groovyc

are you relating from personal experience? Are you saying its "required" coz you were merely told so at the district office or because it says so somewhere in the law? If its the latter I am interested.

This is the actual form from the British Embassy web site > Affirmation of Freedom to Marry.pdf and has a place to declare your income.

As for US, I did mine over 10 years ago but just don't remember if it was required on it also, have a copy somewhere.

//edit - this is the form at the US Embassy site > Marriage Affidavit.pdf and includes income.

Comment from the web site: "The affidavit form, available upon request, includes all of the information required by relevant Thai law. "

Thanks a lot for the info.

The procedure is to obtain a document from your Embassy, ......Believe time spent doing that will be much more productive and rewarding than anger.

Thanks for the valuable advice mate - I particularly agree with you on the last one. I must stress though that the main reason I posted here was to express my frustration at the system, plus the curiosity triggered by the simplicity with which some posts addressed the issue. After all, many threads here are devoted to similar needs of members aren't they.

I guess I don't have what it takes to lead a happy life here eh. thank god I'm not here to stay. I didn't come here to get married, nor did I meet my girlfriend here. I just happened to be here when I wanted to get married, and a decent system was all I hoped for. It sure needs extraordinary levels of flexibility, patience and a lot of free time for doing the same thing over and over, if you were to lead any life here.

The procedure of going to the embassy may be the one most heard of, and may be what you did, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is the only way, does it now? "an Embassy or Consulate or a Government Organization from their country" is acceptable, and I chose the latter as my embassy (like some others) doesn't issue self-sworn affidavits without info from the local authorities concerned.

As for getting it "corrected rather easily", I wouldn't bet on that. I certainly may have a better chance relying on your info than the pathetic authorities', but even if I am 100% sure you didn't miss anything out, I would still need to translate a tax document to English and hope my embassy would issue something similar to what these felas see everyday. (very few of them come from my embassy you know).

thanks again for the tips. at least I learned one lesson: next time you want to get anything done at a Thai gov office and need some info, ask thaivisa rather than the relevant office!

I am not sure why you had to dig up a four year old thread to post this

mm, this was the closest thread I could find. sorry if I shudnt have - just not very experienced in this.

but as long as 15 years ago income was a part of the required Embassy document

are you relating from personal experience? Are you saying its "required" coz you were merely told so at the district office or because it says so somewhere in the law? If its the latter I am interested.

so not sure why you believe there is something wrong in the district office asking why it is not on your form.

well, as I tried to explain (sorry if it got too long and confusing), I believe it is wrong because,

1. The authority governing marriage registrations did not advise me so in the first place.

2. Their homepage (http://www.dopa.go.th/English/servi/marry.htm) does not mention it either.

3. The consular affairs dept did not advise either.

4. The consular affairs dept gave me a different option from going to my embassy in Thailand, i.e. to go to the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka. They attested the document without pointing out any shortcomings (and charged me a fee too!)

5. The consular affairs dept certified the translation (for 800bhat) and again didn't point out anything.

6. Many posts on this thread suggest that it is not a legal requirement (if it was, and was just overlooked, it is equally disturbing) though things may have been different 4 years ago.

Perhaps you should be asking your Embassy why?

As I said, it is not the embassy that made the document. It was made by the local authority from my home town, duely attested by the relevant authorities and by the Thai embassy in Colombo.

I don't now about the responses I see here but when I got married eons(10 years ) ago and when my brother little over 3 years ago and as late my many friends as 2 months ago the Ampur requires a document from the Ministry Foriegn Affairs which isses it after you the Farang has given a sworn and nortized statement from your embassy that states all previous marriages settled by a proper authority,financial income statement and two people in your home country who could vouch for you. This is all on one page at US embassy. I don't know on others but this page needed to be translated and sent to ministry ( cost last friend 35.00 US) and in week to ten days receive ministry's certificate then go to ampur.

Same here. In fact I was begining to wonder if I've been taken for a ride, reading all the posts before this one. My story goes something like this:

We contacted the Department of Provincial Administration (which was responsible for registrtions of marriage) to ask for information about the registration procedure, and were told that I needed to get a certain document from the embassy and were directed to the "Consular Affairs Dept, Ministry of Foreign Affairs". They said that I needed a document form my embassy confirming my unmarried status. Further, if I needed to get the original document from my home country (which was the case for me, as the embassy would not issue any document without proof from the local registrar's dept), I was told that the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka (that's my home country) may legalize the document instead of my embassy in Thailand. I did it this way, took it down to the Consular Affairs Dept with a Thai translation. I learned that what they did there was just attest the Thai translation of the document and nothing else.

Then we took all these documents with the translations to the city office (in Prathumthani). But alas, we're told that the document is not in the correct FORMAT. This was the first time we heard about a format, so naturally we ask what it is. We are told they don't have a definite format, but the EMBASSY SHOULD KNOW. We are also shown similar documents submitted by other farangs before and are even given photocopies of 2 of them!!! (I have in my possession two personal documents related to one Englishman and one Indian! Do they have any privacy laws here?). Thanks to these benovelent officials, we were deprived of our right to register our marriage on the day of the ceremony.

I didn't want to take a day off to visit my embassy again hoping that "they would know" this so-called format and pay another $50, then go to a translator and back to the consular affairs....In short, I was pretty much pissed off and went to try a different city office (Muang Nonthaburi). Again, I was told pretty much the same thing, with a stress on my income needing to be on the doc. Next, I contacted the Chatuchak city office, and as they didn't seem to be concerned about a format, I was hopeful and went along with all the docs plus a copy of my THAI tax returns (as I work here, that's the best document to prove my income, and even my embassy would have had to base it on that if it were to spell out my income in a document. PLUS it was in Thai, and issued by the THAI tax department), though of course, the mere necessity to furnish proof of income to register your marriage was well beyond my comprehension. Again, we were refused. "Why couldn't my embassy certify my income?" was the reply. In other words, I had to do a 2-way translation (not to mention certifying it) on a Thai doc issued by the Thai gov to be submitted to the Thai gov, only to get it certified by the Sri Lankan government.

While we were having fun visiting all the nice city ofiices in and around my city, I tried to get in touch with the head office of the dept of prov admin, only to find they didn't answer that phone anymore. yeah, i know you wouldn't believe it! anyway, i managed to find an English page on their website which gave pretty much the same info I was given on the phone before:

Required Documents

1. Identification Cards of both parties.
   
2. The House Registration Certificates of both parties.
   
3. If an alien is registering to be married to a Thai citizen or another alien, he or she is required to submit following documents.
   
   • A copy of their passport.
     
   • A Letter of Certification, issued by an Embassy or Consulate or a Government Organization from their country, regarding the marital status of the person. The Letter must be translated, then certified by the relevant Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
     

(http://www.dopa.go.th/English/servi/marry.htm)

I can't seem to find any word even remotely related to income, or a doc format for that matter! Are these pricks at the city offices just waiting till they are bribed or what??? Am I the only unlucky one or can anyone relate to this?