Problems With Thai National Changing To Their Married Name

[NewlyMintedThai]

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

100% wrong.

[brianP]

Arrived this February and the wife had to change her Thai national I.D to the new province we moved to. It is a bonus to keep the Thai name though, as any farang connection means more money- every time. Even if you stay out of the visual picture, Thai's charge more to Thai's who worked or lived in a rich country. I see the locals charge more for city Thai's that dress and drive expensively. I don't know the long term ramifications for my boy who has my last name and obvious Euro/ Thai bloodlines. It is better than back in the USA where all the new foreigners that arrived charge the white Americans more and don"t speak English! The bottom line is you have to have a Thai spouse that you trust and believe in 100% ,and keep your name out of the equation, scary but functional when two people on on the same page. Rots O Ruck...

[NewlyMintedThai]

Just wondering what kind of things people think they're getting overcharged for? Almost everything I buy has a fixed price clearly displayed. And what kind of transaction requires the wives to reveal their married names? Seems strange to me.

[sirchai]

My Wife has had no problems with my surname.

Not with her surname. Hopefully not with her husband......

[padeedy]

When I married my lovely Thai wife in 1995 she happily changed her surname to mine, because I told her I would not feel she was sincere if she didn't. At that time there certainly were warnings of the difficulties of ever owning land if she did not have a Thai name. I was told that a long-dead king had produced a list of acceptable Thai surnames, and any other names were deemed to be foreign.

After she put her British surname on her Thai passport she would sometimes be questioned aggressively by Thai officials at Don Muang, about why she wanted to go over to UK at all, even though married to a farang. Things are much easier now, and she has bought property in Thailand using her British name. She still has a Thai ID card, and since that time has also become a British citizen.

But to speed her transit through airports she now carries two passports - one British and one Thai. The Thai one gets her into Thailand quickly. The British one gets her quickly back into England (or almost anywhere else). She has to careful, however, because I believe that if the Thai immigration saw what she was doing, they would confiscate her Thai passport. Their attitude is that an adult (as opposed to a child) can only have one nationality, and must choose which one it is. The UK is much more tolerant.

[flying]

But to speed her transit through airports she now carries two passports - one British and one Thai. The Thai one gets her into Thailand quickly. The British one gets her quickly back into England (or almost anywhere else). She has to careful, however, because I believe that if the Thai immigration saw what she was doing, they would confiscate her Thai passport. Their attitude is that an adult (as opposed to a child) can only have one nationality, and must choose which one it is. The UK is much more tolerant.

All dual Thai citizens carry two passports.

But....If a Thai uses their Thai passport to enter Thailand they must use it to exit.

Yes they need to show the foreign passport, green card (USA) or even a visa to leave Thailand.

but if the enter on a Thai passport they must leave on it due to the arrival card/stamp etc.

On a side note a Thai national may also enter on their 2nd citizenship passport but if they do they are bound by the same

stay/overstay rules as any other foreigner.

Thai Nationality nor passport could be confiscated by Thai airport immigration.

[p_brownstone]

But to speed her transit through airports she now carries two passports - one British and one Thai. The Thai one gets her into Thailand quickly. The British one gets her quickly back into England (or almost anywhere else). She has to careful, however, because I believe that if the Thai immigration saw what she was doing, they would confiscate her Thai passport. Their attitude is that an adult (as opposed to a child) can only have one nationality, and must choose which one it is. The UK is much more tolerant.

This subject has been done to death here on TV.

Neither Thailand nor the U.K. have any law which prohibits Dual Nationality.

There is a provision in the Thai Nationality Act whereby a Dual National MAY - between the ages of 20 and 21 - choose to renounce their Thai Nationality. There is no compulsion to do so and no penalty if one does not choose so obviously the vast majority of the - literally - thousands of Thais who hold Dual Nationality simply do nothing and keep both.

As already stated too, Thai Immigration has absolutely no authority to confiscate a Thai Nationals Thai Passport (and obviously they certainly cannot confiscate any Passport issued by another Nation).

Patrick

Edited June 24, 2012 by p_brownstone

[7by7]

Yes they need to show the foreign passport, green card (USA) or even a visa to leave Thailand.

Not to Thai immigration, they don't.

They do need to show their foreign passports, or Thai passport with the appropriate visa, to the airline when checking in so the airline know they will be allowed in at the other end.

[flying]

Yes they need to show the foreign passport, green card (USA) or even a visa to leave Thailand.

Not to Thai immigration, they don't.

They do need to show their foreign passports, or Thai passport with the appropriate visa, to the airline when checking in so the airline know they will be allowed in at the other end.

Yes correct

They always ask a Thai passport holder at the ticket counter check in

I only mentioned Immigration in response to the other posters claim that

because I believe that if the Thai immigration saw what she was doing, they would confiscate her Thai passport.

Edited June 24, 2012 by flying

[mmail2you]

I have a question which is not fully about change of name but the question is when you wanted to change your Thai wifes name to Falang name in Thailand what did they require as evidence or did they just accept that she had a Aussie passport in her falang name ?

[JohnBozi]

Yes there is a problem. My wife went looking for jobs and she kept getting the same reasons for not employing her.

The would look at her surname and say oh you have a farang husband, you won't stay working here long, and you probably won't work hard enough, or care about losing your job.

Prior to getting married she found a job easily.

She had all sorts of problems with her previous bank accounts too, even though everything had to be cleared properly for the marriage and passport she was again asked to bring all documents to prove her name.

It's a ridiculous joke.

[lopburi3]

I have a question which is not fully about change of name but the question is when you wanted to change your Thai wifes name to Falang name in Thailand what did they require as evidence or did they just accept that she had a Aussie passport in her falang name ?

You normally change it immediately after registration of marriage, at the same District Office. It is routine for anyone - Thai or foreign spouse. So Marriage Certificate showing married name is normal paperwork used.

[JimGant]

You normally change it immediately after registration of marriage, at the same District Office. It is routine for anyone - Thai or foreign spouse. So Marriage Certificate showing married name is normal paperwork used.

Lop, just to be clear -- there is no requirement to register your marriage at the District Office if it took place outside Thailand, correct? To me, the registration process with the District Office is just the final step in the legalization of your marriage that took place in Thailand (the bureaucratic part aside from the softer Buddhist side of the ceremony).

Having said that, is there any advantage to registering with the District Office your marriage that legally occurred outside Thailand?

[flying]

Having said that, is there any advantage to registering with the District Office your marriage that legally occurred outside Thailand?

For my wife & I (married in the US ) the advantage/reason was based solely on changing all her Thai paperwork...passport,ID etc to her new name.

[lopburi3]

You can only register a marriage once so if done outside Thailand it has been registered - but you can record the marriage at a District Office inside Thailand (no new marriage certificate involved) by getting your Embassy involved/translation into Thai. This is used for extension of stay purposes. I suspect it could also be used for name change proof.

[flying]

You can only register a marriage once so if done outside Thailand it has been registered - but you can record the marriage at a District Office inside Thailand (no new marriage certificate involved) by getting your Embassy involved/translation into Thai. This is used for extension of stay purposes. I suspect it could also be used for name change proof.

Yes lopburi that is what we had to do... record at District office....Translate our US marriage Certificate to Thai

[inkorat]

If the land office sees the foreign name they will ask the known foreign husband to sign a document to sign away his ownership rights to the property (divorce). This is like a pre-marrital agreement, but in Thailand they also have pre-purchase agreements.

Today your wife can use her maiden name, use Miss or Mrs. or even change to a completely different name. I have noticed that sometimes when you try to add a middle name or something close to the original name the computer does not accept the entry. This is really a problem in their software, their computer thinks there is a misspelling or typo error.

[Maestro]

A foreigner is not allowed to own land and therefore he has no ownership rights that he could sign away. This is the document a foreign spouse may be asked to sign by the land registration department:

With this document, the foreigner confirms that the money being used by the Thai spouse is the spouse's money and that the land purchased with it will be solely the spouse's property, ie not common property. The document protects the foreigner in the event of possible later accusations that the foreigner used the spouse as a proxy to obtain de facto ownership of land.

[cutter007]

Everything with my wife also has been fine. I know one women though that we were involved in a business deal with concerning land, where they told her it was the foreign last name that was an issue.

But my wife said it this was just an excuse because of others issues they had with her that they didn't want to say outloud.

[spacemand]

No issues at all.

Things that have come up have been old issues that carried her maiden name but the piece of paper (laminate it) that shows her name change have always solved that.

[jamescollister]

Wife's ID is in her maidan name, kids are in my name, wife is in may name in OZ. God knows what the Thai wedding cert says, but never have had the slightest problem. Think names are of no importance now, it's all about the number on your ID or passport that counts. Plus my Manx name seems to be easily said in Thai. Jim

[bkk_mike]

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!!!

I had the virtually same thing happen to me yesterday (also Toyota dealer). I was sitting in the waiting area for the car to finish being serviced, and my wife calls. Turns out they've phoned her rather than attempt to talk to me (or even announce the licence plate - I was listening out for the numbers... - I know the Thai for that).

P.S. Wife's had no problems having my surname. Only thing is I need to go along and sign the form at the land registry stating it's not mine when she buys something.

Edited July 12, 2012 by bkk_mike