Getting married in bkk

[transam]

3 hours ago, Pmbkk said:

 We got married in Bangrak in Bangkok 10 yrs ago.

 

I think all we needed was a freedom to marry affidavit ( translated across the road from the British Embassy ).

 

The "service" - no witnesses in the office took about 15 mins. Very fast. Don't know why you'd need an agent.

Many years before you, at the British Embassy, there were a few agents waiting outside. One lady said to us, I will do everything for you, including taking you to a marriage registry office, for an all in fee of 8000bht.

 

At the time, it was about 70 bht to the pound, I thought that sounds good.....

She did everything, even taxi's were included.....????

 

 

[007 RED]

A few members have indicated that it is possible to get all the paperwork done and married within a day, possibly with the help of an agent or fixer. 

 

Sorry but that may have been the case a few (10+) years back, but today there is no chance of getting everything done within that time frame.  I think that realistically you need to plan a minimum of 2 days, but to be more certain I would consider 3 days.

 

Firstly you need to get your Affirmation from the embassy.  To arrange this (if your British) you will need to make an appointment (online), and recent reports indicate that you could be looking at several weeks away.  If your lucky in getting an early appointment (e.g. 9am) you should be clear of the embassy in about 30 minutes.  Remember, that you may also need a certified copy of your passport (data page) for the Amphur and this will cost you extra in terms of both GBP and time.

 

Once you have your Affirmation, and if required certified copy of your passport, you will need to get both translated into Thai.  The British Embassy has a list of translators as per attached link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thailand-translators-and-interpreters/list-of-translators-and-interpreters-in-thailand  But read the disclaimer first.

 

You will find that most translator service have 'templates' for the Affirmation document and for passport so it should not take them long to produce a translation for you e.g. a couple of hours.  The most important thing is getting your name correct in Thai, and it is this which often causes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reject the certification of the translation.

 

Note: some translations services will also offer to have the translation of the Affirmation, and certified passport certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but obviously this will cost you extra.

 

If your doing it yourself, then the next step is to take the originals and translated copies to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular Office to have them certified.  The main Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Bangkok is in Chang Watana district, but they now have a sub office in Khlong Toei MTR station and in the MBK centre.

 

Up until Covid hit the world, you could walk in to their offices with your documents in the morning, pay a fee and collect the certified documents later in the afternoon.  Unfortunately those day are now long gone.  You need to make an online appointment as per link:  https://qlegal.consular.go.th/  Again, reports indicate that you may be looking for a date/time several days, or even a week plus ahead.   

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs charges a fee for each document submitted.  There is a regular service = next day, or express service = same day (submit before 11 am collect after 2pm) at an extra charge.

 

Note:  If there is a problem with the translation e.g. your name is incorrectly translated, then the document will be rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and you will need to go back to the translator to have it rectified which will take that much longer and incur additional costs to have the amended document certified.  Hence, using an agent, fixer or the translator to have the documents certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may work out quicker and cheaper in the long run.

 

Isn't life fun 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, 007 RED said:

 

Isn't life fun 

I think the above post is a pretty good recap of what people can expect from the marriage process here these days.

 

In my case, as I recounted in prior posts above, with using an agent, from the time I started:

 

--I had to wait 2+ weeks before I  could make an available appointment online to obtain my Freedom to Marry affidavit from the U.S. Embassy.

 

--Once I had that in hand, I turned it over to my agent and then they took about a week to do the translation to Thai and then have the documents certified by the MFA (obviously, most of that time was the MFA process itself).

 

--Once we had that in hand, our agent booked an available slot that was several days into the future at the khet office that we were using for the marriage registration.

 

On the appointed day, we drove out to the khet office and the agent handled all of the interaction with the khet office, which took about two hours, before we were finally handed our new marriage registration docs.

 

All in all, the entire process took about a month from the time we started until the time we finished... and most of that time was waiting to get an available appointment at the U.S. Embassy.

 

But by using an agent, the only things I/we actually had to do in ourselves in person were:

 

1. my hour-long visit to the US Embassy to obtain my freedom to marry affidavit.

 

2. The several hours spent one morning going to the khet office and getting the marriage reg done.

 

[Yellowtail]

All of this pales in comparison to all the stuff you have to pick out for the actual ceremonies and receptions. 

 

If being married is not worth a few days effort to someone, perhaps they should rethink it. It's likely not going to get easier. 

[Kalasin Jo]

On 4/1/2023 at 4:03 PM, 007 RED said:

.. It may well be advisable to get a certified copy of your passport done whilst you are at the Embassy as most amphur’s require a certified copy which has been translated into Thai and certified by the Thai the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in BKK.

A very good bit of advice if you're living any distance from Bangkok. I've thought about getting a yellow house book but local amphur said we need this, amongst other things. to proceed. So I have up on that. A yellow book obviates the need for multiple residency certificates which are only only valid a month for such things as car registration, driving licence application, account opening at some banks and requires the co operation of the blue house book holder.

[boonchu]

We were married at Keht Bangkapi some 38 years ago. It cost us 20Bt plus I had the free to marry declaration,passport etc. I was also coerieced into purchasing a tape recording of Thai music for 50BtIn and out in 1 hour. One of the staff was our wittness.

Stll married to this day.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

57 minutes ago, boonchu said:

 

Stll married to this day.

Lucky you don't need  to repeat the same process now. Times have changed thru the years.....

 

[Dexxter]

On 4/2/2023 at 4:03 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

"IMPORTANT: Some Amphurs require a certified copy of your U.S. Passport. Check with your Amphur before coming to the Embassy as there is an additional service fee for a certified copy of a passport."

I cannot understand the need for this. OK if you are presenting them with a photocopy of your passport then it needs to be certified. But if you take your current,  real,  actual, physical,  official,  real_as_it_can_get,  enough_to_get_into_the_country  passport, then why can't they just take a photocopy there in the office and know the copy is legit? Perhaps even take an extra 4.5 seconds and decorate it with the office rubber stamp. Stamping paper is easy. Just ask any passport control officer.

 

It seems that bureaucracy everywhere, not just in Thailand, is adding layer upon layer of expensive paperwork for no reason other than to make work for someone and make our lives a pain in the @$$.

[Yellowtail]

10 hours ago, Dexxter said:

I cannot understand the need for this. OK if you are presenting them with a photocopy of your passport then it needs to be certified. But if you take your current,  real,  actual, physical,  official,  real_as_it_can_get,  enough_to_get_into_the_country  passport, then why can't they just take a photocopy there in the office and know the copy is legit? Perhaps even take an extra 4.5 seconds and decorate it with the office rubber stamp. Stamping paper is easy. Just ask any passport control officer.

 

It seems that bureaucracy everywhere, not just in Thailand, is adding layer upon layer of expensive paperwork for no reason other than to make work for someone and make our lives a pain in the @$$.

Because you could falsify the passport after you're in the country, or you could tip the bureaucrat to copy a doctored passport, or someone may have multiple passports and multiple wives etc...

 

I like that Thailand seems to try to protect their women from being prayed on by westerners. If it's not worth a little time and effort, it's probably not much of a relationship. 

 

[MadMuhammad]

I got married 20.02.2020 at the Banglamung Tesaban in what was very quick and painless. 

-booked an appointment at my embassy

-trip to BKK to obtain the freedom to marry doc, at the Aus embassy in my case. 

The staff directed me to the translation service almost directly next door. I paid a little extra and came back just after lunch to collect 

-off I go to the MFA office at Khlong Toei MRT station. Missed same day, requires morning drop off (again directed by the embassy staff) 
-returned to the MFA office at 10am then back to Pattaya 

-a week later lined up at Banglamung Tesaban, got a number, waited. Had an interview with the district head, paid a few hundred baht (plus extra for the nice book and copies of my marriage certificate), waited some more and we were done. 
 

All in all a few days and maybe 5000฿

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

-off I go to the MFA office at Khlong Toei MRT station. Missed same day, requires morning drop off (again directed by the embassy staff) 

 

I also did the MFA same day express service route back for my original marriage affidavit back in 2014...

 

HOWEVER, don't think you'd be able to do the same today, as MFA since COVID has implemented an advance appointments system... It has regular and express service options, but from what I can see, certifying foreign freedom to marry affidavits is not eligible for their "express" option.

 

https://qlegal.consular.go.th/

 

https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/0304/Announcement_of_the_Department_of_Consular_Affairs_No.23-2022.pdf

 

 

When I look in the MFA appointments system today, the first avail appointment at CW is April 21, and the first avail at their MBK location is April 24.. Now, part of that is due to the Song Kran holidays. But even without those, clearly, there's going to be multiple days of waiting from when you reserve an appointment until you actually can see seen.

 

Though at least with U.S. folks, since you also have to make an advance appointment to get the marriage affidavit from the US Embassy these days, you also could advance schedule your MFA appointment for the next day after your Embassy visit -- instead of waiting to make the MFA appointment until after you actually have the marriage affidavit in hand.

 

However, right now, the next available appointments from the US Embassy for getting notarial services like the marriage affidavit aren't until SIX WEEKS away in late May. So best to plan FAR ahead!

 

 

[Mad mick]

On 3/31/2023 at 5:07 PM, grain said:

Unless there have been changes since I had my Thai marriage, you need to go to your embassy and get a Affidavit of Freedom to Marry. That document then needs to be translated, then taken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be certified. Then you go to the amphur and get married. If I was going to get married again I'd prefer to do it with an agency as there's a fair bit of running around involved, and I guess the agency fee includes a bit for palm greasing that'll get you faster service.

l paid agency used Samui law firm  for memory 2015 20K + approx  Was married  in Thailand only had to pay for English  interpreter at Thai Amphur marriage & devoirce ! plenty of agency in & around soi 4 Sukhumvit area ???? ! Will never marry again & never will ! Good luck ????

[arminbkk]

I also plan to get married my coming visit, meaning only at the amphur, or khet.

Already made an advanced appointment at my embassy for my affidavit.

My girlfriend told me that the Bangrak amphur is easy, in that one can walk in without appointment and get married, as long as you have all the required documents.

She bases this on some Thai blogger who recently got married with her foreign boyfriend (this year).

However, one the earlier post in this thread suggests otherwise.

Anyone know which amphur/khet is easiest in or around Bangkok, meaning quickest?

Or is it easier outside Bangkok?

I also understand that you need a total of 2 witnesses, and if your witness can speak both English and Thai, there is no need for a separate interpreter. 

 

I understand that I need:

- Affidavit to marry + certified copy of my passport

(- to get the affidavit from the embassy I need a declaration of marital status from my homecountry municipality)

- both these two documents then translated to Thai and legalized by Thai MfA

- original passport

- one witness

 

She needs:

- original passport

- house registration book

(she was never legally married before)

 

Sounds about right?

 

[LikeItHot]

Big mistake 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, arminbkk said:

I also plan to get married my coming visit, meaning only at the amphur, or khet.

Already made an advanced appointment at my embassy for my affidavit.

My girlfriend told me that the Bangrak amphur is easy, in that one can walk in without appointment and get married, as long as you have all the required documents.

She bases this on some Thai blogger who recently got married with her foreign boyfriend (this year).

However, one the earlier post in this thread suggests otherwise.

Anyone know which amphur/khet is easiest in or around Bangkok, meaning quickest?

Or is it easier outside Bangkok?

I also understand that you need a total of 2 witnesses, and if your witness can speak both English and Thai, there is no need for a separate interpreter. 

 

I understand that I need:

- Affidavit to marry + certified copy of my passport

(- to get the affidavit from the embassy I need a declaration of marital status from my homecountry municipality)

- both these two documents then translated to Thai and legalized by Thai MfA

- original passport

- one witness

 

She needs:

- original passport

- house registration book

(she was never legally married before)

 

Sounds about right?

 

A Thai citizen doesn't need to bring/have a passport to get married. Their Thai ID card serves that purpose. Bringing the housebook can't hurt...but I don't believe my wife was asked for it earlier this year...

 

The one thing about Thailand is... the rules and requirements have a great potential to vary anywhere from slightly to significantly from office to office / amphur to amphur, especially when it comes to Thai-farang interaction things.

 

There are many khet (amphur) offices in Bangkok. And we only checked with a couple. But the ones we talked to all seemed to be in the mode of come in now, present your papers, we'll check them, then we'll give you an appointment 1 / 2 / more weeks down the road to do the actual marriage registration complete with required witnesses and interpreter.

 

I've seen lots of reports here of people avoiding all that... myself included.... in distant past, pre-COVID times... But I haven't seen any/many that I can recall recently relating to Bangkok where it was quick and easy at the local khet office, like it used to be....

 

Bangrak was one of those khet that told my wife a couple months back we'd have to come in for the long, elaborate process I described above...  Ironically, that was the same khet that first married us originally without all the drawn out nonsense about 10 years prior.

 

 

[arminbkk]

@TallGuyJohninBKK

Thanks.

I will only be in BKK for 4 weeks, so hope it can be done before I leave.

Already planning and preparing as much as I can before leaving in a few weeks.

But I understand we might have to shop around a bit.

[drmal]

Whoa...slow down there, cowboy...

 

You are not even divorced and you are already getting ready to jump into Thailand for your next wedding.

 

At the speed you are going, are you sure you are really serious about settling in life?

 

Are you really sure what you see in your future Thai wife is not the same with how it was before you got married to your current wife?

 

If you just want to have some "fun" you don't need to get married.

 

If you and your future Thai wife are serious in a true marital and familial relationship, your future Thai wife can help you ask the relevant authorities about what you both need to get married.

[petedk]

On 4/4/2023 at 9:12 AM, 007 RED said:

A few members have indicated that it is possible to get all the paperwork done and married within a day, possibly with the help of an agent or fixer. 

 

Sorry but that may have been the case a few (10+) years back, but today there is no chance of getting everything done within that time frame.  I think that realistically you need to plan a minimum of 2 days, but to be more certain I would consider 3 days.

 

Firstly you need to get your Affirmation from the embassy.  To arrange this (if your British) you will need to make an appointment (online), and recent reports indicate that you could be looking at several weeks away.  If your lucky in getting an early appointment (e.g. 9am) you should be clear of the embassy in about 30 minutes.  Remember, that you may also need a certified copy of your passport (data page) for the Amphur and this will cost you extra in terms of both GBP and time.

 

Once you have your Affirmation, and if required certified copy of your passport, you will need to get both translated into Thai.  The British Embassy has a list of translators as per attached link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thailand-translators-and-interpreters/list-of-translators-and-interpreters-in-thailand  But read the disclaimer first.

 

You will find that most translator service have 'templates' for the Affirmation document and for passport so it should not take them long to produce a translation for you e.g. a couple of hours.  The most important thing is getting your name correct in Thai, and it is this which often causes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reject the certification of the translation.

 

Note: some translations services will also offer to have the translation of the Affirmation, and certified passport certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but obviously this will cost you extra.

 

If your doing it yourself, then the next step is to take the originals and translated copies to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular Office to have them certified.  The main Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Bangkok is in Chang Watana district, but they now have a sub office in Khlong Toei MTR station and in the MBK centre.

 

Up until Covid hit the world, you could walk in to their offices with your documents in the morning, pay a fee and collect the certified documents later in the afternoon.  Unfortunately those day are now long gone.  You need to make an online appointment as per link:  https://qlegal.consular.go.th/  Again, reports indicate that you may be looking for a date/time several days, or even a week plus ahead.   

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs charges a fee for each document submitted.  There is a regular service = next day, or express service = same day (submit before 11 am collect after 2pm) at an extra charge.

 

Note:  If there is a problem with the translation e.g. your name is incorrectly translated, then the document will be rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and you will need to go back to the translator to have it rectified which will take that much longer and incur additional costs to have the amended document certified.  Hence, using an agent, fixer or the translator to have the documents certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may work out quicker and cheaper in the long run.

 

Isn't life fun 

The most helpful and sensible posting here

[ChicagoExpat]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:22 PM, Dexxter said:

It seems that bureaucracy everywhere, not just in Thailand, is adding layer upon layer of expensive paperwork for no reason other than to make work for someone and make our lives a pain in the @$$.

Bureaucracy here is FAR worse than any of the other 7 countries I've lived in.

[ChicagoExpat]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:25 AM, Yellowtail said:

I like that Thailand seems to try to protect their women from being prayed on by westerners. If it's not worth a little time and effort, it's probably not much of a relationship. 

 

Thailand for sure has a duty to protect its women.  I like that too -- Lord knows enough of us here are total b@stards.  However, stupid crap like a self-sworn affidavit done at the U.S. Embassy does zero to protect Thai women.  You can also swear out an affidavit that you're the King of France.  Same goes for "authenticating" your marriage/birth/academic docs all by self-sworn affidavit.  Much of Thailand's bureaucracy serves ZERO purpose, and that's a problem.

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, ChicagoExpat said:

Thailand for sure has a duty to protect its women.  I like that too -- Lord knows enough of us here are total b@stards.  However, stupid crap like a self-sworn affidavit done at the U.S. Embassy does zero to protect Thai women.  You can also swear out an affidavit that you're the King of France.  Same goes for "authenticating" your marriage/birth/academic docs all by self-sworn affidavit.  Much of Thailand's bureaucracy serves ZERO purpose, and that's a problem.

Well, they did get rid of the self-sworn affidavit of income. 

 

 

[Lucky Bones]

Rule #1.

Find a decent agent.

99.99999% of any potential problems will be solved.

Drivers licence to marriage.

Pay him/her ok and you will be fine.????????

 

[GypsyT]

"Many years before you, at the British Embassy, there were a few agents waiting outside. One lady said to us, I will do everything for you, including taking you to a marriage registry office, for an all in fee of 8000bht.

At the time, it was about 70 bht to the pound, I thought that sounds good.....

She did everything, even taxi's were included.....???? '

 

Was that "fee per lbs" based on her weight or you, or both?

 

 

[Hummin]

On 4/1/2023 at 3:25 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I am surprised that so many people still marry. What's the point (from the perspective of the man)?

Family reunion outside Thailand

 

I got married inside schengen,and if I need to divorce, I can do it all from my phone, And the year after, Im divorced. 

[OneMoreFarang]

5 hours ago, Hummin said:

Family reunion outside Thailand

 

I got married inside schengen,and if I need to divorce, I can do it all from my phone, And the year after, Im divorced. 

I hope for you that doesn't include lots of payments - all entered on your phone. ???? 

[Hummin]

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I hope for you that doesn't include lots of payments - all entered on your phone. ???? 

Solid Contract

[Jelli]

My best advice is to marry at the BanRak amphor. They are quite set up for dealing with farang. My marriage of 15 years went quickly and smoothly.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 8/19/2023 at 3:51 PM, Jelli said:

My best advice is to marry at the BanRak amphor. They are quite set up for dealing with farang. My marriage of 15 years went quickly and smoothly.

I think people may find that the Bangrak district office has changed considerably for the worse from past years such as the formerly quick and easy process when the wife and I were married there many years back.

 

We had reason to inquire of them again some months ago, and the lady behind the counter gave my wife a quite involved and time-consuming two-visit process that she claimed we'd have to follow if we wanted to get married there again.