Law Prohibiting Marriage To Foreigners Over The Age Of 50 Proposed To Thai Cabinet

[webfact]

April Fools!

In case people have missed the hundreds of so posts pointing out that this is Thaivisa's April Fools joke

Law prohibiting marriage to foreigners over the age of 50 proposed to Thai Cabinet

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Interior are bringing a new proposal before the Cabinet prohibiting foreigners over the age of 50 from marrying Thai nationals.

According to a Ministry spokesperson, statistics show that many older foreigners are marrying much younger Thai women, which is not appropriate and often leads to many problems.

"Many older foreigners seem to marry Thai women so they can stay in Thailand under less strict requirements. Instead of needing to meet the requirements of 800,000 baht in the bank they only have to show 400,000 baht a year when married to a Thai. Additionally, many of these people seem to come to Thailand simply to marry much younger girls. In many cases they are old enough to be their father. I am concerned that these people are attempting to circumvent the rules by marrying innocent Thai women. If these people don't have enough money to retire then they shouldn't be here and become a burden to Thailand," Tawatchai Suksoom of the Ministry of Interior stated.

He added that the measure is not discriminatory as it will apply to both men and women, but admitted that the proposal would mainly affect Thai women and foreign men.

Thai nationals cannot be prohibited from marrying older foreigners abroad, however Thai embassies will warn them of the possibility that Thailand will not recognize the marriage if they return to Thailand, he noted.

It is expected that the new law will be brought before the Cabinet for approval at the beginning of next month where it will then be proposed to Parliament. The law will not apply retroactively but only to marriages that take place after the new law comes into effect. Tawatchai advised Thais living overseas to provide proof to their Embassies that they were married before the law came into effect so as to avoid any potential problems.

The new law is in line with similar laws in Cambodia and Laos as part of the upcoming ASEAN integration in 2015 and is expected to pass Parliament with ease and should take effect on May 1st, 2011.

-- 2011-04-01

Edited April 4, 2011 by sbk

[Tompa]

Is this a bad April 1st joke?

[siampolee]

Cynic that I am, today being April the first, '"All Fools Day.'' Brings back the memory of my grandfather and his monthly task of, ''winding up,'' his grandfather clock.

This post suggests to me a winding up of we humans whose body clock has passed 50, thus we need rewinding.

[siampolee]

So what happened to the post concerning all fools day?

[pedro01]

It's fine...

It only applies to straight marriages. The sexpats can just marry an eighteen year old boy instead of an eighteen year old girl.

Fifteen bottles of Heineken and they feel the same anyway...

[cdnvic]

Like we needed another reason not to drink Heineshite

[makescents]

April fools!

[londonthai]

quick, before they pass this law.

you can easily divorce anytime in the future.

on the second thought, over 50 you can get a retirement visa, no need to marry

Edited April 1, 2011 by londonthai

[makescents]

Isn't Chaovarat Chanweerakul, Thailand's Minister of Interior?

Ahh a spokesman, never mind.

Edited April 1, 2011 by makescents

[gregb]

This is absolutely true. I was talking with my neighbor who says that this is the only legislation the Democrats and Pheu Thai can currently agree on. It has nearly 100% bipartisan support. They are actually hoping that it will be the foundation of a new platform of reconciliation in Thai politics.

There is even talk of the red shirts and the yellow shirts walking arm in arm around the city of Bangkok to personally announce the new restriction.

[CaptainSplod]

Aaah, yes - that reminds me, have to turn the page on the calendar..........

[Jingthing]

Not fooled.

[kiwiocker]

1st April

[Guest]

Like we needed another reason not to drink Heineshite

Today is 1 April.

[jonclark]

Of course its april fools, 60 year old men don't marry 18 year old women to get round immigration laws. They do it for the sex! - Duh

[Murf]

So if you only have 400,000 in the bank, you are a burden on Thailand

Looks like i am a BIG burden.

[Tolley]

So does that mean that a foreigner over 50 cannot marry any Thai national regardless of age?

e.g Foreigner 51 and Thai woman 45 cannot get married?

That would seem ridiculous!

[hardy1943]

So if you only have 400,000 in the bank, you are a burden on Thailand

Looks like i am a BIG burden.

Also with the Farang prices rip off we are a burden

[MaiChai]

1st April? Are we a little slow off the mark?

[StreetCowboy]

This is absolutely true. I was talking with my neighbor who says that this is the only legislation the Democrats and Pheu Thai can currently agree on. It has nearly 100% bipartisan support. They are actually hoping that it will be the foundation of a new platform of reconciliation in Thai politics.

There is even talk of the red shirts and the yellow shirts walking arm in arm around the city of Bangkok to personally announce the new restriction.

There is a limit to how far you can push something...

[South]

I am concerned that these people are attempting to circumvent the rules by marrying innocent Thai women.

Seems some people really do have their heads in the clouds.

[whybother]

"Many older foreigners seem to marry Thai women so they can stay in Thailand under less strict requirements. Instead of needing to meet the requirements of 800,000 baht in the bank they only have to show 400,000 baht a year when married to a Thai. Additionally, many of these people seem to come to Thailand simply to marry much younger girls. In many cases they are old enough to be their father. I am concerned that these people are attempting to circumvent the rules by marrying innocent Thai women. If these people don't have enough money to retire then they shouldn't be here and become a burden to Thailand," Tawatchai Suksoom of the Ministry of Interior stated.

This is just wrong on so many levels.

Don't they know that getting married will cost a lot more than 400,000 baht. So reducing the financial requirement would hardly be valid reason to get married.

Don' they also know that in many cases they are old enough to be their grand father.

But the main reason it's wrong - "Innocent Thai Women"

[JungleBiker]

So does that mean that a foreigner over 50 cannot marry any Thai national regardless of age?

e.g Foreigner 51 and Thai woman 45 cannot get married?

That would seem ridiculous!

Yes it is ridiculous and doesn't this law also go against basic human rights?

[soisanuk]

Gee, is it April 1st all ready?

[southbot]

Yeah, it has gotta be an April Fool's stunt. Cambodia was just talking about an absurd and sexist law like this.

The Cambodian law only applies to foreign men over the age of 50. So a foreign woman can marry a Cambodian of any age.

That is sexist. It is also racist. Not to mention absurdist, looney, utterly mental, brain crippling, economically ridiculous, etc.

It IS a joke but it DID hook me in for a moment there. Big thanks for previous poster posting a warning, I myself had quite forgotten the date

Besides I am preoccupied with the floods down south, I am in Aussie just now but I have a house and woman down on Samui but she tells me she's coping OK.

Good luck and good day to everybody over there in LOS.

Edited April 1, 2011 by southbot

[bhakta]

More stupid insanity from the Thai Government. Amazing.

[TheGhostWithin]

Very amusing, for the Thai government (yes, he is a minster, so a representitive of the government) referring to foreigners with less than 400,000 baht as a "burden" on Thai society. Tell me the ratio of Thais vs. Farang over the age of 50 with less than 400,000 in the bank?

This, if passed will be a huge economic blow for Thailand - a large percentage of Farang business owners in Thailand are 45+, and many buy those businesses and run it with their partner. Many own land with their partners. Most of these girls are not rich when they meet the "old burden" Farang. Infact, sadly most of these girls meet their Farang in the go go bars. Who was it that was the burden again?

I have never said this before, but this move really does look discriminatory against non-Thai nationals, and will be a huge blow both to the future development, educational and economic growth to Thailand if passed. Maybe Thailands politicians needs to learn when passing law, that you have the power to make the decisions but with that power you must execute vision, or your power is worthless and often destructive rather than constructive.

[johnhender]

you know they may be doing so of these guys a huge favor.You dont have to get married . i think it is great ! Really stupid law it is telling when you have to copie Cambodia a so called lower country . But for the young girls there goes the easy life . It is a good way to keep poor young girls in their place at the bottom . sometimes i think Thai women just deseverse Thai guys (even know thai girls ask me to set them up with my american friends everyday)

[sundaram444]

Yes. Thailand should bring in this law to prohibit older Farangs and other foreigners from marrying very young women .

I have seen some farangs with young wives who could be their grand daughters!.

Laos and Cambodia have enacted these law: why not Thailand.

[shroomer]

I live here, and am married to a woman close to my own age. Having said that, I know plenty of older guys married to women a lot younger than they and in some cases it seems to work ok,

While it may not a shining example of a meeting of minds or mutual attraction, it works in a mutually supportive kind of way.

What I don't understand is the older guy (60 plus in a lot of cases) having children. They make various arguments as to why it is not a bad thing, however, at the end of the day you are going to have a child

that is going to be left fatherless at a relatively young age, and that is not fair on the child.