Registering a UK marriage in Thailand - Idiot's guide needed

[Crossy]

I originally tried this in the Marriage forum, didn't really score so let's try here with a fresh start.

 

OK, been married nearly 13 years most of which has been in Thailand but we got hitched in the UK.

 

Waaaay back I had a Non-O but my (then) employer decided that I had to have a B and extend on the basis of work, being a noob then I went along with it.

 

Fast forwards to 2017, my (now) employer has suggested that we "get married in Thailand" as he can (apparently) save on Thai employees and registered capital.

 

Since it's them who want me to do it of course I asked them to arrange the paperwork, nothing has been forthcoming (am I surprised?).

 

So, is there a step-by-step idiot's guide, preferably involving an agency (recommendations?) to do the running around?

 

I'm assuming something like:-

 

1. Something at the embassy involving marriage cert and passport (this is one bit I'm unclear on)
2. Translation of everything into Thai. (agent)
3. Certification of the translations at the MFA (agent)
4. Registration at the amphur office.

 

Any and all suggestions welcomed.

 

[ubonjoe]

1. Legalization of your marriage certificate in the UK. Info on embassy website. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461071/Legalising_a_signature_or_seal_final_Sept_15.pdf

2/3. Most translation services can do the translation of the marriage certificate and the certification at the MFA for you.

3. Registration at an Amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 foreign marriage registry.

[Eff1n2ret]

I'm sorry I can't offer you the advice you require, I'm just puzzled at your employer's apparent proposition that being "married in Thailand" enables you to be classed as a "Thai employee". If that were the case, surely it would be a coach and horses for many to work legally in their own bar, etc. 

[Crossy]

9 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

1. Legalization of your marriage certificate in the UK. Info on embassy website. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461071/Legalising_a_signature_or_seal_final_Sept_15.pdf

2/3. Most translation services can do the translation of the marriage certificate and the certification at the MFA for you.

3. Registration at an Amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 foreign marriage registry.

 

Cheers Joe.

 

So this means I have to send the stuff to the UK to get it legalised? Bummer

 

Could explain why nothing was forthcoming from my employer.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

I'm sorry I can't offer you the advice you require, I'm just puzzled at your employer's apparent proposition that being "married in Thailand" enables you to be classed as a "Thai employee". If that were the case, surely it would be a coach and horses for many to work legally in their own bar, etc. 

I see nothing in his post about being classed as a Thai employee.

The difference in being married to a Thai is that only 1 million baht of registered capital and possibly only 2 Thai employees being needed to get a work permit instead of 4.

Also getting an extension of stay based upon marriage instead of working requires a lot less paperwork.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Crossy said:

So this means I have to send the stuff to the UK to get it legalised? Bummer

The UK embassy has made it difficult to get your marriage certificate legalized. At one time you could of done a self certification of it by doing a statement it is true and correct.

[Crossy]

I don't suppose we can simply get married here, nah I thought not

 

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I don't suppose we can simply get married here, nah I thought not

 

Correct the answer would be no.

[cliveshep]

Get a copy of your marriage certificate apostilled (google it).

Likewise your birth certificate.

 

Send both those with the fee (on their website) plus postage paid SAE (back to you) to the Royal Thai Embassy in London (google address - Queens Gate from memory)

 

Get both translated and then legalised at Chan Wattana or similar offices ALONG WITH a certified copy of your passport from the British Embassy also translated and then legalised.

 

You'll need someone with a UK address to receive the apostilled  copies but you can order them and pay on line. They MUST go to the Royal Thai Embassy in London to be stamped or they cannot be legalised in Thailand.

 

A really good translation service is close to the British Embassy who will do both translation services plus the legalisation procedures for you - see map and street view below and a scan of their stamp.

 

When you've got everything go with wife to local Amphur with papers and wife can get new i.d. card, change name in tabien baan, you can get a yellow book, and marriage is registered in Thailand.

 

One hell of a lot of faffing about and all in all quite expensive. However, you also now have all the legalised papers for an extension of stay based on marriage should you require it. I advise most strongly, get copies made, and once legalised scan all original docs in colour and save on a disc somewhere.

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by cliveshep

[FritsSikkink]

59 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I see nothing in his post about being classed as a Thai employee.

The difference in being married to a Thai is that only 1 million baht of registered capital and possibly only 2 Thai employees being needed to get a work permit instead of 4.

Also getting an extension of stay based upon marriage instead of working requires a lot less paperwork.

So the owner/employer should get married, not the employee.

Edited May 30, 2017 by FritsSikkink

[Crossy]

23 minutes ago, cliveshep said:

Get a copy of your marriage certificate apostilled (google it).

Likewise your birth certificate.

 

Thanks cliveshep, do I actually need to get the birth cert done too? I've not seen that since I got my PP so I'll need to get a replacement. More $$$.

 

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

So the owner/employer should get married, not the employee.

Why?

The rule applies per employee not the owner.

Up to a certain number of employees each one requires 2 million baht of registered capital if married to a Thai it is 1 million. Four Thai employees verses 2 at some offices.

Edited May 30, 2017 by ubonjoe
fixed typo changed 4 to 2 in capital

[ubonjoe]

Just now, Crossy said:

 

Thanks cliveshep, do I actually need to get the birth cert done too? I've not seen that since I got my PP.

 

Not needed to register your marriage.

[cliveshep]

You don't need to worry about having the birth certificate in your possession as it is a matter of record in the UK, as is your Marriage Certificate.

 

When you go on-line to order apostilled copies they retrieve both from the UK records Office. Folk will tell you that Thailand is NOT signatory to the Geneva convention, which is true, so in theory apostilled copies should be irrelevant, but it is a quirk of the Thai system that they want apostilled copies sent with the fee and a return stamped addressed registered post envelope to the Thai Embassy who will stamp all and stick them back in the post.

 

Another quirk is they want cash or a postal order for the fee so you need a friend or relative to deal with the mail handling aspect for you and also obtain the postal order and send it with the apostilled copies to the Embassy. I mistakenly had apostilled copies sent to me here in Thailand and had them translated only to find that Chan Wattana refused to legalise them as the Embassy Stamp from London was missing. It's just the convoluted way they do things.

[timkeen08]

Correct the answer would be no.

Curious, is there a regulation that keeps a foreigner with a work permit from marrying a Thai National?

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[cliveshep]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not needed to register your marriage.

They demanded it for my tabien baan, they are quite anal about paper and forms! Maybe it was just our local District Office only, but if Crossy gets his marriage certificate apostilled and goes all through the rigmarole of Thai Embassy, translations and legalising here only to find his own District Office demand his birth certificate which could have been done at the same time he's going to feel a bit pissed isn't he?

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, cliveshep said:

 ... he's going to feel a bit pissed isn't he?

 

More than a bit, I'll do the birth cert too.

 

[Crossy]

3 minutes ago, timkeen08 said:

Curious, is there a regulation that keeps a foreigner with a work permit from marrying a Thai National?

 

Being already married to her (in the UK) is the stopper, not the WP.

[ubonjoe]

52 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I don't suppose we can simply get married here, nah I thought not

 

 

45 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Correct the answer would be no.

 

1 minute ago, timkeen08 said:

Curious, is there a regulation that keeps a foreigner with a work permit from marrying a Thai National?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

How did you come up with that question from the answer I gave. He was asking about marrying his wife again.

[ThaidDown]

2 minutes ago, timkeen08 said:

Curious, is there a regulation that keeps a foreigner with a work permit from marrying a Thai National?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

No such regulation at all.  But he would need an "Affirmation to Marry' form from the Brit embassy. He could not get that , legally, as he is already married.

 

[cliveshep]

Look here for apostille - £30 per doc. Do it on-line.

 

https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, cliveshep said:

They demanded it for my tabien baan, they are quite anal about paper and forms! Maybe it was just our local District Office only, but if Crossy gets his marriage certificate apostilled and goes all through the rigmarole of Thai Embassy, translations and legalising here only to find his own District Office demand his birth certificate which could have been done at the same time he's going to feel a bit pissed isn't he?

Getting yellow tambien ban and doing the marriage registry are 2 different processes. You don't have get tambien ban to register a marriage.

To get a yellow tambon ban there is no requirement to have your birth certificate at  most offices and certainly not a legalized copy.

[Crossy]

One thing, once I've gone through all this hassle, the Thai authorities don't keep my (very expensive) originals, do they?

 

[cliveshep]

We did registration of marriage, yellow tabien baan, change of wife's name and i.d card following marriage all at the same time ubonjoe. As I told Crossy, when we first went in to enquire they gave us a lost of all docs they wanted, and legalised translations of my passport, birth certificate, and marriage certificate were required, plus endless forms in Thai in triplicate - "sign here, here, here etc" plus sign all the photo copies. We had to have a repeat appointment for the yellow book at which I had to employ an outside interpreter, they would not accept my wife who I would have trusted as I told them, no, I had to hire an independent,

 

Once it was all done the boss of the district office who along with his no 2 had previously formally interviewed me came down along with office manager and I had to pose with the book for photographs with them for their facebook pages. Apparently I was the first farang to jump through all their many hoops and actually get both a pink i.d and a yellow book in that office. I became a celebrity and when we pop in to see the planners in the same offices they all smile and wave at me!

[cliveshep]

4 minutes ago, Crossy said:

One thing, once I've gone through all this hassle, the Thai authorities don't keep my (very expensive) originals, do they?

 

No - they keep only the copies, you guard the originals with your life, you will need them for marriage extensions later every year. That's why I suggest scan them, if like me you have a all-in-one you can print as many good copies as you need. You'll need copies every year for marriage extensions, no matter they had the bloody lot last year they want it all again THIS year!

 

Even the pics of wife and I standing by our entrance gate and showing the house number get repeated year on year.

[timkeen08]

No such regulation at all.  But he would need an "Affirmation to Marry' form from the Brit embassy. He could not get that , legally, as he is already married.
 

I got a marriage declaration from the US Embassy submitting a marriage certificate/death certificate from my previous American marriage and the American Marriage certificate with my current Thai wife. Our Amphur looked at our American marriage certificate, copied, entered the dates on the Thai paperwork, and handed it back to us. We have a Thai marriage certificate.

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[Crossy]

9 minutes ago, timkeen08 said:

I got a marriage declaration from the US Embassy submitting a marriage certificate/death certificate from my previous American marriage ...

 

Would be nice if the British embassy was that easy Unfortunately they are, apparently, not here to help British citizens.

[timkeen08]

 
Would be nice if the British embassy was that easy Unfortunately they are, apparently, not here to help British citizens.

It is good to have clarification that not all things posted apply to all Embassies. This may keep an American citizen reading this forum from assuming things will also apply to him even when stated at the start, British marriage. I would hate to see an American citizen give up from reading this because he did not make the connection or did not think to question. Thank you Crossy for the clarification.

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[evadgib]

26 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Would be nice if the British embassy was that easy Unfortunately they are, apparently, not here to help British citizens.

You might have missed in that post that his wife had died whereas yours is very much alive  

 

I'll send you a PM shortly...

Edited May 30, 2017 by evadgib

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, evadgib said:

You might have missed in that post that his wife had died whereas yours is very much alive

I think you missed the part in bold.

50 minutes ago, timkeen08 said:

I got a marriage declaration from the US Embassy submitting a marriage certificate/death certificate from my previous American marriage and the American Marriage certificate with my current Thai wife.