Help please on first 1 yr Non Imm O M extension (marriage).

[cliveshep]

Can anyone advise me on the showing of the marriage certificate as part of the process for extension of my 1st 3 month multiple entry non-Imm O M visa? Is this the UK certificate or one showing a Thai Marriage? Also on what else I will need to obtain an extension of 1 year in way of forms, fees etc?

I ask because producing our UK Marriage Certificate in support of something else, but offering the UK marriage certificate, produced a flat refusal. It has to be 'legalised' but the British Embassy won't do that any more even though the thai official insisted they must stamp the copy. Instead one has to get all documents requiring legalisation except passport legalised by Apostille in the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office as the Hague Convention. However, and here's the catch, Thailand is not signatory to the Hague convention so to get such apostilles accepted they have then to be sent to the Thai Embassy in London with a return SAE where they stamp them. Crazy! So, having been caught out I have sent back the apolstilled marriage and birth certificates to my son in the UK with various envelopes for him to send on to the Thai Embassy with a pre-paid-postage-signed-for-and-tracked-envelope, and then to send back to me in Thailand.This of course at Christmas is going to take some time I fear.

But I do need an extension of stay soon and it would be comforting to know for sure where to go for our home area if anyone can help, and what documents I will need, We live DELETED near Min Buri where we bought a house but I cannot be entered onto a Tabien Baan because they refuse to accept me - needing a legalised marriage and birth certificate! Round and round in circles we go! And do we need a police visit? We are telling local police we live here, or that I a foreigner now live here, and also sending change of address to immigration via registered post. Don’t know what else I need to do.

Meanwhile I'll maybe follow Ubonjoe's advice on a similar thread and book a return flight to Laos to get another 90 days on my multiple entry visa as that will take some immediate pressure off.

[seedy]

OP post Edited

Never a good idea to post too much personal info on a website. I left that you live near Min Buri, as just this info alone is not enuf to have some ... track you down.

[ubonjoe]

What you need to do is register your foreign marriage at an Amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 to show along with your UK marriage certificate to get the one year extension at immigration.

Do you still have the original of your marriage certificate?

What you can do is do a self certification of your marriage certificate at the UK embassy by doing a statement it is true and correct. Then you would need to have the certification and your marriage certificate translated to Thai. Then the translation has to be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The translation service can get the MFA certification done for you.

Then you would go to an Amphoe to register your marriage.

If you have your original marriage certificate or a certified copy of it you could apply for a 60 day extension at immigration to visit your wife without the marriage registry being done.

[cliveshep]

The British Embassy will no longer carry out legalisation of documents which have to be obtained from the FCO in Milton Keynes. These are rather expensive copies stamped and embossed sealed with an apostille label affixed on the back but are of no use in Thailand who are not party to the Hague Convention. To get over this rather obvious flaw in protocol such documents apolstilled by the FCO have to be sent to the Thai Embassy in London and so long as there is an SAE they will stamp and post them back. This cannot, as I have discovered to my cost, be done in Thailand but only in the UK.

Here is a clip of text from an email sent to me a few weeks ago by the British Embassy:-

“Unfortunately, the British Embassy in Bangkok is no longer able to provide certified, statutory declaration, affirmations of British birth, marriage and death certificates. Where the Thai authorities request that a UK certificate be certified or authenticated, the only authority permitted to authenticate such document is the Legalisation Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the United Kingdom “

So assuming I finally get the docs back from the UK intact and attach the certified translations I can go to the Amphur in Don Meueng and get them legalised there and all sorts of things can then be done. We can have the marriage registered, my wife can have her married name on the Tabien Baan and I can get a yellow one. They refused to change her name on that or her ID card because they cannot accept that a marriage certificate accepted in London by the Thai Embassy when granting my visa is equally good enough for them in Thailand. I can get a Thai driving licence because they refuse to accept my British Passport unless it is legalised by the Embassy and then translated. The level of obdurate refusal is so frustrating. And FWIW I live here in Thailand with my wife - we have moved here lock stock and barrel.

But my question remains - can I with only a UK marriage certificate and a passport and my wife's presence as we did in the UK get a 1 year extension or do I (we) need to book a return flight to Laos or somewhere to restart the 90 days inherent I believe in my multi-entry 90 day non imm O M visa before it runs out? I triggered the 90 days on entry on 21st October, the visa was valid to trigger until 30th September 2016.

Another 3 months would give the various postal services time to get my apostilled docs back and us to use them effectively.

[ubonjoe]

Read my post again. The embassy will not be doing the certification you will be doing it by doing a statement. The embassy not doing the certification is nothing new.

Many people have done the same thing I suggested in order to register their marriage.

All documents in English have to be translated to Thai and the translation certified by the MFA before the Amphoe will accept them.

When you register you marriage a Kor Ror 22 will be done, your wife's house book will be updated and she will be offered the chance to change her name on her ID card.

As I wrote before you can get the 60 day extension to visit your wife without any certification of your marriage certificate or the marriage registration being done. No need to go out for a new non-o visa. During the last 30 days of the extension you can apply for the one year extension.

[cliveshep]

Ubonjoe - sorry if I'm thick today, what you are saying is I can take my wife and our UK original marriage certificate (for which we do have a translation by a certified translator) and go along to Bangkok Immigration and simply apply for a 60 day extension and sort ourselves out during that extension so as to apply after 30 days of it for the 1 year extension?

[ubonjoe]

Ubonjoe - sorry if I'm thick today, what you are saying is I can take my wife and our UK original marriage certificate (for which we do have a translation by a certified translator) and go along to Bangkok Immigration and simply apply for a 60 day extension and sort ourselves out during that extension so as to apply after 30 days of it for the 1 year extension?

Yes you can,

Immigration will not even require the translation of your marriage certificate

You will need your marriage certificate plus a copy, copies of your wife's ID card and house book registry.

You can the apply for the one year extension up to the last day the 60 day extension if you needed to.

[bluesofa]

Read my post again. The embassy will not be doing the certification you will be doing it by doing a statement. The embassy not doing the certification is nothing new.

Many people have done the same thing I suggested in order to register their marriage.

All documents in English have to be translated to Thai and the translation certified by the MFA before the Amphoe will accept them.

When you register you marriage a Kor Ror 22 will be done, your wife's house book will be updated and she will be offered the chance to change her name on her ID card.

As I wrote before you can get the 60 day extension to visit your wife without any certification of your marriage certificate or the marriage registration being done. No need to go out for a new non-o visa. During the last 30 days of the extension you can apply for the one year extension.

Hi UJ,

As I understand it, doesn't the wife have the option not only whether to keep her own surname or change to her husband's, but also if she wants to keep her title as Miss or change Mrs?

If this correct, and she keeps her surname and title as before, then would there be any reason to update her house book?

[ubonjoe]

Read my post again. The embassy will not be doing the certification you will be doing it by doing a statement. The embassy not doing the certification is nothing new.

Many people have done the same thing I suggested in order to register their marriage.

All documents in English have to be translated to Thai and the translation certified by the MFA before the Amphoe will accept them.

When you register you marriage a Kor Ror 22 will be done, your wife's house book will be updated and she will be offered the chance to change her name on her ID card.

As I wrote before you can get the 60 day extension to visit your wife without any certification of your marriage certificate or the marriage registration being done. No need to go out for a new non-o visa. During the last 30 days of the extension you can apply for the one year extension.

Hi UJ,

As I understand it, doesn't the wife have the option not only whether to keep her own surname or change to her husband's, but also if she wants to keep her title as Miss or change Mrs?

If this correct, and she keeps her surname and title as before, then would there be any reason to update her house book?

They would change her marital status in her house book.

[cliveshep]

<name> WANTS to be Mrs <name> - she is proud to be married. I think that is rather nice actually. We tried already to get her name changed which is how we found out about these FCO Apostilled documents. Honestly - the smug orbortor lady nearly got a smack from my wife she was so obnoxious, and the Supervisor at Don Meueng nearly got roundly abused by me which would have done neither of us any good but these petty-minded officials do that to both of us. Even when they are wrong - they are "right".

I mean, the Thai Embassy in London stuck a visa in my passport - these clowns wanted it translated. "Into WHAT" I asked? "Thai" they said. "But it is IN Thai".

Idiots looking for a way to duck out of a situation they didn't know how to deal with.

Ubonjoe - thank you so very much for that little snippet because you have made our lives suddenly stress free again and saved me two return tickets out-of-country.

<name> and I will now relax as much as we can with sharing the house with builders knocking holes in everything - thank God they go home for New Year - and we can have a quiet Christmas together.

[bluesofa]

Read my post again. The embassy will not be doing the certification you will be doing it by doing a statement. The embassy not doing the certification is nothing new.

Many people have done the same thing I suggested in order to register their marriage.

All documents in English have to be translated to Thai and the translation certified by the MFA before the Amphoe will accept them.

When you register you marriage a Kor Ror 22 will be done, your wife's house book will be updated and she will be offered the chance to change her name on her ID card.

As I wrote before you can get the 60 day extension to visit your wife without any certification of your marriage certificate or the marriage registration being done. No need to go out for a new non-o visa. During the last 30 days of the extension you can apply for the one year extension.

Hi UJ,

As I understand it, doesn't the wife have the option not only whether to keep her own surname or change to her husband's, but also if she wants to keep her title as Miss or change Mrs?

If this correct, and she keeps her surname and title as before, then would there be any reason to update her house book?

They would change her marital status in her house book.

I've just looked in a couple of house books. The female marital status is shown either as Nangsow (Miss) or Nang (Mrs). There's no other fields I can see that indicate anything else.

This is the point I made just now, that if the wife chose to keep her title as Miss, then surely there's no reason to change anything in the house book?