marrying in Phuket amphur without agent or bribes

[andreww]

Just a short story, how we managed to get married within 1 morning without hiring or bribing anyone.

 

- Get all required documents ready, i.e. certified copies & translations, "freedom to marry" from your consulate (Australian in my case), past local divorce certificate (even though Amphur could easily re-issue one, they still required the original from me). Tabien baan seemed not needed. All this was done in one day without leaving Phuket (sent documetns to BKK for translation and MFA approval via Kerry Express, received back a week later).

- Show up in Amphur and listen to a rehearsed story about "the boss is not here, noone to sign, need to come later". Firmly ask them to set up a later date. We were scheduled for 1 month later, so be wary about documents "shelf-life" (3 months). Do not let them waste your time by forcing you to sit and wait there, just ask for exact date and leave.

- On the scheduled date show up EARLY in Amphur and right away go to the "signing boss" (who was sitting there all that time). Listen to the story about how much it costs to get married there (on that day "prices" varied from 5k to 3k thb depending on god knows what). POLITELY tell that you have all documents in order and by law no other payment is required. It is best to let your soon-to-be missus take care of all the talk here, given that she knows Thai ways of communication and not pushy. I witnessed one couple to be completely rejected just because the future wife were somewhat full-of-herself and harsh with Amphur staff.

- The boss will tell you that in case of non-payment ("non-bribement") he will have to send all documetns to Bangkok for "background police check", invite us (me) for an interview later etc. Again, politely agree (because it's the rule / law?), and say you're not in a rush, but the documents are to expire soon (see 3 months shelf-life above), and HE will have to do this routine again in case police is slow and documents turned invalid.

- Watch the boss squirm and unwillingly open his laptop and start "preparing your documents" to send to BKK. Be calm ???? As it turned out, he was just as lazy as they get and did not want to follow the boring "background check" procedure, so he actually started preparing documents for us to get married on that day.

 

Two hours later we had our newly issued marriage certificates signed and stamped for 0 baht. Had to tip 500thb to two witnesses, but I guess this one is worth it not to waste your friends' morning.

 

There were 3-4 other couples trying to get married on that morning, same story for everyone: had to show up number of times without any progress, so eventually were forced to tip the boss 3-5k thb... Wasting time and money. TIT.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Only reinforces my opinion of Phuket. Corrupt <deleted> <deleted>.

I got married in Pattaya. Cost 20 baht or something like that.

[andreww]

yeah, same story with me in Phuket 7 years ago, but times change.

 

Many people here say "just fly to your miss' hometown and get married there", but even with tea-money involved, marriage in a Phuket amphur is still cheaper than return tickets + ongoing shopping expenses + time needed to travel. Just firmly dig your heels in and demand them obey to their own rules, works 100% of time for me.