Info re Registering Marriage: UK National/Thai

[laolover88]

Lot of hassles here about why Marriage in Thailand cannot be 'registered' with UK Authorities

Lot of misinformation from both Embassy and Thai authorities

If You marry a Thai in UK you have to register Marriage in Thailand

BUT

Spoke to General Register Office in Southport UK ++44 (0)3001231837

Provided you have Thai Marriage Certificate from Amphoe, so is registered in Thailand, and obviously makes sense to have supporting Affidavits etc in Thai and Translated certified by BKK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is now no provision, in spite of what Embassy says, to register genuine Thai marriage in UK. In fact you cannot do it! Everything changed January 1 2014.

Relax

[7by7]

With my pedant's hat on:

People who marry in Thailand, or any other country outside the UK, have never been able to register their marriage in the UK.

What they used to be able to do is deposit their original Thai marriage certificate with the General Register Office via the embassy for a fee.

This is no longer possible via the embassy; but I understand it can still be done by contacting the GRO.

Whether you do it or not does not effect the marriage's legal status in the UK in any way. Under the Foreign marriages Act 1892 (as amended) if the marriage is legal in Thailand then it is legal in the UK.

The advantages of depositing your Thai marriage certificate with the GRO?

• A copy will be available in the UK if required at some future date;
• it will be easier for any of your descendants researching their family tree in the UK to find a record of the marriage;
• ....err, that's it.

Regarding translations; a certificate by the translator is sufficient for all UK government purposes, including visa and LTR applications; they do not require certification by the Thai MFA. The translator's certificate should contain:

• the date of the translation;
• the translator's full name and signature;
• the translator's contact details.

However, other countries, such as the Schengen states, do require certification by the Thai MFA. So it's probably worth having the translation certified by them in case your spouse wishes to apply for a Schengen visa in the future.