Translation Needed For Thai Fiancee

[thepainter]

I'm in the process of of a fiancee visa for TG and am wondering if anyone knows of a good document translation firm in Bangkok?? Any help would be appreciated as this is going to be a lot of "fun" for me....thanks. Oh, I need in English!

[Richard Hall]

Keep in mind that the translator must be recognized (accepted) by the appropriate embassy otherwise your translated documents may not get accepted by the embassy means getting legal documents translated by anyone knowing the language will not be good enough.

In Germany's case the translator needs to be officially legalized and registered in Germany which is for example Sebastian Kiesow on Sathon Road.

In order to avoid disappointments and wastes of money it is surely recommendable to consult the relevant embassy. Quite often they even allow legitimate translators to place their business cards there.

[thepainter]

Thank you, I will have her make sure they are legite! I"ll search the embassy web site and see what I can come up with. Have a good day Richard...!

[Pink Mist]

I will PM you with the name of a good company and they can also expedite marriages too. Any body else wants the name of one you can PM me.

[Guest IT Manager]

Feel free to post the names and weblinks here to companies you believe are good enough to warrant members attention Bronco.

As has been iterated before, posts are rarely deleted, except if they fail to conform with "Terms of Sevice". Your one deleted post hardly counts as "they".

[Candyflip]

There are alot of translation services locate around USA embassy.

I once use their service for house registation ( about 300-500 baht) and pay extra if you need them to be go through official approvement by Ministry of Foreign affair,then you can pick up the paper in 1-2 days.

[monitorlizard]

Hello Painter

I cannot speak of other embassies but for the US Embassy your girlfriend can do the translation. My wife is the translator for all of my documents and we NEVER had a problem. She is not registered but she can read and write in both languages.

Regarding expediting marriages? Sounds to me that you are getting a "fiancee visa" so I don't understand the need for a company to expedite a marriage. I am sure your girlfriend will be doing the expediting.

However, once again you do not need a company to fill out your paperwork for a fiancee visa. The forms are in English and there will be required documents for your GF. It is straight forward. Please do not be fooled that a Thai company will have "special connections" at the US Embassy to expedite your paperwork. All the paperwork will be sent to the INS.

If you are trying to get one from the US Embassy, go to their website and download the forms

However, the embassy states that you need to file with the INS in the US. I believe that if you can prove you are a legal resident here that they may let you file the paperwork here. I believe that there is a INS branch here in Bangkok.

If you need to send in the paperwork you can try to submit it at the US Embassy and they will forward the forms to the INS office in your home state. It is worth checking out.

Good luck. Be very careful about companies here or in the US promising you guarantees. Did you know that each INS office has a funded "independent free or low cost" legal assistance office?

[Candyflip]

I just want to clarify my privious answer here abit.

The extra service that I meant means they will go to the Ministry of Foriegn affiar for you, not that they have special speeding or connection.

Agreed with monitorlizard that every document will go through the INS, but if you pay for the extra service, you dont have to stand in line by yourself at the MFA, they will do that job for you.

Good luck

[monitorlizard]

The extra service that I meant means they will go to the Ministry of Foriegn affiar for you, not that they have special speeding or connection.

I am a little confused here. Why would you go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Thailand has nothing to do with giving visas to other countries. Yes, I suppose you would be doing a lot of waiting there.

[samran]

I am a little confused here. Why would you go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Thailand has nothing to do with giving visas to other countries. Yes, I suppose you would be doing a lot of waiting there.

Sometimes foreign govts require proof of certain things, and sometimes that "proof" is only issue by the RTG (eg marriage certificates, tax returns etc)

In my case I needed to get my Thai tax return translated from Thai to English which was acceptable to the UK govt as proof of income.

Working backwards...

Embassies usually can notarise/legalise (officially recognise) translations, but only if it has been previously cited my MFA. This is especially true of documents issued by the RTG.

MFA can only cite something (thats what they tell me) if it has been translated by a recognised translator (ie most of those translation joints near embassies).

[monitorlizard]

I think we are a little off topic here. I believe the orginal post was to obtain a fiancee visa. In this case, the tax documents are not applicable as the person who you are going to marry needs to show proof of income. For example, if it is an American then he/she will need to show proof of support in the US to support his/her Thai wife/husband.

Yes, there will need to be documents such as marriage documents. I imagine that you are speaking of former marriages? If it is the current marriage then the applicant will have all the necessary paperwork and there would be no need for a fiancee visa. We are talking about a different visa here altogether. He/she will be applying for a green card and permanent residency.

MARRIAGE VISA CAN be translated by the applicant or anyone! This is for the US Embassy.

I do not pretend to know of all the required forms but the packet can be obtained by the US Embassy and there is no need for an agency to perform the work. My advice is to save the money and do the work yourself. Again, there is no need to go to the Foreign Ministry of Affairs for any items in the packet that needs to be filled out for a fiancee visa.

But don't take my word for it. The person should download the forms and see for himself. You DO NOT need a registered person to translate the forms. This is true for the US Embassy. I cannot speak about other embassies.

It is very silly to think for one moment that a Thai business is going to help improve your chances of getting any visa with the US. The staff there can read and speak Thai. Personally, I take offence that I need a Thai company to help me conduct business at my own embassy. Just my opionion.

I cannot imagine a Thai citizen going to an American company in Los Angeles for help in getting a Thai visa.

[samran]

I think we are a little off topic here.

Point taken. I have a focus problem and am kinda shortsighted too.

Previous posts however had not clearly explained the need or rationale for going though the MFA.

Given that the OP hasn't specified what embassy he needs to go thru, I was just trying to highlight the point that "sometimes" (quoting myself) this is the process that you are required to go through, and maybe the only acceptable way for some embassies of getting things translated and recognised. By all means, check with your respective embassy as to what they regard as acceptable process for translations.

I just used my expereince getting income tax statements translated cause that is the only first hand expereince I have had. I needed them translated as I have applied for a visa to move to the UK. Nevertheless I think it was illustrative and parallels the general process one must sometimes go though for any type of visa application which requires officially translated evidence.

[Pink Mist]

I just want to clarify my privious answer here abit.

The extra service that I meant means they will go to the Ministry of Foriegn affiar for you, not that they have special speeding or connection.

Agreed with monitorlizard that every document will go through the INS, but if you pay for the extra service, you dont have to stand in line by yourself at the MFA, they will do that job for you.

Good luck

If you go to the right one Candy they will get it done a lot more quickly than you can, it's usually a three day process and the one I know of can get it done the same day.

[Candyflip]

I speak from my experience getting a student visa at The Netherlands, all translanted document need to be approved by MFA. Again, you are right , this poster was asking about Fiance visa of US, perhaps it might be slightly different. Check with the embassy would be best option.

I was confused as well when I had my document translated at the translation service, they did ask me if I wanted them to do official approvement by MFA. I said no, then the next day I had to come back to them and ask them to do it for me since the MFA location is faraway form where i lived.

Sometimes the stamp on the document from official translator is enough sometimes not. It might need to be approved by the government unit such as MFA.

[Pink Mist]

The translation service that we used, they did a good job for us anyway.

Interlanguage Translation Centre

Titita Murphy

tel 0-2252-7450

fax 0-2650-7831

I dont have the address but they are only a short taxi ride from Aussie Embassy.

[thepainter]

Thanks for all the feed back on this subject. Getting a fiancee visa it seems is no easy task but learning more every day. I think I'll hire a lawyer as the process seems to "invite" mistakes...thank again.