Problems With Thai National Changing To Their Married Name

[Plum Duff]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has experience of this or can let my know if this is true.

My wife and I are looking to move to Thailand. My wife is a Thai national. She has been told by a friend that because she has now has a farang surname she will have great difficulties on her return to Thailand regarding buy of property and opening a business. She has been told that she will have to seek the services of a lawyer / solicitor in order to sort out all the legal red tape that having a foreign surname will cause when dealing with local government.

Can anybody confirm or clarify if this is correct?

Thanks

[llso]

When my wife and I were married in 2003 they had just passed the new law that women could keep their Thai surname. When we got married they had to call to another office to confirm this. For us it was easier because as you mentioned all of her bank accounts, house registration, ID card ,Passport, etc. and we also had a Thai company that was actually doing business not just a shell. The only problem we ever encountered was when she went to get her police clearance letter for her visa to settle in Farangland they made her change her passport Miss (Nawng) to Mrs.(Nawng Sao). So there is no problem in her keeping her Thai name it has its advantages if you are living in Thailand. It definitely does make a difference when conducting business if they sense a Farang is involved.

LL

[mca]

The only slight hiccup was ( because we double-barreled my and my wife's surname ) when it came to the ID card they wouldn't accept the double barrel and put her part of the name down as a "middle name"

Apart from that over the years she's bought land, property, a car and co-signed for a couple of her siblings businesses with no problem at all signing a western name and no need to involve any lawyers etc. Just straightforward deals.

[lopburi3]

There is no problem having/using foreign name.

[Mario2008]

No problem with a foreign name. My wife bought some land a few months ago, without any problem having my last name.

[colinneil]

I do not agree when people say no problem with using farang husbands surname, my wife (thai) was tol you cannot use farang name , you use you will lose your job, works in tesaban, you must change your id card back to thai name or else

[flying]

I do not agree when people say no problem with using farang husbands surname, my wife (thai) was tol you cannot use farang name , you use you will lose your job, works in tesaban, you must change your id card back to thai name or else

Yes but "told by" & reality often do not match.

My wife has had my name for years never a problem in any way.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Zero problem. Don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise.

[Tafia]

I'm the same as the majority who posted here. Wife took my name has purchased property and land since no problem whatsoever.

[Lite Beer]

My Wife has had no problems with my surname.

[keeniau96]

My Thai wife changed to my family name upon marriage seven years ago. Big mistake on anything to do with the Land Office. Spent over a year getting a Chanote from a Nor Sor 3 (totally clean title), was visiting the Land Office several times a month, multiple flunkies to pass through, some with open palms, others quite honest. Another in her family going to same office on same type Chanote upgrade had it done in a month. Wish we had never done the name change.

[Lite Beer]

No problem at all.

My Wife has bought 3 pieces of land and upgraded one of them to channot.

Nothing but smooth sailing every time.

[IMA_FARANG]

I believe your wife's friend opinion is based on her having old outdated information.

Previously Thai wives married to a foriegner could not own land.....some Thais still think that;s true today.

From that fact, they think Thais married to foriegners are restricted in that area.

However the law was changed about 1999 (I believe) and Thai wives of foriegn husbands now can buy land and own property the same way as those married to Thais.

As long as she has a validThai I.D. card and, if questioned, can prove she was born in Thailand and/or she has a legal Thai birth certificate it is legal.

And if she doesn;t have a Thai I.D, card...but is reqistered and recorded as being born to a Thai parent...she can then get a legal Thai I.D. card.

But that's another topic.

[Gary A]

I do not agree when people say no problem with using farang husbands surname, my wife (thai) was tol you cannot use farang name , you use you will lose your job, works in tesaban, you must change your id card back to thai name or else

My wife changed her last name to mine and has no problems nor did she have any problems getting it changed. She has since purchased a number of properties and had no problems. You have been fed erroneous information for some strange reason.

[ubonjoe]

Same, same as all the others no problems at all (land purchase and etc.). My wife had no choice about taking my name when we got married.

She also just finished serving 5 years as village head.

[asiaexpat]

My wife took my last name when we married 43 years ago in Thailand. Since then we have encountered some minor difficulties with various transactions, but nothing that prevented her from exercising her rights as a Thai citizen. Several years ago she bought property and I was required to sign a document for the Land Office that stated I have not financial interest in the property and all money's used to buy the land are hers. Pretty simple process. We have bought cars and motorbikes with no problems. The only thing I notice is that sometimes an increase in prices if the vender knows she has a western last name (thus husband.)

[Dork]

20 years ago there may have been some merit in avoiding a foreign sounding surname. But not anymore. Even though my wife & I have always lived in Thailand since we were married, we intentionally registered our marriage in my home country to avoid the name change. After the land dept changed their xenophobic rules to the slightly less xenophobic rule we have today, she did all the Amphur stuff to officially became Mrs and adopted my surname mainly because there are quite a few inconveniences in a married couple not having the same name and that was entirely her decision. I'm not particularly old fashioned about that.

My wife has her name on dozens of chanotes, she is a director of several companies and we also (unfortunately) have lots of bank loans/mortgages and there are no legal obstacles whatsoever with any of that.

Even if a wife doesn't change her surname on marriage, it is unlikely to help at the Land dept because her ID card still must change from Miss to Mrs which will means they almost certainly will notice that her husband is a foreigner. Conventional wisdom has it that this was the bureaucrats ideal solution when the courts ruled the previously sexist rules unconstitutional. Now the same rule (the silly not my money letter) equally applies to a Thai man married to a foreign woman except that, of course, a Thai mans ID card doesn't change so in effect it isn't enforced. Job done!

Occasionally some minor govt officer (or other ignoramus) will bring the foreign name issue up but in the case of my wife, if they do, they are quickly put back in their place. Thankfully the days of Thai govt officers being able to be a law unto themselves are on the wane.

[JimGant]

because her ID card still must change from Miss to Mrs

My wife of 32 years kept her maiden name, mainly to avoid the extra paperwork of changing her name on documents, but also for the land issue at the time. And, she's never changed from "miss" to "mrs," even at document renewal time. Her argument, which she got from her sister, is that being married can require the wife to jump thru more hoops than if single. Probably true in the old days -- not so sure about today.

Anyway, we've never worried about any consequences of this. If ever required to prove marriage, we certainly could just flash our (farang) marriage certificate. Certainly newlywed Thai women are, for a time or so, walking around with Thai ID cards and passports labelled as "miss." That she's taken over 32 years of walking around as a "miss" could, I guess, raise an eyebrow or two. But I doubt there's any fraud charge -- as there's no apparent ill-gotten gain from this action -- that could be thrown at her.

At next passport renewal time (her ID is for life), maybe "Ms" will finally have arrived in Thailand.

[Plum Duff]

Wow,

Thanks for all the replies. I think my wife's friend must be out of date with her information or her problems were due to something else!!!

Thanks again

[mike123ca]

There is one problem, when the wife goes to make a purchase other Thais expect her now feel obliged to

charge her the farang price.

[Mosha]

Only problem mine has, is having to spell her English surname out to people every other day.

[Pormax]

Like 'Mosha' above. One of the problems will be Thais being unable to pronounce/call/write your name.

I had my car serviced the other day in Toyota dealership. Waited in the lounge, saw my car come out of service area into pick up area. WAited for announcement that I could go and pay invoice and go home. Nothing happened. My wife insisted I wait for a call over the speaker system. After 25 mins I said we go to service desk. Yes your car ready long time my wife was told. She asked why they not call my name. The answer was no one here can read or speak English!!!

[edwinchester]

I do not agree when people say no problem with using farang husbands surname, my wife (thai) was tol you cannot use farang name , you use you will lose your job, works in tesaban, you must change your id card back to thai name or else

I wonder who told your wife that as my own wife was working at the tessabaan when we we married and she changed her surname to mine.

No problem at all. She kept her job, bought land and vehicles, nothing changed except the name on her id card.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Mosha]

Like 'Mosha' above. One of the problems will be Thais being unable to pronounce/call/write your name.

I had my car serviced the other day in Toyota dealership. Waited in the lounge, saw my car come out of service area into pick up area. WAited for announcement that I could go and pay invoice and go home. Nothing happened. My wife insisted I wait for a call over the speaker system. After 25 mins I said we go to service desk. Yes your car ready long time my wife was told. She asked why they not call my name. The answer was no one here can read or speak English!!!

They can't pronounce the st in Stephen and stick an a in. My surname is just impossible for a Thai it seems Only 5 letters, still I know if the boot was on the other foot, I'd struggle. So friends (Thai) call me Ven.

[TommoPhysicist]

Even if a wife doesn't change her surname on marriage, it is unlikely to help at the Land dept because her ID card still must change from Miss to Mrs which will means they almost certainly will notice that her husband is a foreigner.

Just to point out, they can choose to be Mrs or Miss on the ID card after marriage, but the Amphur computer records the nationality of the husband. Nothing to do with the surname on the ID card.

Same as JimGant. My wife didn't change from Miss to Mrs, said it made her sound old.

Edited June 21, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[trainman34014]

My Mrs took my name at marriage almost five years ago and has never had a problem. She's even bought land in her new name and sold land still in her old name without problems. Biggest difficulty is Thai's can't pronounce,spell, or even recognise English owing to their weakness in this area. The mind boggles at the thought of how they will cope when the Asean agreement comes into play in 2015.

[lovetotravel]

My wife changed to her married name several years ago. It was a breeze to change. Her Mom just gave her some property. No problems at all. She bought a car in her name. No problems.

[hansnl]

I do not agree when people say no problem with using farang husbands surname, my wife (thai) was tol you cannot use farang name , you use you will lose your job, works in tesaban, you must change your id card back to thai name or else

There is no problem whatsoever for a Thai national having a foreign name.

Simply because the first name, her official name, is most important in Thailand.

Have a look in her ID-card!

Changing a last name is quite simple in Thailand, changing the first name is, or can be, a lengthy process.

[BWPattaya]

Years ago a friend of mine (English) divorced his Thai wife so that (as the law stood then) she could buy land as a Thai. After she bought the land they re-married. It doesn't matter now.

[PETERTHEEATER]

My (Thai wife) and I have been married almost forty years and she took my surname officially very shortly after we were married. Over the years both she and I have been told many incorrect things by civil servants relating to her using my surname. But, we have never had a major problem with land transactions in her name buying or selling.