My wife and I have been married in Australia for 14 years. We are both in our 40's. I am in a situation where I can live in Thailand 6 to 9 Months of the year now and I was wondering if there is any benefit in registering our marriage at the Amphor office in Thailand. The reason we never did it in the past is because we never needed to as we lived in Australia full time and my wife is now an Australian citizen and an Australian passport holder. Her Thai passport expired a long time ago. Last year she renewed he ID card and is registered on her brothers house book. I am happy to just use a 12 Month type O multiple entry non imm visa. So with that info are there are pros or for that matter cons for registering our marriage?

By the way the reason I ask in that an ex pat of 14 years told me this year that in some provinces wives of farangs can not buy land in those areas. Is any of that true? Thanks.

You may find the thread "Thai Wife Refused Land" useful. It was last posted on 2003-11-27 under General Topics.

By the way the reason I ask in that an ex pat of 14 years told me this year that in some provinces wives of farangs can not buy land in those areas. Is any of that true? Thanks.

It would be in direct violation to Land Registration Office policy and the equal rights provisions of the constitution. Did he by chance give you full details as to what "provinces" this applied?

As you probably know in the past those married to foreigners were not allowed to register land but this changed a number of years ago and now they only have to sign that the money belongs to them and the foreigner sign that he understands he can not claim as marriage property.

Don't see any reason for you to change what you do now unless/until you decide to live in Thailand full time and don't want to do border runs any longer.

Point taken Lopburi but as you know the law in Thailand is not easily enforced and whether it is constitutional or not if you have a ignorant government officer who simply doesn't care or worse still hates farangs you haven't much hope in even getting to court let alone hope to win the case. The guy who made this remark did not clarify exactly where the local government bodies enforced such practises. In fact this was the only one point that made me think that maybe I should never register, I was hoping he was wrong. Thanks for your advise.

Her land rights are now not in any way affected by marriage to a farang. There's no need at all to register your marriage in Thailand, Thailand accepts Australian marriages, and there's no benefit whatsoever in so doing. If she wants a Thai passport, she can easily apply in Bangkok while you are there.. With the old one, and her current ID it'll be a breeze. It is now legal for her to use her old family name if she ( and you ) prefer it.

Any lawyer worth his salt can sort out a bureaucrat with opinions at odds with the Constitution. Or even a chat with a TRT office or an MP. Problem solved.