Marriage Information

[Tex]

MARRIAGE LICENSE INFO PLEASE

Guys, I need some information please. I am American, 72 years and I have been to Thailand 3 times in the last 2 years. I have found a Thai lady with whom I wish to marry. What must I take with me to get the proper license in Thailand? Do I need anything from the American embassy? Must I prove that I am single, divorced, what?

Also, what kind of visa should I get this time? Always before I went on tourist visa.

Can I get Tourist and request something else after I get there? I do not qualify for a retirement visa because I do not quite have enough baht! Where we are going to live (rural) it does not require much. Thanks for your help.

If you can email me I would appreciate it. [email protected]

[RichardG]

If I remember corrctly, the first thing is an affirmation of Freedom to Marry, it can be got from the embassy.

This then needs to be translated into Thai, and I think it had to go to the foreign affairs in Bangkok to be stamped as a valid translation.

The marriage certs. are straight forward after that, except if you want to get a visa to take your wife outside Thailand, then the paperwork translations, and validations become a real pain.

My wife and I tried on 3 separate occasions to actually marry in Thailand, (she is Thai) when we visited (we work in China) but each time we ran out of time.

In the end, we got some help from an agent who could process the paperwork, she then EMS'd us the documents to China, and we finally got married in an uncermonious Thai consulate in Shanghai.

It is all a bit of a peperwork excersise, the Embassy have me down as having a Thai mother and father, and my Thai wife is down as being the daughter of an english family - we found that out after the translation.

It doesn't seem to matter though, the UK embassy have given visas etc. no problem.

Just be prepared to spend some time, as it is not that straightforward, or maybe I was unlucky!

Good luck

[KevinN]

WHEN i WISHED TO MARRY,wE WENT TO bkk TO THE EMBASSY AND GOT THE NOTORIZED FORM LETTER FOR A COST OF $30 usa THAT i WAS FREE TO MARRY,NO PAPER SHOWN,JUST TOOK MY WORD FOR IT, wENT ACROSS THE STREET TO THE 11 FLOOR OF A BANK BUILDING AND HAD THE TRANSLATION DONE,TOOK THAT LETTER,MY PASSPORT,MY BRIDE AND HER HOUSE PAPERS TO THE Amphur where we live[phat phingers and cap locks] and got our marriage registered and her new ID card and the whole thing at amphur took 15 minutes.

[lopburi3]

Your first stop should the American Citizen Services Unit (next door to the US Consulate at the old embassy building) here in Bangkok. You explain intention to clerk and obtain a paper to fill out with bio data, references, work, pay, home address and that you are single (if divorced bring paperwork). You pay fee for notary service and they type it up and sign it. You then have to have it officially translated into Thai and translation service or you has to register it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs legalization department. When they copy is returned with an index reference number at the Ministry you are free to take wife to any district office to be married. The procedure is spelled out on a web page of the US Embassy Bangkok if you want to do a Google search.

Once you are married you can travel to a place such as Penang to obtain a non immigrant class O visa.

[tutsiwarrior]

lopburi, best regards from tutsi...

what is the current status of non-immigrant 'o' visas? They were supposed to disappear after 01 June this year as I understand...and the new regime requiring a big deposit and monthly income to begin.

I've been away from the chat for awhile...please advise

[dr_Pat_Pong]

lopburi, best regards from tutsi...

what is the current status of non-immigrant 'o' visas? They were supposed to disappear after 01 June this year as I understand...and the new regime requiring a big deposit and monthly income to begin.

I've been away from the chat for awhile...please advise

They are still a goer Tutsi. until July for a marriage O you need 200,000 baht in a bank in Thailand, or a combination of income and savings amounting to that sum. For the retirement O it is 800,000 in the bank or combination. Increases were announced last year and set to start in July. It is presently rumoured that the increases may be deferred.