Hi All,

I have received mixed feed back in regards to registering a mariage in Thailand. A little back ground about my situation.

I met mey Thai Fiance in Australia 3 years ago and we have been living together (in Aust) for pretty much the same time. I have sponsered her to become a permanent residence of Aust and this should be approved in the next few months.

We travel to Thailand in November to get married. I have always said that I would prefer to have the big wedding there for her family as she is the only daughter. Her parents are so loving and caring (spent 3 months with them in 2008) that I wanted to ensure our wedding was in the Thai tradition.

My main question is regarding registering the marriage in Thailand. I have always said to my fiance that we should do this plus also register it when we retun to Australia. A Thai friend of my Fiance told her that if you register the marriage in Thailand it will restrict what she can do in the future. I asked her to explain but all she could come up with was it makes it more difficult with Thai law if you are married to a farang. The friend said that the farang husband needs to present for everything legal.

Any advice on the above would be helpful and also the following questions:

How do you register a marriage in Thailand?

Do you need to register the marriage to obatin the spouse visa? (If i moved to Thailand)

Does registering the marriage have any affect on my Fiances dealing with the law?

If the marriage is registered in Thailand does this apply in Australia or do I have to register seperately?

Does registering the marriage in Thailand have any detrimental effects on my Fiance or I.

Any response would be greatly apprecaited.

Cheers

Bat69

How do you register a marriage in Thailand? http://www.austembassy.or.th/bkok/Consular_P4.html

Do you need to register the marriage to obatin the spouse visa? (If i moved to Thailand) Not sure but it would certainly make it easier to prove you are legit.

Does registering the marriage have any affect on my Fiances dealing with the law? It should not, Thai women have equal rights now.

If the marriage is registered in Thailand does this apply in Australia or do I have to register seperately? If you marry in either country it is recognised in Oz and Thailand.(See link above)

Does registering the marriage in Thailand have any detrimental effects on my Fiance or I. No it should not, and if you register in Australia it is a legal marriage in Thailand also.

It is probably a lot simpler to do the registration in Australia and you can have a traditional Thai wedding but not do the registration there (it is common practise to have the ceremony but not do the legal registration in Thailand

How do you register a marriage in Thailand? http://www.austembassy.or.th/bkok/Consular_P4.html

Do you need to register the marriage to obatin the spouse visa? (If i moved to Thailand) Not sure but it would certainly make it easier to prove you are legit.

Does registering the marriage have any affect on my Fiances dealing with the law? It should not, Thai women have equal rights now.

If the marriage is registered in Thailand does this apply in Australia or do I have to register seperately? If you marry in either country it is recognised in Oz and Thailand.(See link above)

Does registering the marriage in Thailand have any detrimental effects on my Fiance or I. No it should not, and if you register in Australia it is a legal marriage in Thailand also.

It is probably a lot simpler to do the registration in Australia and you can have a traditional Thai wedding but not do the registration there (it is common practise to have the ceremony but not do the legal registration in Thailand

Thanks Garyh. This certainly points me in the right direction

Cheers

Bat69

How do you register a marriage in Thailand?

See the Australian embassy website in Bangkok. The steps are:

* Go the embassy and sign a statutory declaration that you are eligible to marry. They have the forms on site, costs about 500 baht or something.

* Get the stat dec translated into Thai. There are a multitude of service providers who can do this for you for a small fee.

* Go to the ministry of foreign affairs and get the documents certified. There's a same day express service, or standard takes 2 days.

* Take the translated, certified documents down to your local district office and sign a few more forms, have everything stamped again, they give you your marriage certificate.

That's it.

Do you need to register the marriage to obatin the spouse visa? (If i moved to Thailand)

Yes.

Does registering the marriage have any affect on my Fiances dealing with the law?

It used to impact on her right to own land, but I think that restriction has been relaxed now. Not sure to be honest.

If the marriage is registered in Thailand does this apply in Australia or do I have to register seperately?

If you get a Thai marriage certificate the Australian authorities will automatically recognise the marriage. However, they won't *know* about it until you show them the certificate. As far as I'm aware there are no disadvantages on registering in Thailand, and if they are they will be on the Thai side. Good luck.

The law regarding landownership by Thai woman marreid to foreigners have changed and there is no difference anymore. it wouldn't give you or your wife less rights.

When you marry in Thailand the marriage will be registered in Thailand. The marriage will be recognised by Australia, bu you have to inform the Australian government of your marrriage. That is not required, but otherwise they will not know that you are married.

If you want to move to Thailand, the marriage would be needed to be registered. But you can also marry in Australia and notify the Thai government of the marriage.

The law regarding landownership by Thai woman marreid to foreigners have changed and there is no difference anymore. it wouldn't give you or your wife less rights.

When you marry in Thailand the marriage will be registered in Thailand. The marriage will be recognised by Australia, bu you have to inform the Australian government of your marrriage. That is not required, but otherwise they will not know that you are married.

If you want to move to Thailand, the marriage would be needed to be registered. But you can also marry in Australia and notify the Thai government of the marriage.

Thanks for your replies.

It sounds like it would be easier to have the ceremony in Thailand and then get the marriage registered in Australia when I return after the wedding. That way I do not have to worry about translations etc in Bangkok ad the marriage in Aust will be legit in Thailand also.

Is this the best way to approach this?

Cheers

Bat69

That will require legalisation of the Thai marriage papers. Contact your embassy in Thailand for what you need to do for that.