to apply for the visa and see how they will guide you. It will save you tons of hassle

hello every1 hope u people r gud.first of All my opinion is that bring ur family on visit at begining u ill get 3 month visa which can be extend upto 9 months.sometime for Us Uk Aus passport they give multiple 5 years visa as they gave my brothers wife 5 years visa.when ur family is here u can attest ur degrees and apply for permanent visa .visit visa will take maximum 10 days and minimum 3 days and its very easy.no details documents required.

ahmadaq - thanks for the advice - I'll probably just do that I guess.

sameer_90 - I was thinking of doing something like you mentioned: visit visa and then convert to a more permanent one, but my fear is that you can't convert a visit visa to a family visa. That's what I'd heard anyway.

you are rite u cannot convert but while she is here u can attest ur documents and apply for perm one.because usually it takes long time for attestation .once u get the perm visa send them back and then they can come again easily.

Sameer,
Thanks for that. I think that may be the best option. Just got my Iqama on Wednesday, so I'll probably apply for a visit visa this week. One question - do you know if it's possible to get multiple entry visit visas? Or is it only valid for one trip to Saudi?
Thanks
J