what does it take for an US national to marry a Thai lady these days? Anybody can help me?

depends what kind of girl you are marrying, local bargirl? local thai chinese? local muslim girl?

if we look at the statistic am thinking more local issan girl with a couple of tattoos.. so couple of 100k in sinsod and and support her family rest of your life..easy!

You will need a paper from your home country stating you are single and can legally marry. This paper needs to be autorized in your home country (for my country by the foreign ministry). And then translated into thai and legalized by the foreign ministry in Bangkok before you can to to the local amphur with your loved one and legally marry her.

You might find some people that are willing to do some shortcuts in order to help you to get married quicker, but it is not recommended.

the above info is wrong.

You go to your Embassy or Consulate in Thailand and make a declaration that you are able to marry the thai girl, the document you receive needs to be translated into Thai and you take it to the MFA, there it is certified and after this you can officially marry. Normally can take around 2 days to get all the paperwork done.

Forms from your own country will not be certified by the MFA.

Beano2274... That does not makes sense cause I did what the poster suggested 4 years ago and that worked fine...

Needs sinsod. Gold and money.

the above info is wrong.

You go to your Embassy or Consulate in Thailand and make a declaration that you are able to marry the thai girl, the document you receive needs to be translated into Thai and you take it to the MFA, there it is certified and after this you can officially marry. Normally can take around 2 days to get all the paperwork done.

Forms from your own country will not be certified by the MFA.

Depends on where the OP lives. If living in Thailand it has to be the paper from embassy, if living 'back home' it can be the paper from home.