Which Amphur to Register Marriage in Bangkok?

[BobbyL]

I have had a scroll back but can't seem to find a recent definitive answer.

 

Me and my wife (Thai) got married in England whilst we were living there last year. We moved back here last August and after finally going through the hassle of sorting all our documents out we are ready to register it here in Thailand.

 

The company who translated our UK marriage certificate and took it all for us to MFA said that the Bangrak Amphur was the easiest for us to go to, but they didn't know much else about the process there apart from you cannot book a time, you just have to show up in the morning ?

 

My wife has tried calling them, but as I sure you can guess they don't seem to like answering the phone ?

 

We are already married, have everything translated and certified and just need to register it here. I have holidays in July so we are planning on going then.

 

Can anyone confirm what the process is at the Amphur for simply registering the marriage?

 

Thanks. 

[NanLaew]

Apparently at Bangrak, it's just a case of showing up with your wife and paperwork and taking a number. I think the only salient advice could be go early and don't plan on having lunch any place where you need a reservation.

 

IIRC, my first marriage was registered at Bangrak but the agent we used took care of everything and we didn't have to attend personally... but that was way, way back before computers and instant noodles and stuff.

 

 

[BobbyL]

25 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Apparently at Bangrak, it's just a case of showing up with your wife and paperwork and taking a number. I think the only salient advice could be go early and don't plan on having lunch any place where you need a reservation.

 

IIRC, my first marriage was registered at Bangrak but the agent we used took care of everything and we didn't have to attend personally... but that was way, way back before computers and instant noodles and stuff.

 

 

Great. Sounds straight forward enough.

 

Thanks. 

[KiChakayan]

I got married in Banrak, piece of cake.

[BobbyL]

18 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

I got married in Banrak, piece of cake.

Do you mean just registering it? We don't need to get married again. 

 

Was it easy to then just show up with the docs and sort out? 

[Preacher]

Registering the marriage means providing the original marriage certificate from abroad, with an official copy signed or confirmed by your embassy. This you need to have translated into Thai and next have it legalised by the Thai ministry of Foreign Affairs (consular section). 

Of yours you both need to bring both your passports/ID-cards.

 

Make copies/scans of the documents you submit. Immigration sometimes wants to see a copy of these. 

[moana]

Rumors say Bangrak is not as easy as it once was. They now require 2 witnesses that actually claim to know you (previously you could simply use the office workers and donate 40 baht), and they require an MFA stamped translation of your passport (in addition to MFA stamped affidavit/certificate).

[KiChakayan]

45 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

Do you mean just registering it? We don't need to get married again. 

 

Was it easy to then just show up with the docs and sort out? 

We got married. We turned up with the required documents. On the Thai side everything was matched against their nationwide database (impressive). As far as I was concerned I needed trip to the Australian consulate, birth certificate, etc.. translated into Thai, some had to go through foreign affairs, but translations services provide this service fo a reasonable fee. We had only one witness, so one staff volunteered for the second spot. Got some free baby sitting too... All done in a couple of hours in a very friendly atmosphere. Maybe the cute baby helped?..

In your case it should be even more straightforward.

[BobbyL]

23 minutes ago, Preacher said:

Registering the marriage means providing the original marriage certificate from abroad, with an official copy signed or confirmed by your embassy. This you need to have translated into Thai and next have it legalised by the Thai ministry of Foreign Affairs (consular section). 

Of yours you both need to bring both your passports/ID-cards.

 

Make copies/scans of the documents you submit. Immigration sometimes wants to see a copy of these. 

Yeah, we have all that already. Thanks. 

[BobbyL]

23 minutes ago, moana said:

Rumors say Bangrak is not as easy as it once was. They now require 2 witnesses that actually claim to know you (previously you could simply use the office workers and donate 40 baht), and they require an MFA stamped translation of your passport (in addition to MFA stamped affidavit/certificate).

Are witnesses needed just to register a marriage? We don't need to get married again. I assumed it was just a straight forward submitting of the documents etc. 

 

[BobbyL]

3 hours ago, Preacher said:

Registering the marriage means providing the original marriage certificate from abroad, with an official copy signed or confirmed by your embassy. This you need to have translated into Thai and next have it legalised by the Thai ministry of Foreign Affairs (consular section). 

Of yours you both need to bring both your passports/ID-cards.

 

Make copies/scans of the documents you submit. Immigration sometimes wants to see a copy of these. 

Was that recent? 

 

According to Bangrak Amphur we need witnesses and a translator just to register it ?

[ExpatOilWorker]

I would avoid Bangrak like the plague. The place is old, run down and the staff arrogant and downright unfriendly.

 

After being rejected at Bangrak we ended up at great Amphur just off Narathiwat road. It was modern and had a queue system that made it look like a major branch of Kasikorn bank.

The staff was helpful, fast and friendly.

 

The below picture is from Bangrak. Symbolically you can be paddling away when your new slave-driver smile in the back! 

[BobbyL]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

I would avoid Bangrak like the plague. The place is old, run down and the staff arrogant and downright unfriendly.

 

After being rejected at Bangrak we ended up at great Amphur just off Narathiwat road. It was modern and had a queue system that made it look like a major branch of Kasikorn bank.

The staff was helpful, fast and friendly.

 

The below picture is from Bangrak. Symbolically you can be paddling away when your new slave-driver smile in the back! 

Sounds good. 

 

Was it okay there for a foreigner I assume? Just because everyone seems to suggest Bangrak as the best for a non - Thai. No idea why. 

[KiChakayan]

6 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

Sounds good. 

 

Was it okay there for a foreigner I assume? Just because everyone seems to suggest Bangrak as the best for a non - Thai. No idea why. 

Because we got married there, and it was easy and friendly...You don't like it from the horse's mouth?

[BobbyL]

3 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Because we got married there, and it was easy and friendly...You don't like it from the horse's mouth?

I am just simply double checking as I don't want to go somewhere all morning which ultimately won't issue what we need as we don't need to get married again. We just need to register our marriage from the UK. 

[BobbyL]

Just as an update for this.

 

We ended up going to Ratchatewi Amphur near Phaya Thai BTS. It was a piece of p*** and far easier than what the staff at Bangrak Amphur had described. We were in and out in about 30 minutes.