Australian’s ‘illegal’ wedding stopped

[geovalin]

The wedding ceremony of a 36-year-old Australian man and his 25-year-old Cambodian bride was immediately halted yesterday by authorities in Kandal province’s Saang district for being “illegal.” Deputy district police chief Say Saravoan said the wedding was stopped because the couple had not obtained legal permission. The groom’s visa was also found to have expired.
 

“Local authorities decided to stop their marriage because it was an illegal marriage. They did not have permission from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other related ministries,” he said.   “In addition, they did not inform or write to our authorities but still tried to celebrate it, illegally. The Australian’s visa has also expired.”  
 

Andrew Chapman Clinton and his bride-to-be Ly Monyrath from Prek Balath Chhoeng village became engaged last week, according to Mr. Saravoan.   Sok Veasna, a police officer with the provincial anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection unit, said that legal weddings between foreigners and Cambodians required permission from either the Foreign Affairs Ministry or the Interior Ministry.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34752/australian---s----illegal----wedding-stopped/

[12DrinkMore]

Phew! Lucky guy!

 

He was given reprieve at the last moment from a life sentence with heavy penalties for escaping.

[Emster23]

Wouldn't really call that illegal. More like invalid. A village wedding with string tying etc in Thailand is not "illegal", more like it has no legal standing. Do Cambodians have similar village weddings?

[little mary sunshine]

Illegal, is illegal!!

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, 12DrinkMore said:

Phew! Lucky guy!

 

He was given reprieve at the last moment from a life sentence with heavy penalties for escaping.

Yes some guys get all the luck. 

[Ulic]

Well....Now he will have time to sober up and see the error of his ways.

[1sickpuppy]

5 hours ago, Emster23 said:

Wouldn't really call that illegal. More like invalid. A village wedding with string tying etc in Thailand is not "illegal", more like it has no legal standing. Do Cambodians have similar village weddings?

DOES A BEAR SHIT IN THE WOODS?

[oxo1947]

A man has to get married sometime .......

 

...he can't spend the rest of his life being happy........

[Sheryl]

A vulgar post has been removed.

 

In Cambodia as in Thailand, getting legally married involves registration with local authorities, while the wedding ceremony is a cultural event (and much longer/ elaborate than in Thailand) which does not make one legally married.

 

Nonetheless -- and while I doubt there is any law on the books that prevents anyone from going through the cultural ceremony - it has become common for police to intervene and break it up if a foreigner is involved and the necessary permissions for (legal) marriage have not been obtained.

 

Not coincidentally (I suspect), the process of getting the necessary legal approvals has become extremely expensive - 3 to 5 K USD being the norm and no one seems able to get around this. The MoFA aspect is OK but MoI has turned it into quite a little income generation project. As they also control the police I suspect word went out to make sure no wedding ceremonies are held without MoI clearance.

 

In any case, given that Cambodian weddings spill over onto adjacent streets and also subject the entire neighborhood to extreme deafening noise, there is no way one can hold one without the knowledge and cooperation of the local police. Who are genrally given "tips" for facilitating crowd and traffic control etc.