Hi all, I'm currently on a 1 year non-imm B visa for conducting business in Thailand (salary and tax paid abroad) which will expire in August.  Unless something changes, I am in the unfortunate position of having to exit Thailand before July 31st and will plan to apply for a marriage "O" visa either in my home country (USA) or somewhere regional so I can return to Thailand asap.  My wife is Thai and we were married in the US in 2015 and have the official marriage certificate from my home state that has the "true copy attest" stamp on it.  We do not have a Thai marriage certificate, and due to the hoops involved we may not have enough time to get it before I need to depart.  So, the question is; does anyone know if the Thai consulate abroad (let's say in Washington DC) will accept the US marriage certificate for the application process?  Thanks for any advice!

 

Embassies and consulates will accept your US marriage certificate to apply for a non-o visa. They normally want a to see the original with a signed copy of it attached to the application.

 

Thank you, ubonjoe, that will make things easier ????

It also advisable to get it translated into Thai and notarised. That can be done quite cheaply in Thailand, less cheaply in the US or UK.  That helps when you have to produce a certificate here, to a person in authority,  who doesn't read or write English.  You will be surprised how often you have to produce your marriage certificate.

There is no Thai marriage certificate for a foreign marriage but there is a registration of your foreign marriage here that would be required for extensions of stay from immigration (but not for normal 90 day visa entry).  So if intending extension you might want to check on what will be required from MFA and process to register the foreign marriage at your district office after return as you might be able to get any extra paperwork while waiting to return.

1 minute ago, Pilotman said:

It also advisable to get it translated into Thai and notarised. That can be done quite cheaply in Thailand, less cheaply in the US or UK.  

But that will not be required at a embassy or consulate since his is in English.

 

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

But that will not be required at a embassy or consulate since his is in English.

 

true 

On 7/10/2020 at 2:47 PM, ubonjoe said:

Embassies and consulates will accept your US marriage certificate to apply for a non-o visa. They normally want a to see the original with a signed copy of it attached to the application.

@TH5XE, I've been getting the Non-O Multi Entry (ME) for the past 10-11 yrs. We were married in the USA, too, and we've never registered the marriage in Thailand. I've gotten the Non-O from Savanakhet 3 times and the USA in Chicago and Houston the other times.

 

Last time I tried in Houston, 2015, I was only given a single entry (SE) Non-O and told that the ME was no longer available from the Consulates. I do not know if the Embassy will issue one. After all that was 5 yrs ago. 

 

I do have my Marriage License translated into Thai, but that has been for the IO here in Pathum Thani (and maybe Savanakhet).

 

Every Province IO office, Foreign Embassy or Consulate that you go will have similar required documents and other requirements. You need to go to the specific website for the place that you intend to apply and prepare your documents for the Visa or Extension according to the listed requirements (it doesn't hurt to review other websites to see those requirements, too). (case in point: Vientiana, Laos has a very specific requirement for the application photo. Savankhet, not so much. I have a straight line slight smile in my visa photo, which would not have been accepted in Vientiana).

 

Good Luck!!

Edited July 11, 20205 yr by AgMech Cowboy

On 7/10/2020 at 3:57 AM, ubonjoe said:

But that will not be required at a embassy or consulate since his is in English.

 

It's been a few years for me and the consulate/embassy in the US has always accepted our US marriage license in its original form (English). However, when trying to register our marriage in Thailand they required an official copy with the seal of the Secretary of State. So, on our next trip we got a copy with the seal from our Secretary of State (our state, not the US Secretary of State) and all was okay in Thailand after we had it translated into Thai.

Edited July 11, 20205 yr by jonnit
spelling

5 hours ago, jonnit said:

However, when trying to register our marriage in Thailand they required an official copy with the seal of the Secretary of State. So, on our next trip we got a copy with the seal from our Secretary of State (our state, not the US Secretary of State) and all was okay in Thailand after we had it translated into Thai.

I think the procedure you've just described is no longer the case.

It takes more than just a translation of the your marriage certificate (even if certified by Secretary of state and the U.S. department of state offices) to legalize the U.S. marriage in Thailand, as described in the following thread: