My Thai wife ad I were married 20 years ago in Vegas.

Have been trying to get that marriage recognized in Thailand.

Leaving out all the details - The US Department of State got our certification application -- and lost the certificate.

Rather than repeat the onerous process, we're thinking of getting married here in Thailand.

• I would need to visit the Embassy in BKK for an affirmation of ability to marry (I have a divorce certificate).

• A visit to the local Amphur to check their requirements.

My question - Any one out there have experience with the same situation?

My wife thinks they won't let us marry twice.

Before we walk into the Amphur office, I'd like to have information that may help - Sometimes the Amphur visits feel like russian roulette.

(And no - I don't feel lucky).

Thanks in advance -

NO you cannot get married again in thailand 🤒

You get the marriage certificate from the US legalized by your state first, then it goes to the Dept of State to get stamped and finally after that it goes to the Thai Embassy that controls your state to get stamped by them.

THEN you can take those documents to a translation service, get them translated, get them stamped by the Ministry of foreign Affairs here, and FINALLY you can show up at an Amphur to get the marriage to a thai abroad registered inside thailand <- your objective is to get a Kor Ror 22 form so you can use the marriage as a reason for a visa/extension.

There isn't an Amphur is the country that will let you register a marriage to a thai in the US without going thru that above process

Sounds like you know the drill, know what's involved and just need to start jumping thru the hoops to get it done (bummer about the Dept of State losing your documents though)
OR
You need to just suck it up and get a "retirement visa/extension"

From memory (38 years ago married) we had to get our marriage certificate stamped as real in Bangkok by Thailand.

Then to amphur and certificate of marriage made (passport, Thai ID card, plus some tea money [my wife always does this as a thank you to the head guy].

Bit vague and may have forgotten something.

3 minutes ago, carlyai said:

From memory (38 years ago married)

that is ancient information and sadly tens of years out of date ☹️

If you were married to a thai in the US it is now a 3 step process to get the marriage certified in the US so you can even begin the process of translation/certification by the MFA here before you can get the marriage recognized
Get the marriage certificate stamped by who ever legalizes stuff in the state you were married in
Get that stamped by the Dept of State
Get that stamped by the Thai Embassy that controls the state you were married in

There are 4 thai consulates in the US; (Chicago, LA, Washington DC and New York) and depending on where you were married you get the stamp from the appropriate embassy

Sorry for the misinformation.

Visit a lawyer who is qualified in marital law and obtain a proper legal opinion. At the same time, review your wills. If you don't have them, get them. Also prepare the powers of attorney that allow for access to property and bank accounts in the event of incapacitation. Every case has its own specific characteristics.

You have another problem, the divorce decree needs to be apostilled and translated too. So since you need to do all this you might as well do the marriage certificate at the same time. It would be easier in the US because the original apostille comes from the Secretary of State for the State of Nevada, as well as the secretary of state or the court in the state of your divorce decree.

The US does not have a national marriage registry, so the Federal State Department cannot attest your documents without a local apostille. Once the documents are stamped by the local and federal state departments, they will need to be stamped again by the Thai consulate(s) in the US and then translated and stamped by the MFA in Bangkok.

I would start with obtaining instructions from the appropriate Thai Consulate in the US. I went through this two years ago and it was a 6 month pain in the butt.

Of course you can. My wife and I were legally married in the US after having a ceremony in Thailand. Most of those marriages aren't legal, but are ceremonial ones for the family. But if you want to also get married legally here knock yourself out.

5 minutes ago, giants49 said:

Of course you can. My wife and I were legally married in the US after having a ceremony in Thailand. Most of those marriages aren't legal, but are ceremonial ones for the family. But if you want to also get married legally here knock yourself out.

I can't imagine that they would block you from marrying your wife but the translated and apostilled divorce decree would still be needed.

16 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

I can't imagine that they would block you from marrying your wife but the translated and apostilled divorce decree would still be needed.

...plus he would need the certificate of single status from the US Embassy, which he could only get by lying under oath when swearing that he was legally free to marry. Follow Tod's advice, and don't go there.

I have been told by the US Embassy that Thailand will soon ratify joining the nations that do not require apostilling of documents. I believe this means that they will then accept certified original documents from local agencies in the United States. I have also been told that the US Embassy/Consulate will no longer certify that a person is eligible to get married in Thailand. Their thought process is they have no way to verify what the person is saying so they have stopped doing those a while ago I believe.

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

...plus he would need the certificate of single status from the US Embassy, which he could only get by lying under oath when swearing that he was legally free to marry. Follow Tod's advice, and don't go there.

You are free to marry your wife though. Check with the Amphoe.

I think the answer would be NO however you could go down the route of having a monks blessing service many Thais do this but it means you are not formally married but as you said that you are already married I think the blessing would suffice . You can have as many monks as you want all you have to do is give each one food to eat and an envelope with money enclosed let’s say 1,000bht for the head monk and 500 Bht to the other monks hope this helps

On 3/24/2026 at 11:10 AM, kbb said:

Leaving out all the details - The US Department of State got our certification application -- and lost the certificate.

Why did you submit the original certificate?
Only a certified copy of the certificate is required.

You should always maintain possession of the original.

On 3/24/2026 at 11:32 AM, Tod Daniels said:

that is ancient information and sadly tens of years out of date ☹️

If you were married to a thai in the US it is now a 3 step process to get the marriage certified in the US so you can even begin the process of translation/certification by the MFA here before you can get the marriage recognized
Get the marriage certificate stamped by who ever legalizes stuff in the state you were married in
Get that stamped by the Dept of State
Get that stamped by the Thai Embassy that controls the state you were married in

There are 4 thai consulates in the US; (Chicago, LA, Washington DC and New York) and depending on where you were married you get the stamp from the appropriate embassy

Thanks for the concise description of the 3 steps

I've been looking for an agent in America to handle the process, and wrote to 5 agencies randomly found on the web. The requirements (and fees) varied from agency to agency, but most importantly, there's no way to determine these agencies' reliability. It would be very helpful if someone could recommend a trustworthy agency!

35 minutes ago, Pawpal said:

Thanks for the concise description of the 3 steps

I've been looking for an agent in America to handle the process, and wrote to 5 agencies randomly found on the web. The requirements (and fees) varied from agency to agency, but most importantly, there's no way to determine these agencies' reliability. It would be very helpful if someone could recommend a trustworthy agency!

It's actually 4 steps.

Step-by-Step Authentication Process

1. Obtain Certified Copy: Get a certified copy of your marriage certificate from the county clerk or state registrar where the marriage was registered.

2. State Authentication: Have the certified copy authenticated by the Secretary of State in the state where the marriage was performed (often called an Apostille or certification of authentication).

3. Federal Authentication: Send the state-authenticated document to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. for federal authentication.

4. Thai Embassy/Consulate Authentication: Submit the federal-authenticated certificate to the Thai Embassy or Royal Thai Consulate General in the U.S. for final legalization.

On 3/24/2026 at 11:10 AM, kbb said:

Rather than repeat the onerous process, we're thinking of getting married here in Thailand.

• I would need to visit the Embassy in BKK for an affirmation of ability to marry (I have a divorce certificate).

As already mention, lying under oath is committing an offence of perjury.

You should have researched and paid due dilgence to the procedure before returning to Thailand.

My US Marriage certificate was done in Altus OK back in 1981. We were married 10 years before coming to Thailand to live. The process then was quite simple we obtained a certified copy of our marriage certificate. Then had it translated into Thai then went to the US embassy and had it certified as a true copy. Then went to the Foreign Ministry of Thailand and had it certified as a true copy and then went to the Amphur office and registered the Marriage. But that was 35 years ago!

21 hours ago, crazykopite said:

I think the answer would be NO however you could go down the route of having a monks blessing service many Thais do this but it means you are not formally married but as you said that you are already married I think the blessing would suffice . You can have as many monks as you want all you have to do is give each one food to eat and an envelope with money enclosed let’s say 1,000bht for the head monk and 500 Bht to the other monks hope this helps

The OP is specifically trying to have Thailand recognize his legal, formal marriage, so a blessing from a monk would be of no use to him.

4 hours ago, khunjeff said:

The OP is specifically trying to have Thailand recognize his legal, formal marriage, so a blessing from a monk would be of no use to him.

The main reason or goal of getting Thailand to recognize his legal, formal marriage from the USA would be to obtain a Thai marriage visa for lawful status in the kingdom of Thailand under a non-immigrant O visa? But that would required having a Thai bank account under his name along with 400k thb deposited for a minimum length of time of 2 or 3 months? I apologize if this question isnt what the OP is after but I've been having a difficult time trying to navigate this myself. Not being able to open a Thai bank account on visa exemption (not easily) I tried to use visa agents assistance but they only gave me the expensive fee option that doesnt require the 400k thb. I have the 400k in a US bank account for 3 months and do not want to go down that route at all because it feels like eventually the music will stop and I'll be left without a chair metaphorically. I would appreciate if anyone could help clarify and guide me to the best course of action to go down this route.

11 minutes ago, LukeCastle said:

I would appreciate if anyone could help clarify and guide me to the best course of action to go down this route.

You apply for the Non O based on marriage or retirement e-Visa from outside of Thailand.

Enter with the eVisa and be stamped in for 90 days.

With Non O status you should be able to open bank account.

The bank may want a COR from immigration or Lease etc.

Next step transfer required funds to that account and after seasoning for two months apply for 12 month extension

Some clarification -

We have a Thai Will

I have a Thai Bank account that I had to use for retirement Visas.

Own nothing else here in Thailand (no Condos, Nominee Companies, etc) under my name.

I am now covered under the Elite Visa, which has about another 14 years.

I am pursuing this because I expect there may be reasons why it would be helpful -- In many cases, these might pop up as surprises when faced with the actual situation.

The one lucky break in all of this is that the Thai Consulate in LA will not accept walk - ins for their stamp. They require these to be processed by mail.

Even though it sounds like the answer here is NO, The next time we go running errands in downtown Phu Pha Man, we'll stop in to the office for a quick discussion.

(After siphoning some gas from our neighbor's car)

Thanks - again.

1 hour ago, kbb said:

Even though it sounds like the answer here is NO

What's the question ?

Can you register your US marriage in Thailand - yes!