benjybkk

Just an update.

 The Bang Plad office on Charansanitwong road in Bangkok called us last Friday saying they couldn't register the marriage for the same reason. Disclaimer on the affirmation.

I went and collected all the documents back yesterday and called the British embassy.

The embassy said there had been a meeting last week at the MFA and it had been confirmed this issue was resolved and the affirmations would be accepted. They even had proof in the form of a Thai letter. She said if I had any problems to give them the phone and let them talk to the embassy.

 Off we went to Laksi office. Got there and same old rubbish. Cannot accept it. I flatly refused to leave and they spoke to the British embassy. Even after faxes, emails etc etc of this letter confirming the meeting last week after 2 hours the lady just said "no cannot" and pointed to the disclaimer. On a sidenote I've been here 6 years and I speak good Thai. I had the whole argument with her in Thai and she just kept saying they couldn't accept this document.

 Gave up. Went to Nonthaburi. All be it next door to Bangkok but still a different province.

 They were very nice there unlike at Laksi. However they said the process was now to take the forms and send them to be checked and confirmed as true. Then once this had happened they would call us in to register our marriage. They said this could take anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months.

 So I just submitted the paperwork. They had a pile of paperwork from other foreigners who had done the same.

 They also said that British was good. If the nationality was Russian, Indian or any African country they WOULD NOT accept the paperwork.

 I called the British embassy after. They have no idea about this "checking" process and where the affidavits will go to be "confirmed as true". 

 The embassy is looking into it and trying to sort it out again and will call me back.

 Any information or accounts of personal experiences over yesterday or today would be extremely welcome and helpful.

 I'm a bit baffled as to why there isn't much more talk of this on this site. There is on other sites but very little here. I don't get it. I can't be the only person experiencing this..

 Thanks

Just an update.

The Bang Plad office on Charansanitwong road in Bangkok called us last Friday saying they couldn't register the marriage for the same reason. Disclaimer on the affirmation.

I went and collected all the documents back yesterday and called the British embassy.

The embassy said there had been a meeting last week at the MFA and it had been confirmed this issue was resolved and the affirmations would be accepted. They even had proof in the form of a Thai letter. She said if I had any problems to give them the phone and let them talk to the embassy.

Off we went to Laksi office. Got there and same old rubbish. Cannot accept it. I flatly refused to leave and they spoke to the British embassy. Even after faxes, emails etc etc of this letter confirming the meeting last week after 2 hours the lady just said "no cannot" and pointed to the disclaimer. On a sidenote I've been here 6 years and I speak good Thai. I had the whole argument with her in Thai and she just kept saying they couldn't accept this document.

Gave up. Went to Nonthaburi. All be it next door to Bangkok but still a different province.

They were very nice there unlike at Laksi. However they said the process was now to take the forms and send them to be checked and confirmed as true. Then once this had happened they would call us in to register our marriage. They said this could take anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months.

So I just submitted the paperwork. They had a pile of paperwork from other foreigners who had done the same.

They also said that British was good. If the nationality was Russian, Indian or any African country they WOULD NOT accept the paperwork.

I called the British embassy after. They have no idea about this "checking" process and where the affidavits will go to be "confirmed as true". 

The embassy is looking into it and trying to sort it out again and will call me back.

Any information or accounts of personal experiences over yesterday or today would be extremely welcome and helpful.

I'm a bit baffled as to why there isn't much more talk of this on this site. There is on other sites but very little here. I don't get it. I can't be the only person experiencing this..

Thanks

The embassy is saying the problem is solved. The Amphoe offices disagree though and as far as they are concerned the British embassy hasn't resolved the problem as the affirmations still have the clause at the bottom saying they do not guarantee the information.

I went just last week and was told this on Friday. I can assure you. It is not Ok. British can marry British. They don't care about that but they will not register marriages between British and Thais in Bangkok at the moment.

But at the moment I believe Laksi office along with every other office in Bangkok is not issuing marriages between British and Thai people.

I tried Bang Rak last week. No good. And then Bang Plad on Charansanitwong road. Also no good even after them saying they could at first. The affirmation is not being accepted from the British embassy.

Tomorrow we are going to try in Nonthaburi as that is a different province to Bangkok so maybe it will be ok.

I'm not holding my breath though. The whole thing is farcical. 

Yeah. Hold my hands up. I didn't fully understand that it was the amphoe offices turning down the affirmation not the MFA.

I do now though. Yesterday I went to Bang Rak amphoe to get married and was simply told no British, Indian, Chinese or Russian citizens can get married in Bangkok currently as they are not accepting the affirmations. The problem is that the affirmations say the embassies take no responsibility for any lies told or consequences of any kind.

I went to a different amphoe office, smaller one in Bangkok and it looks like I will be getting married. It can't be done in one day anymore though. We had to submit the documents and they should call us with a date to go and register our marriage. They went through all forms with a fine tooth comb.

Also, foreigners need THREE witnesses and you have to bring your own. They will not be provided by the amphoe office.

All 3 MUST be Thai and one of them MUST be able to speak good English. They say it is necessary and now part of the rules. The translator cannot be your spouse. Must be a different person. And even if you speak fluent Thai you must still have the Thai person who can speak English.

I'm waiting for a call to say everything is ok and we can go to get married. Fingers crossed.

I didn't realize it was possible to get somebody else to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and do this for you. Never heard of anyone doing that.

Oh well. You live and learn.

Personally I prefer to keep important documents and do things myself whenever possible anyway.

Hi All,

Thought I would share this as it may help someone out.

I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday to get my marriage affirmation translation from the British embassy certified.

I was under the impression there was a same day service that you paid 800 baht for and you waited a few hours and got your documents back ready to go off and register your marriage.

Just to clarify, there is no longer any same day service. The only choice you have is to pay 400 baht and pick up in 2 days time. I went Friday morning and was told to pay 400 baht and go back on Tuesday to collect.

Maybe this is old news but everything I'd previously read told me you could get it done same day. Not the case anymore.

Cheers.

Ben

Hi all. Thanks to all those who commented on my post. The situation is resolved now. I had my appointment at the British embassy this morning and got the affirmation certificate. 

I was told whatever the problem was it has since been sorted.

Cheers

Ben

Thanks to everyone for their time and comments.

I called the British embassy in BKK again yesterday and spoke to a different lady there. She told me the issue was actually about taking something OFF the form. As in someone on the Thai side has decided something on the form shouldn't be on it. She couldn't give me further details though. 

That would imply that it's nothing to do with security.

In regards to time frame of getting this resolved she said it definitely would be a matter of days or at worst weeks but no way months.

Personally I live here so I don't have to worry about my return flight leaving tomorrow or anything like that. I am however in a rush as this is holding me up with my marriage plans obviously. I am going to give it a week or so and hopefully it will be sorted out by then.

Cheers,

Ben

Thanks PREM-R.

But we don't have any idea why or what is being done about it? 

Personally we are happy to register the marriage at any district office in Bangkok or Nonthaburi so even if some are not accepting the British affirmation it would just be a case of finding one office that would? Am I correct in that assumption do you think?

Cheers

Ben

You do have to make an appointment at the British embassy. I had one for tomorrow morning to do my affirmation so I could get married. The UK embassy called me this afternoon and told me that at the moment the Thai government or Ministry of Foreign Relations is not accepting their affirmation form. Not only the UK. Several countries. They are trying to resolve the issue. I had to cancel my appointment and am waiting for them to get back to me. I posted a thread on here but so far nobody has been able to elaborate further regarding this.

The affirmation document is based on a template downloaded from the UK embassy. You just fill in the fields. Apparently it is the template that is not being accepted so therefor any translation of it will also not be accepted. Consequently no UK citizen can marry here until this is sorted out. 

Hi elviajero. Thx for your comment but I think you've missed the point. The details on the affirmation are translated into Thai after you leave the embassy and then approved at the MFA. You have to do this and get it stamped so it is accepted at the registrar when you actually go to register your marriage. 

The problem is that the details on the form are not enough for the Thai government now according to the lady at the British embassy. Just speculating but at the moment it just has address, occupation, salary etc. Maybe the government has decided they want criminal record check or something. I'm just guessing. My point is that this isn't a problem just for me and I understand the process fully. A lot better than my Thai fiancee does. 

This must be affecting other people or if not now it definitely will over the next few days and next week until resolved. I was just hoping that on the off chance someone else affected also read this forum.

Thanks

Yeah it's nothing to do with immigration. You have to go to CW as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located there.They certify your translation so I guess it is them who are refusing the current affirmation form from the UK embassy.

Evening all.

I had an appointment set up for tomorrow morning at the British embassy on Wireless road in Bangkok to get the affirmation of marriage form done. The form as I understand it to show that you are not already married or there is no other legal reason why you can't get married here.

I downloaded the form, filled it in and printed it off last night ready for signing etc at the embassy tomorrow.  However, at 4.30pm this afternoon I got a call from the British embassy to say that the Thai government has (I assume today or very recently) advised the embassies of several countries not only the UK that their affirmation form is no longer satisfactory for reasons the lady from the embassy either didn't know or couldn't disclose.  She couldn't give me any further information other than to say it was at my discretion whether to keep the appointment tomorrow morning, pay the fee of 50 pounds and take a chance at CW as to whether they accepted it. Obviously if they didn't accept it that money would be gone and the form useless. It's not so much the 50 pounds I'm worried about but the whole process of going to the embassy, then getting the affirmation translated  and going all the way to CW and waiting there too just to have it refused by the official is something I'd rather avoid. 

She couldn't give me any time frame as to when it will be resolved. All she could say is she had a list of people like me she would email/call as soon as she had more information. She also said that possibly the British embassy will have to amend the affirmation form to appease the Thai government. I can only assume the current form is not detailed enough and the questions do not suffice anymore.

Obviously this is a pretty big deal and extremely inconvenient as it halts any marriage process for any UK citizen in Thailand at the moment. Has anybody else heard anything similar or experienced this yet?

Cheers.