Marriage registration in Thailand
I’m sharing my story for all the Belgians who want to register their Belgian marriage in Thailand. If you don’t want to read the full story you can find a list of what you need to do below in Dutch and French.
My husband and I got married in Belgium before we moved to Thailand. As our marriage isn’t registered in Thailand my ID card still states ‘miss’. Not that I mind be called miss, but it’s more convenient for many things in Thailand to have your marriage registered. For example to get your marriage visa and to open a joint account.
About 2 months ago we went to the “Amphur Muang” (City Hall) to get your marriage registered in Thailand, which we need for a visa extension based on marriage. We brought a recent marriage certificate that was written in 4 languages : Dutch , French, German and English. We thought it would be enough because it included English. But of course we were wrong.
The officer told us we should get the marriage certificate translated to Thai and then come back with 2 marriage witnesses.
So we searched online for a translation agency. We paid 400 B to get a bad translation. They literally translated our city, didn’t bother how to spell my name and did not translate everything. After some back and forward mailing we finally got something that was good enough. My husband, my uncle and Lung Toey, a friend who calls himself my uncle and me went to city hall again.
The officer checked our papers and told uw we should go to Bangkok to the Belgian Embassy to confirm our marriage and do the translation. A regular company was not good enough.
Luckily I called the Embassy before heading to Bangkok to check what documents we should bring to confirm our marriage. The receptionist than told me we’d had to get the right documents and stamps in Belgium, which sucks because we needed them to stay here for a longer period.
She said us we needed an up to date legalized translated to Thai marriage excerpt and a legalized copy of my husband’s passport. I asked her how we should get those. She told us to get an up to date marriage excerpt at the city hall we got married and a copy of my husbands passport where it was issued. Than we should get those translated by a certified translator and have the Thai Embassy stamp the documents to confirm for authenticity.
My mother and father who still live in Belgium wanted to go through the trouble for us as they once did the same exact opposite. My dad was smart enough to call the Thai Embassy in Belgium first to check if all these instructions were correct and as you may guess they were not complete. It got more and more complex everytime we asked more information. But the four of us (my parents, my husband and I) are used to that.
The Thai Embassy in Belgium ordered my dad to have the marriage excerpt and my husband’s passport stamped for legalization by the law court Justice of Piece, then have that stamp legalized by the department of Justice and finally have that stamp confirmed by a stamp of the ministry of foreign affairs before having that confirmed by the Thai Embassy in Belgium.
The first step was to go to the city hall and ask a marriage excerpt and a copy my husband’s passport confirmed of its authenticity. The city hall could not do this last one, as we already officially registered from Belgium. We decided to try it without the copy of his passport then.
My parents then sent the papers to me by prior airmail and it arrived pretty soon. It took my parents about a month to get through all the steps and it cost them more than 100 €.
In Uthai Thani my husband and I went to the “Amphur Muang” (City Hall) with my uncle and Lung Toey again. They did not ask for a copy of my husband’s passport. They wanted to check the original. After waiting for 2 and a half hours at the city hall we received documents which confirmed our marriage. My uncle, Lung Toey and I had to sign the papers and my husband didn’t even have to sign anything.
Left: Na Senk (my uncle), my husband, Lung Toey and I. Right: Na Senk, my husband and I.
So from now on, we are also officially married in Thailand. We are grateful for the willingness to help of the staff at the city hall of Uthai Thani, because I’ve read many foreigners aren’t so lucky as we are. Or maybe we understand that the Thai law is complicated and the officers are having a hard time themselves strictly following the rules.
Thank you P'Long (city hall officer of Uthai Thani) for the good care and help!
Thank you Na Senk (my uncle) and Lung Toey (our friend) for being our wedding witnesses.
For your convenience I suggest you take care of this paperwork before you move to Thailand.
Klik hier voor een overzicht in het Nederlands van de te volgen proces om je huwelijk te laten registeren in Thailand als Belg.
Cliquez ici si vous voulez une résumé en Français des mesures nécessaires pour register voter marriage comme Belge en Thaïlande.