How to register marriage at Amphur

[ChrisKC]

I got married on Sunday  - apparently! (I have no special document that says I did)

 

In visiting the Amphur in Lampang yesterday I was told I needed a document from the Thai Embassy that I think is a copy of the Affirmation in Thai that I already have in English, signed and sealed from the British Embassy. I had my original Affirmation translated into Thai with a proper seal from a recognised Translator. But I did this thinking I would need it ( I didn't) when I visited the British Embassy where I had to change a few things, resulting in the Thai, then and now, not being exactly the same. But it seems that even if I get a new Thai translation it won't be enough.

 

My wife has spoken to one or two people, one of whom claims he will arrange everything for B15,000 but my instinct tells me I don't need to do this. I would appreciate the advice I need to register and legitimise the marriage by ensuring my next visit to the Amphur will get me the marriage certificate I need.

 

Thank you so much.

[faraday]

What exactly does the Amphur want from you in terms of documents?

 

I made a 'donation' of 1000bt to the Amphur.

 

I believe a lawyer can do the whole thing for about 10k, but as it appears you have most of the documents, then it wouldn't be needed .

[Preacher]

You not only need a seal from a translator, the translation must be certified by the Thai ministry of Foreign Affairs and duly stamped by them. The translation agency should have told you that.

Luckily for you there is a consular department in Chiang Mai, at the ground floor of the provincial hall. Only costs about 800 baht.

[ChrisKC]

Just now, Preacher said:

You not only need a seal from a translator, the translation must be certified by the Thai ministry of Foreign Affairs and duly stamped by them. The translation agency should have told you that.

Luckily for you there is a consular department in Chiang Mai, at the ground floor of the provincial hall. Only costs about 800 baht.

Thank you. I have heard that if I needed to visit Thai Embassy, there is an Office in Chiang Mai. Do I  have to make an appointment?

[Preacher]

No appointment needed. But do show up a bit early. They need to check the translation (and signatories from the embassy), that can take about 2 hours.

[ChrisKC]

1 minute ago, Preacher said:

No appointment needed. But do show up a bit early. They need to check the translation (and signatories from the embassy), that can take about 2 hours.

Thank you very much - most helpful.

 

Chris

[lopburi3]

The UK Embassy document must be translated by an official translation service and then registered with the MFA to become a legal document in Thailand.  It is the MFA who oversee Thai Embassies - there are no Thai Embassies in Thailand.

[Preacher]

As Lopburi3 says, it is the Thai Consular Department.  Just follow the signs for the Thai passport office at the Chiang Mai provincial hall.  Issuing passports is the main business of the consular department. 

[ChrisKC]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

The UK Embassy document must be translated by an official translation service and then registered with the MFA to become a legal document in Thailand.  It is the MFA who oversee Thai Embassies - there are no Thai Embassies in Thailand.

Thank you, I have been using the wrong term. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is where I need to go.

 

I did get my translation from an "Official" Agency but does it have to be an approved one by the MAF?

[ChrisKC]

1 minute ago, Preacher said:

As Lopburi3 says, it is the Thai Consular Department.  Just follow the signs for the Thai passport office at the Chiang Mai provincial hall.  Issuing passports is the main business of the consular department. 

Thank you for your time and useful information.

[lopburi3]

1 minute ago, ChrisKC said:

Thank you, I have been using the wrong term. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is where I need to go.

 

I did get my translation from an "Official" Agency but does it have to be an approved one by the MAF?

Yes - always.  Translation service should have offered to do for you for a charge.

[ChrisKC]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Yes - always.  Translation service should have offered to do for you for a charge.

OK, I understand, thank you!

[BobbyL]

We paid 2500THB for the agency to translate it all and take it to the MFA for us recently. Came back in 3 days. 

[kickstart]

We did the UK embassy part, then the translation and as Lopburi 3 said, it has to go to the MAF,( we did ours in Bangkok, the MAF was up in Chang Wattana, we did by post, took 2 weeks to get back to us.)

Then we went down to our local Ampur with all the documents plus passport, cost me 200 baht .

Been trying work out when our wedding anniversary is, date from the embassy or the date from the Ampur.

[happylarry]

1 hour ago, kickstart said:

We did the UK embassy part, then the translation and as Lopburi 3 said, it has to go to the MAF,( we did ours in Bangkok, the MAF was up in Chang Wattana, we did by post, took 2 weeks to get back to us.)

Then we went down to our local Ampur with all the documents plus passport, cost me 200 baht .

Been trying work out when our wedding anniversary is, date from the embassy or the date from the Ampur.

You can only get married by registering it at the amphur, and then they give you your marriage certificate to prove it.

HL

[kickstart]

5 minutes ago, happylarry said:

You can only get married by registering it at the amphur, and then they give you your marriage certificate to prove it.

HL

That is why we had to take all our documents to the Ampur, plus passport, they registered it,  and then they gave us the two copies of the marriage certificate.

[BobbyL]

58 minutes ago, kickstart said:

That is why we had to take all our documents to the Ampur, plus passport, they registered it,  and then they gave us the two copies of the marriage certificate.

Did you need witnesses or a translator? 

[ChrisKC]

3 hours ago, BobbyL said:

We paid 2500THB for the agency to translate it all and take it to the MFA for us recently. Came back in 3 days. 

Thank you for that. Can you confirm that by "it" you mean the Affirmation? And that you didn't need to go to MFA yourself? Any other documents apart from the translated copy needing to go with to MFA?

You mention "Agency". How do you establish if they are accredited with MFA?

 

Thank you again!

[kickstart]

22 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

Did you need witnesses or a translator? 

Good question, in a nutshell, no, the job should be done by the Nie Ampur, the sheriff himself, we were lucky he was in at the time, a friend of mine went to his Ampur and he was not they, had to go back the following day to get the marriage certificates.

[happylarry]

17 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

Thank you for that. Can you confirm that by "it" you mean the Affirmation? And that you didn't need to go to MFA yourself? Any other documents apart from the translated copy needing to go with to MFA?

You mention "Agency". How do you establish if they are accredited with MFA?

 

Thank you again!

Its best to get your passport translated and stamped at the same time as the affirmation because you never know if the amphur is going to insist on it or not, so its best to have it ready.

The MFA do not have a list of accredited agency’s. There are a couple of translaters within the MFA building but they are independants and not part of the MFA.

Have trust in the people who hang around outside the Embassies. They are just collecting customers and take them to the translation shop, for a small commision from the shop. All the translation shops get the documents stamped for you and posted to your home for a reasonable charge, its well worth doing.

HL

[lopburi3]

49 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

Did you need witnesses or a translator? 

This is always a requirement to have two witness - normally you can find in office with officials or those waiting for service.  A translator is often asked to be sure you (foreigner) are aware of what is written down in official interview record (conditions of marriage can be contained in this document) - although normally not an official translator - just someone that can explain in your language.

[lopburi3]

4 minutes ago, happylarry said:

The MFA do not have a list of accredited agency’s.

They most assuredly did have such a list when I visited (before move to Chiang Watanna) and if translation not from firm on that list you would have to have done again - which is why there were firms on site to handle such cases.

[happylarry]

Ok, I stand corrected if that is so, but I can say that although my wife usually uses an agency she has done translations herself and had them stamped at the MFA, and she works freelance and is not on any list.  

HL

[BobbyL]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

This is always a requirement to have two witness - normally you can find in office with officials or those waiting for service.  A translator is often asked to be sure you (foreigner) are aware of what is written down in official interview record (conditions of marriage can be contained in this document) - although normally not an official translator - just someone that can explain in your language.

Okay fair enough. So that is required just to register the marriage? Even though we aren't needing to get married again. 

[BobbyL]

1 hour ago, ChrisKC said:

Thank you for that. Can you confirm that by "it" you mean the Affirmation? And that you didn't need to go to MFA yourself? Any other documents apart from the translated copy needing to go with to MFA?

You mention "Agency". How do you establish if they are accredited with MFA?

 

Thank you again!

We didn't go, they went for us which was an extra fee.

 

Our document is slightly different to yours as we got married in the UK previously, but the anything you have had translated they will take for you to be stamped etc. 

[lopburi3]

11 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

We didn't go, they went for us which was an extra fee.

 

Our document is slightly different to yours as we got married in the UK previously, but the anything you have had translated they will take for you to be stamped etc. 

If you were married you do not get married in Thailand - UK marriage is fully legal here.  What you did was register the paperwork from your actual marriage.

[BobbyL]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

If you were married you do not get married in Thailand - UK marriage is fully legal here.  What you did was register the paperwork from your actual marriage.

I know we aren't wanting to get married again.

 

We are wanting to just register it, but we still needed to translate all the info first and that translation agency took it to the MFA in Bangkok for us. 

[Colabamumbai]

Some Amphurs are sending all the documents back to MFA to guarantee their authenticity. Waited 21 days at Banlamung Amphur this past month.

[Preacher]

Has been a while, and i don't remember how or where i found it, but there was a list of translation offices and their ratings bij the Consular department in Chiang Mai on their website a few years ago. 

[Formaleins]

7 hours ago, ChrisKC said:

Thank you. I have heard that if I needed to visit Thai Embassy, there is an Office in Chiang Mai. Do I  have to make an appointment?

Thailand does not have a Thai Embassy in Thailand,