I Want To Get Married In Bangkok, How Difficult Is It?

[Triphin]

Im American and My wife to be is Indonesian. In order to get a "Secular" marriage we must go outside Indonesia. Thailand is where we like to go, but we know no one who has gotten married in Tahiland. It requires that we go the the "Ampur" , a local govt office to get registeresd from what Ive read . How difficult is this process? how long dose it take? should I pay $800-1000 USD to have a Thai lawyer do this or can I realistically do this myself in a 7-10 days?

What I know is I have and my wife to be have to go to our Counsulates and get certificates of eligibilty to marry, have them translated into Thai, then go to the Ampur and get registered, then have our marriage licence translated into both english and Indonesian for future dealing with respective govt's.

What I cannot see or know from here{Indonesia} is how long this could take If we arrive approx the 2nd week in Jan 2008.

Will I/can I get the run - around S.E. Asian style for days trying to get the Ampur to stamp out marriage, or are they fairly reliable? Do I pay the lawyer who says they can do it in 4-7 days or will they be the ones who bend me over?

ANY ONE WHO HAS ANY EXPERIENCE OR USEFUL ADVICE WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED!

Thanks,

Paul

[lopburi3]

You have to find out if Indonesia will issue such a document as your starting point - and how long it will take. If you can not marry there I have my doubts that they are going to issue paperwork here but hope I am wrong on that. You seem to have the basic understanding - you both must first obtain such a paper, have it translated into Thai, have it registered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to make it a legal document and then you can proceed to a district office to register your marriage (two witness and translator likely required there unless office does a lot of foreigners and can do in house). Marriage certificates are issued and then it is a good idea to have translated into your language and again registered with MFA for future legal use. Normally this marriage process can be done in a few hours with help or several days without. Surly a lawyer is not required unless you are getting into prenuptial agreements or such. A marriage/translation service could do for a fixed price but you have to get the Embassy document yourselves and that is the unknown in this case. Once you have it there should not be a problem registering the marriage.

[corkscrew]

Im American and My wife to be is Indonesian. In order to get a "Secular" marriage we must go outside Indonesia. Thailand is where we like to go, but we know no one who has gotten married in Tahiland. It requires that we go the the "Ampur" , a local govt office to get registeresd from what Ive read . How difficult is this process? how long dose it take? should I pay $800-1000 USD to have a Thai lawyer do this or can I realistically do this myself in a 7-10 days?

What I know is I have and my wife to be have to go to our Counsulates and get certificates of eligibilty to marry, have them translated into Thai, then go to the Ampur and get registered, then have our marriage licence translated into both english and Indonesian for future dealing with respective govt's.

What I cannot see or know from here{Indonesia} is how long this could take If we arrive approx the 2nd week in Jan 2008.

Will I/can I get the run - around S.E. Asian style for days trying to get the Ampur to stamp out marriage, or are they fairly reliable? Do I pay the lawyer who says they can do it in 4-7 days or will they be the ones who bend me over?

ANY ONE WHO HAS ANY EXPERIENCE OR USEFUL ADVICE WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED!

Thanks,

Paul

Edited December 16, 2007 by corkscrew

[Mosha]

I have a contact who is married to an Indonesian lady. I have e-mailed him. If/when he answers I'll get back to you.

[gburns57au]

Im American and My wife to be is Indonesian. In order to get a "Secular" marriage we must go outside Indonesia. Thailand is where we like to go, but we know no one who has gotten married in Tahiland. It requires that we go the the "Ampur" , a local govt office to get registeresd from what Ive read . How difficult is this process? how long dose it take? should I pay $800-1000 USD to have a Thai lawyer do this or can I realistically do this myself in a 7-10 days?

What I know is I have and my wife to be have to go to our Counsulates and get certificates of eligibilty to marry, have them translated into Thai, then go to the Ampur and get registered, then have our marriage licence translated into both english and Indonesian for future dealing with respective govt's.

What I cannot see or know from here{Indonesia} is how long this could take If we arrive approx the 2nd week in Jan 2008.

Will I/can I get the run - around S.E. Asian style for days trying to get the Ampur to stamp out marriage, or are they fairly reliable? Do I pay the lawyer who says they can do it in 4-7 days or will they be the ones who bend me over?

ANY ONE WHO HAS ANY EXPERIENCE OR USEFUL ADVICE WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED!

Thanks,

Paul

Many foreigners have been married in Indonesia....in Bali....have you checked that out...remember that Bali is mainly Hindi and not Muslim.

[Chang_paarp]

Many foreigners have been married in Indonesia....in Bali....have you checked that out...remember that Bali is mainly Hindi and not Muslim.

Bali is predominantly Hindu religion, Hindi is one of the main languages in India. These marriages are predominantly between 2 foreigners, I think it may be a little different if one of the intended couple is Indonesian.

The OP may run into problems with the Indonesian Authorities if his lady is Muslim, or registered as a Muslim in Indonesia, as they may not accept a "Secular" marriage. It would be worth checking the status of this before journeying forth. This may interfere with the paperwork needed to get married in Thailand.

Otherwise good luck.

[Triphin]

You have to find out if Indonesia will issue such a document as your starting point - and how long it will take. If you can not marry there I have my doubts that they are going to issue paperwork here but hope I am wrong on that. You seem to have the basic understanding - you both must first obtain such a paper, have it translated into Thai, have it registered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to make it a legal document and then you can proceed to a district office to register your marriage (two witness and translator likely required there unless office does a lot of foreigners and can do in house). Marriage certificates are issued and then it is a good idea to have translated into your language and again registered with MFA for future legal use. Normally this marriage process can be done in a few hours with help or several days without. Surly a lawyer is not required unless you are getting into prenuptial agreements or such. A marriage/translation service could do for a fixed price but you have to get the Embassy document yourselves and that is the unknown in this case. Once you have it there should not be a problem registering the marriage.

Thanks for the reply, and everyone who replied. No prenup in Thailand is required.

What is help? where do I get it?

[chuck6660]

You have to find out if Indonesia will issue such a document as your starting point - and how long it will take. If you can not marry there I have my doubts that they are going to issue paperwork here but hope I am wrong on that. You seem to have the basic understanding - you both must first obtain such a paper, have it translated into Thai, have it registered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to make it a legal document and then you can proceed to a district office to register your marriage (two witness and translator likely required there unless office does a lot of foreigners and can do in house). Marriage certificates are issued and then it is a good idea to have translated into your language and again registered with MFA for future legal use. Normally this marriage process can be done in a few hours with help or several days without. Surly a lawyer is not required unless you are getting into prenuptial agreements or such. A marriage/translation service could do for a fixed price but you have to get the Embassy document yourselves and that is the unknown in this case. Once you have it there should not be a problem registering the marriage.

Thanks for the reply, and everyone who replied. No prenup in Thailand is required.

What is help? where do I get it?

If you get the eligibility documents from your Embassies and go to a marriage/translation agency, the process will take @2 days.

[Travel2003]

A bit confused, and it is early for me, so I might have lost something here.

I appologize for that.

Is it really possible for 2 non-Thais to get married in a Thai "Amphur"?

I thought this was something for the embassy (or other offices) belonging to one of the 2.

[Payboy]

i suggest that you wait until 14th Feb and register your marriage at the bangrak amphur office.

all technicalities will be easier to handle if you register on valentines day....

you will also get a limited edition marriage certificate to boot...

Edited December 17, 2007 by Payboy

[lopburi3]

A bit confused, and it is early for me, so I might have lost something here.

I appologize for that.

Is it really possible for 2 non-Thais to get married in a Thai "Amphur"?

I thought this was something for the embassy (or other offices) belonging to one of the 2.

Yes it is really possible for 2 non-Thais to get married in a Thai Amphur (District office).

No it is not normally a function of an Embassy.

[Travel2003]

A bit confused, and it is early for me, so I might have lost something here.

I appologize for that.

Is it really possible for 2 non-Thais to get married in a Thai "Amphur"?

I thought this was something for the embassy (or other offices) belonging to one of the 2.

Yes it is really possible for 2 non-Thais to get married in a Thai Amphur (District office).

No it is not normally a function of an Embassy.

Thnx for the reply.

[chuck6660]

If you get the eligibility documents from your Embassies and go to a marriage/translation agency, the process will take @2 days.

If you walk across the street from the US Embassy in BKK there are several marriage/translation offices.