Why Does Local Amphur Want To Send My Affirmation To Bangkok?

[Aranyrammie]

Hello, my partner and myself went to two local amphurs yesterday to get married but they said that they would have to send the affirmation back to Bangkok for it to be verified and it would take a month. They also told us if we went to Bangkok ourselves then it wouldn't be a problem getting married. Now, the affirmation is very nearly 3 months old now but they say that isn't the issue and that this is normal procedure for them to send it to Bangkok.

Does anybody know about this? I really don't want to go to Bangkok to do this as we have a sick baby and don't want to travel, plus I hate driving in Bangkok anyway. Also, even if this is all normal, why does it take a month to do?

Thanks for reading.

[Mario2008]

I wonder if you followed the correct procedure. As a foreigner wanting to get married in Thailand, you need a letter of affirmation from your embassy. Once you have this letter you need to have it transalted into Thai by a translation agency. Next you go to the Thai ministry of foreign affairs, consular department. They check the signature on the embassy letter and verify that the leter is real. You get it backed officially stamped and know you can go to any amphur in Thailand to get married.

Did you have your affirmation letter translated and than legalised at the Thai ministry of foreign affairs?

[Aranyrammie]

I wonder if you followed the correct procedure. As a foreigner wanting to get married in Thailand, you need a letter of affirmation from your embassy. Once you have this letter you need to have it transalted into Thai by a translation agency. Next you go to the Thai ministry of foreign affairs, consular department. They check the signature on the embassy letter and verify that the leter is real. You get it backed officially stamped and know you can go to any amphur in Thailand to get married.

Did you have your affirmation letter translated and than legalised at the Thai ministry of foreign affairs?

Hello Mario, forgot to say that I have done eveything as I should have, British embassy check, translation check, MOFA fast service check, received completed affirmation with official stamp, all done. Any ideas ?????

The only thing that I have thought of is the gap between the dates. I didn't have time to go to MOFA so we went on our next trip to lovely Bangkok and it's skillful drivers, a gap of about a month, there was no problem getting everything at MOFA and the lady at the Sa Kaeo amphur said it was normal practice to send to Bangkok, which I think is not entirely true. I have asked on TV before, I believe you may have responded, about how long the affirmation is valid. My partner asked if that was the issue and the reply was no. Stumped.

[steve187]

try another amphur!

[Mario2008]

Indeed this is not normal and not the way I and many others got married in Thailand. Sounds more like that the ampohur doesn't know how to marry a foreigner and can't be bothered with the paperwork.

As you can get married at any amphur, try one in a bigger place where they have some experience with marriage between a foreigner and a Thai national.

You can confirm it with the overnment information hotline at 1111 or with the department of provincial administration www.dopa.go.th

[Aranyrammie]

Thanks, I have tried amphur at aranyaprathet and at sa kaeo, we have to go to chanthaburi next week so we may as well give it a go, I wonder where abouts it is?

[Mario2008]

I had to go to 3 different amphurs, it turned out that there was a meeting of the registars the day I wanted to get married, so had to call around till we found one that was doing business as usual.

That amhur never married a foreigner before, but simply took out the big rule book. Took a little bit longer because they had to look everything up, but smooth as silk. otherwise.

To find the amphur, use google maps.

[Aranyrammie]

Thanks mario, will take a look.

[Aranyrammie]

update on getting married. We went to Chanthaburi and they would have married us but there was a problem with my partners i d card. The thing is that there would not have been any issues with the affirmation to marry. We told them about the Aranyaprathet and Sa kaeo officials who told us that we would have to send it off to Bangkok, which will take a month and they don't know why they told us this(we do of course). So you were correct Mario, they either couldn't or didn't want to do it. But, why tell us fibs about sending it to Bangkok? We even asked them if we could take affirmation to Chanthaburi and they said that they would not be able to help us and would say the same as them.

So, for anybody wanting to get married in sa kaeo region, go somewhere else.

[Mario2008]

I'm not suprised by the results of your visit.

To bad about the ID-card, but otherwise you are now good to go. Love is in the air again.

[lopburi3]

They normally do verify the registration with MFA so perhaps they was saying it must be sent/returned by snail mail rather than using the phone as our office in Bangkok did. Likely an excuse to avoid doing as mentioned. Plus they likely have a lost of false paperwork being on the border so naturally suspicious.