New Marriage Affidavit Needed?

[lalchand]

My wife and I are both American citizens over 50 years old who have been living in Chiang Mai for the last year on our initial "retirement" visa extension. When we received our initial extension I documented our marital status using a marriage affidavit obtained at the U.S. consulate so we would both qualify under a single 800,000 baht yearly income. Soon we will need to apply for our first one year renewal, but before doing so I need to find out whether a new marriage affidavit will be required or whether the original one will be acceptable to the immigration authorities. I would very much appreciate a response from anyone who can answer my question.

[Lite Beer]

Not quite sure what you mean but Immigration do not accept old documents from Embassies.

Is your Marriage Cerificate not acceptable to them?

[Mario2008]

You should have a marriage certificate or soemthing from the states, which needs to be certified by the embassy to confirm the document is real. never heard that you would need a new affadavid for that every year. But best to call the embassy or consulate to be sure. They will now the answer.

[InterestedObserver]

You should have a marriage certificate or soemthing from the states, which needs to be certified by the embassy to confirm the document is real. never heard that you would need a new affadavid for that every year. But best to call the embassy or consulate to be sure. They will now the answer.

Not quite sure what a marriage affidavit is, but the US Embassy will not certify a marriage certificate from the states because they can't verify its authenticity. US documents to be used in a foreign country must first be legalized in the US.

[lalchand]

Thanks for your replies. Just to clarify, I tried to use an official, certified copy of our marriage certificate from the U.S. when we applied for our first extension last year, but immigration wouldn't accept it. They will only accept an affidavit from the U.S. consulate in which you swear you're married. Just as the consulate doesn't attempt to verify the truthfulness of the income statement they notarize for you, neither do they try to verify you're actually married. They didn't even ask for the certificate.

[InterestedObserver]

As a footnote and for information purposes, the process of legalizing US documents involves the US State Department and the Thailand Embassy in Washington, DC. Unless both entities have affixed their seal, the documents are not legalized for use in Thailand.

[Patriciachas]

My wife and I are both American citizens over 50 years old who have been living in Chiang Mai for the last year on our initial "retirement" visa extension. When we received our initial extension I documented our marital status using a marriage affidavit obtained at the U.S. consulate so we would both qualify under a single 800,000 baht yearly income. Soon we will need to apply for our first one year renewal, but before doing so I need to find out whether a new marriage affidavit will be required or whether the original one will be acceptable to the immigration authorities. I would very much appreciate a response from anyone who can answer my question.

Why is your wife not a dependant on your visa extension only one B800,000 required in bank.

[Lite Beer]

Why is your wife not a dependant on your visa extension only one B800,000 required in bank.

She is , but they need proof of their marriage for the next application.

[Patriciachas]

Why is your wife not a dependant on your visa extension only one B800,000 required in bank.

She is , but they need proof of their marriage for the next application.

Sorry did not read it properly.

[lalchand]

Since my wife and I have now received our 1 year visa extensions I just wanted to post a follow up to my original post to let everyone know what happened at immigration. Instead of getting a new marriage affidavit, I used the original from 2008 which had been returned to me. The authorities accepted this without question. However, this time they took the *original* marriage and income affidavits for their files and returned the copies to me. In 2008 they took the copies and returned the originals!? When we renew in 2010 I'll have to decide whether to attempt to get the 2008 marriage affidavit copy accepted or get a new one at the consulate. Would be nice to have clearer guidance from immigration as to exactly what is required in this situation.

[lopburi3]

The Embassy letters (income is the normal one) are now only being accepted in original and for the year in question - no more using the same letter (copy) year after year. Expect they are using the same reasoning on the marriage affidavit and you will need a new one (if any is required - I suspect it may be a one time thing).