What visa while waiting to get married?

[Nayet]

I'm currently on a visa exempt extension which expires end of March, trying to get married to a Thai lady, but all the district offices are so backed up they apparently need several weeks to verify my documents before I can register a marriage, so can I leave Thailand while my "application" is being processed? I have quite a history of tourist entries, so I worry that coming back on another tourist visa may be met with rejection. Or will they be lenient if I tell them I'm going to get married to a Thai? Any workarounds?

[ubonjoe]

If you qualify for a 30 day visa exempt entry you could do a border run for a one. Then a 30 day extension of it if needed.

[Nayet]

Thanks, Ubonjoe.

 

My last visa exempt entry was in June of last year, plus the one I'm on now, so not sure if that will be a problem.

Hopefully if I tell them I'm getting married, they'll let me in, though I wouln't mind getting a SETV, if that would help.

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, Nayet said:

Thanks, Ubonjoe.

 

My last visa exempt entry was in June of last year, plus the one I'm on now, so not sure if that will be a problem.

Hopefully if I tell them I'm getting married, they'll let me in, though I wouln't mind getting a SETV, if that would help.

No problem to get a visa exempt entry at the majority of land border crossings. They are not strict about them due to the 2 per calendar year limit at land border crossings.

From Bangkok the only crossing to avoid is Poi Pet to Cambodia where they will tell you that you have to stay overnight.

[Nayet]

Thanks so much, Ubonjoe!

 

Guess I'll try a border run.

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, Nayet said:

Thanks so much, Ubonjoe!

 

Guess I'll try a border run.

Yes better option than flying in. You could obtain 4 months. 

[Wongkitlo]

There is a very useful site 24 hour DIY marriage in Thailand or something similar. Maybe some advice there could help you speed up the marriage process. I know some agents can take care of the whole thing rather quickly for you as well.

[BritTim]

It is worth mentioning (though probably not relevant to your case) that the old Non O visa to visit Thai family and friends, while usually restricted to spouse and children these days, has been known to be issued to visit your Thai spouse. At friendly small consulates, if you have absolutely convincing evidence that you are engaged to a Thai, the consul is empowered to issue you even a one-year multiple entry Non O visa. There was a recent report of someone receiving one on ThaiVisa.

[DrJack54]

31 minutes ago, BritTim said:

It is worth mentioning (though probably not relevant to your case) that the old Non O visa to visit Thai family and friends, while usually restricted to spouse and children these days, has been known to be issued to visit your Thai spouse. At friendly small consulates, if you have absolutely convincing evidence that you are engaged to a Thai, the consul is empowered to issue you even a one-year multiple entry Non O visa. There was a recent report of someone receiving one on ThaiVisa.

That visa was also available in OZ maybe 8+ years ago. I have never heard of that visa recent times. I don't doubt your post, it's just never heard of anything like that recent years. Clearly it's still possible. Surely not to visit "friends"

[BritTim]

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

That visa was also available in OZ maybe 8+ years ago. I have never heard of that visa recent times. I don't doubt your post, it's just never heard of anything like that recent years. Clearly it's still possible. Surely not to visit "friends"

The wording is "family and friends", but it is obviously much more restrictive these days. I was also surprised by the (I believe) totally genuine report of someone receiving such a visa a few months ago to visit his fiance.

[JackThompson]

After several amphurs blocked my wife and I getting married, I asked some of the translators at the nearest BTS to Wireless Rd, and offered to arrange it all.  They knew an American-friendly amphur, and all got done painlessly - with their agent acting as witness and translator.  This was some years ago, but I would bet the service is still available.

[JackThompson]

We shopped through several amphurs in Bangkok w/o luck.  Some said they would not any document from the American Embassy - in this case, the required document to prove I was single - so, NO Americans can be married to Thais at those amphurs.

 

The look on their faces said it all - were disgusted my wife was marrying a farang.  But at the amphoe where we got married, it was all smiles, and a very welcoming short speech to me from the director. 

 

It all depends on the politics at the amphur - whether they are in the "farangs are evil" camp or not.  Like immigration-offices, and entry-points, experiences can vary wildly from one to the next, based on which faction (bought-out by the Chi-Comms or not) runs the place.

[Wongkitlo]

6 hours ago, pdtokyo said:

OP quoted delays due to queues/document verification ... i understand all that ... and i guess the application of more time will resolve his problem ... but your 'blocked' sounds a little more sinister.

 

I plan to marry in Thailand later this year and have done a bit of research so familiar with need for Thai-translated versions of prior marriage/divorce/single declaration etc (it's same sort of deal for marriage in Oz) ... but a heads-up on any non-procedural barriers would be welcome.

 

Can you or someone else share some examples of other reasons that a particular district office would decline to handle a marriage application?

 

Or is it like the visa environment? some individual officials deciding "computer says no" ? 

 

And finally ... it's implied in the posts above, but am i right to assume that shopping around amphurs would not be a problem, not tied to resident's local office?

I tried Chonburi and they wanted to send the documents back to Bangkok for verification (even though they had already been verified at M.F.A.) When the documents were returned they wanted to interview me to see if I was a suitable husband I guess. She rang several Amphurs but they were similar. A visa agent in Pattaya offered to take me to BKk for 6000 baht for the ceremony taking 4 or so days to organize it. There is supposedly a friendly Amphur in BKK that with a little persuasion will organise a same day ceremony. If you research online you should be able to find out how and where. A very friendly translation agent in Wireless Rd(the last one on the corner of a little soi)suggested to go out of town. We went to Trat and they wanted to interview a member of her family and when we brought the family member there they changed their minds and said we needed to make an appointment. They organized for us to go straight to a small Amphur near Trat but they rang us the same day and said they were too busy so come back next week. Time was running out so in the end we managed to get it all done at a small island off the coast. Took a few days waiting till the director came there to sign the forms.

[fourpack]

Is this a Anti American thing have been recently to four weddings in Pattaya all UK/Thai. No issues same procedure as years ago. Affirmation to marry from Brit embassy then translated then stamped by MFA.

Pick a date and go to Amphoe. Two just turned up there not booked and they had no issues except a few hrs wait.

[BritTim]

4 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

BritTim was that (now highlighted) spouse ... meant to read ''fiancee" or "'betrothed"' or some equally quaint term?  (i've highlighted it in the colour labelled ''Pumpkin" which sounds about right.

Indeed, I meant betrothed. My fingers must have been operating independently of my brain when I typed that.

[Maestro]

There is no "betrothed" visa.

[BritTim]

20 minutes ago, Maestro said:

There is no "betrothed" visa.

There is no specific visa to visit your Thai fiance. However, as I posted earlier, there is a Non O category of "visit family and friends". While that used to be interpreted very broadly, in recent years, it has been almost exclusively limited to visiting close Thai family members (typically spouse, parent or child). That said, it is up to the consul who gets such a visa. To get a Non O to visit your fiance would need both a sympathetic consul, and extremely convincing evidence that you really are betrothed. One recent case was reported on ThaiVisa, but no one should expect to just turn up in Vientiane with a couple of photos of a Thai girl and get such a visa.

[KhaoYai]

On 3/10/2020 at 9:00 AM, fourpack said:

Is this a Anti American thing have been recently to four weddings in Pattaya all UK/Thai. No issues same procedure as years ago. Affirmation to marry from Brit embassy then translated then stamped by MFA.

Pick a date and go to Amphoe. Two just turned up there not booked and they had no issues except a few hrs wait.

No its universal. We arrived at Bangrak Amphur at 8.30am last Monday and were told that they were full. Another English guy I met there arrived at 7am - having been knocked back by several Amphurs the previous week - he just scraped through.

 

Apparently they are now only accepting 5 foreign/Thai marriage registrations per day and many are pre booked.  We were given a list of other Amphurs in the Bangkok Metropolitan area and eventually found one that could register us that day - lucky as we were flying to Vietnam for my marriage visa that night!

[JackThompson]

On 3/10/2020 at 1:39 PM, pdtokyo said:

Thank you JT. An interesting and surprising response. May i ask if that was a relatively recent experience or some time ago?

 

I believe that you,ve also answered another of my questions ... but to be sure, you needed no special relationship with the amphurs on your shopping list? They didn't need to where you or your wife reside or work or anything like that? 

This was several years ago now - but they have only gotten worse, based on what I have read.  Did you hear the health-official call us "dirty" and such the other day?  That is the viewpoint of a faction within the chain of command.  Those within that faction control some (not all) immigration offices, entry-points, amphurs, etc. 

 

Some amphurs will reject because you don't live in their area.  This is not a problem if the agent takes you.  Some, at the time, suggested to just give them an envelope - but I have no experience dealing with instututional-corruption, don't want to wind up in jail, and my wife is the same (the men handle such things in her hometown).

[JackThompson]

On 3/10/2020 at 4:00 PM, fourpack said:

Is this a Anti American thing have been recently to four weddings in Pattaya all UK/Thai. No issues same procedure as years ago. Affirmation to marry from Brit embassy then translated then stamped by MFA.

Pick a date and go to Amphoe. Two just turned up there not booked and they had no issues except a few hrs wait.

Which amphoe office?  Banglamung?  That was our first attempt.  We waited hours to be told no - book another embassy appt (had the freedom to marry doc already) and get verification your passport is real.  Embassy appts were/are weeks out (and they knew this).  This was a "new undocumented requirement" at the time.

[VocalNeal]

6 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Did you hear the health-official call us "dirty" and such the other day?

Hardly surprising we are not liked with all the negative Thai bashing on TVF. Add in journalists who tell truths and...

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Hardly surprising we are not liked with all the negative Thai bashing on TVF. Add in journalists who tell truths and...

I don't read the forum that often anymore, but not much bashing of the general population / reguar Thai people, that I recall.  Most of us are here / living in Thailand, because we like Thai people, culture, etc.

 

But this particular sub-forum does focus on immigration-experiences, which sometimes involve corrupt officials. I don't consider this to be "bashing Thais" - just a small minority of crooks, who make our lives unnecessarily difficult.  Most Thais share our opinion of them.

[Nayet]

On 3/12/2020 at 7:19 PM, KhaoYai said:

No its universal. We arrived at Bangrak Amphur at 8.30am last Monday and were told that they were full. Another English guy I met there arrived at 7am - having been knocked back by several Amphurs the previous week - he just scraped through.

 

Apparently they are now only accepting 5 foreign/Thai marriage registrations per day and many are pre booked.  We were given a list of other Amphurs in the Bangkok Metropolitan area and eventually found one that could register us that day - lucky as we were flying to Vietnam for my marriage visa that night!

Would you mind sharing what Amphur that was?