ettcuk

On 3/22/2023 at 4:22 PM, ettcuk said:

So, does this mean that literally every time I leave my house and stay somewhere else, I'll have to do a new TM30 report? Which is in complete contradiction to the TM30 rules having been relaxed.

A quick update for anyone else in Chiang Mai going through this exact same thing. Having updated my TM.30 record online (see above), my resubmitted online 90-day report was accepted. Hoorah! Something actually worked.

So, albeit ridiculous, every time I need to do a 90-day report, I'll just update my TM.30 record online first. Until any other rules are changed, created or made up, that is.

7 hours ago, Lifetraxx said:

It requires you to manually submit your TM 30.

For it to work the next time you need to go to the TM 30 office at the rear and tell them to reinstate your old address ????????

Well, I've tried online. Because, presumably, if I was to stay in another hotel, it'd be updated to that. So, hopefully (I know hope means little with all this, but...), my online TM.30 submission will work.

Either way, I'll report back here.

1 hour ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

When i returned from UK last year without tm6, I just left that bit blank when using section38 app.

That works with the Section38 app, but not the immigration website.

Having successfully submitted a TM.30 form using the website, I then re-downloaded the app via my wife's google account and this link. As others have reported, it otherwise doesn't show up in the Play store.

I then signed into the app and tried to do another TM.30 report there, in case the first hadn't worked. But there was already an existing TM.30 recorded for me today, so it did work! Something actually worked...

But it remains to be seen if my new online 90-day report will now be accepted. It's all a bit if a lottery.

18 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

here's a thread on how to resurrect the Section38 app...

Ah, yes, thank you very much. I meant Section38, but in my haste and frustration, I made a typo.

I'm currently attempting to do it via the web form. You wouldn't happen to know what we do with the TM.6 number field? I saw a comment somewhere from someone on what letters and numbers to add (something like XX0000), but cannot find it anywhere now.

EDIT: I tried TM00000, and it worked for adding the TM.30 entry. Whether my 90-day report will now be accepted is an entirely different matter!

So, I've seen other people posting about this re. Chiang Mai Immigration.

I'm in Chiang Mai and submitted my online 90-day report a few days ago. It was rejected this afternoon. Reason stated:

"Contact immigration to update the (TM30) accommodation notification to date. The last declaration of accommodation at Ben guesthouse 351/10 Road 4/sankongnoi, Rob Wiang Subdistrict, Mueang Chiang Rai District, Chiang Rai Province not Chiang Mai Province."

This is my second 90-day report since I returned to Thailand in September. All I did was go away for 3 days, then return to my home, where I've been based for the past 2 years and from where I've done multiple 90-day reports in person before.

So, does this mean that literally every time I leave my house and stay somewhere else, I'll have to do a new TM30 report? Which is in complete contradiction to the TM30 rules having been relaxed.

And how do I now do the TM30 report? The Section 30 app I used to use appears to have been deleted.

This is all just so ridiculous.

On 10/5/2022 at 5:46 PM, ianh68 said:

If you don't mind waiting (you can haggle) try International Translations at Sala Daeng.

Many thanks, @ianh68 and @ThailandRyan - particularly for the directions! Coincidently, after doing some googling and sending a few enquiry emails, that's the agency I'd already chosen. Should I decide to do this in Bangkok, that is. They charge 700 THB for the Affirmation and 600 THB for the passport. And I was told it'd be a 24-hour turnaround after payment.

On 10/6/2022 at 1:54 PM, NoDisplayName said:

You don't want the MFA in Chiang Mai reject one of your documents due to a transliteration error, requiring a revised translation from your agency in Bangkok.

Absolutely. I've found a good agency in CM, near the temporary immigration centre here. I may just pay the agency to do the translation and legalisation for me - to save the hassle and toing and froing. They'd charge 750 THB for the translation and 3000 THB total for everything, including the legalisation. And I really loath sitting in immigration centres or district offices. I've done it too many times.

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Yes, at least that was my experience, as they needed to see the originals to compare them with the translations, and I had two more copies of each done so I had extras if needed for something else. 

I'm not sure whether the same is necessary for pre-marital process. But I have just read that elsewhere re. birth certificates. Once we've got out marriage certificate(s), I'll get it translated and legalised. Although, as of recently, I believe government departments/offices are apparently now also issuing legalised documents in English on request. So, that'd remove the translation step and be preferable. It may be hit and miss though.

@NoDisplayName "Your four pages will cost you 200 baht/page for legalization at the MFS.  I believe they have EMS return service if you don't want to make another trip to pick up your documents 3 days later."

All good to know, thanks. And I take it both the original documents and the translations need to be legalised - hence the 4 pages? I think I read that somewhere.

18 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

Did this just a couple months ago.

 

There is a translation agency in the teak house across the street from the MFA at Chang Wattana, charging 300 baht/page.  SongThai Translation.

 

You can email them a scan of your documents for pickup the next morning, convenient if you've made an appointment at the MFA for getting your notarized documents legalized.

https://qlegal.consular.go.th/

 

They're on facebook.

https://web.facebook.com/Songthaitranslation?_rdc=1&_rdr

 

Your four pages will cost you 200 baht/page for legalization at the MFS.  I believe they have EMS return service if you don't want to make another trip to pick up your documents 3 days later.

Thanks for the advice. I don't plan to head to CW, but that's good to know for future reference.

I've found an agency that's just west of Lumpini that will do both translations within 24 hours for 1400 (total). I'd then planned to head to the MFA office at Khlong Toei MRT.

18 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I take it the old express services are no longer available at the MFA?

The Express Service is still given as an option. But there are no appointments available for the next 3 weeks, which is far as the calendar goes. I don't know if they're released each morning for 21 days ahead.

I also didn't know it was necessary to book an appointment. I'm now considering just heading to the MFA office in Chiang Mai, where I'm based.

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Normally the company who does the translations stamps and certifies the translation as true and correct.  Then it can be taken to the MFA where it will be verified and then stamped as a true copy of the original document with a corner folded over, stamped and sealed and then a notarized seal placed on the rear of the document.  Many translators around the embassies.

Yes, thanks @ThailandRyan. I'm not sure why I'd read "certified" so literally - I've certified things myself in the past. But, with all the bureaucracy I'm wading through for various different things, it can sometimes get a little confusing ????

6 hours ago, FriendlyFarang said:

Certified by who?

The Thai government doesn't certify translators, you could just have your spouse translate it.

So it seems. But since the British Embassy states the translation must be certified and agencies offering this service indicate they add a stamp to that effect, I assumed there was some professional accreditation for translators. But it seems not.

Can anyone recommend a certified translation agency for English to Thai? Somewhere with a reliable 48-hour turnaround. I'll be heading to the British embassy in Sathon, so ideally it'd be somewhere near there or accessible via the BTS/MRT. 

I'm looking to get a certified copy of my passport translated, as well as the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry certificate. (I realise this could have been posted in The marriage forum, but my main question is more general.)

Cost isn't the most important thing, but I don't want to be ripped off. So far, I've seen costs of 450-800 per page for the translation. But the agency offering 450 THB has terrible English on their website. So...!

Many thanks in advance.

A district office is the local amphur office, yes. The local governmental office where any marriage in a given district/amphur would be registered, a long with many other personal admin related things.

I've heard different things. One that if one of the couple is Thai, no check will be done, but if both are foreign, further checks are done. But, then, when enquiring with a friend who's a civil servant in Bangkok, a colleague of his who recently registered a marriage between a Japanese person and Thai person (in Bangkok) said the documents were sent to the Japanese embassy for further checks. It took 3 weeks. Apparently, that's the standard procedure there.

So, perhaps it varies between offices or regions. I was going to do it in Bangkok, but maybe in Chiang Mai province might be better. Or maybe it's just a lottery!

I'm a British/UK citizen planning to register my marriage in Thailand at some point soon - this year or early next year. I think I understand everything that's required of me to do this. However, one thing I'm not sure of is this:

The affirmation of Freedom to Marry document is valid for 3 months from the day I sign it at the British embassy. According to the embassy's FAQ, this means I must register my marriage within 3 months of that date. However, does "registration" mean the date I hand over all the documents to the district office for them to do their checks or the day I actually return to the district office to officially register the marriage? I ask, as the checking process can take up to a month (the district office apparently send the documents back to the foreigner's embassy, even though everything has already been certified and legalised - seems like typical bureaucracy) and there can sometimes be a lengthy queue of 10-15 couples or more waiting to get married. So, that 3-month period could pass quickly.

If it's the date we hand over all the documents to the district office, that'd make more sense to me.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Many thanks in advance.

Does anyone have any recent experience of marrying in Thailand and both you and your husband and wife adopting a hyphenated surname?

At present, I'm considering changing my surname by deed poll in the UK to a hyphenated version, with an abbreviated version of her surname, a hyphen, then mine. After marrying, would there be an issue with her using that (my) new surname?

I've read contradicting things elsewhere from: "this may have once been possible, but some new law prohibits it", to "there may be problems at some amphoes", to "there won't be any problems".

Any useful pointers would be much appreciated. 

Worth a try... But I doubt it'll have any impact whatsoever. The TM30 flaws are obvious - we all know everything about it is utterly ridiculous -  and if there was any motivation to change it, they probably wouldn't have recently started strictly enforcing it in the first place. 

Also, I'm not sure how it reads in Thai, but I wasn't overly confident with the English plea - the grammar, wording and specifics mentioned. We might call ourselves expats, but actually, we're immigrants - and the group of immigrants who call themselves expats are tiny in comparison to the millions of tourists who visit each year and stay in hotels (where the TM30 annoyance should be deferred to the hotel).

But all that said, I'd really love to be proved wrong.

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Understood.

 

I guess you can still use the web site?

 

Someone should make a video covering the registration and use, in a simple, step-by-step format.

 

For some reason I was able to install, register and use the app. I encountered no issues, I think the registration email link arrived within ~ 45 minutes?

Perhaps you were using a previous version of the app? I downloaded the app yesterday. I've never had to file a 90-day report, this will be my first time, albeit in 2 months time. But since the current version of the app doesn't appear to work for registration, I'll have to attempt to use the online system. If that fails, I'll drop my passport into Thailand Elite. But I'd prefer not to have the hassle.

7 hours ago, petedk said:

It does allow scrolling through the years. Just click on the year in the present date.

 

I also get the "please fill in all details" message (or something similar and the password is highlighted in red.

 

After about 20 attempts, I uninstalled, installed and got the same message.

 

I have dumped the app until further notice.

So it does. Thanks.

18 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

what permissions does it ask for? 

No permissions requested or granted at present. That's the first thing I checked after downloading the app. Perhaps that's because I haven't been able to register? If registration was possible, that is.

19 hours ago, treetops said:

I get this screen which allows scrolling down in the different fields.  Do you see anything like that when you touch the area that originally said dd/mm/yyyy?

 

EDIT: I see a monthly calendar with horizontal buttons to scroll through the months. I had thought the only areas that were responsive were the dates of each day, and the "CANCEL" and "OK" buttons. But on reading through this thread, clicking on the year (small font) above today's date (large font) does allow for scrolling through the years. I had tried to click on the date, but not specifically on the small year font above... 

I'm still awaiting my Section38 credentials - and it seems like I could be waiting for a long time.

In the mean time, I thought I'd try and register for the ImmeService app to see if I might be able to use that for online 90-day reporting if needed. It's a pretty basic registration page - Name, Gender, Nationality, etc. - except for the birth date, which doesn't allow manual input nor scrolling through years, so you have to manually click back through every month of every year until you reach your birth year.... Then, you input your email address and a chosen password twice. 

I've gone through the above process, including the birth year twice. Both times I've been given a "Please fill out the form completely" message. Suffice to say, there's nothing more I can add or change in the form to make it "complete". So, it appears not to be working, which isn't a great surprise. 

Anyone else had any luck registering via the Android app during the past few days?