Advice On Marriage And Baby Please!

[barney]

Hi,

Im a UK citizen currently in thailand with my g/f on a 5 month stint.She is 3 months pregnant and will have our baby at the end of July.I am going back to UK for four months at the end of March for a job i have lined up and plan to come back for the birth, for a short holiday, and we will then try to get my g/f and baby over to Uk for a couple of years, so i can make enough money to come back here indefinately.

My questions for you experienced guys out there are

1: We want to get married here, any info on whether visa to Uk will be easier if we do get married, rather than try for the fiancee visa( i ask because a few Americans have told me its easier for them not to be married first).

2: I know i have to go to UK Embassy to get 'Freedom to Marry' Certificate first, , do they ask for proof of earnings(i havent worked for three months now)?

Once i have this can i get someone else to sort out the translation/sworn affirmation business?I dont wanna spend many days in Bangkok as my girl friend cant travel at the moment, would rather spend my time here in Udon.

3: Any benefits or drawbacks from getting g/f to change her passport/ID card into my name?

4: How does the child registration work here, and should we try then to get dual passports for our child so they can come to Uk and then back to Thai?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[Boo]

HI Barney, The marriage stuff is fairly easy, go to the British Embassy Website & fill out & print the affirmation of freedom to marry form, where it says earnings, just put your last monthly earnings (regardless of when you last worked) , they don't check, then take it to the British Embassy first thing in the morning, it will be ready for collection the next day(try to get it early), you then take it to any one of the translation services in Wireless Road near the Embassy (it takes about 30mins to translate into thai) & then go by taxi to the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Cheang Wattana (near the Airport, you need to copy everything twice, inc your passport) they keep it for 2 days & then can collect & marry at any amphur office in the country (Your girlfriend will have to have a valid ID & her Tabien Baan paper, to shows she's not already married) The whole process including the marriage registration costs about 3k baht (the british embassy is the most expensive at 2,400 baht, mfa 400baht & amphur abt 140 baht). Ask at the MFA to see if it's possible for them to post the final papers to you, that way you only need to spend a day & a half in Bangkok. I know there are agencies for this kind of thing but they can be expensive.

About the baby stuff, this isn't something I know about yet (!) but I would imagine it would be fairly easy for your child to get duel nationality, just speak to the embassy when you go to do the affirmation of freedom to marry. If the baby has duel nationality it will be easy for you & your family to travel in the future.

Good Luck with everything.

Boo

[huski]

About the baby stuff, this isn't something I know about yet (!) but I would imagine it would be fairly easy for your child to get duel nationality, just speak to the embassy when you go to do the affirmation of freedom to marry. If the baby has duel nationality it will be easy for you & your family to travel in the future.

if your child has dual nationality enter and exit Thailand on his/her THAI passport and don't show the UK passport. You can legally have dual citizenship but some immigration officers are weird about it. Boo is right, it will be easier as there won't be any visas involved for your child for these two countries.

[NiceFarang]

Suggest you get married before baby is born as we did.

Then straightforward to register child as UK national as well as thai and attin british passport as well as thai.

Otherwise quite problematical, expensive and longish time to get child uk passport.

all info on british embassy site bangkok.

and much easier to get visitor or settlement visa when married.

Good luck

[barney]

Thanks a lot ,

I am now happily married.Just a couple of points for those wishing to do the same.

1:It is possible to get the sworn translation from Laksi within 2 hours if you pay double the fee,or they can post it to you for 20baht.

2: We had a bit of hassle with a couple of Bangkok amphues,sorry dont rememeber names, but first ones computer didnt work and the second they wanted two witnesses who spoke fluent english/thai and proof of earnings.We then went to BangRak and there it was no problem, and i recommend going there as there were plenty of farrangs doing the same(well it was near Valentines day).

However having read the other posts re: doubling the amount in the bank needed for marriage settlement visa come July, i may now change my plans and try to move here before then.

So im afraid i need to ask a couple of more questions.

1:As im still going to Uk without my wife at the end of March, should i open a bank account here before i go back to UK and then transfer enough to cover 200,ooo baht and get her to send me a statement to show the embassy in London( i cant afford to transfer 200k while im here).

2: Since the reports ive read on the forum seem to suggest the different immigration departments differ a lot in how strictly they check where the 200k comes from and how long youv'e had it there, does anyone out there know what they are like In Udon?I may not be be able to maintain 200k in the account all year so being able to get away with a statement from the bank showing 200k at that time would be simpler.

Cheers and good luck out there

barney

[monitorlizard]

Regarding the dual passport and traveling for a child.

I am not trying to start an argument but are there any posters out there that have experience with immigration with their child and 2 passports?

I know the UK allows their citizens to have dual passports but in most cases the US does not. In fact they tell you it is illegal for a holder of a US passport to enter the US on another passport.

It looks impossible to fly into countries with different passports. The obivious reason is that there would be a depart or entry stamp missing. This is the first thing the immigration looks for.

So, I would appreciate to know how people get around this little problem.

I have Thai firends whose kid and wife are Thai with US passports. They all have Thai ID cards but no Thai passports. They come into Thailand on their US passport and get stamped. Later they apply for a 1 year extension for 500 baht. My impression is that there are a lot of Thais who do this..... The big thing is to not let their Thai ID expire.

So why the cloak and dagger routine? Sounds like you might get into serious trouble if you try to con the immigration.

[sbk]

monitor, there is at least one American member of this board who has acquired dual nationality (naturalized Thai citizen) and the US Embassy had no issue with him gaining Thai nationality as well as US. I was also told by the US Embassy that if we had kids dual nationality was allowed (I also asked in my case, if I naturalized Thai and they said, no problem). Don't know why your friends have issues, perhaps they made some mistake in the first place? If you enter on your US passport and exit on your US passport what is to stop you from entering Thailand on your Thai passport? If you re-read your post you say

they tell you it is illegal for a holder of a US passport to enter the US on another passport.

It does not say it is illegal for a US passport holder to travel on another passport, only that it is illegal to enter the US on another passport.

[thaihome]

Regarding the dual passport and traveling for a child.

I am not trying to start an argument but are there any posters out there that have experience with immigration with their child and 2 passports?

I know the UK allows their citizens to have dual passports but in most cases the US does not. In fact they tell you it is illegal for a holder of a US passport to enter the US on another passport.

It looks impossible to fly into countries with different passports. The obivious reason is that there would be a depart or entry stamp missing. This is the first thing the immigration looks for.

So, I would appreciate to know how people get around this little problem.

I have Thai firends whose kid and wife are Thai with US passports. They all have Thai ID cards but no Thai passports. They come into Thailand on their US passport and get stamped. Later they apply for a 1 year extension for 500 baht. My impression is that there are a lot of Thais who do this..... The big thing is to not let their Thai ID expire.

So why the cloak and dagger routine? Sounds like you might get into serious trouble if you try to con the immigration.

I have a very good friend in Bangkok whose wife and 2 children hold US and Thai pasports. They go back to US every year using the US passport to enter the US and the Thai passports to enter Thailand. The only problem they have is at airline counter in Bangkok when checking in as there is no US visa in Thai passport. He simply shows the US passports and they are ok. He says sometimes Thai Immigration asks the same thing, and he shows them the US passports as well. The Thai pasports do not have any entry stamps from any country other then Thailand. There is no cloak and dagger, if asked where entry stamps are, he shows the US passports. By the way, there is no exit stamp when leaving the US.

He has been doing this for 6 six years now.

The US at one time did not allow dual citizenship but lifted that restriction some time ago. Now the only restriction is you cannot be an officer in a foreign army.

TH

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Thanks a lot ,

I am now happily married.Just a couple of points for those wishing to do the same.

1:It is possible to get the sworn translation from Laksi within 2 hours if you pay double the fee,or they can post it to you for 20baht.

2: We had a bit of hassle with a couple of Bangkok amphues,sorry dont rememeber names, but first ones computer didnt work and the second they wanted two witnesses who spoke fluent english/thai and proof of earnings.We then went to BangRak and there it was no problem, and i recommend going there as there were plenty of farrangs doing the same(well it was near Valentines day).

However having read the other posts re: doubling the amount in the bank needed for marriage settlement visa come July, i may now change my plans and try to move here before then.

So im afraid i need to ask a couple of more questions.

1:As im still going to Uk without my wife at the end of March, should i open a bank account here before i go back to UK and then transfer enough to cover 200,ooo baht and get her to send me a statement to show the embassy in London( i cant afford to transfer 200k while im here).

2: Since the reports ive read on the forum seem to suggest the different immigration departments differ a lot in how strictly they check where the 200k comes from and how long youv'e had it there, does anyone out there know what they are like In Udon?I may not be be able to maintain 200k in the account all year so being able to get away with a statement from the bank showing 200k at that time would be simpler.

Cheers and good luck out there

barney

If you got an extension before July you'd need only 200,000 baht in a bank in Thailand, but the following years you will need 400,000. They upped the ante.