Stranded In Bangkok!

[4PetesSake]

My brother, (who is English) married his Thai wife in 1995. As she owns land in Thailand she has kept her Thai Passport in her Thai name so as to retain Thai citizenship. She also now has a UK passport in her Married name.

Her old passport had been stamped with a UK Visa granting an indefinite stay but she now has a replacement Thai Passport still in her Thai name but with no UK Visa stamp and on visiting Thailand last month with my brother and their 2 children she forgot to take her expired Thai Passport with her.

On leaving to come home yesterday The Airline would not let her board as she did not have a UK Visa in her new Passport. The plane ticket was booked in her Thai name and although she had her UK passport with her it was of no use as it showed another name and she did not have her marriage certificate with her.

One option was to go to the UK Embassy in Thailand to get authorisation to travel however it was felt that as her UK Passport is in a different name that this would probably fail.

My brother and the children returned to the UK but his wife was left, "Stranded in Bangkok". Arrangements have now been made with a Courier Service to take the expired Passport to her. Hopefully she will be back soon.

Questions

1. Is it permissible to have her 2 Passports in different names, thereby Dual Thai/UK Citizenship?
   
2. Should she change her name on her Thai Passport to her married name?
   
3. If she did this would it affect her Thai Citizenship and would she need a new Thai ID card?
   
4. If she did this would it affect her owning land and property in Thailand.
   
5. Could she use her UK Passport when re-entering the UK even if her flight tickets were in her Thai name.
   

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Duality of citizenship is permitted by the UK and Thailand.

There's no need to change her name. Thailand permits her to retain her Thai name.

If she did change her name her Thai citizenship would be unaffected, but she should change her ID card, or this confusion may continue.

Her property rights are unaffected.

Probably not. Whyever would she buy airtickets in her Thai name ?

[4PetesSake]

Probably not. Whyever would she buy airtickets in her Thai name ?

Pat

Thanks for you answers.

Her Thai name was put onto the flight tickets because she was using her Thai Passport to both leave the UK and enter Thailand.

She did not use her UK Passport to travel as she thought this would have required her to get a Visa in it. I am not sure if it would or not??

The problem seems to be having the 2 Passports in different names. I think the answer is to get her Thai Passport put into her Married name, this will clearly make things a lot easier.

I have heard read that some people with Dual UK/Thai citizenship use their UK Passport when leaving and returning to the UK and their Thai Passport when arriving in and leaving Thailand. I guess you can do this if your name is the same on both Passports.

[thaihome]

In today’s world having two passports from two different countries in two different names does nothing but raise flags all over the world.

Your friends wife is caught up in a problem that some current knowledge would have made completely unnecessary. Thai women married to foreigners have been able to own land for over 10 years now.

While she is stuck in Bangkok she should go to her home amphur, change her name to her married name and get a new ID card. Then go get a new Thai passport in that name.

TH

[4PetesSake]

To change her name on her Thai ID Card, what documents would she need to show?

Would it be better to get her name changed on her Thai Passport first?

Would she also need to get her name changed on the land registry.

[samran]

To change her name on her Thai ID Card, what documents would she need to show?

Would it be better to get her name changed on her Thai Passport first?

Would she also need to get her name changed on the land registry.

doesn't work that way. The passport office uses information from the ID card.

she needs to change her name first at the Ampur (I'm unsure what documents that she'll need there but assume it would be the wedding certificate).

She then goes to the passport office and get her existing passport endorsed with a name change, and if that is not possible, get a new e-passport which will take three days to issue (very fast!).

She should then ask the airline about changing the ticketed name.

With the re-done passport, she can then board the flight to the UK, showing BOTH passports to the airline check in people. The UK passport to show that she has the right to enter the UK. The Thai passport tells the airline that she needs a Thai departure card for immigration purposes.

She then presents her Thai PP to immigration, getting stamped out, and on arrival in the UK, flashes the UK passport to enter the UK.

All the best. The Thai paperwork shouldn't take very long at all.

[jimmym40]

I'm from US and been married 30 yrs and just two months ago had my wife change her thai ID/passport to my last name. Living in CM.

We used a passport agent because we didn't want to mail or make a trip down to bkk to do this. We tried to take our marriage cert to amper office to first get new ID card. Even being married 30 yrs with US marriage cert, it had to be "stamped" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. I believe this is required for all thai married/marrying a foreigner. Oh, forgot, had to go to Am Consulate here to get marriage paperwork stamped also before being sent to M of F A in Bangkok. AFter we rec'd the paperwork back from MFA, no problems at all getting a new thai ID card, then to passport office for passport. ID card issued (30 minutes), passport application in CM and mailed to our home address in 7 days.

Don't know if this procedure is the same for you UKers, but definately ID card comes first, then passport.

[lopburi3]

MFA stamp is not required if married in Thailand with a Thai marriage certificate. OP did not mention (that I can find) where marriage took place.

[4PetesSake]

Even being married 30 yrs with US marriage cert, it had to be "stamped" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. I believe this is required for all thai married/marrying a foreigner. Oh, forgot, had to go to Am Consulate here to get marriage paperwork stamped also before being sent to M of F A in Bangkok. AFter we rec'd the paperwork back from MFA, no problems at all getting a new thai ID card, then to passport office for passport. ID card issued (30 minutes), passport application in CM and mailed to our home address in 7 days.

Don't know if this procedure is the same for you UKers, but definately ID card comes first, then passport.

They got married in the UK in 1995 and his wife does not have the marriage certificate with her so I guess they will need to sort this out by taking her Marriage Certificate with her on her next trip to Thailand. You say that the Marriage Certificate had to be stamped at the MFA in Bangkok. Do you think that this is something that she could get done at the Thai Embassy in London. I am also wondering if they will also have to also get the Marriage Certificate stamped at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. I am sure that there must be lots of people who have married a UK citizen who have then changed their Thai name. Please share your experience on this subject.

[samran]

Even being married 30 yrs with US marriage cert, it had to be "stamped" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. I believe this is required for all thai married/marrying a foreigner. Oh, forgot, had to go to Am Consulate here to get marriage paperwork stamped also before being sent to M of F A in Bangkok. AFter we rec'd the paperwork back from MFA, no problems at all getting a new thai ID card, then to passport office for passport. ID card issued (30 minutes), passport application in CM and mailed to our home address in 7 days.

Don't know if this procedure is the same for you UKers, but definately ID card comes first, then passport.

They got married in the UK in 1995 and his wife does not have the marriage certificate with her so I guess they will need to sort this out by taking her Marriage Certificate with her on her next trip to Thailand. You say that the Marriage Certificate had to be stamped at the MFA in Bangkok. Do you think that this is something that she could get done at the Thai Embassy in London. I am also wondering if they will also have to also get the Marriage Certificate stamped at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. I am sure that there must be lots of people who have married a UK citizen who have then changed their Thai name. Please share your experience on this subject.

the issue is that she can't leave thailand for the moment, and that she needs he name changed before she can travel.

She'll need to get a copy of the marriage certificate certified by the brit embassy in BKK, then approach a translation agent to translate it to Thai. The translation agent can then organise it to get sent out to the MFA to be certified as a true translation, which should then be acceptable for the ID card people.

I've done this for my own (Australian) wedding certificate. The process should be the same.