Farang Married To Thai

[jimmym40]

A few questions please on this topic.

I'm US citizen, wife Thai national, however also a US citizen. We were married in the US back in 1978, wife became US citizen around 1982. Now we are here living in CM and want to know what it takes to get her Thai ID card changed to our married name and everything else she has in her Thai name.

If we change her name to my last name, can she still own land?

Will they take away any priviledges of a thai national?

Will we have to get married "thai" style or in Thailand should I say?

Obviously she entered Thailand with me with US passport. We would also like to get her thai passport with our married name. Is that difficult and what procedures are there?

To add to this, if/when she gets thai passport, will she be able to leave thailand on a border run and re=enter using her thai passport - any problems here, or will she have to leave by "air" and then return using her thai passport when entering.

Any other headaches anyone can see that we may encounter?

Thanks all.

[thaigene2]

Why did she enter Thailand on her US Passport? She's a Thai citizen. She should have gotten the THai passport in the US before coming back. Anyway. I'd suggest she does a border run and returns on her Thai Passport. Changng her ID Card name to her married name just requires a trip to the Amphur listed as her home distrcit in her Family Book. Needs to take th marriage certificate officially translated of course, her old ID card, family book and that ought to do it I think. Then she goes to the passport office as the next step. This is what my wife did - don t; think husband's nationality is an issue.

As someone in another post pointed out, there are so many hi-so Thais living in California that the govt wouldn't dare hassle them over dual-nationality. Many hi-so Thais who got rich off the patronage Sakdena system and still living in Thailand go back and forth - have their kids there, send them to school there, etc.

As far as I know she should have no problem buying property in her married name. They changed the laws around 6 or 7 years back removing the part about losing ownership rights. However, you may want to confirm that it was retroactive..since you were married long before that.

Good luck.

Edited January 26, 2008 by thaigene2

[Pantip]

I would strongly suggest that your wife keep her Thai ID & Passport in her Thai maiden name – Keep her options open, you never know if and when the law may be changed back to what it was, there is a lot of opposition against the new law.

[lopburi3]

1. There never was any law that prevented land ownership. The policy was to not allow the registration because of the conflict with foreign ownership not being allowed and joint marriage property system. It was resolved with no law change being required - a policy that any land purchase is by Thai funds and thus not part of joint marriage property. Paperwork being signed to confirm this at purchase.

2. She will not lose any rights.

3. You are married - it is as legal here as in the USA.

4. ID and Home Register will be first steps. If she is not currently on a Home Register (no family) she will have to have someone list her I believe. She is probably going to require birth certificate or alternative documentation. Depending on paperwork available it may be easy or take awhile to get it all in order.

5. An air departure using US passport and a return using Thai passport is how that should be handled.

6. In the meantime, if things drag on, once she can prove she is Thai a one year extension of stay is easy to obtain.

[samran]

there is no requirement that a wife must take their husbands name, that was done away with a few years ago. But, contact the Ampur if you want to change the name, and then you'll get the tabieen baan changed, ID re-issued and then finally her Thai PP can either be ammended or she can get a new one in her new surname.

She loses none of her rights, but given that she entered LOS on her US passport she is not able to excersise the most important one: being able stay here indefinetly without a visa!!!. As others have suggested, next trip out, she leaves Thailand on her US, and then returns on her Thai passport. Doing this at a land border will be difficult as land borders in SE Asia more or less expect you to travel on the same passport.

[LivinginKata]

Each year we have to apply for updated confirmation from Umpur that we are still married, as required by Immigration for my one year extension. Each year the local Umpur's office (Kathu, Phuket) give my wife a hard time for not changing her family name, and imply that it's mandatory. But it's my opinion that name change is optional. We keep her maiden name as it makes land purchase and officialdom paperwork so so much easier.

[kevinsan]

How about this. I want to change my surname to my wife's surname. Has anyone done this? Should be interesting at immigration.

[samran]

How about this. I want to change my surname to my wife's surname. Has anyone done this? Should be interesting at immigration.

probably need to change it back home via your country's authorities, or if permitted, via your embassy.

[old wanderer]

I went through this last year, but my wife is not a USA citizen, only Thai.

It started when we had to get a new passport. The old one was endorsed with her married name, however the new ePassports they are issuing must match the Thai ID card...No Exception. I had already purchased business class tickets and the new passport caused all sorts of problems with the ticket name not matching the passport name.

When we went to change the ID card we got some documents from the Los Angeles Consulate office after they looked at our marriage cert (translated and certified, they then issued a document and told us to take it to the Ampur....However, the Ampur would not act on the document until we returned to Bangkok from Sikoraphum and went to the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs and got a "Green" stamp on the Consulate document, returned to the Ampur and they issued the ID card saying she was "A Married Woman" with my last name. Then had to go to the Consulate again and get a whole new ePassport with her married name.

I find it preferable to have our names match. When I am booking a flight or hotel room, there is no question if it is my wife or a hooker I am bringing along. Also if something should happen to her it clarifies land ownership and our relationship. (We do own quite a bit of land in her married name).