Mr-Dylan

I applied for a new UK passport at the Trendy building at the beginning of March. The whole process was easy and took less than 30 minutes. VFS informed it would take about 11 weeks to receive my new passport. However, today (5 weeks later) I received an email to say it was ready to collect. 

I finally received my legalised marriage certificate back from the UK GOV office via the Thai embassy last month. I had it sent to my sister's address in the UK, and she the posted it to me here in Thailand. The document has stamps and stickers on from UK GOV and a Thai embassy stamp on the reverse side. You must have the both sides translated into Thai by a bona fide translator before it is submitted to the MOFA in Bangkok.
I went  to the MOFA office in person, which is located near to Lak Si train station in Bangkok. In the MOFA building there are many translation services on offer, but choose one that is recommended by the MOFA, otherwise they may reject the translation and you'll have to have it re-done. There's one on the first floor near the escalator. The translation took 2 hours to complete at a cost of 500 baht a side = 1000 baht. The MOFA takes 2 days to verify the document and charge 400 baht. However the translator offered to submit the document, collect it for me and post it to my address  in Surin for 700 baht. Saves a couple of nights in a Bangkok hotel. I received the MOFA verified, translated marriage certificate by EMS a few days later.
I took the certificate to the local amphur to register our marriage. The office manger also asked for a translated copies of my birth certificate, ID page of my passport and a UK criminal record check - all stamped by the UK embassy. A bureaucratic nightmare. We may get legally divorced and re-marry in Thailand to save the hassle.

I finally received an email from Milton Keynes on August 30th stating that they had sent my legalised wedding certificate to the Royal Thai embassy on August 22nd. So it sat on someone's desk for 8 days unprocessed. 
I then asked my sister in the UK to send a £10 PO to the RTE  to pay their fee. In the meantime I emailed the RTE., but received no replies. Eventually after several attempts I got through on the phone to someone at the embassy this week. I was informed that they did indeed have my legalised certificate and £10 PO. However, my sister had not enclosed a stamped addressed envelope, so it sat on the desk another few days, until an SAE arrived. My sister received my documents today Sept 10th, and will post them to me in Surin.
The next step is to get them translated and sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. I'll up-date its progress.

I emailed the GOV office in Milton Keynes to ask if they had recieved our wedding certificate. However, they use a automated answering service,so you can't make any enquiries so to the progress of your application.

Thanks Brewster, I also have  to ask my sister to post the documents to me. Depending that is om wherther thay arrived at MK in th efirst palce. 
Really very fustrating as I've had to extend my visa by another 60 days in the mean time. I may just apply for a retirement visa instead and save the hassle.

I married my Thai wife in the UK several years ago. I recently retired and moved to Surin with my wife, entering Thailand on a single entry non immigrant O visa.I obtained the 90 stamp on entry and hoped to extend it to 12 months based on our marriage, 
i was told that I needed to register our marriage here in Thailand and to do this I needed to have our wedding certificate verified at the British embassy and have a certified translated copy made. This is then stamped by the MFA  in Bangkok and can be used to register our marriage at the local amphur offce, I made an appointment with the embassy and travelled down to Bangkok a  to authenticate the wedding certificate, only to be told  that they no longer provide this service. 
The embassy gave me a sheet of paper with instructions and website address. The wedding certificate now needs to be legalised at a UK Gov office in Milton Keynes., then sent by courier to the Thai embassy in London. it should then somehow be sent to the MFA in Bangkok translated and stamped. 
I've done the first part and posted the certificate and form obtained here-  https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised  . The fee is £30 for the legalisation and £5.50 for the courier. 
I'm not sure what the next step will be as the Thai embassy will only except cash or PO orders to process any paper work . I've emalied them, but they've not replied yet. I'm also not sure how the legalised document is returned to me in Thailand.  

Any help would be appreciated.

I'll be retiring to Buached , which is 15km south of Sang Kha, in July. I've not seen any foreigners in the town when I've visited, but my wife informs that she has seen a few in the new Tesco Lotus supermarket.
I stayed at the Manee Sang Kha hotel last year and was the only foreign guest there for a whole week. I also went into the town a couple of times in the evening, but there was not much going on.

I'd be happy to have a beer with you. once I've settled in.

I'm living in the UK and hope to retire and join my wife in Thailand soon.
I know I need a non-immigrant O visa, but I 'm not sure whether I need to apply for a single or multiple entry visa at the embassy in London. What would be my best option?

Hi guys, I've been thinking a long time about opening a Thai massage salon ( NO, not a soapy....)in Spain and now ready to give it a try, but I'm not sure about the possibilities about bringing a few ladies over. I've looked at the embassies website and it just seems to easy, all they need is

- Application for visa form duly and fully completed, passport and photographs, the same as in number 1.

- Documents attesting good economic means to finance the trip. Supporting documents regarding the schedule of the journey and means of transportation to and fro: a round trip ticket, hotel reservation.

- An invitation letter from the Spanish business partner stating the purpose of the visit, length of stay, etc. (the letter must be written in Spanish).

- Travel insurance for up to 30,000 euros, covering medical expenses during the stay in Spain and, if necessary, repatriation to Thailand

I have 3 ladies that would be willing to come over if everything is ok, but I'm still have doubts about it.

Do you think the above would only count for big businesses, does it look that simple as it says on their website, does anybody have any experience as such?

I haven't set up the business yet (massage salon)for the invitation, but do have another business. Does anybody know of any parlors who work with Thai ladies in Europe?

I've seen some websites who recrute Thai workers for Europe but only for ingeneers, agriculture, .....

Any help would be appreciated before I go to my embassy, because I know they gonne tell me to bring in the above papers, but then what???

The ladies have some cash but not enough to cover the travelexpences, etc.... so I need to get their flights and insurance and that's a big costs allready if I don't know if it will be possible, so any advice is very welcome....

Thanks, K

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>