Getting married soon, need a few things comfirming

[mike1983]

Hi all, I'm a UK citizen getting married in Thailand soon and would just like a few things confirming please.

 

1. Before I leave I need to type up my affirmation to marry, and make an appointment and the UK embassy.

 

2. Once in Bangkok I take my affirmation  (unsigned) to the British embassy. (Do I need to take anything else with me?)

 

3.Once signed I take my affirmation to a good translation company and get a certified translation done.

 

4.Once I have a translated copy I need to get it stamped at the ministry of foreign affairs, I believe there are services available that the translation company can also deal with the ministry of foreign affairs bit too for an added fee and then post the stamped document back to us. (Is this true) our plan was to do this once I first arrive in Bangkok, then leave it with a translation company that can do this and have it forwarded to my partners home in khon kaen. Then when in Bangkok before I go home make an appointment at an amphur and marry.

 

That's our plan anyway can anyone confirm that all this is correct or if I need to do more?

 

Once married we are hoping to get a spouse visa, is there anything I need to do in the UK to register the marriage? 

 

And the last hurdle would be changing her surname, it's this easy enough to do? 

 

Thanks, and any help/advice would be great to make it as smooth as possible, I have read a few things online but alot of it is as clear as mud!

 

[chickenslegs]

3 minutes ago, mike1983 said:

Once married we are hoping to get a spouse visa, is there anything I need to do in the UK to register the marriage? 

 

And the last hurdle would be changing her surname, it's this easy enough to do? 

Your points 1-4 seem familiar to me, but I got married here 12 years ago - so some things may have changed.

 

You do not need to register your Thailand marriage in the UK.

Follow this link for more info. https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad

 

We found that change of surname is easy - if she is living in the area where she is registered (in a blue book) - if not, there may be some travelling involved to get things sorted.

 
Tip: Check, double check, triple check all the dates of birth, translations (transliterations) of you both to make sure they match on every document.

 

A friend of mine went to the Amphur office to get married but was turned away when they found that his date of birth had been wrongly recorded on one of the documents. He had a heck of a job getting it put right and had to get married a few weeks later (we still had the party though).

 

A friend of a friend told me a tale of a Thai woman who, when she saw the translation of her husband's surname (something rude in Thai),  refused to get married until it was changed. All about the pronunciation.

 

Anyway - best of luck to you and your future wife.

 

[mike1983]

11 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

We found that change of surname is easy - if she is living in the area where she is registered (in a blue book) - if not, there may be some travelling involved to get things sorted.

Thanks for the reply, per above...

She lives in the house of her housebook and registered.

 

However we won't be getting married in her district we will be getting married in Bangkok.

Would this make it more difficult for her to change it?

I'm planning on getting married then returning home and applying for her to come to the UK to be with me as soon as possible after I'm home.

 

Ideally we would prefer if she could have my name before she travels so we don't have to do It once she's here.

 

What would actually need changing? Is it just her i.d, passport and housebook.?

 

Regards 

Mike

[chickenslegs]

This link may help. As far as I can remember everything is done  at the local amphur office after the marriage. In our case my wife travelled back to the UK with me under her maiden name and took my surname several months later when we returned to Thailand for a holiday.

http://www.thailawonline.com/en/family/marriage-in-thailand/changing-name-at-marriage.html

[grumbleweed]

Quote

Getting married soon, need a few things confirming

Your sanity?

[The Fat Controller]

Don't forget to take your passport at every stage !

[catman20]

3 hours ago, grumbleweed said:

Your sanity?

want to tap like ! a million times but can only once.  great answer and very true, still he will find that out soon enough.

[UnkleMoooose]

"Getting married soon, need a few things comfirming"

 

I can confirm that you are making a horrible, horrible mistake.

[InMyShadow]

Confirm she learnt English in university and not a bar!!!

[Been there done that]

13 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

Confirm she learnt English in university and not a bar!!!

Same same no different mate.

 

Unless the girl is pregnant he should just stick to F and F.

[007 RED]

Q.1.  Yes you will need to complete your affirmation and make an appointment with the UK embassy.   Please be aware that there are recently published guidelines for people wanting to get married in Thailand and this now includes specific intormation for people who a) Have never been married: Have been divorced; c) widowed.   You need to complete the appropriate affirmation form and take the necessary document with you.

See details: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-for-british-nationals-intending-to-marry-in-thailand

 

Q.2.   You will need to take your passport and in the case of divorce/widowed the original decree absolute/death certificate, plus the fee.

 

Q.3.   There are a number of translations service shops close to the embassy.  They charge about 400 Baht per page and takes a couple of hours.  Some will arrange to get it certified at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for an additional fee.  Alternatively you can go to the MFA yourself and get it translated there – there is a shop on the 2nd floor run by translators who work in the MFA.  Cost is also about 400 Baht per page and takes about 1 hour as they have standard templates.  The bonus is that if there is any problem they will fix it straight away at no extra cost.

 

Q.4.  To get the translated affirmation certified by the MFA it can be done in a day.  Present documents before 09:00am and collect after 2:00pm same day.  Cost 400 Baht pre document.

Alternatively you can deposit the document at any time up to 3:30pm and collect 2 days later, cost 200 Baht per document, or you can ask them to post it back to you (EMS) post for a small fee (I think it 60 Baht).

 

Regarding your new wife changing her surname… can be done at the same Ampher that you get married at… in fact they may well ask you do you want it changing at the time you register to get married.  She will also need to get her Thai ID card changed and her housebook and passport if she has one… No real issues with any.

 

Hope this helps…  Been there and got the tee shirt.... feel free to PM me if you need more info.

 

Good luck

[happylarry]

Nobody has yet mentioned about getting your passport translated and stamped at the MFA. This is also now required at most amphurs. I expect some are behind the times and dont ask for it but it is a requirement and you may as well do it at the same time as your affirmation.

HL

[mike1983]

Is it a simple case of just getting the passport translated at the same time and stamped at the mof the same time too?

Cheers

[Been there done that]

1 hour ago, mike1983 said:

Is it a simple case of just getting the passport translated at the same time and stamped at the mof the same time too?

Cheers

You are stubborn.

 

Once again; Do not get married. NOT.

[dieter1]

what  you  need to do:

(believe me, I know what I am talking about)

(and  I know, you do not like to read this)

- before you are married, you have endless time to think about your decision to marry

get informed, what it will mean in your future- especially if you are planing to live with your wife in the UK

(she can split at ever moment f. e. to have a new friend etc but you would be responsible to give her the money she would need for her living )

Most important:  Get a prenuptial agreement  - by thai law, you can not  do it after the marriage is done  !!! you can have no other formal agreement with you wife after being married . DO YOU know this. ?

you may be can make a postnuptial agreement in UK , but why should she accept  that??? You need to do it before.

You must realize, that the law in UK is not "fair" ! so it is your own responsibility to make it fair. You can not write everything in the agreement what you want. you can do it, but the courts will not accept it, in case of the divorce.

Everything what you own before, will belong  to you within the marriage and after, but you have to prove it !!!

Therefore, you can make a declaration as part of the marriage contract what you already own (savings f.e.)

f.e. you can buy and  own an apartment/condominium in thailand in your name and after beiing married, it will still be your possession . You can not to this within marriage ! If you do it after beeing married, best what you can get, is 50% after divorce.  But there fore, she must accept divorce and must accept the conditions and must accept the selling etc. or you need to get a decision by the court (good luck with this).

Do not forget:  marriage is a contract between 2 sides. But most parts of this contracts are not written on the paper you get, - it is written in the laws of the UK and thailand and depends  on the actual decisions  of courts. (and where you(and your wife) live, how long you live there, the mood of the judge ...)

short form:

everything you want to know, is not that much important.

everything else is much more important. The real problems will start, after you are married, and especially, if you do not get informed before the wedding (and dont make a prenuptial agreement  etc.)

good luck (you ll need it)

 

[InMyShadow]

what  you  need to do:
(believe me, I know what I am talking about)
(and  I know, you do not like to read this)
- before you are married, you have endless time to think about your decision to marry
get informed, what it will mean in your future- especially if you are planing to live with your wife in the UK
(she can split at ever moment f. e. to have a new friend etc but you would be responsible to give her the money she would need for her living )
Most important:  Get a prenuptial agreement  - by thai law, you can not  do it after the marriage is done  !!! you can have no other formal agreement with you wife after being married . DO YOU know this. ?
you may be can make a postnuptial agreement in UK , but why should she accept  that??? You need to do it before.
You must realize, that the law in UK is not "fair" ! so it is your own responsibility to make it fair. You can not write everything in the agreement what you want. you can do it, but the courts will not accept it, in case of the divorce.
Everything what you own before, will belong  to you within the marriage and after, but you have to prove it !!!
Therefore, you can make a declaration as part of the marriage contract what you already own (savings f.e.)
f.e. you can buy and  own an apartment/condominium in thailand in your name and after beiing married, it will still be your possession . You can not to this within marriage ! If you do it after beeing married, best what you can get, is 50% after divorce.  But there fore, she must accept divorce and must accept the conditions and must accept the selling etc. or you need to get a decision by the court (good luck with this).
Do not forget:  marriage is a contract between 2 sides. But most parts of this contracts are not written on the paper you get, - it is written in the laws of the UK and thailand and depends  on the actual decisions  of courts. (and where you(and your wife) live, how long you live there, the mood of the judge ...)
short form:
everything you want to know, is not that much important.
everything else is much more important. The real problems will start, after you are married, and especially, if you do not get informed before the wedding (and dont make a prenuptial agreement  etc.)
good luck (you ll need it)
 

Endless time? Doubt it.

[Deew]

3 hours ago, Been there done that said:

You are stubborn.

 

Once again; Do not get married. NOT.

Don't think the guy is asking if he should or shouldn't get married 

[Deew]

5 minutes ago, Deew said:

Don't think the guy is asking if he should or shouldn't get married 

 

[Deew]

10 hours ago, grumbleweed said:

Your sanity?

How rude 

[Deew]

Just now, Deew said:

 

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by Deew

[mike1983]

Seems to be alot of thai bashing, if you've had bad experiences then thats a shame but with the mindset of people coming on here trolling then thats probably why your relationships went tits up.

Don't tar everyone with the same brush.

For all the people who HAVE helped thank you.

[mike1983]

7 hours ago, InMyShadow said:

Confirm she learnt English in university and not a bar!!!

My Mrs has been to the UK before, she studied English here, I've seen various certificates and English books at her home.

But thank you

[KKr]

6 hours ago, Been there done that said:

You are stubborn.

 

Once again; Do not get married. NOT.

Everyone is entitled to their own mistakes.
Some people play the Lottery and win even with only a few well planned tickets,
some other people do not play the Lottery and will certainly never win.

As Russians say: 
Those who do not Risk will not drink Champagne

By the way, concerning Mike1983's questions:
some good advice before, done all that, albeit change of name at Amphur of residence, and had a Lawyer draw up the pre-nup but there are a few (good) templates on the net as well.
Pre-nup is also good if either one goes into business, as a protective layer in case the business goes belly up.

In any case, allow me to disappoint the nay-sayers to anything that does not concern a drink: 
I am happy that I registered, and the missus too.

Edited October 11, 2017 by KKr

[mduras01]

Just got married.

This is what I needed:

1. All that you mentioned in point 1-4

2. Copy of my passport front page

3. Certified translation of my passport

4. Depending on the Ampur, you may need 2 witnesses. I had to go to another Ampur that did not require them—each Ampur operates with their own procedural interpretation.

5. Fee of 160 baht

6. Her Thai ID & house book

7. An information sheet she had to fill in Thai about me, probably things like how much I make, expected date of condo plunge, etc

For the surname change she was told to go to her home town Ampur and bring the marriage certificate, house book, and ID. They wouldn’t do it in the Ampur we were in, but again all depends on the Ampur and the general mood that day.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[oldhippy]

Mike, how about a compromise?

Have a kangaroo (monk-ee) wedding at the wat.

That's what Thais do.

That's what I should have done.

Monk-ee weddings have no legal consequenses, but will satisfy the family (if they are honest).

Later you can still make the wedding official at the ampur.

Of course, since this is only folklore, it will not be a basis for a long term stay in Thailand or a visa to your home country.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

PS. Don't forget to bring tea money when dealing with Thai officials.

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by oldhippy
originally I forgot to mention corruption/extortion

[SpeakeasyThai]

Don't do it. 

 

And especially don't get permission for her to live in the UK as she will have access to UK courts.

If you do marry her stay in Thailand but keep majority of your assets/wealth outside Thailand. Thai legal system has no juristiction outside of Thailand.

 

Before you dismiss my honest well researched advise, consider this:

 

Love is blind.

 

(I hope you make the right choice and good luck)

[meatboy]

ok.mike 1983 those no's could be lucky,as that's when I met my wife and its 29yrs.married.

took 5yrs.to get to know her,and to check out all the,did she? I wonder why? then most of all HER FAMILY,and whats expected of you,you must have read the forums on don't do this,or is that true and no 1.she's different.

only advice I would give you and your wife to be,and this is after my wife spent 20yrs.in the uk.

if she's not afraid of work and is polite she can get on,now this is what I will WARN YOU OF,keep her AWAY FROM GROUPS OF THAIS,that get together to talk about others behind their backs.there are some ,EVIL,JELOUSY is rife among them.

good luck.

 

[catman20]

9 hours ago, Deew said:

How rude 

i thought he was just being honest 

[catman20]

8 hours ago, mike1983 said:

Seems to be alot of thai bashing, if you've had bad experiences then thats a shame but with the mindset of people coming on here trolling then thats probably why your relationships went tits up.

Don't tar everyone with the same brush.

For all the people who HAVE helped thank you.

[thaibeachlovers]

And the last hurdle would be changing her surname, it's this easy enough to do? 

 

You can leave that up to her. It's nothing to do with you.

 

Seems to me that a lot of farangs getting married in LOS think it's all up to them.