Newly married in America, question about moving back to Thailand

[revgreen]

My wife and I married in America recently. We are now moving back to Thailand. I understand I will need to take our wedding certificate. Are there any other documents I need to bring? Once in Thailand I will need to "authorize" my passport and the wedding cert, correct? Then proceed with translation, MoFA, etc.

 

Should I arrange a tourist visa before going to Thailand? Or should I just arrive and get the 30 day exemption?

[ubonjoe]

You could apply for a single or multiple entry non-o visa based upon marriage at the embassy in DC or one of the 3 official consulate in Chicago. New York or Los Angeles using your US issued marriage certificate. See: https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/non-immigrant-visas/non-immigrant-visa-category-o/

And then register your foreign marriage at an amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 needed at immigration to apply for a one year extension of stay at immigration.

[revgreen]

11 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You could apply for a single or multiple entry non-o visa based upon marriage at the embassy in DC or one of the 3 official consulate in Chicago. New York or Los Angeles using your US issued marriage certificate. See: https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/non-immigrant-visas/non-immigrant-visa-category-o/

And then register your foreign marriage at an amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 needed at immigration to apply for a one year extension of stay at immigration.

Oh thank you. I wasn't aware that consulates in America process Non O visas. Sorry about that and thanks for the answer.

[revgreen]

One more question. If I'm intending on working when I'm back in Thailand (more to keep busy than anything else, as I already have the necessary income from a different source), can I obtain a Work Permit with a Non O visa? I've only ever worked on Non B visas prior.

[ocddave]

I almost got burned doing this, so if you got a good amount of time, make sure to get the original marriage certificate (with Notary stamp) and then have that certified by the Secretary of the State you are in, then send that to the United States Secretary of State to be certified, then have that sent to a THAI Embassy in the US for certification. When you get to Thailand have that certified by the MFA. You are basically certifying everyone in line, so that the Amphur in Thailand can verify authenticity of the Marriage. You may get away without doing this, which is what my wife did by only bring the original marriage certificate to her hometown Amphur, but then we hit a hiccup at the Immigration Office during the first 1yr extension because of it. I went and did a Marriage Certificate affidavit at the US Embassy, and that was accepted, but from what I understand the Thai Amphur should never have issued the Thai marriage cert without the certified Apostille.

 

https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/legalization/

https://www.nass.org/business-services/apostillesdocument-authentication-services

 

[jackdd]

With a non-O visa / extension of stay based on marriage you can get a work permit and work

(for example a "retirement visa" would also be called a "non-O" visa but with this you could not work)

[revgreen]

5 minutes ago, ocddave said:

I almost got burned doing this, so if you got a good amount of time, make sure to get the original marriage certificate (with Notary stamp) and then have that certified by the Secretary of the State you are in, then send that to the United States Secretary of State to be certified, then have that sent to a THAI Embassy in the US for certification. When you get to Thailand have that certified by the MFA. You are basically certifying everyone in line, so that the Amphur in Thailand can verify authenticity of the Marriage. You may get away without doing this, which is what my wife did by only bring the original marriage certificate to her hometown Amphur, but then we hit a hiccup at the Immigration Office during the first 1yr extension because of it. I went and did a Marriage Certificate affidavit at the US Embassy, and that was accepted, but from what I understand the Thai Amphur should never have issued the Thai marriage cert without the certified Apostille.

 

https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/legalization/

https://www.nass.org/business-services/apostillesdocument-authentication-services

 

 

I'm seeing 2 different services available from the Secretary of State. An apostille, and authentication. Seems the difference is whether or not the receiving country is part of the Hague Convention. Thailand IS, so I need an apostille, not authentication. Correct?

[ocddave]

31 minutes ago, revgreen said:

 

I'm seeing 2 different services available from the Secretary of State. An apostille, and authentication. Seems the difference is whether or not the receiving country is part of the Hague Convention. Thailand IS, so I need an apostille, not authentication. Correct?

For the Secretary of State of MA, I had to send a written letter asking for the service with a check for $6.00, with the Notarized Marriage Certificate attached. This had to be sent using USPS Priority mail, with a USPS Priority Mail return envelope. How your state handles this I am not sure, you will have to look that up with the Secretary of State website for your state. I sent my request with the Subject of the letter as "RE: Apostille/Certification (Marriage Certificate) "

 

On the US State Department form DS-4194, I have it as Authentication, and in "SECTION 4:Document Information" section I have the following.

 

COUNTRY: THAILAND

Number of Documents: 1

Document Type: MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE

[ubonjoe]

8 hours ago, ocddave said:

I went and did a Marriage Certificate affidavit at the US Embassy, and that was accepted, but from what I understand the Thai Amphur should never have issued the Thai marriage cert without the certified Apostille.

You did not get a Thai marriage certificate. You only got a Kor Ror 22 foreign marriage registry.

What you did is perfectly legit since the Amphoe accepted the affidavit you did.

[ocddave]

12 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You did not get a Thai marriage certificate. You only got a Kor Ror 22 foreign marriage registry.

What you did is perfectly legit since the Amphoe accepted the affidavit you did.

The problem was that the Immigration Office didn't accept the Kor Ror 22 by itself. The US affidavit was requested by the IO, not the Amphur. But as we all know, that US affidavit is based solely on my word, not any evidence. The only legitimate way is thru the process above, unless you want to bank on the US affidavit being accepted, or not. Being the issues with those right now, I wouldn't take the chance.

[cardinalblue]

I got a 90-day non immigrant 0 in Portland....can do same in the non big 3 consulates elsewhere

[Jeffrey346]

1 hour ago, cardinalblue said:

I got a 90-day non immigrant 0 in Portland....can do same in the non big 3 consulates elsewhere

How long ago? I understand that the small Consulates no longer issue Visa's. 

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, Jeffrey346 said:

I understand that the small Consulates no longer issue Visa's. 

The can still issue tourist visas and single entry non immigrant visas for some categories. They have been not to issue them for being 50 or over for retirement.