Marry At Amphur

[mja1906]

Does anyone know how many days it will take to get married legally (ie at the amphur) in Chiang Mai? Also what docs are needed. I am a British National , so I will need

- to get the affirmation saying I am single and can marry, and then translated into Thai

- my fiancé also needs to get copies of his divorce certificate (which he has lost so will need to go Police station and then amphur to get new copies),

- Copies of my passport, his id cards

Any thing else required?

Am guessing all this could be done in 2-3 days?

Thanks

[Thanyaburi Mac]

If you have all the documents needed, and no crowd ahead of you, perhaps 30 minutes.

Mac

[lopburi3]

Don't forget the Embassy document must also be registered at MFA in Bangkok before you take it to District Office to register marriage - translation alone would not be accepted. That actual District Office visit should be less than an hour or so.

[mja1906]

Don't forget the Embassy document must also be registered at MFA in Bangkok before you take it to District Office to register marriage - translation alone would not be accepted. That actual District Office visit should be less than an hour or so.

Hi Lopburi, sorry, by the 'embassy document' do you mean the 'affirmation to marry' issued from UK Embassy/Consulate, this must be registered at the MFA and then officially translated? Thanks

[lopburi3]

It needs to be translated first and then taken to MFA for registration (translation services can normally provide that service). You get back both original and translation bound together with a registry number the District Office can confirm.

[mja1906]

Thanks again Lopburi3, excuse my ignorance, so I guess it has to be the MFA in Bangkok , (is there an MFA in Chiang Mai ? ), so this means a trip to BKK, which would mean I would need more that 2-3 days to complete the whole marriage process. Probably a week to get docs sorted at BKK then back to CM to marry at the amphur

[lopburi3]

Isn't there a British Consul in Chiang Mai? If there is he should be able to provide the signature on affirmation and a translation service take care of the rest. Not sure if there is local office to do the MFA role but do not believe so but it would be sent by service - you would need to check with them how long it might take. You can do yourself with a long day in Bangkok but two days would likely be more reasonable.

[Lifer]

One other thing that may apply. If your Thai wife is registered outside of Chiangmai in another province as a resident, she has to get her book and have it changed and registered in Chiangmai. This last minute event happened because my wife was registered in Lampang (Hongshot), so we had to run to the district office there and get the paperwork and come back to Chiangmai to register her new address. May not apply and is not a big thing depending on where she is from. If from Chiangmai, then no problem to take care of.

I do remember we signed stacks of documents, all in Thai, with no translation. Since I don't read Thai and she didn't know how to translate the technicalities in English, we just signed the docs as they were handed to us by the clerk at Saraphi District Office.

Good luck with your adventure.

[lopburi3]

Poster is female.

And Thai does not have to move home register location to marry. That is why so many get it registered in Love District here in Bangkok.

Will move this thread to the new marriage forum.

[mja1906]

I have just heard there is an MFA in Chiang Mai, not sure if they would be able to sign off/legalise the affirmation at that office? Has anyone out there successfully done this? Or would they just send it to MFA in BKK (which would then probably take longer), and I would not have time to wait. I'm currently in Phuket, and hoping to complete the marriage process in 1 working week, and avoid having to go to BKK first.

[Mario2008]

Believe you are correct that there now is a MFA office in CM, that also does legalisation of docuemtns. Probably in the same building as the passport office, but maybe check with the consulate first.

[prakhonchai nick]

Since there are agents in Pattaya who can take care of the entire marriage documentation process, it is conceivable there will be some in Chiang Mai too. Worth looking into, to save the arduous journey to and from Bangkok.

[Niranut]

I'm American and married my Thai husband in Chiang Mai. This was back in 2006 when there was not an MFA office up there. At the time, we used Star Visa service (about 100 meters down the road from the U.S. Embassy)-- they translated the document and sent it to BKK for certification. I think it was 2,500-3,000 baht for the MFA certification which saved us a lot of time and trouble of going to do it ourselves. I'm sure many of the other visa services up there could do the same.

That is, if you will even need to bother since there is the MFA office in Chiang Mai now.

After we had all the documents in order, it took us about 20 min. at the amphur office to finish everything up.

HTH

ETA: I kept a copy of the Star Visa card with my collection, so here's their contact information:

409 Vichayonon Rd.

T. Changmoi, A. Muang

053-232-069

www.i-starvisa.com

Edited September 25, 2011 by Niranut