Thai Version Of My Surname, Must Be As Translated On 'freedom To Marry' Cert?

[neek]

Hi all, I have a quick question regarding my forthcoming marriage at district registry office on Tuesday.

I am British, 31, about to marry a Thai national, who will be taking my surname. We've had my Affirmation of Freedom to Marry form translated as required, which was done by the translation office and returned to us. My surname is Fenwick, but the translation into Thai reads more like "Finwick" (they used a sala-ee instead of a sala-eh vowel on the first character). I actually pronounce my surname "Fennick" as is common for that spelling, like 'Cheswick' or 'Beswick'.

So, does anyone know.. When we go to the registry office, will my wife be restricted to the spelling used on the Affirmation form, or will we be free to choose a different spelling? I presume that if we are allowed to choose a spelling, the marriage will still be legal under Thai law even though the spelling is different on the Affirmation form and the marriage certificate.

I hope this doesn't sound too petty. Obviously we don't want to run into trouble down the road, and we have a lot of ID cards and the like to get updated and don't want to do it under any cloud of doubt.

Any solid advice much appreciated! Thanks,

Nick

[Lakdee]

Not so sure I can answer your question.

I have no direct experience about Affirmation of Freedom to Marry form.

However, I asked my wife surname misspelling. She said if the officer in Amphur used the wrong spelling on Affirmation of Freedom to Marry form.

It should be no problem for your wife to be to ask the officer to edit surname correctly. Changing Name / Surname is easy in Thai ways. Some people changed name twice a year.

[seonai]

Don't know about the legal side Neek but there are some great Thai speakers in the Thai Language forum if you need any help with translating

[neek]

It should be no problem for your wife to be to ask the officer to edit surname correctly. Changing Name / Surname is easy in Thai ways. Some people changed name twice a year.

The officer had an immediate problem with our request that we use a different spelling to that on the Affirmation form, and refused to let us use a different spelling on the wedding certificate. After conferring with a colleague, however, they said we could go back to the translation office and have them correct the spelling by printing a new copy of the translation and stamping it themselves. The officer said that because we had the original (incorrect) translation stamped at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he would be able to accept the new translation without our having to go through the Ministry stamp process again. The new translation had the same stamp and signature from the translation office, and everything went smoothly.

This meant that we had to take a taxi ride from the Bang Rak office to Ploen Chit and back, which got us back to the registry office at about 11.55, at which point they all stopped for lunch, but we were back at 1 and the marriage was completed successfully. Thankfully, not a huge deal.

The reason for all this seems to be that the person who types your names into the computer for printing onto the marriage certificate does so from your translated Affirmation document. If the Affirmation has a mis-spelling, so will your marriage certificate. The lady producing the actual marriage certificates did manage to print two incorrect versions before a final correct one was made, but we got there in the end! (first she used the original incorrect translation, then she mis-spelled the correct spelling)

My new wife still has to go through a name changing process, so she does not yet actually have my surname. All in due course.

Don't know about the legal side Neek but there are some great Thai speakers in the Thai Language forum if you need any help with translating

Indeed .. for anyone else whose wife- or husband-to-be cannot speak or write Thai, I'd recommend getting a reliable opinion on how to spell your name in Thai Thanks for the advice, though, I do appreciate it.

[Thai at Heart]

It should be no problem for your wife to be to ask the officer to edit surname correctly. Changing Name / Surname is easy in Thai ways. Some people changed name twice a year.

The officer had an immediate problem with our request that we use a different spelling to that on the Affirmation form, and refused to let us use a different spelling on the wedding certificate. After conferring with a colleague, however, they said we could go back to the translation office and have them correct the spelling by printing a new copy of the translation and stamping it themselves. The officer said that because we had the original (incorrect) translation stamped at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he would be able to accept the new translation without our having to go through the Ministry stamp process again. The new translation had the same stamp and signature from the translation office, and everything went smoothly.

This meant that we had to take a taxi ride from the Bang Rak office to Ploen Chit and back, which got us back to the registry office at about 11.55, at which point they all stopped for lunch, but we were back at 1 and the marriage was completed successfully. Thankfully, not a huge deal.

The reason for all this seems to be that the person who types your names into the computer for printing onto the marriage certificate does so from your translated Affirmation document. If the Affirmation has a mis-spelling, so will your marriage certificate. The lady producing the actual marriage certificates did manage to print two incorrect versions before a final correct one was made, but we got there in the end! (first she used the original incorrect translation, then she mis-spelled the correct spelling)

My new wife still has to go through a name changing process, so she does not yet actually have my surname. All in due course.

Don't know about the legal side Neek but there are some great Thai speakers in the Thai Language forum if you need any help with translating

Indeed .. for anyone else whose wife- or husband-to-be cannot speak or write Thai, I'd recommend getting a reliable opinion on how to spell your name in Thai Thanks for the advice, though, I do appreciate it.

Phonetic spelling of names is often grammatically incorrect. Had it when we submitted our kids name in translation for a birth certificate. It isn't that it can't be done, it just has to gramatically scan correctly.

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