I need a certified copy of my passport (from the British Embassy) translated to Thai and then approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok.

I'm assuming I can get this translated in an agency in Bangkok who will also take the paperwork to the MFA.

Has anyone done this recently and what kind of turnaround would I be looking at?

 

Thanks!!

You can have the translation service do the MFA certification for you.

It should not take more than a couple of days (3 at the most).

43 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can have the translation service do the MFA certification for you.

It should not take more than a couple of days (3 at the most).

 Thanks Joe. Do you know if there is such a thing as same day express service?

26 minutes ago, rober507 said:

 Thanks Joe. Do you know if there is such a thing as same day express service?

There is an express service but it has to be requested early in the day to get it. If you hire a translator they likely would do it the next morning after they complete the translation.

Out of curiosity who has asked you for a certified copy of your passport in Thai? I was under the impression that English did the trick in most circumstances.

Just now, OJAS said:

Out of curiosity who has asked you for a certified copy of your passport in Thai? I was under the impression that English did the trick in most circumstances.

 

I need it to apply for a Yellow house book. This is the requiremnet where I live

If you are trying to avoid hanging around Bangkok to get it done you can have the translation service send it to you by EMS.

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If you are trying to avoid hanging around Bangkok to get it done you can have the translation service send it to you by EMS.

 

Joe,

I will be in Bangkok for 2 nights but will leave early on the last morning. EMS will probably be my best option and not have to worry about hanging around.

2 minutes ago, rober507 said:

 

Joe,

I will be in Bangkok for 2 nights but will leave early on the last morning. EMS will probably be my best option and not have to worry about hanging around.

I have chosen the EMS option more than once and the translation was delivered in a couple of days.

25 minutes ago, rober507 said:

 

I need it to apply for a Yellow house book. This is the requiremnet where I live

 

Come to think of it this was also a requirement in my neck of the woods several years ago when I made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a yellow book. I fell at the final fence because some eagle-eyed official at my local amphur spotted that the Thai transliteration of my surname in the certified passport translation as endorsed by the MFA did not exactly match that of my wife as stated in her ID card and house book - at which point I simply gave up (and have not regretted doing so ever since).

 

So if you also have a Thai wife, please take care to ensure that the translator spells your surname in exactly the same way as it appears in your wife's personal official docs (assuming, of course, that she has adopted your surname)!

Edited August 16, 20169 yr by OJAS

1 minute ago, OJAS said:

 

Come to think of it this was also a requirement in my neck of the woods several years ago when I made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a yellow book. I fell at the final fence because some eagle-eyed officer at my local amphur spotted that the Thai transliteration of my surname in the certified passport translation as endorsed by the MFA did not exactly match that of my wife as stated in her ID card and house book - at which point I simply gave up (and have not regretted doing so ever since).

 

So if you also have a Thai wife, please take care to ensure that the translator spells your surname in exactly the same way as it appears in your wife's personal official docs!

 

Thanks OJAS. My wife will be with me so she can double check the translation.

The best way to prevent problems with the name translation is to show them your marriage certificate so that they use the same translation on theirs.

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You can have the translation service do the MFA certification for you.

It should not take more than a couple of days (3 at the most).

If you go in the morning will be ok around noon,

 

There are many runners from translation offices, take about 40 minutes to translate, than you go tk the 3th floor and ask  speedservice, 400 Baht per page. This takes about 2 hourss

You don't normally need a certified translation by the MFA for a yellow book! You will be applying at your Ampur I presume? The best thing to do is to ask the Ampur for an address of a translator - They usually have friends and will be glad to help. (Try to see the head goncho at the Ampur - the one who issues the books, I would think they will advise you of somewhere easier to get it done)

 

I had mine done at an office in Chiang Mai, private company, (Business card provided by the Ampur) they did it in an hour and there was no need for the MFA stamp or anything like that.

Edited August 16, 20169 yr by Generalchaos

50 minutes ago, Generalchaos said:

You don't normally need a certified translation by the MFA for a yellow book! You will be applying at your Ampur I presume? The best thing to do is to ask the Ampur for an address of a translator - They usually have friends and will be glad to help. (Try to see the head goncho at the Ampur - the one who issues the books, I would think they will advise you of somewhere easier to get it done)

 

I had mine done at an office in Chiang Mai, private company, (Business card provided by the Ampur) they did it in an hour and there was no need for the MFA stamp or anything like that.

 

Maybe your particular amphur didn't require a certified MFA translation, but others most certainly do! Each amphur has its own rules for the issuing of yellow books. 

5 minutes ago, OJAS said:

 

Maybe your particular amphur didn't require a certified MFA translation, but others most certainly do! Each amphur has its own rules for the issuing of yellow books. 

Correct. Case in point, the Hang Dong amphur requires a certified MFA translation for a yellow book, as do most district offices.

Last time I was at Chaengwattana MFA Office in Bangkok, there was a private business translation service counter there inside the building. If you dropped off your paperwork with them in the morning, usually, they'd have it ready in a couple hours. And then you could finish submitting and getting MFA approval all in the same day.

 

One of the things that translation counter advertised was that if MFA had any issues with the translation, the translation counter would fix the issue there on the spot for free. I've used them before, and they did fine, though it did mean hanging around the MFA Office for some hours.

 

Earlier on that same occasion, I checked with a local translation company near my home in BKK, and they were willing to do all the leg work by messenger after having done the translation, but it would take a day or two to get the package back. As I recall, they wanted to add a couple hundred baht extra as their fee for handling the messengering to and from MFA.

11 hours ago, Generalchaos said:

You don't normally need a certified translation by the MFA for a yellow book! You will be applying at your Ampur I presume? The best thing to do is to ask the Ampur for an address of a translator - They usually have friends and will be glad to help. (Try to see the head goncho at the Ampur - the one who issues the books, I would think they will advise you of somewhere easier to get it done)

 

I had mine done at an office in Chiang Mai, private company, (Business card provided by the Ampur) they did it in an hour and there was no need for the MFA stamp or anything like that.

 

Every Amphur has different rules for the yellow book. My wife and I have already talked to the head 'goncho' and he advised us that the certified passport copy from the British Embassy and, translated and MFA certified is the requirement.