Married To Thai

[stokesey69]

Does anyone have info on legal rights once married to a Thai. What vis'a do you apply for? Importation of personal effects into Thailand and getting married in other asian countries and then moving to Thailand?

[astral]

Legal rights - very little.

You can get a 3 month non immigrant "O" visa based on your marriage and then extend

it for one year if you can show 400K baht in a Thai bank or an income of 40K per month.

I believe your wife can import personal goods if she is retruning to Thailand.

It does not matter where you got married as long as it is a legal marriage.

Edited July 18, 2005 by astral

[TokyoT]

As astral points out you can get a non-immigrant “O” visa based upon support of Thai spouse. Once in Thailand you can get the visa extended up to one year based upon showing proof of support for the wife – 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account. You have to show the money came from outside of Thailand.

Also in regard to shipping personnel effects into Thailand. In order for the shipment to be duty free when shipped in the wife’s name she has to have resided outside of Thailand for at least a year. Frequent trips back to Thailand during that year can cause a problem in proving residence outside of Thailand for the year.

Also as astral has indicated generally speaking it does not matter which country you get married in – Thailand will recognize pretty much any legal marriage. I am from the US and we got married in Japan. No problem related to the marriage certificate and acceptance of that marriage from Thailand or the US.

[stokesey69]

As astral points out you can get a non-immigrant “O” visa based upon support of Thai spouse.  Once in Thailand you can get the visa extended up to one year based upon showing proof of support for the wife – 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account.  You have to show the money came from outside of Thailand. 

Also in regard to shipping personnel effects into Thailand.  In order for the shipment to be duty free when shipped in the wife’s name she has to have resided outside of Thailand for at least a year.  Frequent trips back to Thailand during that year can cause a problem in proving residence outside of Thailand for the year.

Also as astral has indicated generally speaking it does not matter which country you get married in – Thailand will recognize pretty much any legal marriage.  I am from the US and we got married in Japan.  No problem related to the marriage certificate and acceptance of that marriage from Thailand or the US.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Did you get married in an Embassy? Thai or US? Any Idea where I can find out how much duty I will have to pay?

[dutch]

I married in Holland.

Had the dutch marriage certificate translated in English and had it certified at the Dutch and Thai embassies in Jakarta ( where I lived at that time).

I had the english version translated in Thai in Bangkok and certified by Thai Min. of Foreighn Affairs.

Many documents ,a lot of colorful stamps and everybody was ( and is ) happy.

[dutch]

I married in Holland.

Had the dutch marriage certificate translated in English and had it certified at the Dutch and Thai embassies in Jakarta ( where I lived at that time).

I had the english version translated in Thai in Bangkok and certified by Thai Min. of Foreighn Affairs.

Many documents ,a lot of colorful stamps and everybody was ( and is ) happy.

Look at the comments of Tokyot about importing goods by Thai wife.

Customs lloking very careful at the total time of being absent from Thailand and the total of travels during the ;last 1 1/2 year should not evceed 3 times.

This was very careful inspected by the experts of my moving company B4 moving on these conditions ( returning Thai)

[TokyoT]

As astral points out you can get a non-immigrant “O” visa based upon support of Thai spouse.  Once in Thailand you can get the visa extended up to one year based upon showing proof of support for the wife – 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account.  You have to show the money came from outside of Thailand. 

Also in regard to shipping personnel effects into Thailand.  In order for the shipment to be duty free when shipped in the wife’s name she has to have resided outside of Thailand for at least a year.  Frequent trips back to Thailand during that year can cause a problem in proving residence outside of Thailand for the year.

Also as astral has indicated generally speaking it does not matter which country you get married in – Thailand will recognize pretty much any legal marriage.  I am from the US and we got married in Japan.  No problem related to the marriage certificate and acceptance of that marriage from Thailand or the US.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Did you get married in an Embassy? Thai or US? Any Idea where I can find out how much duty I will have to pay?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You cannot get married at any US Embassy. Getting legally married depends upon your location. You have to do what ever the government of the country you are in requires to get married (regardless of your or her nationality). Being a foreign national generally just requires some additional or different supporting document. For example in Japan I had to get a document from the US Embassy that says I am not currently married, and she had to get a similar document from the Thai Embassy.

As far as getting this document from the US Embassy it is actually kind of embarrassing how easy it is if you have never been married before. They have a standard form you fill out where you indicated that you have never been married. A Notary makes you raise your right hand and affirm that what you have indicated on the form is the truth. Then they place the notary seal and sign the document. Done in less than ½ hour.

We went to the city office in the area that I lived and checked on all the requirements in advance. They even gave us the paperwork to allow us to fill out to bring back later to make everything official. We each got our respective document from our embassies indicating that we both were indeed single, fill-out the documents (in Japan this required two witnesses to sign the documents – but the witnesses did not have to be present when submitting the documents), and then turned them in to the city office. After that it took about 10 min to get the official marriage document issued from the city office.

There is no registration or anything like that at the US Embassy. The US Embassy can assist in getting a notarized translation of the marriage document, but the embassy does not do the actual translation.

As far as duties you can check review the duties at the Thai customs web page and try to estimate yourself or you can make a complete list of what you plan to ship and what ever shipping company you are using should be able to give you an estimate of the customs. But as the goods you are shipping will probably fall into a number of different customs categories anything you do in advance will only be rough estimates.

[thaihome]

Does anyone have info on legal rights once married to a Thai. What vis'a do you apply for? Importation of personal effects into Thailand and getting married in other asian countries and then moving to Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If a Thai national has lived outside Thailand for year they are entitled to one shipment without duty. Easily done.

You would have to pay duty if you don't have a /work permit. Freight Forward company will likely offer a cash alternative to having full customs inspection. In my case it was 30K baht. IMHO money well spent.

TH

[WhiteShiva]

Does anyone have info on legal rights once married to a Thai. What vis'a do you apply for? Importation of personal effects into Thailand and getting married in other asian countries and then moving to Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If a Thai national has lived outside Thailand for year they are entitled to one shipment without duty. Easily done.

You would have to pay duty if you don't have a /work permit. Freight Forward company will likely offer a cash alternative to having full customs inspection. In my case it was 30K baht. IMHO money well spent.

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also, even with a work permit, you would have to pay import duties if your stuff arrives more than 6 months after you first arrived.

[Khutan]

<snip>Also, even with a work permit, you would have to pay import duties if your stuff arrives more than 6 months after you first arrived.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whoops, I better get the stuff moved in a hurry

[dave111223]

Do you need 400K all the time? Or just 400k for a few months before you go to get your 1 year visa, then you can clean out the bank again?

Do you need this cash in the bank every year? When you apply for the next years visa?

[bangkokblue]

Do you need 400K all the time?  Or just 400k for a few months before you go to get your 1 year visa, then you can clean out the bank again?

Do you need this cash in the bank every year?  When you apply for the next years visa?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's right, You put it in and she cleans it out.

[TokyoT]

Do you need 400K all the time?  Or just 400k for a few months before you go to get your 1 year visa, then you can clean out the bank again?

Do you need this cash in the bank every year?  When you apply for the next years visa?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When you apply for a one year extension of the non-immigrant “O” visa based upon Thai spouse or child, the 400,000 Baht in the bank is to show that you indeed have the means to provide support for said spouse or child. You always have complete control of the funds in your account. And therefore you can remove those funds whenever you want.

However, the next year in order to get the one-year extension you must again show 400,000 baht coming in from outside of Thailand. And if each year you get the extension you clean out the account the day/week after getting the extension you may run into some problems continuing to get the extensions in the future (I have never heard of this being a problem for anyone though).

[Darkling]

Do you need 400K all the time?  Or just 400k for a few months before you go to get your 1 year visa, then you can clean out the bank again?

Do you need this cash in the bank every year?  When you apply for the next years visa?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's right, You put it in and she cleans it out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>