Nakhom Pathom Immigration Experience For Extending A Non Imm-O Based On Marriage.

[mkmike]

Another year has passed and it was time this week to go to immigration and extend my Non Imm-O based on marriage to my Thai wife, how exciting I couldn't wait….

For the past four years that we have done this we used Kanchanaburi Immigration office, however we now have a new 'local' office in Nakhom Pathom and so we have to go there this year to renew.

We presented all our paperwork to the lady officer behind the cramped desk, who proceeded to look through it studying each page carefully. When she got to the copy of our marriage certificate she told my wife that it was not correct.

By way of background, we were married in London in the UK, long before we came to Thailand and so when we came here to live we had our British Marriage certificate translated and notarized by the Department of Foreign affairs here in Bangkok. In addition we had a copy of the British certificate notarized by the British embassy. This was then registered at our local Amphur and we were given Kor Lor 22, they also retained the original notarized copies only allowing us to take photo copes away. These three pieces of paper have been accepted by immigration four times without question.

The lady officer informed my wife that a new notarized copy of our marriage certificate and translation would now be required. She went on to say that this was a new order from Bangkok. My wife asked to see this order and was given a typed sheet completely in Thai. After reading the offending paragraph, my wife pointed out that it did not actually say that, only that it had to be notarized and translated and accompanied by the Kor Lor 22.

After more discussion all with my wife as the officer completely ignored me, we got nowhere. Now understandably we were not happy as this would involve multiple trips to Bangkok and much expense. We returned a second time and were seen by another more amenable lady who said she would send our paperwork to Bangkok and see if it was acceptable, however her direct superior sitting behind her immediately quashed that idea.

So we left and my wife called Bangkok Immigration and spoke to someone who suggested we try to get our original notarized paperwork back from the Amphur and present that to immigration. Luckily the Amphur were amenable to our situation and were also able to find the papers and return them to us.

The next day we returned with the documents, but not before my wife had spoken again to a contact in Bangkok and obtained the name of the Head man at Nakhom Pathom. We were shown to his office and after hearing my wife's story and studying the paperwork he then summoned the manager and told her to process our application. However he insisted that the original notarized copy must be sent to Bangkok but that it would be returned to us once the application was processed.

So after more scrutiny the paperwork was processed along with additional items like family photos and maps to our home that we have not provided for four years. It seems that all the information that had been accumulated by Kanchanaburi was not transferred to Nakhom Pathom so they are basically starting again from scratch.

Sorry for the long post but if you have made it this far I would be interested to know of others experience not just with Nakhom Pathom but also extending their Non Imm O using a notarized foreign Marriage certificate. My wife is extremely annoyed by this and feels like she is being treated like a second class citizen.

[SomTumTiger]

Certainly - she is married to a second class citizen - you lol. Ive been to the office for visa extension (just type and they were quick and friendly. Might be surprised what a smile and a 500 baht "gift" accomplishes...lol

[ljerams]

And no doubt next year you will pay Bht 1,000, then Bht 1500......

[beerdog]

that's interesting someone post the experience of Nakorn pathom immigration.

i was in the similar situation before. Luckly, the immigration is near to where I live so it's ok to go the immigration 3,4 times for the documents. sometimes in some situation...it's not only adding more requried document with new rule at different offices..there is more~~~

[Mario2008]

It is now the norm that people who were married abroad and go for an extension of stay based on marriage to a Thai national must have their marriage registered in Thailand. For that you go to your embassy to have the marriage certificate certified as true, hwich you than have to translate in Thai and next have it certified as true at the Thai foreign office. Next you go to an amphur to have the marriage registred there and you have to get a copy of the registration in the marriage register from the amphur to show immigration.

[Pib]

If you move to a new province/amphur do you go through all or part of this process again? Like to register your marriage in the amphur you moved to, which is also where your new immigration office is?

[lopburi3]

No. Only your (Immigration) extension of stay office may change.

[Pib]

A one time process. Thanks.

[lopburi3]

For some. For some others?

[Likenitstill]

For the most part I found the NP office a walk in the park compared to Bangkok. It is usually quiet and the general surroundings of the office are even tranquil with large trees etc.

The last time my wife and I went in for another one year extension they were more then helpful as they called us each time with update or if we needed to make some changes. The first issue was that my balance went below 400K for one hour on one day within the 2 month period that the money needs to be in the bank. Bangkok would not accept this! Their solution was to have me open a term deposit and transfer the money in to that new account and then they faxed the new information to Bangkok. (although in my opinion this make absolutely no sense as they went from having certified docs stating my balance was such and such for 4 months and then they accepted new paper work showing the balance in a new account based on one day not 2 months??)

Back to this topic....When they handed the new extension they told us next year we would need to go to the local Amphur to have our Marriage certificate renewed as next year this is the new law. I voiced in a nice manner that this does not make sense and is furthermore another inconvenience. They said it is because of many farang who are not together but still get extensions. I said this may be true but if they are not divorced then they are still legally married but that is there problem, why should we who always do everything by the book have to suffer yet another inconvenience. They appologized and said they agree but this is Bangkok and we cannot control.

In my opinion I would rate the service I receive in this office better them anywhere I have been even better then Phuket. The kicker is it is less then 10 clicks away with no traffic!

[Pib]

And Wat Wai Kling is very nearby where you can go pray for hitch-free yearly extension process before going into immigration; and when it's approved, you just drive up the road a few kilometers to Don Wai Market on the river and have a nice celebration lunch in one of he riverside restaurants.