Where to get marriage affirmation legalized in Phuket

[BigRed1]

Hi all,
I am a UK national and want to marry my Thai GF after being together for 10 years. I understand the steps I need to take but am stuck on what to do after I leave the British Embassy in Bangkok as I want to do the bulk of whats necessary in Phuket.

 

I'm trying to figure out where I can get my affirmation of 'freedom to marry' legalised in Phuket. The UK gov site gives you the address of ministry of foreign affairs office in Bangkok but the link that directs you to the website that shows other legalisation offices in Thailand is in Thai language and hard to navigate.

I wish to travel to BKK to the UK embassy and back to Phuket in a day and get the documents translated and legalized in phuket as thats where I live.

Any information on this would be very helpful.

 

Thanks

[LivinginKata]

Been 20 years since I did this. Doubt you could do so quickly.

 

The self certification that you are unmarried at the BKK embassy is the first step. Divorce papers need translated and certified by the foreign office. The lady need to prove marital status. That's a bit easy now as it's all on any Amphur data base. We had to go to BKK for that.

 

When I did it was there was no foreign office in Phuket, now there is, so might be all can be done in Phuket once you deal with embassy in BKK.

 

Best of luck.

 

 

 

   

[Thomas J]

I suspect you need to go to Bangkok to your embassy and receive an affidavit that you are single.  If you have previously been married, you would need your divorce papers, certified by the embassy and then taken to the Ministry of Foreign affairs to be "legalized"  She would need a single certificate from the local Amphur.  If she has been divorced, she would have to file her divorce decree if that already has not been done. Hopefully your embassy in Bangkok will still certify divorces in the home country.  Some will not and require you to visit your home country to obtain the certification, and then taken to the Thai embassy in that country for additional certification, then taken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok for legalization and then to the local amphur. 

[stevenl]

Check Bangkok Express Translation, close to Rang Hill in town. They did some translations for me, including legalisation in Bangkok.

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Check Bangkok Express Translation, close to Rang Hill in town. They did some translations for me, including legalisation in Bangkok.

 

I agree. Not the cheapest but they are experts in certification procedure. They can easily take care of everything in Phuket except the you need to sign in BKK embassy the affidavit.

[BigRed1]

Thanks for all you help, that's all I needed to know. Fortunately for my GF and I, we have never been married before so fingers crossed it should be a straightforward procedure.....???? (if such a thing exists in Thailand)

I have a return flight to BKK all on Monday so hopefully my appointment time at the embassy is on schedule and I can make my return flight.

I will let you know my experience as it progresses

Cheers

[osmar]

Bangkok Translation Mae Luan Road did it all for me, 8 years ago. But needed afadavit from UK Embassy that I was free to marry. Not "legally married" before.  

[BigRed1]

So I flew to bangkok and back today, All went well at the British Embassy, it took a little longer than what they state on the gov website. They say it's a 20 minute appointment but I was there for about an hour from when they first took my documents to when I was given the Affirmation.

I don't think paying online speeded things up really.

 

Also worth noting that I filled in and printed my affidavit before my appointment as they ask but when I was there, they pointed out the 2 slightest errors, like not putting 'province' after 'PHUKET' on where the wedding will take place. So because of this they pointed me to a computer where I could re-type a new affidavit for which they have templates on their system. Then I just emailed the file to their email. Easy. Pretty good considering most things in thailand are more complicated than they need to be.

 

So next step is translation and legalisation which I will tackle tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the recommendations all.

Edited August 5, 2019 by BigRed1

[BigRed1]

Went to Bangkok Express Translation in Phuket town yesterday. Price is 3200 baht and will take approx 9 days. This is to get the translated document legalized as well.

 

A friend of mine thinks I will need to go to the police station to get fingers prints done in order to marry. I've not seen any info anywhere else about this. I am here on a tourist visa and I think he is on a non B visa.

Edited August 7, 2019 by BigRed1

[stevenl]

32 minutes ago, BigRed1 said:

Went to Bangkok Express Translation in Phuket town yesterday. Price is 3200 baht and will take approx 9 days. This is to get the translated document legalized as well.

 

A friend of mine thinks I will need to go to the police station to get fingers prints done in order to marry. I've not seen any info anywhere else about this. I am here on a tourist visa and I think he is on a non B visa.

There was something on TVF about the fingerprinting, do a search and you should be able to find it.

[paahlman]

Maybe it was mentioned.. , but if your country of origin has a consulate in Phuket go there.. They can fix this... For your wife to be its a matter of Thai ID only.

[LivinginKata]

36 minutes ago, paahlman said:

Maybe it was mentioned.. , but if your country of origin has a consulate in Phuket go there.. They can fix this... For your wife to be its a matter of Thai ID only.

 

UK only have HON Consulate in Phuket and offer very limited services. Almost useless in my experience for anything other than jail visits and death certificates.  

[andreww]

Just a warning about Phuket's amphurs' attitude towards farang-Thai marriages: 

 

 

[BigRed1]

So it's all done, my partner and I are now married ????

 

Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

On 8/10/2019 at 9:16 PM, andreww said:

Just a warning about Phuket's amphurs' attitude towards farang-Thai marriages

We had no issue at all. After I got my translated and legalised documents back from Bangkok Express Translation, we went straight to the amphur just a minute up the road. We were late in the afternoon by this point and they were not giving any more tickets to wait in line but they saw to us anyway. They just checked all documents, and said come back in 2 days time to do the deed. We chose a day and went on a friday morning around 11am. We were seen to almost straight away. We had our 2 witnesses (her sister and partner)

The 2 ladies, I assume registrars, were very nice and polite and we were married after about 45 mins of arrival. We paid 3000 baht which I don't think is unreasonable... considering we just got married! How much would it be to do the same in the UK!? Guessing a fair bit more. 

 

I did not need any background checks or fingerprints.

[andreww]

1 hour ago, BigRed1 said:

We paid 3000 baht which I don't think is unreasonable...

Considering that actual cost for marriage certificate is 0 thb, you paid 3000 thb more. This is pricesely what I wrote in my previous topic — they see a farang-Thai couple and instantly require bribes, which are totally unneccessary to pay to get married even in Phuket.

Regardless, congrats on your new marriage, wish you and your partner long and happy years ahead!

[LivinginKata]

4 hours ago, andreww said:

Considering that actual cost for marriage certificate is 0 thb, you paid 3000 thb more. This is pricesely what I wrote in my previous topic — they see a farang-Thai couple and instantly require bribes, which are totally unneccessary to pay to get married even in Phuket.

Regardless, congrats on your new marriage, wish you and your partner long and happy years ahead!

 

 I agree. Should have been the standard 100 baht fee. 

 

No matter you are a happy married couple. Congrats.

[bearpolar]

On 7/28/2019 at 4:34 PM, LivinginKata said:

 

I agree. Not the cheapest but they are experts in certification procedure. They can easily take care of everything in Phuket except the you need to sign in BKK embassy the affidavit.

Do you mean that you still have to get the legalization in bkk or they do it by mail?

 

• Take the notarized affidavit and Thai translation to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the translation certified and the signature of the Canadian official authenticated

That can be done through that company?

[stevenl]

11 hours ago, bearpolar said:

Do you mean that you still have to get the legalization in bkk or they do it by mail?

 

• Take the notarized affidavit and Thai translation to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the translation certified and the signature of the Canadian official authenticated

That can be done through that company?

Yes, can all be done through them.

 

Your question had been answered already BTW: " Check Bangkok Express Translation, close to Rang Hill in town. They did some translations for me, including legalisation in Bangkok. ".

Edited September 3, 2019 by stevenl

[bearpolar]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

Yes, can all be done through them.

 

Your question had been answered already BTW: " Check Bangkok Express Translation, close to Rang Hill in town. They did some translations for me, including legalisation in Bangkok. ".

with phuket town parking and traffic, i triple check everything ????