Apostille Stamp

[joseph73]

hi all, i have just married my Thai girlfriend here in the U.K we plan on moving back to Thailand in March i would like to know if there is anything more we need to do in terms of proving to the Thai gov. that our marriage is cosha. i have heard of a thing called an Apostille stamp do we need one on our marriage cert.

thanks

[Thanyaburi Mac]

hi all, i have just married my Thai girlfriend here in the U.K we plan on moving back to Thailand in March i would like to know if there is anything more we need to do in terms of proving to the Thai gov. that our marriage is cosha. i have heard of a thing called an Apostille stamp do we need one on our marriage cert.

thanks

That's sure something I've never heard of, perhaps because I never needed such?  Usually a "notary" chop was sufficient for my needs.

Did a google and came up with:

http://www.juliaferguson.com/apostille.html

(Please note this information is provided for your information and does not make anyone other than YOURSELF legally responsible for actions that resulted in immigration not being accepted. It is provided to help you in your information gathering process upon relocating to the Netherlands.)

THE APOSTILLE:

AUTHENTICATION OF OFFICIAL U.S. DOCUMENT FOR USE IN FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS:

Foreign countries often require "official" documents to be "authenticated" before such documents will be accepted in the foreign jurisdiction. An "authentication" is a governmental act by which a designated public official certifies to the genuineness of the signature and seal and the position of the official who has executed, issued, or certified a copy of a document.

In 1981, the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents entered into force in the United States. Under the Convention, signatory countries (including the United States) agreed to mutually recognize each other's "public documents" so long as such documents are authenticated by an apostille, a form of internationally recognized notarization. The apostille ensures that public documents issued in one signatory country will be recognized as valid in another signatory country.

The apostille, which is a French term for "certification", is issued by a designated government official of the country (or sub-national government unit) that issued the document to be authenticated. The sole function of the apostille is to certify the authenticity of the signature on the document in question; the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and the identity of any stamp or seal affixed to the document. The apostille either must be attached as an annex to the official document or placed on the document itself by means of a stamp. The form of the apostille is prescribed in the Convention and is mandatory. (A copy of the form is reproduced on the reverse.)

For the purposes of the Convention, "public documents" that may be

authenticated by an apostille include documents issued by judicial

authorities, including those emanating from public prosecutors, court clerks, and process servers; administrative documents; and official certificates affixed to documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document, notarial authentications of signatures, etc. Documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents, or administrative documents relating to commercial or customs operations, may not be authenticated by an apostille.

Authorities in the United States that are competent to issue apostilles include the Authentication Office of the U.S. Department of State; clerks of U.S. federal courts; and secretaries of state for most U.S. states (for Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah, the office of the Lieutenant Governor). Diplomatic and consular officials at U.S. embassies, consulates, or missions may issue apostilles in certain circumstances when requested by a foreign governmental authority.

MODEL APOSTILLE

APOSTILLE

(Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)

1. Country : _____________________________________________

This public document

2. has been signed by _____________________________________

3. acting in the capacity of _________________________________

4. bears the seal/stamp of __________________________________

Certified

5. at ___________________________ 6. the __________________

7. by ____________________________________________________

8. No. ___________________________________________________

9. Seal/Stamp:

10. Signature:

_____________________________________________________________

For additional information, contact the Authentication Office of the U.S.

Department of State (202/647-5002), the clerk of the nearest U.S. federal court, or the office of the secretary of state in your state capital.

xxxxxxxxxx

However, for use here in Thailand, I've just used a Thai translation of our marriage certificate, that seems to work fine, especially if it's from a regular translation office downtown.  FYI, I've used the actual certificate, which is meaningless in the U.S., but it's got stamps and other decorations on it.  The U.S. official document is the marriage LICENSE which has been signed off by the person who performed the marriage then registered down at the local country courthouse.  This license isn't very but it's the official document.

Some years back when I was working in Khartoum I need an official chop on my yellow shot record book.  Didn't want to get the shot so a friend and I split a bottle of cognac then used the cork, a bit of ink, and a wee twist just to smug the chop a bit, looked good.

There's a lot of UK www sites for a search for:  Apostille stamp

Mac

[A_Traveller]

hi all, i have just married my Thai girlfriend here in the U.K we plan on moving back to Thailand in March i would like to know if there is anything more we need to do in terms of proving to the Thai gov. that our marriage is cosha. i have heard of a thing called an Apostille stamp do we need one on our marriage cert.

thanks

Apostille is not required in your circumstances. In point of fact Thailand is not a signatory to the {I paraphrase} Notary or Apostille international agreements, but when required most departments recognise a foreign notary certificate and then, with a smile, ask that you get the document itself translated and stamped by a court certified translator.

Regards

/edit clarity //

Edited February 23, 2007 by A_Traveller

[drummer]

I wouldn't worry about it, but DO bring the ORIGINAL with you, and get it translated and be prepared to have to travel all over BKK to get it properly recognized. You might fire a question at the British Embassy to see what they say.

[Lellalemon]

Hi all, Im a citizen of Georgia and coming to Thailand for long vacation with my Israeli fiancé, and we want to get married in there, but we have no idea will our marriage have an international status? And will Thailand marriage certificate be enough to get Israel citizenship later? According to Israel low we can’t get married in Israel as Im not Jewish. And also they don’t have civil marriage there. so if anyone can help me with my questions it would be great

[ubonjoe]

Hi all, Im a citizen of Georgia and coming to Thailand for long vacation with my Israeli fiancé, and we want to get married in there, but we have no idea will our marriage have an international status? And will Thailand marriage certificate be enough to get Israel citizenship later? According to Israel low we can't get married in Israel as Im not Jewish. And also they don't have civil marriage there. so if anyone can help me with my questions it would be great

You can get married in Thailand. But both of you will need to a Affirmation of Freedom to Marry that has to be notarized by your embassy. When you have that it has to be translated to Thai and the translation then has to be certified by the Thai ministry of foreign affairs. When you have this done you would go to an Amphoe (district office) and register your marriage there. Then you would have to have the marriage certificate translated from Thai to english (or hebrew?) and certified by the MFA.

The problem that I can see is that Georgia does not have an embassy or consulate here. You might be able to get it done at the embassy in Israel before you leave.

Sample of affirmation to marry from UK embassy website you can change the country names and etc. which would make it acceptable to the Thai goverment. http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

Embassy of Israel website: http://bangkok.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/mis...sp?MissionID=64&

Georgia Ministry of Foreign affairs list of embassies and consulates : http://www.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?sec_id=73&lang_id=ENG

Info for translation certification.

The Legalisation Division

Department of Consular Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

123 Chaeng Wattana Road,

Laksi District, Bangkok 10210

Tel : +66 (0) 2 575 1056–59, 0 2981 7171

Fax : +66 (0) 2 575 1054

Email : [email protected]

(0830 – 1530 hrs)

I hope all this helps on the marriage side of things. The marriage would be recognized internationaly. But I do not know the answer to your citizenship question.

[Naam]

hi all, i have just married my Thai girlfriend here in the U.K we plan on moving back to Thailand in March i would like to know if there is anything more we need to do in terms of proving to the Thai gov. that our marriage is cosha. i have heard of a thing called an Apostille stamp do we need one on our marriage cert.

thanks

Thailand is not a signatory of the Hague Convention concerning the acceptance of apostilles. so no need for it. a notarised english document is sufficient.