The straw that broke the camels back

[gerrythepoet]

Imagine you have carried out all the required procedures from acquiring your Affirmation to Marry to having it translated and handed it to the Department of Consular Affairs then to have it sent to you via EMS.

Now with such glee you open the treasured envelope and your heart just drops, you are stunned- there is an error in the translation

What? I went to an approved translator who has this wonderful stamp saying it is certified as a true translation

Well the end result we did not get married on the 7th September 2015, fiance cannot get leave to marry in September only one day a month during the week. Works 6 days a week with Sundays off.

I have no leave to get to Bangkok except for school holidays- so we are going to get married Easter Saturday,26th March 2016.

So during October I will have to do the whole process again.

The translator says" We can do nothing for you" admittedly they corrected the error and sent me via a 37 Baht stamp (EMS) the correction however it is of no use since we can no longer marry in September.

I contacted them yesterday could they just change the month of marriage from September to March next year- their response

http://wlab.benchama.ac.th/pr/doc/20150902060922.pdf

We do nothing for
you.

Best Regards,
Sunee

www.bangkoktranslationoffice.co.th

So there you go you have no recourse but to do the whole thing again

The error: passport issued IPS England

Translator: passport issued IPS London England.

Amazing but this is Thailand.

[steven100]

Why did the translator put ' London ' in there when it didn't say London. ??

crazy !! ........ I would send a letter of compliant to the company boss explaining what happen .... ( just to feel better )

then change translators ....

[Crossy]

My UK passport just says "IPS", no mention of London or England.

Bloody annoying to say the least

[JamieP]

A very similar thing happened to my wife and I. We did the Affirmation at the British Embassy then got it translated a nearby shop.

We didn't get to the MFA in time for the same day service so had to use the EMS service. Got the documents back and - rejected as being wrong.

My fiancee (now wife) phoned the official directly and asked if we could get the translation redone locally and send it back to him. This was fine so we got a new translation and sent that back to the MFA official directly with the wrong one. After a couple of days we got the new document back.

So, if there is a phone number somewhere it might be worth asking if you can do the same.

EDIT: It's too late for the O,P unfortunately, but it might help someone else in the future.

[williewolf]

The same thing happened to me twice. I went to use the translation service on the first floor but they told me they could only do so many a day and we were too late getting there (9.45) so I used one of the touts who hang around offering their translation services. The documents were translated and stamped as a true translation so we submitted them and arranged to pick them up rather than have them posted as we were getting married a week later and wanted to be sure we had the documents. Went to pick them up and was told the translation was wrong so we found the translator and showed him. The problem was they rejected the translation of the spelling of my wifes name so we resubmitted along with her ID card showing the spelling was correct but they made us wait until closing time before they returned the stamped documents.

The second time was to have our marriage certificates translated and affirmed into English. Used the touts again as was too late for the translator on the first floor again and this time elected to have them posted to us as we were in no hurry. Back they came once again rejected on translation grounds the reason being the translator had put "I was divorced" and they said it should read " I had been divorced". So we went back to the mfa , found the translator and he retyped the document and to save us waiting he resubmitted it for us. We received it back the next day, stamped, by ems.

The translator told us this was a regular thing if you dont use the "official" translator on the first floor. So if you want to be sure get to the mfa office early and get in the queue to use the services on the first floor.

[blackcab]

My translations have been returned to the translator too. So much do that they really do not like doing an express service and quote 4 days as a minimum. They explained that they nearly always have to redo the translation as the MFA are super fussy.

I recently had a complicated piece translated - I was extremely surprised that it came back after only 3 days.

[Time Traveller]

As far as I know there is no such thing as an "approved translator". You can even do the translation yourself and then present that to the Consular Affairs Department for their seal. I've done this before.

In fact, I've seen some very amateurish translations by some translation shops where Place names were translated instead of transliterated. If you or your partner has the ability then just do it yourself.

[Sutty]

Took mine to chonburi amphoe office on advuse from a thai friend three weeks before we married 2000 bht and that includes sending document to bangkok for MFA official stamps ect excellent service to say visa/document shops all wanted 5000 min.

[gerrythepoet]

I got the translator from the list supplied by the USA Embassy- UK does not have a list.

[gerrythepoet]

Why did the translator put ' London ' in there when it didn't say London. ??

crazy !! ........ I would send a letter of compliant to the company boss explaining what happen .... ( just to feel better )

then change translators ....

We do nothing for

you.

Best Regards,

Sunee

www.bangkoktranslationoffice.co.th

[gerrythepoet]

The same thing happened to me twice. I went to use the translation service on the first floor but they told me they could only do so many a day and we were too late getting there (9.45) so I used one of the touts who hang around offering their translation services. The documents were translated and stamped as a true translation so we submitted them and arranged to pick them up rather than have them posted as we were getting married a week later and wanted to be sure we had the documents. Went to pick them up and was told the translation was wrong so we found the translator and showed him. The problem was they rejected the translation of the spelling of my wifes name so we resubmitted along with her ID card showing the spelling was correct but they made us wait until closing time before they returned the stamped documents.

The second time was to have our marriage certificates translated and affirmed into English. Used the touts again as was too late for the translator on the first floor again and this time elected to have them posted to us as we were in no hurry. Back they came once again rejected on translation grounds the reason being the translator had put "I was divorced" and they said it should read " I had been divorced". So we went back to the mfa , found the translator and he retyped the document and to save us waiting he resubmitted it for us. We received it back the next day, stamped, by ems.

The translator told us this was a regular thing if you dont use the "official" translator on the first floor. So if you want to be sure get to the mfa office early and get in the queue to use the services on the first floor.

Thank you for highlighting the translator on the first floor- I will go there on the 5th October rather than trying to find another translator.