Marriage Certificate Queried

[poppysdad]

Went to Hua Hin immigration yesterday morning to renew retirement extension with my British wife as my dependant, only there a few minutes and our number called and I presented the officer with 2 neat piles of paperwork, she went through many times reshuffling them and handing me back ones she didn't need but kept hovering over the marriage certificate as if she didn't understand it. She then asked me for medical certificate which had me puzzled but I politely asked if she meant the marriage certificate and pointed it out to her, she asked to see the original which I gave her and still seemed totally puzzled by it asking me where we got married and I replied and pointed it out on the certificate as Aberdeen in Scotland. She then had a chat with the officer on the next desk about it and then went down to her bosses and once again returned asking me to confirm we were married in Scotland. She then returned to her bosses and then went onto a computer but couldn't see what she was looking at, printed out some sheets of paper, returned to us and promptly tore these pages up and politely told us that not a problem this year but for next year could I have the certificate verified by the British Embassy as genuine. This problem has never cropped up at previous renewals. She then processed the extension asked for the visa payment got her boss to approve and handed back the passports and change (never the slightest hint of any extra payment thankfully) and wished us a nice day.

So, why suddenly has our marriage certificate caused an apparent problem, it is genuine and original and we married in a registry office in 1987, am I supposed to have had it verified but never been an issue to past officers, is it some new ruling about to happen or is it simply that this officer didn't recognise it for what it actually is and rather than lose some face over it simply made some issue about it albeit in a very friendly manner and I suppose the daft question is should I go through the hassle of going to the Embassy and getting it verified as genuine.

[lopburi3]

This is a normal requirement for a foreign marriage - believe it goes something like this - you have document verified by your Embassy (believe just your signing it is real) and then a translation made into Thai and registration at Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then take to a District Office to record the details there. Then you have the second document that those with a local marriage now also need - the ledger record to provide Immigration.

[gamini]

This is a normal requirement for a foreign marriage - believe it goes something like this - you have document verified by your Embassy (believe just your signing it is real) and then a translation made into Thai and registration at Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then take to a District Office to record the details there. Then you have the second document that those with a local marriage now also need - the ledger record to provide Immigration.

Our marriage certificate was in Malay. It would have needed verification and translation. So we got married again here in Thailand. Much simpler!

[lopburi3]

Except you would have had to make a false deceleration of your marriage status to your Embassy which is now recorded as an international legal document with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and you are subject to legal action for the rest of your life. Very, very bad idea!

[Mario2008]

Might be simpler and might even not be against the law, but in case of a divorce you make it much more complicated.

Technically, your Thai marriage might not be valid as you were married on the date you got married in "Malay". Only when your marriage in Malay is found to be not valid will your Thai marriage have legal significance.

As date of your marrriage you would have to fill in the date of your Malay marriage, filling in the Thai wedding date might be considered a false statement.