Foreigners Getting Married in Thailand Process Guide
The time has arrived that you’ve decided or you’re still considering a departure from a single persons status to marrying that very special person and becoming Mr & Mrs. Congratulations…
We got married in Bangkok, Thailand (Thai & UK citizens) and went through the process that was not as straightforward as thought or planned.
Most foreign marriage registrations in Thailand are made between a foreign man and Thai woman, although other foreigners (man and woman) do marry here as well, and then take a wonderful honeymoon on a tropical island.
Same sex marriages are not carried out in Thailand, as yet.
The marriage registration process in Thailand for foreigners has gone through some changes. Government rules and laws do tend to change or become enforced in Thailand, which suddenly turns everything around that was relevant, so it’s worth staying up to date with the most recent guides and info.
Thailandlife.com wrote a great article Married in a day which is not possible anymore. The article does mention some of the recent changes including the process taking more than a day, however, it does not cover all changes at the moment or other options. Still worth checking out the posts for recent experiences from comments.
Marriage registration carried out correctly and lawfully in Thailand is valid and legal within the US, UK and other countries (please check with your specific country).
Basics Steps of the Marriage Registration Process
- Arrange a visit to your embassy in Thailand for an affirmation to marry and certification of your passport, if required.
- Translation of embassy documents (i.e., affirmation to marry).
- Your documents must be authenticated by the ministry of foreign affairs.
- Register marriage at an Amphur (registration office).
- Have marriage certificates translated into English or the language of your country for any potential legal matters involving proof of marriage for your home country.
Important – Amphurs (registration offices)
I wanted to mention Amphurs first. This is because each office can vary in how it deals with marriages in terms of documents required and dealing with foreigners marrying.
In Bangkok, the Bangkrak office is what’s known as the foreigner friendly office (they’ve just married more foreigners and know the procedure). They now require passport certification and I am not sure if they are providing witnesses for you.
Some offices require that at least one of the witnesses is related to the Thai person (if a foreigner and Thai are marrying).
And…
While visiting an office the chief person whom has to sign the registration may just not be there or has gone out of the office (my actual experience was both of these). No chief – no registration signed.
We was advised to call the Amphur to seek advice about documents required. Good luck with that as my wife could not get them to answer at three Amphurs. For those that live outside of Bangkok (apart from US citizens in Chiang Mai) visiting or trying to call your local Amphur is a good idea — especially if you don’t want to wait in Bangkok for 2 or 3 days to collect your authenticated documents from the Ministry or Foreign Affairs.
Stage 1 – Documents Required & Visit The Embassy
This process is very similar for UK (myself) and US citizens. Other countries are also very similar but do check with your own embassy for any other requirements.
Prepare documents you need….
— Affirmation to marry: You need an affirmation to marry from the embassy to prove you are not already married and if you was married previously the original divorce or death certificate of your previous spouse must be provided at the embassy before an affirmation of freedom to marriage can be given.
If the marriage certificate is not in English (i.e., married in another country other than the UK, US or Thailand) the certificates will need to be translated into English (certified translation).
— Passport & Certification: You will need to have your passport for the appointment you make with the embassy, and for getting married in Bangkok it’s now advised to have the passport certified at the cost of an extra 1200 THB. Not sure what is happening for US citizens in Chiang Mai at the moment in regards to passport certification requirements.
This (passport certification) is one of the recent changes that the embassy advised me about that’s primarily a requirement of the Bangrak Amphur (marriage registration office), although others are also implementing it (more about that when I tell you about the process we went through). My advice if you’re doing all the marriage process without an agency is to pay the extra for 1200 THB for the passport legalization in case the Amphur requests it.
Once you have the documents needed for the embassy you can download and complete the form required for the affidavit and make an appointment online with the appropriate embassy. If you’re not a US or UK citizen please check with your embassy of what’s required from you.
Affidavit cost for US citizens $50 and £50 for UK citizens. Paying with the equivalent of Thai baht is acceptable of course.
- US affidavit forms for Bangkok & Chiang Mai embassies
- Make an appointment with the US Embassy online
- Information for UK citizens and make an appointment online with the Bangkok British embassy
Stage 2 – Affirmation Translated & The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
If you are doing this process without an agency then you have two steps to complete.
First you will need to get the affirmation and passport certification (if the passport certification is required for the Amphur) translated with a certified office and stamp from that office.
If you’re in Bangkok there are many translation services near Ploen Chit BTS (near the embassies) or if your heading to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) then certified translations can be done for you at translation services there in Chaeng Wattana’s government buildings.
Translations cost from 300 – 500 THB or more.
The ministry of foreign affairs can reject the translated documents if everything is not correct.
If you’re a foreigner marrying a Thai then check your partner is happy with your translated name into Thai. This will become your written Thai name, so let her/him see it and approve the translation.
We skipped the traveling to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then going back two or three days later as I had an agency do it for us (documents came back in two days). It cost me 300 THB less using the agency when I calculated the 4 taxis (there and back twice) and all the fees. More about the agency experience further on and why I will go down that route with most things in Thailand from now on.
Of course you could make the expenses for the MOFA cheaper if you request the legalized documents to be sent by EMS post (around 60 THB) and catch a bus or minivan to Cheang Wattana. However, this article is not about how to marry on a shoestring budget.
Stage 3 – Registration Office (Amphur)
Documents Required
- Foreigner: Passport (take two copies and of your visa, and recent arrival stamp), affirmation to marry (original & the certified translation, with copies of both), passport certification from embassy if required (take copies of original and translation) .
- Thai: Thai ID card and Tabien Baan (house registration). Take two copies of each.
Documents all prepared and now you’re ready to register your marriage. You need two witness at the registration and one must be able to translate from Thai to English.
I was told in the past (a friend that married) the Bangrak office was able to provide witnesses, but I am not sure if this is possible now.
Depending on the district they may want at least one witness to be a family member of the Thai citizen, so I was told. A foreigner present is not a suitable witness as a friend found out when he went to register his marriage and called a local motorbike taxi driver known to them to step in, and his friend to step out.
I did not have to provide witnesses as the agency did all this. Keep in mind that agencies have contacts and relations with staff at Amphurs….Thailand is pretty much about who you know and not what you know in order to get things done, hassle free.
At the district you will need to complete forms, in Thai language. Everything needs to be accurate. We did not complete any of this as the agency person (and he was one of the witnesses) that met us at the Amphur completed this and asked if all information was correct with me.
Once everything is completed you will meet the chief district officer and complete the process and the certificate will be signed.
You are now legally married!
After Marriage – Marriage Registration Certificate and Documents Translated
As and when you wish you may get the marriage certificate and accompanying document translated into your home country’s language.
Getting it translated now is going to serve you well in the future if anything is required in your home country (visa, etc.). Ours was completed in with the cost of our agency fee and I found it was best done straight away rather than attending to it when it could be needed in the future.
How It Went For Us (our experience)
At first glance after seeing the websites and blogs it all looked straight forward. It actually is in way but there are possible obstacles along the way, or as I found out – using a good agency eliminates these completely.
Using an Agency or Not?
Of course the option of using or not using an agency is up to the individual. Some people may have a budget that’s very tight and they want to save every baht possible, and some people just don’t trust agencies (I was like this).
Choosing an agency is probably a concern for many. I do see the fees some lawyer offices are charging (20’000 THB) which is over double the amount I paid.
The benefit of a good agency is they know what is up to date at the moment and recent experiences foreigners are having with Amphurs etc., and they have contacts within Amphurs. The biggest benefit for me was just giving them the paperwork and then turning up while I could get on with doing more important things.
Anything legal or governmental I will use agencies I know for everything in the future. For the bit of extra money and no hassle, and with people whom have contacts within the governmental offices — it suits me to a tee. Keeps people in jobs too, and I can crack on with my own work.
Visit to the UK Embassy
I completed my downloaded affirmation to marry form and made an appointment with the British embassy on Wittayu Rd. Turned up on the day appointed and they advised me to pay the extra 1200 THB if I was to marry at Bangrak Amphur for the passport certification.
I spoke with one embassy official (foreigner) and she just married at the Phaya Thai district office without the passport certification. She still asked if I am sure I don’t want to just pay for the passport certification. I chose not to because I believed I wouldn’t need it, which was a mistake.
Translation Shop
I had researched some websites about translation shops and headed over to the one in Ploen Chit after the embassy. It’s the first one on the right hand side along this soi, but there are many others within this area.
The manager khun Jammaree was really helpful and sincere in her advise, so I gained a bit more trust in them helping. She did mention us farang (foreigners) are not always told all the options available at their office because we generally think these agencies just want to charge us way more than what we need to pay, and this was true in my case of my beliefs.
I decided to let the translation service translate the affirmation to marry (500 THB) and do the authentication part at the ministry of foreign affairs. This cost was 1900 THB, and when I calculated the taxi there and back (twice) to Chaeng Wattana – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1200 THB), 500 THB (translation) and 400 THB (MOFA charge), it would cost me less with the agency, as you can see (2100 THB) — with nothing to do on my behalf.
The Service I used (i keep getting emails asking for the address, so it’s now on this page 3 times for maximum convenience and exposure – plus i get less emails 😉 )
EXPRESS TRANSLATION SERVICE & TRAVEL CO., LTD (service I used)
Address: 866 Phloen Chit Rd, Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330
Hours: Mon – Fri 8:30AM – 5PM, Sat 9AM – 2.30PM, Sunday closed.
Phone: 02 255 5420
It may be worth contacting the above service even if you do not use a service for seeking advice.
To The Amphur We Go
At first my wife tried to contact Amphurs to check on the document situation. Impossible to get them to answer…..she gave up.
We went off to the Prakhahong district office (and had two other offices in mind) with my wife’s friend as one witness and then we planned to ask the Amphur if they could provide a second, or we would find a volunteer. The district chief was out of the office and we was advised to come back, and also to bring a passport copy (he meant passport certification – damn, should have got that passport certification at the embassy).
We tried to contact another Amphur where the embassy lady had recently married (Phaya Thai). No answer again.
Called up the agency and she advised me they could arrange an Amphur for us to attend, provide the witnesses, by pass the passport legalization, translations of the marriage certificate & registration document after and they complete all the forms.
I was already looking at 1200 THB with the embassy (passport legalization), 300 – 500 translated, MOFA fees and taxi fares again, so I eagerly accepted they do the work for 6000 THB (this has gone up now) and I will see them at the Amphur.
I paid 7900 THB in total which made it so much easier for us. If I had to do it over again, I would do everything with this agency.
I called Khun Jammaree yesterday while writing this to ask her what the cost is for someone doing all of the process with them excluding the visit and cost to the embassy. There seems to be many variations based on where people are from but no more than 9000 – 10’000 should be charged.
I don’t get commission from these guys they’re just a place I can recommend based on my experience that gave a good service.
Registration at Phaya Thai Amphur
Very easy for us as the agency worker did all the paperwork for us and he was really helpful, and polite.
At first the district chief was not there whom would marry us, but would be back shortly. I was glad the agency worker was there as we may not have got registered that day if we was alone. The district chief came back before all our forms was completed and spoke English well and was really pleasant.
All married up and we bought a gold folder from the district office for 300 THB that looked like it should have our certificates of our commitment to nurturing and caring for each others lives inside.
Disclaimer: Do seek other sources of information and advice and even legal advice if required. This article is about my experience, at this date (I will update this when possible), based on my present knowledge, and I am not the legal expert on marriage matters or an expert on everything Thailand.
Useful Addresses
British Embassy
Address: 14 Wireless Road Lumpini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330
Hours: Mon – Fri 8AM–4:30PM
USA Embassy
Address: 120-122 Wireless Rd Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330
Hours: Mon – fri 7AM–4PM
Australian Embassy
Address: 181 Wireless Rd, Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330
Hours: Mon – Fri 8AM–4PM
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bangkok
Legalization Division , 3rd floor, Department of Consular Affairs, 123 Chaeng Watthana Road
Bangkok 10210.
Hours: Mon – Fri 08.30AM – 2.30PM
EXPRESS TRANSLATION SERVICE & TRAVEL CO., LTD (service I used)
Address: 866 Phloen Chit Rd, Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330
Hours: Mon – Fri 8:30AM – 5PM, Sat 9AM – 2.30PM, Sunday closed.
Phone: 02 255 5420
