Should she change her ID card

[bmanly]

My wife and I have been married for 27 years. We married in Australia and she decided to take my surname here in Australia. She got citizenship and an Australian passport. In the mean time she kept her Thai surname in Thailand and kept on renewing her ID and house registration in her old name. To the the Thai authorities she is who she was 27 years ago, nothings changed, she is Thai. (By the way, we have no kids)

This way she is entitled to the best of both worlds. She can buy as much land as she likes in Thailand and Australia. I personally encourage her to keep her Thai surname in Thailand, that way she is entitled to everything that any other Thai is entitled too. I would hate for her not to be able to buy land in her country of origin just because some Thai Official doesn't like her farang surname.

[Donutz]

A few years after my wife immigrated to join me in the Netherlands we got married there. Under Dutch law a person will always keep their birthname though both spouses can use any combination of their family names (name A, name B, A and B, B and A). My wife used a combination of our names. I considered doing the same but my wife prefered me using my own name. dutch passports can contain the name of the spouse so mine has an extra line mentioning her name as my spouse. Never bothered to inform the Thai authorities and no issues there when traveling. Passing through immigration for Thai people as a married couple.

As for as the Thai spouse taking your western name, whatever floats your boat but I see no advantage to it. For visa/immigration purposes sharing the same name is no evidence of being married. She could be related to you in an other way (ie: spouse of your brother or sister) or it could even be coindidence if it's a very common name. Proof of marriage requires a marriage certificate. Rarely does marriage provide a bonus for visa/immigration, but when it does such as the Thai spouse of an EU/EEA national traveling together to an other memberstate, proof of marriage must be provider by showing a marriage certificate. But if a Thai national and say an American national show up at any European border (deverter flight or not), her maritial status won't interest them. They want to see if there is a reason to refuse entry (no sufficient funds etc).

[Acharn]

I'm quite certain that thirty years ago there was no choice in the matter. As soon as she married you she was required to get a new ID card using your surname. The Family Law was changed back in the '90s, about the same time they did away with the ministerial regulation that prohibited women with farang surnames from registering land. That regulation was imposed back in the '70s, I believe during the Tanin Kraivichien Government, but it was never enforced evenly. It was supposed to apply to Thai men with farang wives, but almost never was. As I understand it the current Family Law leaves it up to the woman's choice. My late wife never got around to changing her ID card, and after her death I discovered her U.S. Army dependent's ID card also had her maiden name (misspelled).

[sandyf]

At the amphur where i got married, my wife had to ask me if she could use my surname, in front of the person making the documents.

Bit the same. This statement was put on the reverse of the marriage certificate.

"The female party desires to use her prefix name "Miss"

The male party informs to use her surname

and the female party informs to use her surname."

[bow]

<snip>

My Thai sister-in-law has a Western surname, and has experienced some difficulties in Thailand due to her name. Our "dual name" approach has caused zero problems for us.

What are the problems your sister-in-law experienced

Sister-in-law and my wife jointly owned some land. The local land office would not allow sister-in-law to sell her interest in the land to my wife and transfer the title to be solely in my wife's name.

Crazy, but true - they said she had to change her name back to a Thai name before she would be allowed to sell. She was single (divorced) and had the paperwork to prove it, but they weren't interested. No doubt they were just making up their own rules to make it difficult for her.This was in a very rural area.

Thailand is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

I am sorry, but they just want money. Pay, and the issue will go away.

[DrDave]

Sister-in-law and my wife jointly owned some land. The local land office would not allow sister-in-law to sell her interest in the land to my wife and transfer the title to be solely in my wife's name.

Crazy, but true - they said she had to change her name back to a Thai name before she would be allowed to sell. She was single (divorced) and had the paperwork to prove it, but they weren't interested. No doubt they were just making up their own rules to make it difficult for her.This was in a very rural area.

Thailand is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

I am sorry, but they just want money. Pay, and the issue will go away.

She tried that. Money was refused.

It appeared that they just wanted to make it difficult for her for marrying a westerner.