Been married to a Thai lady for 7 years moving to Thailand. Should I register my marriage and how do I do it? We live in USA now. Will live in Phitsanulok in Thailand far from Bangkok.

If you are married in the US you are married worldwide. Ask Thai Consulate if you should obtain legal translation/registration of paperwork (but don't believe it is required for most things). If you are not legally married in the US I would wait until your arrival in Thailand and do it here (simple paper from Embassy and then a registration at District Office).

May I tag onto this thread?

My wife & I were married in the USA

We are now back in Thailand & she wants to change her Thai cards to her new name.

What do we need to do?

Thanks

She should first change her thai ID card. For that she propably needs marriage certificate and as it is from US you might need to get it translated and certified by ministry of foreign affairs.

Best way to find out is for her to call or drop by in nearest district office.

Edit: once the ID is sorted out she can use it to get passports, credit cards etc etc changed.

Edited April 1, 200917 yr by MJo

Ok thanks

That seems correct as we now have an appointment with the US Consulate

Then we take that back to Star visa service to translate out marriage certificate that we brought with us.

Then they send it to BKK & back 4 days & I guess then we are good to go & start changing things.

Cost is 3500 THB for the translation at Star

And from what I can see 30 USD at the US Embassy?

At the end of the day I wonder is there any benefit to us doing all of this before we leave again for the USA?

Will it help in the future to make things easier to retire here?

Thanks

Been married to a Thai lady for 7 years moving to Thailand. Should I register my marriage and how do I do it? We live in USA now. Will live in Phitsanulok in Thailand far from Bangkok.

Yep. She should register her marriage at the District Office. It is actually illegal for Thai citizens to marriage abroad and not register the marriage within three months. The fine 10.000 thb, though seldom enforced.

It takes a while as all marriages thai/non-thai is going to central office in Bangkok to assure the Thai is not already married in Thailand. Or the non-thai is going around marring several Thais.

(which was usual in the old days, before computers took over)

Yep. She should register her marriage at the District Office. It is actually illegal for Thai citizens to marriage abroad and not register the marriage within three months. The fine 10.000 thb, though seldom enforced.

It takes a while as all marriages thai/non-thai is going to central office in Bangkok to assure the Thai is not already married in Thailand. Or the non-thai is going around marring several Thais.

(which was usual in the old days, before computers took over)

Yes I was surprised that the Star Visa co. Said 4 days turn around from Chiang Mai to BKK & back.

I guess they have joined the computer age at least in this department.

Thanks

Ok thanks

That seems correct as we now have an appointment with the US Consulate

Then we take that back to Star visa service to translate out marriage certificate that we brought with us.

Then they send it to BKK & back 4 days & I guess then we are good to go & start changing things.

Cost is 3500 THB for the translation at Star

And from what I can see 30 USD at the US Embassy?

At the end of the day I wonder is there any benefit to us doing all of this before we leave again for the USA?

Will it help in the future to make things easier to retire here?

Thanks

The US Embassy will not certify a US marriage certificate because they can't authenticate its origin. They will however issue an affidavit of marriage whereby the husband and wife affirm (swear) that they are in fact legally married.

I post and reply to it are under review as the information in it is considered false.

Edit:

Having conferred with isaanlawyers, the information given in above post nr. 6 is probably untrue, or an old not enforced law anymore. Having said that it is always good to register a marriage with your own government.

I post and reply to it are under review as the information in it is considered false.

U.S. Consular officers are not empowered to authenticate public documents issued in the United States. Such documents include vital records (birth, marriage, death and divorce), as well as academic, commercial, or other credentials. Consular Officers do not have access to the records of the issuing office or the seal of the custodian of these records.

Sorry, interestedObserver. This is not related to your post, which is true. The posts it relates to are not available right now and will probably deleted.