Registering Thai Marriage In Uk?

[Trebilcock]

Hi. Me and my wife married in Thailand last year, and as we did the full procedure at the amphur I thought that it was automatically recognised here in the UK. But now someone has told her we also need to formally register the marriage in the UK, and that if we don't it may prejudice our case when we apply for indefinite leave to remain. Can anyone clarify please? Many thanks for any help.

[GU22]

Under the Foriegn Marriages Act, 1892 (yes, 1892) any marriage that is legally recognised in the country where it took place is also recognised in the UK.

Not only do you not need to register your marriage in the UK, you can't! It's already registered in Thailand.

Edited June 24, 2006 by GU22

[malcolminthemiddle]

You can register your Thai marriage at Somerset House in the UK through the British Embassy in BKK.

Not sure of the benefits of doing this?

[vinny]

See Marriage Guidance

# The marriage will only be recognised under UK law if it is valid under Thai law. For it to be valid in Thai law, the marriage must be registered with the Registrar at an Amphur Office (District Office). A list of some Amphur offices in Bangkok and upcountry is attached.

# The Thai marriage certificate will be in Thai only. You may wish to commission a “sworn translation” of the marriage certificate from a translation bureau, so that you may use the document for legal purposes in the UK.

# Consular Section can arrange for your marriage to be recorded in the UK; please ask us for further details if you wish us to do so. This is not a legal obligation, it is for statistical purposes and if you lose a copy of your certificate only.

Moreover,

Note: Somerset House is no longer the location for family records, visitors seeking such information may find the details provided in our links page useful.

See also Marriages Registration:

Can we register our details in England and Wales?

No, overseas marriages may not be registered at a register office. However, you can apply to have your overseas marriage documents – with translations if necessary – sent from the country where you were married and deposited with the General Register Office.

Two conditions apply:

* your wedding has to have taken place in one of the countries from which we can accept formal notifications. These are called Article 7 marriages - see Delivery of overseas certificates.

* one of you must be a British citizen – and only that person can apply to deposit the details.

You can opt to arrange to create a record of your overseas marriage at any time after it has taken place – there is no time limit. However: we only accept original documents, or certified copies issued by the foreign authority

* only the consul for the district where the marriage took place can send us the documentation

* we cannot release original documents once they are deposited with us

Please note – this is not an automatic process, so you will need to actively notify us if you would like to do it. Once the documents have been deposited, we will send you a letter confirming we have received them. Overseas marriage notifications are also made in the public indexes for research and certificate application purposes.

From this point on, we can issue certified copies of the documents – which saves you having to contact the overseas authority in question. These always takes the form of black and white photocopies of the material we hold, and are not presented in the form of a British-style marriage certificate. Such photocopies are issued under the seal of the General Register Office and are usually acceptable as evidence in just the same way as if they were certificates issued by the authorities of the country where the marriage originally took place.

For further information, please contact:

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Consular Division

King Charles Street

LONDON

SW1A 2AH

Tel: +44 (20) 7008 0186 (10am to 12am Monday to Friday)

www.fco.gov.uk

Edited June 25, 2006 by vinny

[malcolminthemiddle]

See Marriage Guidance

# The marriage will only be recognised under UK law if it is valid under Thai law. For it to be valid in Thai law, the marriage must be registered with the Registrar at an Amphur Office (District Office). A list of some Amphur offices in Bangkok and upcountry is attached.

# The Thai marriage certificate will be in Thai only. You may wish to commission a “sworn translation” of the marriage certificate from a translation bureau, so that you may use the document for legal purposes in the UK.

# Consular Section can arrange for your marriage to be recorded in the UK; please ask us for further details if you wish us to do so. This is not a legal obligation, it is for statistical purposes and if you lose a copy of your certificate only.

Moreover,

Note: Somerset House is no longer the location for family records, visitors seeking such information may find the details provided in our links page useful.

See also Marriages Registration:

Can we register our details in England and Wales?

No, overseas marriages may not be registered at a register office. However, you can apply to have your overseas marriage documents – with translations if necessary – sent from the country where you were married and deposited with the General Register Office.

Two conditions apply:

* your wedding has to have taken place in one of the countries from which we can accept formal notifications. These are called Article 7 marriages - see Delivery of overseas certificates.

* one of you must be a British citizen – and only that person can apply to deposit the details.

You can opt to arrange to create a record of your overseas marriage at any time after it has taken place – there is no time limit. However: we only accept original documents, or certified copies issued by the foreign authority

* only the consul for the district where the marriage took place can send us the documentation

* we cannot release original documents once they are deposited with us

Please note – this is not an automatic process, so you will need to actively notify us if you would like to do it. Once the documents have been deposited, we will send you a letter confirming we have received them. Overseas marriage notifications are also made in the public indexes for research and certificate application purposes.

From this point on, we can issue certified copies of the documents – which saves you having to contact the overseas authority in question. These always takes the form of black and white photocopies of the material we hold, and are not presented in the form of a British-style marriage certificate. Such photocopies are issued under the seal of the General Register Office and are usually acceptable as evidence in just the same way as if they were certificates issued by the authorities of the country where the marriage originally took place.

For further information, please contact:

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Consular Division

King Charles Street

LONDON

SW1A 2AH

Tel: +44 (20) 7008 0186 (10am to 12am Monday to Friday)

www.fco.gov.uk

I should have said you can record your registered Thai marriage with the UK authorities through the British Embassy in BKK.

Which is exactly what I did in 1988 when Somerset House was still the place.

[GU22]

I should have said you can record your registered Thai marriage with the UK authorities through the British Embassy in BKK.

All that happens if you do is that a copy of your marriage certificate is deposited in the GRO, for a fee of, currently, 1,763baht plus a fee of 2,625baht to have the translation certified.

Is it worth it? Well, the only benefits of doing so are:-

If you lose your original certificate while in the UK you can apply to the GRO for a copy instead of having to go to the Ampur where you originally registered your marriage.

If, at some time in the future, your descendants are researching family documents they can go to the GRO instead of having to go to the Ampur where you originally registered your marriage.

That's it!

It is worth stressing that recording a Thai marriage with the GRO, whether via the embassy in Bangkok or once in the UK, confers no legal benefits or privileges or rights that you don't already have.

[Trebilcock]

Many thanks for the detailed and helpful replies, guys. I will talk it over with the missus but I don't really think we will register the marriage in the UK, as there doesn't seem much to be gained. Thanks again.