Thread: Marriage: US or Thai?

Originally Posted by Matthew

This seems to be somewhat necessary because of some laws which limit the Thai partner's ability to own land etc.

Old law....stopped like 5 plus years ago mate!!!

The Chaeng Wattana place is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mate.

Having a kid out of wedlock (at least this was the case for me 5 or so years ago) is a pain in the arse and requires more paperwork etc.

Yes Matty....for sure...no diggety no fucking doubt!!!

Originally Posted by Matthew

So if we're married only in Thailand, she has sole official custody? What if we register in the states as well, does it then balance out? If only registered in the states is runt stuck with me?

The court will decide on custody of any kids Matt

in wotever country u get divorced in

I married in Thailand, registered it at the Brit Embo here

had a son,,,2 years,,, and then got divorced

at that time, many moons ago, the Amphur told me

girl kids go wiv dad,,,boy kids go wiv mum

so I signed a paper giving my ex sole custody

soon after she left the country,,,kid stayed wiv me

coupla years passed,,,,,then she came back 4 da kid

but,,,I didn wanna giv

we went to court in Chon Buri

her wiv her signed custody paper and Bkk lawyers

me wiv only my local lawyer,,, but he's good

I won,,,,, kid given to me permanently

true story

Careful with who you get to translate your documents. I had a lot of shite from those losers at "A1 Translation services" because they made several spelling mistakes (in thai) and the amphur needs everything to be fuck-peachy-perfect.

Turned out in the end the fuckers at the Ministry of Labour spelled my name wrong and that's the spelling the translation services used -- but that still doesn't cover the 2 other times we had to go back to their bloody office for other errors they've made. Fuckers. Took more than a year to finally get my bloody marriage registered because of all this!!

Another question though... after the amphur, do I need to go back to the US embassy and tell em that I've got all the paperwork done? DO we need to register again at the embassy to notify them of the marriage?

Reason is coz when I had to get that affidavit of marriage TWICE, they didn't ask any questions about why I had to get another one (it was because my wife was goin on about the bad luck involved for too long and wanted to choose ANOTHER 'safe day' to get registered).

Or does the amphur automatically send the embassy the notice after the registration is successful?

You'd have to register at the Yank Embasssy yourself mate.

Matty...we can translate if you want and we're not far from the MFA!

Good info...those writing in English mind you...Thanks!

Originally Posted by theanimaster

Another question though... after the amphur, do I need to go back to the US embassy and tell em that I've got all the paperwork done? DO we need to register again at the embassy to notify them of the marriage?

I never did. i Just had the marriage certificate translated and then stamped by the ministry of foreign affairs. i think doing that makes it legal in the usa. my wife and i now live in the usa and we have never registered our marriage here. she has the greencard and social security number, easily done.

Originally Posted by MisterStretch

Clarification please for Yanks...do we have to do anything other than swear and sign the affadavit that the embassy has on it's website then do the translation before going to the amphur?

A secondary question: do you think it's imperative that I do this at the Bangkok Embassy? I've considered doing it at the Seoul embassy so that I have it when I hit the ground in July and we can marry as quickly as possible rather than hanging around BKK for a couple of days.
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I think you may need to get your passport translated as well?
The thing at the embassy takes 5 minutes.

I can give you the name of the translation service Pliny and I used. PM me for the details....they were spot on perfect, no hassle and took care of everything!

Originally Posted by MisterStretch

Clarification please for Yanks...do we have to do anything other than swear and sign the affadavit that the embassy has on it's website then do the translation before going to the amphur?

I did mine at the embassy here in about 15 minutes. Fill out the form, the girl asks you if everything is true and then she notorizes the document.

But, personally, since its so easy, I'd do it here if you can. Doing it in Seoul might cause questions and difficulties if the translation stuff is done here.

Didn't need my passport translated. We needed the following docs translated:

Our "eligiblity for marriage" paperwork. My wife is Filipino, so she had to do the same papers as me.

Then we went to the Ampur and got married.

Next all of the paperwork in Thai had to be translated back into English (wedding cert, registration of marriage).

All of these had to be certified by the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs. Get as many copies certified as you can. I think we got 5 copies each direction with the little MFA stamp in case there are problems in the future.

Then off to the embassies to register.

Good luck and I hope it helps! But please remember, this info is 1-1/2 years old.

Originally Posted by MisterStretch

do we have to do anything other than swear and sign the affadavit that the embassy has on it's website then do the translation before going to the amphur?

Yes there is one thing....you have to go to the Legalisation department in Laksi to get your papers sealed....costs about 800 baht i think

Originally Posted by Aquaman

i Just had the marriage certificate translated and then stamped by the ministry of foreign affairs. i think doing that makes it legal in the usa. my wife and i now live in the usa and we have never registered our marriage here. she has the greencard and social security number, easily done.

Thanks dude.

Rogerman....is that an American thing? Or by legislation do you mean the MFA???

seems like its the right path.
you may have to have it stamped by the MFA after the first translation.... then to the amphur office.