Wedding Documents

[shadyacres29]

Hi There.

I am on the understanding that we must first apply to the Embassy in wireless road for the affadit tomarry before we can continue with the translations,visits to the MFA and all the rest of it.

Do we have to apply in writing or just go in and ask with our relative documents?

We then can collect the papers 24 hours later if i am not mistaken,could someone please clarify this for me?

Kind Regards

[Basil B]

Hope this helps

Ruth888 Posted 2009-01-04 in "Getting Marry In Bangkok my own experience "

Dear All,

I have virtually just return from Bangkok.I hope my personal experience will be of help to all who are planning to get marry in Bangkok. We have just got married and about to apply for a visa. I am a British national and my husband is Thai.

1. to get the affirmation. Print out the suggested wordings on the British Embassy website : http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

Please follow the wordings, word for word and replaces names etc as necessary. The wordings in the document , as I was told is what the British Embassy have in agreement with the Thai government. Thus if the wordings are different, it will not be affirmed. You have to print this out and apply in person to the British Embassy in Wireless Road. No matter how much of a hurry you are in, you can only collect this the very next day. Payment currently is 2750 Baht. ( Due to the weak pound) This was paid with cash but I believe you may pay with a credit card.

My greatest mistake: make sure if you are planning to marry, to enter Thailand with the passport you intend to get your affirmation from. I am of dual nationality and enter on a different passport. I did not think this was the problem but it started when we tried to get married at Amphur where they check the passport and entry stamped! This lead to further certification and more cost to prove that I am of the same person even when I have the exact same name on both passports!

Myth: you do not need to be in Thailand for 3 days before being able to affirm.

Truth: Affirmation can only be done when you are in Bangkok and not from England.

2.Collecting the affirmation: straight forward. You can collect from 9 am the next day. We have it translated in the shopping centre across the road and cost 300 Baht. It is very important to get your partner who knows Thai to check the spellings and wordings that is translated in Thai. THis is important as it will appear later in your marriage application at Amphur.

You do not need an official translator to translate the document. You can translate it yourself.However we found it was convenient and not too expensive and it saves us time.

The next step is to get the translation legalised.

I am thankful to "Mario2008" on the website who suggests the quickest way to

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (The Legalisation Division

Department of Consular Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

123 Chaeng Wattana Road,

Laksi District, Bangkok 10210

The best and quickest way is to use the skytrain (BTS). The nearest station is situated opposite the British Embassy , Phloen Chit station and it cost 40 bht per person to Mo Chit ( 16 mins). From there take exit 3 or 4 and get on a taxi to the Ministry. If there is no traffic, it will take about half an hour. Cost: less than 100 BHT. If you decide to take a taxi, this can be a couple of hours depending on traffic and can cost 200-400 BHT.

Go up to the 2nd floor. Remember to get a ticket from the ticketing machine and at the same time, a form from the enquiry desk. You will need the express service to get the affirmation legalised in a day. Wait your number, and then present the translated version, the British Embassy Affirmation , a copy of your passport and the filled form from the enquiry desk. Payment: 800 Baht. Take a seat and wait for your receipt ( you need this to pick up your document later). If you manage this before 12 noon, go for lunch in the canteen. The staff goes for lunch between 12 noon and 1 pm. They will ask you to return at 2pm for collection.If you arrive very early in the morning, it is very likely you will get it before lunch. If you need further legalisation of any documents, it has to be done here. Thus organise this and do it all in one trip. Our documents was legalised within 2 hours when we came early. Otherwise it can be 3 hours.

3. Going to Amphur to get marry. I was told by the senior person who signs the marriage certificates, that lots of the Amphurs in Bangkok are very reluctant to marry foreigner and Thai as the complexity of checking documentations. Thus lots of the marriages are taking place in Bang Rak ( Translated: District of love). They are very helpful.The most important thing is to get your documents in order and complete set of necessary documents.

For Thai national: They need 2 copies of their ID card, and house log.

For the foreigner: a copy of their passport, entry visa( must be valid and not expired), affirmation letter in Thai and English( stamped by the Embassy)

You need 2 witnesses, however someone at the office can normally stand in if necessary.

Although the office officially closes at 4pm, do arrive early as on the day we got married, there was 15 couples waiting by 3pm and they have to turn people away. It takes up to 40 mins to 1 hour to marry a foreigner/Thai as they need to check the documentation thoroughly.They will also need to hand type whatever statement on your affirmation letter on to the marriage documentation.This takes time.For a Thai couple, all their documentation are in the computer system thus they are quicker to be dealth with. We were the last couple that day and we waited till 17.30pm! The poor officer did not even have lunch that day.The payment is 40 Baht for the marriage certificate, you can also buy a special folder to put your certificate in for 450 Baht.It is not cumpulsory but we like it. There is also a rickshaw in the office for you to take pictures! It is nicely set up.While we were there, there was a foreign/thai couple where one of them has been divorced.It is necessary to bring the original official divorce document.If not , the woman will need to have pregnancy test to prove she is not pregnant.This is to avoid the complication as to whom the father of the child is, as I was told. If the woman is pregnant it is very likely the marriage will not be registered that day( if the official divorce papers are unavailable).You have to be divorced for 310 days before being able to get marry again.

4. We are at the stage of applying for a spouse visa.The other necessity is to get a TB test, as he is going to be in the UK longer than 6 months. The test is necessary even though he has been in the UK previously on work permit for years and have been registered under the NHS.

The TB test is straigtforward. You need to go to :-

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) :

Kasemkij Building

8th Floor, 120 Silom Road

Bangrak, Bangkok 10500

Tel: +66 2 234 7950-5

Fax: + 66 2 234 7956

Email: [email protected]

Attendance is by appointment only and the full test fee of 2600 Baht must be paid in advance.

What you need to do is to pay the fees at IOM, then you are given 2 choices of Hospitals to go to: Phayathai2 or Bangrungrat Hospital. At the hospital, they will take a chest x-ray and in 15 mins, you will get the radiological report. You will then have to take this back to the IOM and a certificate will be issued. This should take you only a couple of hours. We did it in a morning. No sputum test necessary unless if the chest x-ray shown otherwise.

Our next step is to apply for the visa which he will be doing in the coming week. Up to this point, we have not use an agency. The process is straigtforward as long as you are willing to do all the legwork.We believe it is a test of our teamwork to a marriage.

I hope the above information is helpful to all those people out there who wishes to get married in Bangkok. Thank you to all who have help me previously.Good luck to all who are about to go through this!

Would also recommend reading the replies at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/233635-getting-marry-in-bangkok/

[thecatman]

As mentioned in the post above, you need to firstly amend and print off the affirmation form. Then just go to the Embassy, armed with your passport. If you submit your application in the morning, then it should be ready for collection that afternoon.

I got my affirmation of freedom to marry form translated (Along with my wife's birth certificate) for 300 Bt each. This was done at the small mall almost directly opposite the British Embassy. Wave place I believe it's called. There were 2 translation companies operating there on the second floor (small units side by side). I used Ploenchit Translation Center. So, as soon as you have your affirmation to marry, you may as well just pop over the road and get it translated there and then.

There are a couple of other threads on this topic that may be of interest to you here :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/435682-getting-married-in-thailand/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/420346-do-your-affirmation-of-freedom-to-marry-in-24-hrs/page__p__4062755__fromsearch__1#entry4062755

[7by7]

You say " the Embassy in wireless road."

There are several embassies in Wireless Road: Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, Spain, UK and USA!

You don't say what nationality you are, but the procedure at the British embassy can be found at Guidance for British nationals wishing to marry in Thailand.

If you are not British then you should check with your own embassy to see if their procedure is any different.

Once you have had the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry notarised by your embassy, the procedure is the same.

[shadyacres29]

Hi there

we have everything we need from the embassy and translation to visit the MFA tomorrow morning.

One thing that i am still unclear of after reading all the advice is do we need to get the translated affirmation stamped as well as the original one as it will mean another visit back to the embassy in the morning before we can go to the MFA. Alternatively can we get the translated affirmation stamped at the MFA if needed at all.

Kind Regards and thanks in advance for any replies.

[thecatman]

Hi there

we have everything we need from the embassy and translation to visit the MFA tomorrow morning.

One thing that i am still unclear of after reading all the advice is do we need to get the translated affirmation stamped as well as the original one as it will mean another visit back to the embassy in the morning before we can go to the MFA. Alternatively can we get the translated affirmation stamped at the MFA if needed at all.

Kind Regards and thanks in advance for any replies.

Hi, Do you mean, do you need to get the translated affirmation stamped at the Embassy??

No, you just take the translated affirmation to MFA, along with the original, and get it certified/legalized there.

Edited February 22, 2011 by thecatman

[aland2012]

Thank you Basil B, Ruth888, 7by7, interesting reading, I'm going to BKK in a few months to do the same thing. Then apply for the Spouse Visa for my new Wife. Exciting times.

[aland2012]

I've tried this link but seems that it is not working. Is there a mistake??? It just says Pahe 404 not found.

I was hoping to have a look it the text.

1. to get the affirmation. Print out the suggested wordings on the British Embassy website : http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

[theoldgit]

I've tried this link but seems that it is not working. Is there a mistake??? It just says Pahe 404 not found.

I was hoping to have a look it the text.

1. to get the affirmation. Print out the suggested wordings on the British Embassy website : http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

The link doesn't work for me either, I think they may have updated their website, as it now says

Please retype the affirmation including your details on one page in the same format as the attached sample and bring it in person to the Embassy to sign before a British Consular official.

However, helpfully, there is no attached sample, at least I couldn't find one. Come on British Embassy, get a grip.

Edited March 8, 2011 by theoldgit

[Basil B]

I've tried this link but seems that it is not working. Is there a mistake??? It just says Pahe 404 not found.

I was hoping to have a look it the text.

1. to get the affirmation. Print out the suggested wordings on the British Embassy website : http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

I have converted it to a word document, hope this will help.

1.) Enter your data in the bold fields and un-format bold words

2.) Select the appropriate Italic statement * and remove the unused and instructions

3.) Edit spacing to a single page

4.) Check for errors

5.) Save

AFFIRMATION OF FREEDOM TO MARRY 2.doc

[7by7]

http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2011/affirmation-of-freedom is working fine for me.

[bifftastic]

I've tried this link but seems that it is not working. Is there a mistake??? It just says Pahe 404 not found.

I was hoping to have a look it the text.

1. to get the affirmation. Print out the suggested wordings on the British Embassy website : http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/resources/e...ffirmation-form

This one didn't work for me.

http://ukinthailand....tion-of-freedom is working fine for me.

This one did

Edited March 8, 2011 by bifftastic

[bifftastic]

A warning about the MFA...we decided to go there ourselves to get my affirmation stamped yesterday. Arrived shortly after 10 am and did not walk out of there until 4:30 pm, and yes, we paid for 'express' service. What appeared to be happening was agents and companies were being given first priority and processed quickly, to the detriment of those who were there on their own. I'll be using an agent next time to get my translated marriage certificate stamped, the savings when doing it on your own is not worth 6+ hours of wasted time at the MFA.

Thanks for that info. Any idea how much an agent would have cost you for that?

Also, just out of interest, why are you having your marriage certificate translated and stamped?

Cheers,

Biff

[beano2274]

Sorry but using the express service means that the document has to be checked by many people during the one day, I used the normal service, went back the next day. Remember if you use express you rely on the person who actually signs it not to be too busy!!!

[BusyBee123]

I was told (by advertisers on this site) the MFA no longer to the same day express service is this true?

also is there a same day collection for the affirmation as indicated on their website or should I allow another day just in case <LI>We accept affirmations during normal consular public hours on Monday to Thursday at 08:00 - 11:00 hours and collections only at 13:00 - 14:00 hours, and on Friday at 08:00 - 11:00 hours and collections only at 11:00 - 12:00 noon. An appointment for this service is not necessary. The affirmation which is submitted before 11:00 hrs will be ready for collection in the afternoon.

Edited March 9, 2011 by BusyBee123

[BusyBee123]

ok thanks for the info, i'll get there as soon as it opens then.

[aland2012]

Thank you these web links are working.

So I should print off the Document, and fill it out, going to sound dumb now, but what does Before Me mean at the bottom of the page??? Is it for the Embassy to sign???

Alan

[7by7]

Yes, it means that you signed the AFM in front of a consular official and they complete this bit with their details.

[taninthai]

Yes, it means that you signed the AFM in front of a consular official and they complete this bit with their details.

is there a time limit in which to use the afm

[7by7]

To be honest, I don't know. But other than the time taken to travel to the district where you want to marry, why delay?

Many couples do all the official bits, including the ampur registration, in Bangkok over a few days and then, if they wish, travel to their spouses home for the ceremonial bit.

[englishinsiam]

It's a lot less hassle in Pattaya

The Consular office for the UK is based in Jomtiem they can verify the affirmation there Visas Plus next door translate it for 300 Baht then the Amphur was a 10 minute job for us.

All very simple and painless

[7by7]

How did you manage to have the Consul's signature and translation verified by the Thai MFA without travelling to Bangkok?

[bifftastic]

Just thought I'd add my experiences into the mix.

Just got my affirmation stamped at the MFA today.

Went to UK embassy on Monday (yes, I know, it was closed)

Went back to the UK embassy on Tuesday, it was pretty full due to being closed on Monday. They checked my typed version of the affirmation before they let us in, there were a couple of people who had just printed off the example from the website, they didn't get past the front gate.

Took a ticket, sat down, waited about 2 hours, number came up, gave them the letter and the money, got a receipt and left.

Went back the next morning at about 09:00 and were the only people in the room! Out in 5 minutes with the stamped English affirmation.

Fella outside the embassy from a translation service took us across the road near to PloenChit station, small soi near the station has about 3 translation offices in it, however, there is one on the gound floor of the MFA and I would recommend you use them.

We took the BTS to MoChit, jumped in a taxi from there, 100 baht to the MFA, up the escalator, up another set of stairs and you're in the right place, there's a desk you need to go to first, they check your documents, give you a form to fill out, them send you into the supervisor's office. Once you come out of there, back to the desk, then they give you a ticket. Then you wait, and after that, you wait some more, then a bit more, finally you do some waiting!

Then they called me up to the window, tried to take 800 baht off me for the express service, but as it was already about 1 in the afternoon, I didn't want to wait in there any more, the mrs was getting som tam withdrawals so i told them nobody had asked me what service i wanted, and i wanted the slow cheap one please

Note, it takes 3 WORKING DAYS for the document to be processed in the MFA including the day you submit the form, ours was submitted on Wednesday, ready on Friday.

Friday morning, up early, BTS to Mo Chit, taxi 100 baht, in the office by 08:30, already about 50 people in there before me, however, my number comes up within about 10 minutes.

This is the part where I think it's better to use the translation service downstairs, as the one I used in Ploen Chit, translated one line wrong!

Into the supervisors office who told me it's not a problem, go downstairs, get another translation, go back to the window, it will be done today no problem, as I left the office, with thoughts of my plane fpr Chiang Rai leaving on Sunday, nice man from translation service downstairs intercepts me and takes my documents...20 minutes later, 200 baht and it's re-submitted, nice lady behind the counter says she's very sorry but it might take 3 hours before it's stamped.

Turns out it took 2 hours, but it's done.

Taxi to Mo Chit 120 baht

BTS to Ploen Chit, 10 minutes in the office, refund 200 baht.

Job Done

Hope people find this useful.

Biff

Edited April 29, 2011 by bifftastic

[aland2012]

Just like to tell everybody that we today got married, and in using Thai Visa Forum has been so helpfull. Thank you all.

We managed to do it all in 2 Days, Monday & Tuesday, British Embasy closed due to holidays, so early Wednesday morning we were at the gates with my printed affermation ready, it seemed to flow very easy really, picked up affermation Wednesday 2.00pm, went across the road to a translation place called Ploenchit Translation Center, got all documation translated, they put all my papers together for us ready to take to the MFA.

Thursday morning up early, BTS to Mo Chit, left at exit 3, went outside and jumped into a taxi, the taxi driver knew already were we where going, funny really. We arrived at the MFA for about 9.00am, handed in paperwork, and was told to collect at 12.00, left there around 1.30pm. Got straight into a taxi to Mo Chit, BTS to On Nut, and went to a place just down from Tesco Lotus in On Nut, I think it was called a Family Center. There were a few mistakes that my wife to be had done on the hand written affermation and information, but it was not a problem, the nice lady was wonderful.

Married by 4.00pm . Wonderful really.

Once again thank you all for your advice .

Next job is her Spouse Visa.

Alan :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[bifftastic]

congratulations aland2012

glad it went so smoothly for you.

Up here in the far far north of the country, things at the Amphur were somewhat slower!

If anyone is considering getting their marriage certificate up country, be prepared for a long wait, followed by a long wait, much procrastination and a pause for lunch followed by a long wait and a 'ok no problem come back tomorrow everything finish '

Where we met, how long we've known each other, how many times I've visited her family, what kind of visa I'm here on (which, because it's a tourist visa, required the presence of the poo yai baan, to vouch for me) are now a matter of public record in the Chiang Saen Amphur.

First the paperwork was checked by a clerk, then we waited for a supervisor. She checked it too, asked questions about the wife's Thabien Baan, frowned, said 'ok' then we waited for another supervisor, she also said 'ok' then we were sat in front of the 'boss'.

The window sill behind him already had about 3 bottles of whiskey, 2 baskets of fruit and a couple of envelopes on it so I pretty much expected a long drawn out process involving the purchase of alcohol that I wasn't going to drink!

He had a stern look on his face that reminded me of an old head-teacher. He looked through our already double checked paperwork, decided that my visa required the poo yai baan's presence, and so another wait ensued.

Poo yai baan, duly arrived three hours later. Smiles all round, por luang was all 'oooh why did you buy me that whiskey? You didn't have to!' as he stuck it in his car

Another audience with the boss of the office, me and poo yai baan stood next to each other as his stern demeanor changed to one of beaming smiles and chuckling.

'ok no problem' he announced. 'you can get married here'

(It's only been all day, I thought to myself, still, we're at the end of the road now)

'Come back tomorrow' he grinned.

Next day, poo yai baan is again required, our relationship history, in some detail, is entered into the public record, everything is signed at least three times. Then it's lunch time, then it's wait for the 'boss' to return from lunch, then it's wait for the record of our relationship to be double checked by 4 people, then it's signed again, then it's how come my father's name is the same as mine, how to spell it in Thai (even though both names are slightly different and written in Thai on the affirmation).

Then a wait. Then 50 baht for the plastic covers and the certificates are done and we're married!

Sorry for the long post but I think it's important that people know it can go smoothly, ours was smooth too, but LONG!

good luck to anyone else doing the same thing.

Biff