Registering name in Blue Book

[jakestevernson]

Hi Guys,

 

My wife (Thai National) just bought a condo last month. I wanted to put my name in the Blue Book, but the district office said that I need to go to British Embassy first and then Immigration at Chang Wattana. They were polite, but not very clear on what I need to do.

 

Do you of you guys know what I will need to ask the Embassy to do? (Translate Passport or Certify that I am British, etc). Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks guys.

 

JS

[steve187]

20 minutes ago, jakestevernson said:

Hi Guys,

 

My wife (Thai National) just bought a condo last month. I wanted to put my name in the Blue Book, but the district office said that I need to go to British Embassy first and then Immigration at Chang Wattana. They were polite, but not very clear on what I need to do.

 

Do you of you guys know what I will need to ask the Embassy to do? (Translate Passport or Certify that I am British, etc). Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks guys.

 

JS

blue book are for Thais, to show who is the owner and  what Thais are living there, you can get a yellow book with plenty of hoops jumped

[jakestevernson]

Thanks Steve.

 

The officer at the District Office indicated that I could have my name in the Blue Book, but like you said, I assume in reality, I would need to have it in the yellow book.

[Peterw42]

It sounds like they are telling you what to do to get a yellow book, you cant go in the blue book as that is only for Thais, Yellow book is the equivalent book for foreigner.

Part of the process to go in a yellow book involves getting a MFA (ministry foreign affairs) certified translation of you name, usually from passport. MFA usually wants a letter from embassy verifying passport is real etc.

(if married in Thailand, your marriage docs translation of name should also be acceptable.

[Peterw42]

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

blue book are for Thais, to show who is the owner and  what Thais are living there, you can get a yellow book with plenty of hoops jumped

The blue book has nothing to do with ownership, it shows the housemaster who may/may not be the owner.

[jakestevernson]

Brilliant Peter, that makes a lot more sense. I will get in contact with the Embassy and then the MFA.

 

Much appreciated.

[Blue Muton]

8 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

It sounds like they are telling you what to do to get a yellow book, you cant go in the blue book as that is only for Thais, Yellow book is the equivalent book for foreigner.

Part of the process to go in a yellow book involves getting a MFA (ministry foreign affairs) certified translation of you name, usually from passport. MFA usually wants a letter from embassy verifying passport is real etc.

(if married in Thailand, your marriage docs translation of name should also be acceptable.

I think like most things in reality the process may change from office to office.

[richard_smith237]

OP - As a foreign national you cannot have your name entered into the Blue Tabien Baan house (condo) book. 

 

BUT, you can obtain a Yellow Tabien Baan house (Condo) book for foreign nationals, with this you can also obtain a ‘Pink ID Card’ for foreign nationals (can be done on the same day). 

 

 

Requirements vary from Amphur office to Amphur office, thus everyone’s experience will be different. 

 

My experience was slight convoluted, although the staff at the Amphur office were very polite. 

 

- Make an appointment (I had to wait about a month!)

- Obtain a Notarised Copy of Your Passport (from your Embassy - you may need to make an appointment)

- Have the Notarised Copy of your Passport translated in to Thai (at an official translation service - takes about an hour at MFA building)

- Have the Translation of the Notarised Copy your Passport verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA will post your documents back to you a few days later).

- With a Thai Witness attend the Amphur office on the appointment day.

- Your Wife and Witness will need plenty of their documentation - Thai ID, Marraige certificate etc

- The process itself takes a couple of hours - its a lot of paper work for the Amphur officer to complete while you just wait around. 

- The Pink ID card takes about 15 mins and is very quick (worth getting on the same day). 

 

Important: Ensure YOUR name on your Marriage Certificate (in Thai) exactly matches the Thai Translation of your name on your Marriage certificate. 

 

 

 

 

[jakestevernson]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

OP - As a foreign national you cannot have your name entered into the Blue Tabien Baan house (condo) book. 

 

BUT, you can obtain a Yellow Tabien Baan house (Condo) book for foreign nationals, with this you can also obtain a ‘Pink ID Card’ for foreign nationals (can be done on the same day). 

 

 

Requirements vary from Amphur office to Amphur office, thus everyone’s experience will be different. 

 

My experience was slight convoluted, although the staff at the Amphur office were very polite. 

 

- Make an appointment (I had to wait about a month!)

- Obtain a Notarised Copy of Your Passport (from your Embassy - you may need to make an appointment)

- Have the Notarised Copy of your Passport translated in to Thai (at an official translation service - takes about an hour at MFA building)

- Have the Translation of the Notarised Copy your Passport verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA will post your documents back to you a few days later).

- With a Thai Witness attend the Amphur office on the appointment day.

- Your Wife and Witness will need plenty of their documentation - Thai ID, Marraige certificate etc

- The process itself takes a couple of hours - its a lot of paper work for the Amphur officer to complete while you just wait around. 

- The Pink ID card takes about 15 mins and is very quick (worth getting on the same day). 

 

Important: Ensure YOUR name on your Marriage Certificate (in Thai) exactly matches the Thai Translation of your name on your Marriage certificate. 

 

 

 

 

What a excellent reply! 

 

Richard you are a star. Much appreciated!

[YT3k72Em]

Did my pink ID years after yellow book and it took an appointment and about 2 hours, and another 2 witnesses.

[jakestevernson]

richard_smith237

 

I have made an appointment with the Embassy and a fee has been paid online.

 

Will I need to make an appointment with the MFA to get the notarized/certified copy of passport translated?

 

Thanks JS

[Orac]

Was a few years back now but when i did mine i did not need 'official' notorisation as my details were on marriage cert but did need copy and translation (done locally) of birth certificate as they needed my parents details.

[tomazbodner]

On 12/15/2020 at 1:19 PM, richard_smith237 said:

OP - As a foreign national you cannot have your name entered into the Blue Tabien Baan house (condo) book. 

 

BUT, you can obtain a Yellow Tabien Baan house (Condo) book for foreign nationals, with this you can also obtain a ‘Pink ID Card’ for foreign nationals (can be done on the same day). 

 

 

Requirements vary from Amphur office to Amphur office, thus everyone’s experience will be different. 

 

My experience was slight convoluted, although the staff at the Amphur office were very polite. 

 

- Make an appointment (I had to wait about a month!)

- Obtain a Notarised Copy of Your Passport (from your Embassy - you may need to make an appointment)

- Have the Notarised Copy of your Passport translated in to Thai (at an official translation service - takes about an hour at MFA building)

- Have the Translation of the Notarised Copy your Passport verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA will post your documents back to you a few days later).

- With a Thai Witness attend the Amphur office on the appointment day.

- Your Wife and Witness will need plenty of their documentation - Thai ID, Marraige certificate etc

- The process itself takes a couple of hours - its a lot of paper work for the Amphur officer to complete while you just wait around. 

- The Pink ID card takes about 15 mins and is very quick (worth getting on the same day). 

 

Important: Ensure YOUR name on your Marriage Certificate (in Thai) exactly matches the Thai Translation of your name on your Marriage certificate. 

 

 

 

 

Not 100% true. If you have permanent residence in Thailand you HAVE TO be entered into the blue book. However if you have no PR and are not a Thai national, then the above is correct.

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

Not 100% true. If you have permanent residence in Thailand you HAVE TO be entered into the blue book. However if you have no PR and are not a Thai national, then the above is correct.

 

A technicality that’s appropriate for an extremely small minority of foreigners in Thailand.

Anyone posing the question of ‘registering their name in the blue book’ is clearly not well briefed on such issues and thus the simple answer is best - A foreigner can’t have their name entered into the Blue book. 

 

There are other ways than PR that a foreigner has had their name entered into the Blue House book.

 

So, you are correct, but also muddying the waters based on an extremely tiny minority. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, jakestevernson said:

richard_smith237

 

I have made an appointment with the Embassy and a fee has been paid online.

 

Will I need to make an appointment with the MFA to get the notarized/certified copy of passport translated?

 

Thanks JS

 

No appointment is needed at the MFA Chaeng Wattana. 

 

Option 1: 

1) Take your Notarised Copy of your Passport to the *MFA Building at Chaeng Wattana

2) Use a Translation service there (ground floor, while you wait)

3) Take Translation to second floor, apply for notarisation (it takes 3 days)

4) You can either collect the MFA verified translation 3 days later, or pay to have it posted to your address. 

 

*Note: On google Maps this building is called the Department of Consular Affairs (this is where I went last year to have my documents translated and varied) - Double check that the MFA has not moved.

 

Option 2: 

1) Take your Notarised Copy of your Passport to a Translation Service next to Ploernchit BTS

2) The Translation service will take care of everything - Translate the documents and get the Document translated at the MFA (this will take a few days)

 

 

If you are taking taxi’s etc, Option 2 is probably the cheaper option. Its also a lot more convenient. But, if you like doing things yourself, Option 1 is easy enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

[gamini]

On 12/16/2020 at 7:32 AM, jakestevernson said:

What a excellent reply! 

 

Richard you are a star. Much appreciated!

Not excellent! Foreigners with permanent residence all get put in a blue book

[ujayujay]

On 12/15/2020 at 1:03 PM, Blue Muton said:

I think like most things in reality the process may change from office to office.

No, the yellow Book has only to do with the Chaeng Wattana Office in Bangkok, the procedure is allways same, no matter from what Province you are!

[richard_smith237]

7 hours ago, gamini said:

Not excellent! Foreigners with permanent residence all get put in a blue book

 

Hardly relevant or of any help for the Op. No point confusing the issue with rare technicalities.

[richard_smith237]

32 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

No, the yellow Book has only to do with the Chaeng Wattana Office in Bangkok, the procedure is allways same, no matter from what Province you are!

 

Wrong. The yellow book is issued by your local Amphur office, the requirements set by each individual office vary, as proven by the varying experiences of many forum contributors.

 

 

[Susco]

28 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Wrong. The yellow book is issued by your local Amphur office, the requirements set by each individual office vary, as proven by the varying experiences of many forum contributors.

 

 

 

In Thailand there is no such thing as a standard requirement, every civil servant in Thailand makes up his own rules/laws on the spot.

 

Evidence is that when I went to the Amphur to ask for the requirements for a yellow book, I got flabbergasted and considered to just forget about it.

 

So I went back the very next day, spoke to a different civil servant, and told her what I considered to be the requirements, which were very minimalized (for not to say non-existing) from what was told me the previous day, and had my application completed in the following 30 minutes.

 

Another example is that the other day I went to the DLT for renewal of my 5 year driver license, and was told that a house book was not an accepted proof of address.

 

Now take in account that my previous renewal of the 5 year license, which had been valid for 5 years and 360 days ( but that is a different story ) had been issued in the same DLT with the same house book.

 

Edit : and to add, blue book is issued by the Orbotor, while yellow book is issued by the Amphur

[talahtnut]

To my surprise the missus has put my name in the blue book, I am not a pr or anything.

I remember being 2 moths late to IM office with a TM something bit of paper report of

where you live, the woman looked at it, and asked what I wanted to do, I said I dont know, 

she said go home and go to bed. 

My aussie mate with a similar bit of paper, and yellow book got stung 1900B at the same time.

[Blue Muton]

5 hours ago, ujayujay said:

No, the yellow Book has only to do with the Chaeng Wattana Office in Bangkok, the procedure is allways same, no matter from what Province you are!

Completely wrong information.

[The Fugitive]

4 hours ago, talahtnut said:

To my surprise the missus has put my name in the blue book, I am not a pr or anything.

I remember being 2 moths late to IM office with a TM something bit of paper report of

where you live, the woman looked at it, and asked what I wanted to do, I said I dont know, 

she said go home and go to bed. 

My aussie mate with a similar bit of paper, and yellow book got stung 1900B at the same time.

A foreigner without Permanent Residence in a blue book and also without your knowledge! Proves everything is possible. Makes life more interesting too! Your experience at I.O. is most amusing. I assume they took the notification of change of address from you but couldn't be bothered fining you for being outside the 24 hours time limit? 

[The Fugitive]

22 hours ago, Orac said:

Was a few years back now but when i did mine i did not need 'official' notorisation as my details were on marriage cert but did need copy and translation (done locally) of birth certificate as they needed my parents details.

Many thanks for posting. You've probably saved me some time and cash! I'm in the same boat but only have a short form birth certificate (UK prior to 1983). 

[jakestevernson]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

No appointment is needed at the MFA Chaeng Wattana. 

 

Option 1: 

1) Take your Notarised Copy of your Passport to the *MFA Building at Chaeng Wattana

2) Use a Translation service there (ground floor, while you wait)

3) Take Translation to second floor, apply for notarisation (it takes 3 days)

4) You can either collect the MFA verified translation 3 days later, or pay to have it posted to your address. 

 

*Note: On google Maps this building is called the Department of Consular Affairs (this is where I went last year to have my documents translated and varied) - Double check that the MFA has not moved.

 

Option 2: 

1) Take your Notarised Copy of your Passport to a Translation Service next to Ploernchit BTS

2) The Translation service will take care of everything - Translate the documents and get the Document translated at the MFA (this will take a few days)

 

 

If you are taking taxi’s etc, Option 2 is probably the cheaper option. Its also a lot more convenient. But, if you like doing things yourself, Option 1 is easy enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

Really good info Richard - Top Man!

 

Much appreciated. JS

[KhaoYai]

OP, take note of what others tell you about individual Amphurs having their own requirements.  When I tried to obtain a Yellow Tabien Baan the manager at my local Amphur insisted point blank that the house owner and registered housemaster (in my case the same person) be present.  I had a power of attorney document but she would not move.  The owner was 200 miles away and busy - I had to back down.  I'm pretty sure that if I'd been prepared to take my lawyer with me, things would have been different (they had been when conducting some chanotte related business at the Land Office) but I figured that the expense wasn't worth it.

 

Over the years I've learned to always visit the office you want to do business with first - and find out exactly what they require.

 

I would also recommend you take Richard's advice and use a translation service to handle your passport notarisation - I've done it both ways and believe me, the MFA job is a pain in the butt and remember, you will have to go twice.  There are several agencies at the location he provided - the address is Mahatun Plaza.

 

On that subject, is Thailand the only country in the world that requires passports to be translated and the translation notarised?  I've never had or heard of this in any other country.

[jakestevernson]

1 minute ago, KhaoYai said:

OP, take note of what others tell you about individual Amphurs having their own requirements.  When I tried to obtain a Yellow Tabien Baan the manager at my local Amphur insisted point blank that the house owner and registered housemaster (in my case the same person) be present.  I had a power of attorney document but she would not move.  The owner was 200 miles away and busy - I had to back down.  I'm pretty sure that if I'd been prepared to take my lawyer with me, things would have been different (they had been when conducting some chanotte related business at the Land Office) but I figured that the expense wasn't worth it.

 

I would also recommend you take Richard's advice and use a translation service to handle your passport notarisation - I've done it both ways and believe me, the MFA job is a pain in the butt and remember, you will have to go twice.  There are several agencies at the location he provided - the address is Mahatun Plaza.

 

On that subject, is Thailand the only country in the world that requires passports to be translated and the translation notarised?  I've never had or heard of this in any other country.

KhoaYai,

 

I will be doing all this January. I agree the translation service is probably the best way to go. If I can minimize the hassle and save myself stress, than that's the best option.

 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, it's been massively helpful.

 

I will report how it goes for me by the end of January.

 

JS

[Peterw42]

18 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

On that subject, is Thailand the only country in the world that requires passports to be translated and the translation notarised?  I've never had or heard of this in any other country.

Edited 6 minutes ago by KhaoYai

 

For the purpose of yellow book etc its a case of translating your name into Thai, passport just happens to be the document everyone has.

Theoretically it could be any ID document that is recognised. I did a yellow book using Thai marriage documents, as they contain a MFA certified translation of your name.

 

I imagine its the same in any country that doesnt use English alphabet, at some point if you are no longer a tourist and live there, your name need to be translated into the local language to be in local databases etc.

Someone in Government needs to decide what is the correct translation otherwise you could end up with 3-4 different translations.

[KhaoYai]

3 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Theoretically it could be any ID document that is recognised. I did a yellow book using Thai marriage documents, as they contain a MFA certified translation of your name.

 

I wouldn't rely on that - documents in Thailand tend to have an expiry date, whether its stated on them or not. I've had that on several occasions.

[hereforgood]

On 12/15/2020 at 12:56 PM, Peterw42 said:

The blue book has nothing to do with ownership, it shows the housemaster who may/may not be the owner.

Makes sense as I have purchased a condo have a deed of ownership with me named as the owner and a Blue book which i really never understood why as my name is no where in the blue book. I assume it just follows the condo owner.