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Getting Married in Thailand – Do it Yourself in One Day!

Updated – May 2019:

The express 1-day service is not currently available to foreign nationals, only Thais.

This means that technically it is no longer possible to do this entire process in one day, because you won't be able to go to your embassy, get the translations done, and receive your documents back the same day. You will have to wait 2 working days to get all your paperwork back.

Please also bear in mind that some district offices (amphur) now have a marriage limit of 8 couples per day, and may require you to make an appointment in advance.

I strongly suggest reading through the latest comments from other readers to get their most recent experiences.

Okay, let's begin.

Whether you're a foreign national marrying a Thai national, or a foreign couple coming to Thailand to get married, you'll need to jump through three hoops before you can legally register your marriage.

The marriage will only be recognised under the law of your home country if it is valid under Thai law. In other words, simply having a ceremony in Thailand doesn't mean you are legally married.

getting married in thailand

It is still very possible to complete the process of getting the correct documentation together in one day, although without the express service at the MFA, you will have to wait to get your finalised documents back.

Realistically, you will need one day for your embassy appointment, translations and MFA submission. Then you will get a slip that tells you when you can pick your documents up (from the MFA), which is usually within 2 days. You'll then need another day for the marriage registration.

Remember, if you are both foreign nationals, you will need to consider this process for two persons.

Should I Hire an Agent?

This post focusses on completing the process yourself without an agent. Personally, I prefer to handle things myself, having complete control over efficiency and organisation.

Also consider that having an agent doesn't eliminate the first step of the process (the trip to the embassy), and costs considerably more.

Quotes range from 2,500-5000+ Baht for the agent's fee. Expect to pay around 4,500 for the actual process itself.

Step 1: Going to the Embassy for Affirmation

You must first go to your embassy to obtain an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry in Thailand.

Your embassy will most likely require you to make an appointment to get your affirmation done. Some do, dome don't.

British nationals DO need to make an appointment to get an affirmation. The consular accepts appointments 08:00 – 11:00 on Monday – Friday.

The cost depends on the embassy, but will be around the 3,500 Baht mark.  It costs 2,860 Thai Baht at the British embassy.

Yes, it's an expensive stamp.

Get the earliest appointment you can, closest to the opening time of the embassy, which should be 8am.

If your embassy has the affirmation form online, print it out from embassy website before you go, and fill in the relevant sections. For the British embassy, you will need to print the form.

You will need your passport, and if you've been married before, make sure you have documentation to prove that any previous marriages have been dissolved/terminated (an appropriate death certificate or divorce certificate).

Certificates issued in a third country outside UK and Thailand must be certified by its respective Embassy in Thailand.

This certificate, if not in English, must be accompanied by an English translation. Only the original evidence or an official certified copy will be accepted – photocopies will not be accepted under any circumstances.

NOTE: Also take a photocopy of your passport with you when you leave the house. You will need this for Step 3. 

Book an early appointment. If your embassy offers a walk-in service, get there at opening time. You certainly won't make the one day deadline we're on if you don't get there as close to opening time as you can and get it done quickly.

Step 2: Affirmation & Passport Translation: English to Thai

You now need that affirmation translated into Thai. This will cost between 300-600 Baht, depending on where you go.

Due to a new requirement, as of 2017/18, you also need your passport certified by the embassy and then translated into Thai.

That means the photo page and the page above or below it, (depending on which country you are from).

The officer at Chaeng Wattana (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) will stamp your passport translation. You will then show this at the Amphur (district office) at your appointment to marry.

For the translation, you have two choices.

The majority of embassies are in and around Wireless Road, including the UK and US embassies.

If you walk to the top of Wireless Road (back toward Pleon Chit BTS station) and up over the bridge onto the other side of the road, you'll be standing outside a language school called Language Express.

Go past the school and turn right. Along this side road you'll find a number of reputable translation services.

Don't dilly dally: choose a translation centre quickly and make it clear you are on a deadline. You need to be out of here by 10.30am.

They should be able to do the translations within 1 hour. If they say they can't do it so quickly, let them know you can pay a little extra.

Alternatively, get in a taxi and go straight to Chaeng Wattana to the Department of Consular Affairs.

This might be preferable because the traffic will be dying down just after rush hour. This journey will cost around 150 Baht. Do take the tollway (60 Baht) if the driver suggests it. This route is much quicker.

You can get a translation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although it may cost more because the touts will be aware you have no choice but to pay to have your documents authenticated there. However, if option 1 doesn't work out, this option is a sure thing.

Immigration Office Address:

Tell the taxi you want to go to the “Chang Wattana pass-a-bort (or immigration) off-ice!”

Show him/her the address in Thai: สำนักงานหนังสือเดินทาง ถนนแจ้งวัฒนะ เขตหลักสี่

If you have a smartphone with a decent size screen, show him on this Google Map.

The  Legalisation Division
Department of Consular Affairs
123 Chaeng Wattana Road,
Laksi District, Bangkok 10210

Tel : +66 (0) 2 575 1056–59,  0 2981 7171
Fax : +66 (0) 2 575 1054
(08:30 – 15:30 hrs)

Note that you can also get this process done at the new office at Klong Toey MRT station. The new office is in the Metro Mall area of the station:

Klong Toey MRT Station
ถนน พระรามที่ 4 คลองเตย
Bangkok, 10110
(08:30 – 15:30 hrs)

Here's a link to a Google Map.

Step 3: Thai Consular Affairs Authentication

If possible, I  recommend doing your embassy visit – to get your freedom to marry affirmation and your passport verified (and your translations too) – and trip to the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs in one day.

If you can get an early appointment at your embassy, you should be able to make it to the MFA before lunchtime. Remember: the express 1-day service is only available if you get your documents in before 9.30am.

When you arrive at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if you still need your documents translating, you can choose one of the services downstairs.

You will be approached as soon as you enter by touts for the translation services, so do a bit of bartering – starting at 300 Baht. Don't stress too much over 100 Baht or so, just get it done with the company offering the fastest service and move on.

Note: staff take lunch at 12pm. You'll have to wait an hour until they come back on duty.

Try to get a ticket and get in the queue before they go to lunch. If you make it through processing before lunch, then great. If not, no worries.

Once you have the translation, go to the 3rd floor: up the escalator, turn right and up the stairs.

Go to the desk straight ahead of you and give in your affirmation and its translation, passport translation and photocopy of your passport to the lady at the desk.

Now proceed through the white door over on the other side of the room; the lady will direct you.

Here you will get your documents checked by someone who looks very official. Once you get the okay, you will be asked to take a seat and wait to be called. Keep your eye on the queuing system, you don't want to miss your number.

Once called, you will be given a day to collect your authenticated documents and the option to have them posted to you. The standard pick-up/delivery time is 2 days.

When you get your documents back, you have completed the process. Keep everything safely together in an envelope. You will need all these documents to present to the Amphur office (government office) of your choice when you go to register your marriage after the ceremony.

Of course, you can register your marriage before the ceremony, it's up to you.

If you've finished early, you could go to a local district office and book an appointment to get married. You might be able to get an appointment for the next day.

What Marriage Documents to Take to the Registrar

When you go to register your marriage at the government office, you will need to take the following documents:

  1. Your passport – 2 copies
  2. Your visa – copy this too
  3. Your fiancee's ID card (for Thai nationals only) – 2 copies
  4. The Letter of Affirmation of Freedom to Marry (the original & the certified translation, plus copies of both)
  5. The MFA stamped translation of your passport
  6. Your fiancee's Tabien Baan (house log) (Thai nationals only) – 2  copies
  7. You will also need two witnesses. The Amphur can provide these but if you have two volunteers it's easier.

Native Translation

You may also wish to obtain a sworn translation of your marriage certificate into your native language so that it can be used as a legal document back home. You may also require this translation for visa purposes.

A note for British nationals: You no longer need to file your marriage certificate back in the UK. They did away with that requirement a few years ago.

Congratulations! I wish you a long, happy, marriage.

One Last Thing!

If you're planning on getting married in Thailand, then you'll want everything to go as smoothly as possible.

That means making sure you have travel insurance with adequate coverage, just in case the something doesn't quite go to plan. Maybe you lose your case, miss your flight, break a finger, lose your wallet.

Don't chance it.

Click here to read up on the two companies I recommend for solid insurance that covers a broad range of eventualities.

And if you want the best prices on hotels in Bangkok, Samui, Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and more, check out this page. 

Last Updated on

Comments Sort by : newest | oldest

    • David says

      just an update to my last posting that might help some others. On submitting my docs at the thai conular Affairs legalization dept today, i noticed they have an EMS (express mail service) and after waiting only 15 mins for my ticket to come up i asked the girl and she simply handed me an EMS folder and i filled out my address in chonburi in english and my phone # and i took a snapshot of the Ems code# on the sticker so i can track it. But when i asked her how long would it take she said you”ll get it wednesday or thursday (2 or 3 days) Soooo much more preferable than driving back up here on wednesday! I just remembered that thailand post HQ is only 700m down the street here so Touche’ just pay 460 baht for the standard service and have thailand post deliver it to your door and you can track it online on the website. Much better for those of us out of town!

      Reply

      • Danah says

        Ok, heres a question.. My documents came back because of a translation mistake. He translated UK into England (aaaaah).. So now, after I retranslate it.. CAN I SEND IT TO THE AFFAIRS OFFICE? Or do I have to go backkkk to Bangkok to take it there.. Thank you so much.. I have been following this guide step by step.. It was all a very easy process.. Just this damn mistake.

        Reply

    • David says

      Just sitting in the cateteria downstairs at theThai Consular Affairs at 10:30 and feeling a bit let down because the lady upstairs at the legalization dept. has said that if i want the express service i have to submit my affirmation document before 09:00am so they just said come back in 2 days time. Looks like things have changed… Maybe too many rush jobs on that service and you know how the locals react to pressures and deadlines! Anyhow after coming all the way from chonbri extra early it seems that there’s no way around 2 trips.
      Highly reccomend using the BTS to morchit and 100 baht in a taxi, but use the gps on your smartphone toThai Consular Affairs because my driver took me to the back of the complex building B some 2kms away. This building is directly on Laksi rd with a big water pond out front just before the footbridge. The google maps location is spot on.
      If you need coppies of your passport and visa you caan do this on the 2nd floor on the far right after getting off the escallators.
      Back here in 2 days i guess.

      Reply

      • TheThailandLife says

        That sucks, David. I think that’s not a fixed rule, just something they’ve decided on because they are busy. I always thought it was before 12, at least that’s what I was told when I went a couple of years ago. If you’re still there I would argue this with a senior member of staff. Good point on the complex. The other building at the rear of the complex is where you go for immigration/visa extensions.

        Reply

            • Martin says

              Same story from MFA today – if you don’t get there before 9am you can’t get the Express service so it takes two working days – so I applied today (Tuesday) at 1130 am and collect on Thursday at 1130 am.
              Otherwise all went to plan – British Embassy appointment at 9am then to one of the translation shops behind the language school, then by taxi to MFA, arriving around 1115 am. Luckily I had allowed a couple of extra days in Bangkok for any cock ups.

              Oh btw – as a Permanent Resident of Singapore the British Embassy had no issue with me using my Singapore address on the marriage affirmation.

              Reply

              • Martin says

                Things didn’t go completely to plan on Thursday – I went to collect and there were a few errors in the translation. They had indicated on the paper what was wrong and needed to be changed and recommended I contact my translation company. If I was back by 2pm with the corrected translation then I could get the stamped affirmation on the same day. So that’s what I did – quick cab back to the translation office at Ploen Chit – they hadn’t deleted my document from their system so they apologised profusely, quickly made the changes and gave it back to me. Cab back to MFA, arriving about 1pm and resubmitted the corrected translation. Then a wait until 4pm to get the MFA approval stamped translation. So it ended up being a long day. It might be better getting the translation done at the MFA itself so there would be less of a trip if any corrections are required.
                Anyway the final result is that we got married last Friday at my wife’s local amphur in Kanchanaburi Province. There was no issue with using my Singapore address on the affirmation, which was the thing that worried me as I had seen here and elsewhere people advising to use a UK address.
                Thanks for all the good advice here. Without it this would have all been a lot more difficult.

                Reply

  3. Dean says

    Thanks for the information. But I would like to know if the affirmation of free marriage is only for the man.I am a Cameroonian lady who wants to marry a British, but Cameroon do not have an embassy in Thailand, hope that won;t be a problem.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Dean, the affirmation is necessary for both parties, unless one party is a Thai national. The steps in my day plan must be completed for both. I suggest you speak with the Cameroonian embassy in London and arrange the affirmation from there before you come.

      Reply

  5. Gemma says

    This is really helpful. Can you leave Thailand after completing step 3 and return to do the ceremony and registration? We live in Singapore and were planning to pop across to Bangkok the month before the wedding to arrange the paperwork and then return for the ceremony the following month but we are being advised that we should stay in the country for the whole process. Any thoughts?

    Reply

  6. TheThailandLife says

    Hi Gemma, the affirmation from your embassy will have an expiry date. It differs for different countries. I believe the British one is 3 months, but other embassies have much shorter expiry dates. The shortest I’ve heard of is 30 days. Give your embassy a ring to confirm.

    Reply

  8. Emily B says

    Do I have to go to the passport office in Chaeng Wattana Road in person. I work long hours so all of this is difficult anyway, but I can get someone to go for me if this is possible. I can’t find this information anywhere online. Very useful article though. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Tom Jones says

      To Emily B, assuming you haven’t already been married by now, for future reference at least, the answer is NO, you don’t need to go to Chaeng Wattana in person. In fact, most translators will offer their services and almost insist you take them, whereby they will go to Chaeng Wattana on your behalf and once they are done, you can pickup the paperwork from the translator’s office. This will generally take a day or two (or more if holiday periods are scheduled in between) however, if you’re not in a big rush it’s a more efficient way than you having to front up with these officials yourself.

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      In this specific case, I don’t know. However, in my experience of another situation (immigration) where my wife couldn’t attend when I had to submit her documents, even though I had a letter from the doctor to say she was in hospital at the time, I was given a form and told to take it home for my wife to sign and then come back to submit the documents again. It might well be the same in this situation. in any event, you will need a letter from an a person in a position of authority detailing the reason you cannot attend in person. Your representative may then be given a form, like I was, to take home for you to sign and confirm that they can carry out this duty for you. I would ring Chaeng Wattana and enquire first to save you the hassle of going all the way there and being turned away.

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Alicia, they can get married in Thailand in a formal Thai wedding, but to officially get married they will each need a freedom to marry document from the Spanish embassy. Without this, they cannot be officially married in Thailand, and the marriage will not be recognized in Spain, or officially recognised in Thailand. However, getting the freedom to marry document will not mean they have to officially declare the marriage in Spain; no one would know they got married in Thailand unless they told the authorities in Spain.

      Reply

      • Alicia says

        And the formal Thai wedding……is it real marriage or like a scenario/ symbolic wedding?
        Is it going to be registered this marriage in Thailand?
        Is it Thailand going to send papers to Spain and tell them?
        Thank you sooooooooo much!!!!!!

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          No, the formal Thai wedding is just a ceremony and will not be official unless you register it at a district office, for which you will need all the paperwork mentioned in the post above. Thailand would not send papers to Spain in any scenario; it is up to the couple if they want to register the marriage in their country of origin.

          Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I have no idea if this applies to women over 50. I assume if a woman is still capable of getting pregnant then she would need the test. If a woman is post her menopause I assume a letter from a doctor confirming this would be fine.

      Reply

  12. John says

    In step one, or anywhere else,

    If you have been married before do you need to provide the marriage certificate or only the divorce certificate?

    And if you have been married and divorced more than once do you need to provide certificates for each, or only the last one?

    Reply

  13. Marty says

    Thanks for this guide. We had a traditional ceremony last year and now want to “legalise” the marriage. Few questions. 1. If we do all in same day and register the marriage, Is that it? we are legally married in the eyes of the UK? 2. Will my wife have to travel to her home town to obtain the Tabien Baan (house log).? I ask this as we live overseas and she rarely goes to her home where she is registered as the family have moved. 3. On the affirmation for UK embassy it asks for my wifes address and also place and date of marriage. Does her address have to match that of the id? What do I fill in for date and place if we will do on the same day?
    We are going in July to do the affirmation and register. Will she be able to travel on her current passport or will she need to stay and change the name immediately?
    Thanks and regards

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      1. Yes, the UK recognizes marriages registered in Thailand.
      2. Yes, you will need the tabien Baan. (Can someone post it to you?)
      3. I would use the address on the tabien baan, which is where her ID will be registered to, unless her official residence is now in the UK.
      4. Yes, fill in the date you plan to make it official. This doesn’t matter too much because I think the affirmation allows for 3-6 months before expiring – can’t remember exactly.
      5. She can travel on the same passport. She doesn’t need to change any documents if she doesn’t want to. Getting a new passport would mean changing her ID card too. For this she would need to go to her original hometown. Remember that in the case of changing her ID and passport name, she would then need to change her bank accounts too.

      Hope this helps 🙂

      Reply

          • Marty says

            Appreciate your help.
            From what I understand her home was Udornthani, but moved to Nakon Si Thammarat where she is apparently listed on the Tabien Baan since then her family moved to Phuket and we live in Middle East.
            I am home on Friday so is it ok if she asks questions in Thai on here to clarify for herself?

            regards

            Reply

            • TheThailandLife says

              I think you will need the original Tabien Baan because you need two copies as well. Someone in her family will have this house book. If they don’t a new one can be issued at the local government office.

              She is welcome to post questions on here in Thai, but I think the best clarification would be from an official at the Department of Consular Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The number is +66 (0) 2 575 1056-59 / 0 2981 7171

              Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Helen, sorry to hear that! I hope you can manage to get an appointment somehow? I just checked with the Embassy website and this is indeed a recent change. I have updated this post to reflect this change. Thank you for letting us know.

      Reply

      • Marty says

        Thanks both of you.
        I was booking our tickets to arrive 17th and go Embassy on the Monday 20th July. After Helen’s timely post I went online and got the last available date this year on 17th July. Helen there are appointments available in July, but then nothing until 2016.

        Regards

        Reply

  15. Rebecca Harrison says

    I’m going to the embassy on Monday with my fiancé to organise our affidavit.. we have the dilemma of the “expiry date” as we’re getting married here in Sept, but there isn’t any appointments for the whole of Aug!

    Although I agree that an appointment system makes things less chaotic, but its sad to hear people cannot get married because of the new system.

    Update: Just spoke with my wedding planner who called the Ampur office in Koh Samui and confirmed they are happy to accept documents up to 6 months from the date issued.

    Phhhhhhhheeeewwwwww!!!

    Reply

  16. Nick says

    Hello

    I would like to know how long will it take to get legal civil marriage in Thailand ? And in which city ? And what are the requirements ? I am from UK and my partner is from Dubai ! And will it be legal and recognized in those countries ?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      All the details are above in this post, Nick. It’s possible in one day, but with the new rules regarding an appointment with the British Embassy, I would allow two days. You need to do all this in Bangkok.

      Reply

  17. david says

    Re: The Affirmation of Marriage letter, I read on a recent article on Big Chilli that the Usual Address should be an address in the UK. I work in Thailand and only visit the UK for holidays so should I put my fathers address which is where i usually stay when I visit? I have no post going to my fathers house so can’t provide any proof of address.

    Re: Booking an appointment at the British Embassy. I just had a look at their site and the first week of August has been opened to accept bookings. Maybe they open appointment dates week by week to control the booking schedule.

    https://www.consular-appointments.service.gov.uk/fco/#!/british-embassy-bangkok/oaths-affirmations-and-affidavits/slot_picker

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      If your father’s address is the address you are registered to in the UK then use that one. Ideally the address should be the one listed on the electoral register (if you are registered) and/or one for which you pay council tax for. That said, if you work and pay tax in Thailand, then there is no reason why you can’t use your address here. The rule of thumb for using an address in your home country would apply to those who don’t live permanently or work in Thailand.

      Thanks for the heads up on the appointments opening up. I add that information into the post.

      Reply

  18. John says

    Great post, very helpfull. Do you know if its true that you need to be in Thailand 3 working days before you can register your marriage? We are arriveing in Bangkok on a Sunday from UK then leaving on the Wednesday to head to Samui. I was hopeing to get this done on the Monday.

    Thanks

    John

    Reply

  19. John Peden says

    Thanks so much for the information. We had planned to do this on arrival but – getting in on a Friday – it looks like the British embassy only works a half-day and it simply wouldn’t be enough time to get round before they close over the weekend. As such, we’re going to stay a few extra days and get this done on the Monday ourselves.

    A few questions:

    1) Have the costs changed from what you’ve outlined above? We’re both British nationals so I have (5600THB at the British Consulate, 500THB to translate and 800THB at the MFA).

    2) Are we cutting it fine trying to get this done in a single day? Would it be safer to book our onward flight to Samui for the Tuesday or will it not matter?

    3) Anything we’ve missed? This definitely can’t be done on the weekend?

    4) What are the costs at the Amphur to actually get married? We’ve been told around 2000THB to go ourselves or 7000THB to get the official to come to our wedding on the day.

    Thanks again!

    IMPORTANT: A change in this process means British nationals DO need to make an appointment to get an affirmation. The consular accepts appointments 08:00 – 11:00 on Monday – Friday.

    Just saw this…how do we book an appointment then? I contacted the embassy about 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing…no surprises there!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi John, I merged your three comments into one. I did update the post to reflect this change regarding appointments. In light of this, you should definitely allow two days to get the process done. Get to places as early in the morning as you can, so as to allow yourself time in the event of an error, traffic problems and busy periods at the government offices.

      To register the marriage at am Amphur is free for Thai nationals, or if one of the couple is a Thai national. For foreigners I’m not sure. I’ve heard different pricing, depending on the Amphur. If it’s a popular place for foreign registrations, like Bangrak in Bangkok, they do a package with a photo and stuff and charge you 2,000 Baht I believe. I’ve heard from others that have done it in lesser known Amphurs and paid only a nominal fee like 100 Baht.

      Getting the official to come to your wedding is usually part of a package offering through a company. You’d need to check with them as to whether you’d still need to go to an Amphur to pick up your certificates afterwards.

      Personally I’d get it all done before the ceremony so that you can relax after the wedding without having to think about going to an Amphur to sort out the registration.

      Reply

  20. John Peden says

    Just a quick update having spoken with the embassy yesterday. I carry dual-nationality for the UK and Ireland but will be entering the country on an Irish passport. The British embassy confirmed that this meant the Thai MFA would treat me as an IRISH national and therefore the affadavit had to be sworn at the IRISH embassy.

    Well, I’d had enough of the confusion – you wouldn’t believe how much misinformation, particularly around embassys fees there are on these official sites! I got in touch with Jit (of legallymarriedinthailand.com) who pointed out that the Irish embassy (officially) only swears affadavits on Friday mornings…

    Luckily, she mentioned that the guy who swears them is ‘pretty agreeable if you ask nicely’ and was able to send me through an Irish and British affadavit.

    I spoke with the mrs and we’re likely to use Jit at this stage – I added her on Skype and she was incredibly helpful without trying to sell me anything and her fees are lower than our own wedding planner has quoted.

    For us, it’s an equitable trade paying her and not having the hassle or rush of trying to get this done in a single day. We can get to the respective embassies for our appointment, check out of our hotel and be sipping a Mai Tai at the hotel bar in Samui by 5pm 😉

    Reply

  24. David says

    No mate they arent busy, they are just public servants and you rarely win arguments with them, let alone in thailand. A better o
    it only took 15 mins for getting the ticket until walking downstairs, so i doubt the place was overloaded. But you never know, the people designated as the express worker(s) may have been on holidays or off work etc.So yeah it could well have been a thai excuse/fob-off but i confirmed it with the older lady there before chosing the compromise.
    The express service is clearly marked as an option in english on the document they get u to fill out so its hard to know the truth. i took a scan of this if you want a copy…

    Reply

  27. David says

    Just an update on getting the affirmation certified @ the Thai Consular affairs. They sent mine by EMS which arrived on Thursday as opposed to going back to BKK to pick it up on wednesday so well worth the 60baht.
    They had refused the 1 day service on Monday, telling me i had to submit be4 9am which is almost impossible. So this was a very suitable alternative seeing i dont live in BKK.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      If you have time you’d be better off getting it in Malaysia before you come. If you’d rather get it in Thailand, you will need to contact the Malaysian Embassy to find out whether you can obtain this from them in Thailand, or whether you should get it from Malaysia.

      Reply

      • Deric Lee says

        thanks for your information. there are one question im curious with.

        my girl friend registered marriage in Hong Kong before, so is the register consider world wide which make her can’t register in thailand or other country?

        if is so, then she would need to unregister the marriage in hong kong before register in thailand?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Do you mean your girlfriend was married before? If so, she needs to get a freedom to marry affirmation from her embassy to prove that she has divorced. She won’t be able to marry in Thailand again if she is already married.

          Reply

  29. Karyssa says

    Hello, my bf and I are both American planing to marry in thailand. I was wondering under the section of ” whY to bring with you ” you had mentioned 2 witnesses. I was a witness for a wedding back home and all I had to do was sign the certificat le after the ceremony. But did not need to be present when they filed after the wedding. Is that the same here? After the ceremony I have my witnesses sign my certificate with my officiant and then bring it to the amphur? Or do I physically need to bring my witnesses to the amphur office with me ? Thank you

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Karyssa, it is standard practice when registering a Thai marriage at a district office to have two witnesses present. I know that the office in Bangrak, where many foreigners tie the not officially, provides the witnesses for you, but in more remote areas that aren’t used to registering foreign marriages this won’t be the case. This is something you should take into consideration in your planning. If you use a wedding company they will sort details like this out for you, but doing it alone you will have to plan for it. It can be any two Thai people in the room with an ID card, or perhaps two friends with passports traveling with you.

      It is probably possible for an official to attend the wedding and do this there, and then all you do is pick up the marriage certificate later, but I’d imagine that would be part of a wedding package, unless you arrange this yourself somehow. Perhaps someone following the comments on this post who has married (two foreigners) in Thailand while on holiday without using a wedding company can clarify how they did this.

      When I registered my marriage, I had two of my wife’s friends meet us the district office and sign as witnesses.

      Reply

      • Karyssa says

        Thank you for your quick reply. We are not using a complany. So we should plan on not having the witnesses sign the marriage cert post ceremony and having them join us at the amphur office in the days following if I want them specifically to be on my certificate we are planing on getting married in Phuket so I think they should be used to these types of things. But if they can not come I can just ask two people in the room

        Reply

  30. TheThailandLife says

    Not sure what you mean by certificate? The wedding is just a ceremony. The marriage certificate is issued at the amphur, once documents have been signed and witnessed.

    The only signature on the marriage certificate of the issuing officer.

    The way around having to go to the amphur is to get the officer to come to the wedding and get everything done there.

    Reply

  31. B says

    Very helpful post. It helped me plan my trip.

    A couple of things…

    1. More than half the people in the consulate I saw were being turned away because their typed Affirmation was missing something / had the wrong date / or had a typo.

    You can’t simply initial and write the correct information. You have to start again.

    2. For reason of 1 above, I suggest you have some way of accessing copies of all your documents on a computer. Zip drive or email. If you do need another copy you can edit on the consulate computer and send it to them once done.

    3. I don’t know how you could possibly do this in a day, since the legalisation takes 3 days, unless you get there before 9am.

    4. You can download thr legalisation application form, and have that ready too.

    5. So with all the forms ready here’s what I did:

    A. Book consulate appointment online as early on morning as possible.

    B. Check into hotel very close to Consulate the night before..

    C. Get Consualte done and walk over the road to Wave Plaza for translation. All done by 10am.

    D. Enjoy rest of day. Check into Hotel very close to Legalisation place that night. Be first in the queue the next day for express service.

    All done in 2 days and nights.

    *I guess the postal option can work very well if you don’t want to spend that 2nd day, and don’t need your papers quickly. I needed my papers on day 2, so I could register msrriage on day 3.

    Hope that helps!

    Reply

    • Marty says

      The advice on here is awesome and correct. I arrived on a Thursday night with a booked appointment for Friday 17th July first thing.\

      I followed advice to the letter and completed everything before 3pm.

      Affirmation signed and stamped at UK embassy by 8.30am with pre booked appointment.
      Translation completed by 9.30 and I will admit we used their services to finalise and register the marriage. We went by taxi and ended up registering in Pom Prap Sattru Phai District Amphur office. All paperwork done completed and marriage registered and certificate in hand before 3pm.

      It is still possible to do it in 1 day.

      We flew to Phuket Sunday and by 10am Monday my wife had new id in married name. \
      Back to Bangkok Monday night and Tuesday morning in Chiang Wattana and have translation of marriage certificate done and apply for new passport for wife (paid 3000baht for express service) which we collected at 3pm.

      In conclusion we got affirmation, translation, registration, name and id change new translation and new passport in 3 working days covering 2 cities and that is amazing.
      You cannot even get a UK passport issued that quickly let alone all the other paperwork……..Brilliant Thailand.
      One comment I would add is that if you fail to plan your trip with paperwork, hotels, flights, appointments not finalised and try to do it in the cheapest possible way you will take longer.

      Thanks

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi, B, thanks for your tips.

      I did this in a day when it was possible 2.5 years ago. As you’ll see from the comments above, this has since changed somewhat because of the way the legislation procedure is handled.

      Reply

  32. Mike says

    Hi I am just checking that once the above has all been completed does that mean we will be married and our ceremony with friends etc will just be a blessing?
    We had hoped for a beach wedding in pattaya.
    Secondly all your information and the comments are very informative but it would help us all if the latest comments were at the top of the comments list rather than the bottom as it appears more up to date comments make note of changes (not a criticism just an observation) thank you

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Mike, that’s right. The ceremony is essentially a blessing. I mean, it is a wedding ceremony, but the official signing of documents is done separately as listed above.

      I’d give the embassy a call if I were you as I think they are releasing appointments every now and again, as someone ran into this issue above, I think.

      Your fiance doesn’t need to be with you to get your affirmation, but will need to be with you to get the marriage officially registered.

      Thanks for the comment regarding having newer comments at the top; I certainly consider that.

      Reply

  33. Tom says

    Hi

    My name is Tom and yes I have completed and have the affirmation from Embassy EMS direct to us.

    Now we must register the marriage at the Chonburi Amphur and they say BKK is 40 Baht. I find this hard to believe. Do you know how much Chonburi charge ?
    Also they give you the marriage certificate after in Thai yes ?

    Cheers Tom

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Tom, yes it’s 40 Baht. If you register at a commercial “foreigner marriage” office like Bangrak in Bangkok they have these silly romantic packages. You get a romantic picture and they supply witnesses for 2k+ I believe. But any standard Thai district office will charge 40 Baht.

      The certificate is in Thai. Make lots of photocopies and keep the original safe in a plastic cover. You will need to get an official translation at some point, as you’ll require this for various things in the future.

      Reply

      • Tom says

        Ok thank you

        Although how much is it at Chonburi office ?
        The smae price yes.. They may like immigration try for more baht.
        Example is you get a resident certificate form immigration is free service. But they asked for 300 baht from and I refused. Hey I give them plenty already.
        I refused and they still gave me the certificate. So i assume the same goes at Amphur office

        Cheers

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          The price is 40 Baht. I have no idea if Chonburi charge more, but the set fee that all Thais pay, and foreigners marrying Thai nationals pay, is 40 Baht – at least is was 2 years ago, perhaps it has gone up a bit since. I’ve never heard of an immigration office or district office charging more than the official fees. It has never happened to me in 7 years.

          Reply

          • Tom says

            To all readers,

            Please be aware of the translation touts at the marriage legalization office. They have made errors in the translation and along with myself. At the Australian embassy in the rushed state I was in, I wrote a M instaed of N on my passport number.

            Regardless it is a legal document. The official Embassy staff being Thai should have checked the form properly before stamping and signing. Afterall it is a legal binding document correct.

            Well they did not and I must repeat the translation 🙁

            Reply

  34. carly says

    This has been so helpful, thank you.
    We are planning to come over on december 19th 2015 return jan 1st 2016.
    How can i find out when the embassy will be open over christmas?
    I just read on their website, it says you need to have been in Thailand for three days before you get the marriage certificates
    Thank you

    Reply

  36. pompey john says

    Hi Great site..loads of fantastic info..

    I am just now sitting waiting for my translation and I thought I would share what the lady at the embassy told me while checking my affirmation document.
    She noted that I had put down my address in Thailand and this nay cause problems when we go to the registary office..apparently this has happened before. They like a UK address. She advised if this happens to try a different office.

    I will let you know how I get on…
    Cheers
    john

    Reply

  37. Steve says

    Hi, Thanks for this great info. Now I have a perhaps unusual question:

    I’m American. My fiancé is a Rwandan national. There’s no Rwandan embassy in Th as far as I know. Our infant daughter has dual nationality. We want to get married and since we are all together for solid month in Th it would be a great time to get it done.

    Any thoughts on what to do if you are both foreign nationals and one doesn’t have an embassy here?

    Thanks in advance for any tips!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Steve, the closest Rwandan embassy is Singapore, so I suggest going there to get the affirmation. You will need this. You could probably go to Singapore for 2-3 days, get it done and then fly back in to get your affirmation from the US embassy and then get married. Air Asia do affordable flights to Singapore. It’s only a 2-hour flight. All the best.

      Reply

  38. Thomas says

    Hi,

    Thanks for all the tips, this help us a lot my wife (Filipina) and me (French).

    For Filipino, here some information, but cannot make it in one day.. You need a CENAMOR (I think but not sure legalize by NSO + DFA) + a birth certificate legalize by NSO + DFA). Contact the Philippines embassy for more information. Once you have all paper, you get the affidavit in 14 working days but valid only 30 days. For translation, make it near the Philippines embassy.

    I will give some information for French person. First, cannot be done in one day :-(.
    First step, take appointment at the France embassy in Thailand, it can take few weeks to few months to get an appointment. Now, seems that you have do take the appointment online. Check their website. Check for all paper you will need at this time.

    If you are living in Thailand, I advice to be register at the France Embassy, like that you can get the certificate (CCAM) in 2 weeks, otherwise it’s 8 weeks.

    Once you get the CCAM and at the same time they will give you another paper to fill, you need to make them translate, near the embassy there is a translator office (the corner). They will make translation immediately.

    For the second paper the embassy will give you, one of the girl of the embassy told me to not put my address in Thailand even if I’m living and working in Thailand, but other staff told me that I can put my Thai address as I’m living here and working here, so I decide to use my Thai address. For the two witness, better to not put family member with the same family name as you. On my case, I put two witness with different address and different family name

    Once the translation done, you back to the embassy to make it legalize those papers. If you register it cost around 500 THB, ask the price before because they don’t have change, so you have to come with the exact change.

    Then after you go to make the document legalize by the Thai Department of Consular Affairs.

    Now it’s where we are, we received yesterday the document legalize by Thai authority. We need to go to the Amphur to register our wedding.

    Anyone knows the best (the most easy to get married) Amphur to go in Bangkok for wedding. I stay in Sathorn, but don’t mind to go somewhere else in Bangkok if the Amphur is better to register our wedding. Maybe some Amphur are more specialize for foreign wedding, even if one of our witness will be Thai.

    Thanks again for all informations, its help us a lot even if sadly we cannot make it in one day due to our embassy.

    Reply

    • Iris says

      Hi Thomas, we badly need your advice please. I am a Filipina here in the Philippines wishing to get married in Thailand, to my French boyfriend who is in France now. We understand he needs to get a CCAM from the French embassy, and the certificate will be available in 8 weeks? Does that mean he has to stay in Thailand for 8 weeks to wait for the certificate? Or does it mean he can make an appointment online while still in France and then he can just come to Thailand on the day the certificate would be made available?

      In my case, I have to bring my CENOMAR to the Philippine embassy and the affidavit from them will be available in 14 days, which means i have to stay in Thailand for 14 days?

      Any advice you can give will be much appreciated, thank you!

      Reply

    • Christian says

      Hi Thomas. Do you know if a certificate of celibat can be used instead of a CCAM ? We live in England. Am French and she is Thai. We are in thailand for two weeks next week and we can’t wait two months for the CCAM. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY TIPS !! Gratefully appreciated. Christian

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Thomas, thanks for providing that information; it will certainly be helpful for French expats. It’s always easiest to go to the closest district office to where you live. I don’t know where it is in Sathorn.

      Reply

  39. Christian says

    hello. I am french and want to marry my partner of nearly eight years in thailand. She is Thai. I have a certificat of celibat delivered by my municipality. Can this be used instead of the CCAM ? We don’t want to wait 8 weeks to have one. Please help !! So many thanks. Christian

    Reply

  40. dave says

    Hi ,used a translation service for MFA part of the process and was hoping to do the Ampur part myself .The translation company said i would need them for witnesses and translations at the district office (13000bt fee for this ) my reading of this blog seemed to say otherwise ,can we ring the Amphur ,make an appointment and do it our selves ??? we are both foriegners

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Dave, that depends on whether the district office is one that has English speaking officers. There’s a couple in Bangkok that do, I believe the main one is in Bangrak, where many foreigners get married and they offer a package deal with a photo. But if it’s just a standard district office, you will need a Thai person to communicate with the member of staff handling the issue of marriage certificate. 13,000 Baht is way too expensive though. You should be able to get this service for less than 3,000 Baht. Any English-speaking Thai person could accompany you there and translate. Moreover, the translations are not done at the district office. These would be done afterwards at a translation office. I had my marriage certificate translated afterwards for 500 Baht at a place near Ploen Chit BTS station in Bangkok.

      Reply

      • Diem Nguyen says

        Hello, I am a Vietnamese and I am getting married to an Italian. We have obtained all the documents as you mentioned above. However, last week we came Bangrak office, they required some other documents like the receipts from the Vietnamese Embassy and Italian Embassy for the issuing the affirmation letters and the receipts of the translation certification. We could’nt make it so we asked for the agent, it costs around 13,000B. However, the agent told me that as I am resident in Bangkok without a job (I take few months off from the job in Vietnam to learn Thai in Bangkok) so he said I need the Vietnamese Embassy issue another document to confirm that “I am a good person”. This is really nonsense for me as in the Affirmation letter already stated my occupation and my income. Could you please advise if this is the new regulation for marriage registration in Thailand?
        Thanks
        Diem

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hmmm, I have never heard of them asking for receipts before. The official stamp of the embassy on the affirmations should be enough to prove their legitimacy. Perhaps they are doubting the authenticity of the documents. I would try another district office and take a Thai person with you. Don’t worry about getting an agent. You don’t need one if you have all the documents. If you have a Thai friend, take that friend to a district office and do the marriage elsewhere. That person will need their ID card. You will also need to recruit a second witness at the office, or take another Thai national along with you.

          Reply

  41. rob hill says

    hi , i been devorced from my thai wife just over one week, i intend marrieing my thai girl friend next week in bangkok. im on a marrige visa from my first thai wife and it finnishes on the 1st of november, can i still get a marrage visa with my new thai girlfriend/ wife, thanks
    rob hill

    Reply

  42. Andrew Quinn says

    I am considering very seriously marring Thai girl,
    How ever i am currently here on a tourist visa, i don’t plan on staying as go home back to work next month when my 30day entry visa is up and will bring her home at a later date to uk if married…my question is can i still get married or do i need to a marriage visa first? or will i have to wait for my next trip out

    Reply

      • TheThailandLife says

        You will have to double check with the Embassy, but I think that will be fine. Perhaps someone else in this comments section can chime in here if they’ve had a similar experience. I didn’t need to show one as I wasn’t married before. You can get married on a tourist visa, but be aware that bringing her over to the UK at a later date might be problematic. I don’t know how long you have been together, but simply being married isn’t reason enough for the Embassy to grant a visitor or settlement visa. The main hurdle is proving that your relationship is genuine. You have the opportunity to do this when you submit documentation for the visa, but if you’ve only spent a short amount of time together during a holiday, this could be difficult.

        Reply

        • Mark says

          My gf was divorced in the UK and the British Embassy told me that a photocopy of the decree absolute was not good enough for them to authenticate (the Amphur office had previously told us they required an authenticated copy). You need an official copy from the courts that has been legalised by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the UK. After this has been done, there should be no need for you to have the British Embassy authenticate the document but with the ever-changing requirements this is something you should check at the Amphur where you plan to get married I think.

          The British Embassy will not authenticate documents originating from the UK that have not already been legalised by the FCO, or so they told me. I am going to try to use the FCO authenticated copy when we get married in a week or two (without having it re-authenticated by the British Embassy here) so I will find out for sure if it is a problem then.

          Reply

        • Andrew Quinn says

          thanks i will look in to it, i have been seeing her for last couple of years not as much as i would like but have to work and get over couple times a year, i am realistic about bringing her home…its not been a quick think, and choice to marry is not a holiday romance and just blown way by beautiful thai woman, but some thing i really would like but i am still considering waiting a little longer and look to do it next year, thank for advice and love the site 🙂 cleared up a lot and makes it nice and simple

          Reply

          • TheThailandLife says

            Oh, I see. from your first message I kinda got the vibe that you’d only been seeing each other a short while. In that case I’m sure it won’t be a problem. Thanks for your nice words about the site. Hope it all goes well for you.

            Reply

  43. M.K says

    Hello,

    My fiancee and I are heading to Thailand to get married. We are planning on staying for 6 days — are we required a “residency” period like some places (30 days etc.) or a waiting period?

    Also, I am a divorcee, is there certain waiting period between a divorce and new marriage?

    Thank you for your help.
    MK

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      There is no residency period, but please read through the comments on this post to make sure you get the latest from others on how long it takes and what is required. There is a waiting period of (310 days) for a Thai female divorcee. I’m not sure if this applies to female foreign nationals marrying in Thailand. Check this with your country’s Embassy in Bangkok.

      Reply

  44. John says

    Great find people really know Thailand finally find few answers ,
    Im soon to marry in Thailand thanks for information as said before there’s lot keyboard experts good have facts .
    We live in Thai
    Questions is about change of name , partner has heard if she changes her last name in this case to my last as Australian citizen she loses rights of land ownership .

    Again great site thanks John

    Reply

  45. Paul says

    We are both UK citizens and planning to marry in Thailand next April. I have seen your diy advice, but we are not staying in Bangkok so will not be able to go to the British Embassy.

    Surely there must be another way to deal with the legalities?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Unfortunately not, Paul. I quote:

      Any foreign national wishing to marry in Thailand must obtain an “affirmation of freedom
      to marry” document. The affirmation must be made in person at the Consular Section of
      the British Embassy in Bangkok. It is not possible to obtain the affirmation from the United
      Kingdom in advance

      Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hi Ashan, you must check with the Pakistani Embassy as to whether they will provide you with an affirmation in Bangkok. Your girlfriend can use the US embassy in Bangkok to get hers. If you search on the Thailand embassy websites for your countries of citizenship, you will find the details there. All the best.

          Reply

  46. Jay says

    Hey, Thanks for the information! I am English doing the admin for a marriage to a Thai National …Just to confirm, for step 1 and getting the Freedom to marry document, I just need to take my passport , a completed print off for the affirmation form, and a photocopy of passport (if i want to do everything in 1 day)….is there anything else I need for step 1? Also, I was advised I need to make 2 appointments at the British Embassy (so i made 1 after the other) …not sure why I need 2 separate appointments tho? Any idea?

    Reply

  47. bonny says

    What a fantastically informative post, thank you SO much!
    I’m a British national planning to marry my Cambodian partner. For various reasons, mostly expense and corruption, we’ve ruled out getting married in Cambodia. Your post has saved me days of googling.
    As I understand it, the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok won’t issue affidavits, so if my partner gets his from the MFA in Phnom Penh and then has it translated into Thai in Bangkok, will that be OK?
    Do you have to make an Amphur appointment in advance or do you literally just turn up on the day you want to get married?!
    As I understand it, the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok won’t issue affidavits, so if my partner gets his from the MFA in Phnom Penh and then has it translated into Thai in Bangkok, will that be OK?
    Thanks again for sharing such valuable information.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Bonny, you can get the affidavit in Cambodia and get it translated into Thai as suggested. You should also get an English translation too. Make sure you keep the receipts too, for the affidavit and the translations. A couple of people have reported that district offices have asked to see receipts for some reason.

      At some places like you do require an appointment, particularly where they handle a lot of marriages. Try the Phayathai office (Ari-soi 2, 5 mins walk from Ari BTS). Another reader had a very good experience here.

      In terms of documents, leave nothing to chance. have photocopies and originals of everything for your partner, including ID card, passport, birth certificate, translations, etc.

      All the best!

      Reply

      • bonny says

        Thanks so much for your speedy reply.
        I have a lot more questions now, I hope you don’t mind me listing them…
        1. Cambodians get 14 days visa exemption on arrival in Thailand – will this be long enough to complete the process?
        2. My partner says his affidavit will be given by the Village Chief at his local commune in Cambodia. It will be stamped (ink stamp). It’s a genuine document, but do you think this will be recognised as legitimate by the Thai MFA? (this is the bit I am most concerned about having problems with)
        3. Will the MFA accept translations from any office, or is there a preferred one? Do you think it’s possible to translate the Khmer affidavit to Thai in Thailand?
        4. My partner speaks limited English, I speak Khmer but not fluently. Will we be required to have a translator for the Amphur bit?
        5. How / where do we get the sworn translation of the marriage certificate? Do you know anything about an Apostille stamp?!
        6. Is it possible to do the Amphur bit on weekends? (anxious about running out of time due to Cambodians only getting a 14 day stay)

        Really sorry to bombard you with questions but I’d really appreciate any insight you can give. You’re providing a valuable public service here!

        Would love to hear from anyone who’s been through the process with a Khmer partner too…

        Cheers

        Reply

        • Naomi says

          Hi Bonny,

          I went to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok in December. I flew from Tokyo to Bangkok as they don’t reply to emails or answer the phones. As of 2013, Cambodians can no longer get married in Thailand due to bad relations between Thailand and Cambodia. I heard this from an embassy worker, it was also confirmed by several legal services which I contacted in Bangkok. I’m writing this is you don’t have a wasted trip to Thailand.

          My partner and I are now trying to register our marriage in Japan as Cambodia is just a corrupt nightmare, which I’m sure you already know.

          Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hi Bonny,

          1. Yes, that’s long enough.

          2. I’m not sure it will. This document needs to come from the Cambodian Embassy

          The Royal Embassy of Cambodia
          518 / 4 Pracha Uthit Rd.
          ( Soi Ramkamhaeng 39 )
          Wangtonglang
          Bangkok 10310
          Tel: ( 02 ) 957-5851-2
          Fax: ( 02 ) 957-5850
          E-mail: camemb.tha@mfa.gov.kh

          3. Go to a translation office in Thailand that is recognised as an official translator. There are a number next to Ploen Chit station, next to Language Express. Of course, they will only translate from Thai to English. So you need a Khmer translation from somewhere that can translate Khmer to Thai. They may also be able to do Thai to English. If not go to:

          Ploenchit BTS exit 2, 1st Floor, Mahatun Plaza Building, Ploenjit Road, Lumpinee, Bangkok 10330

          4. If you go to an Amphur that doesn’t regularly handle foreign marriages you will need a Thai person to help you, as the officiating officer probably won’t speak English.

          5. Follow the same translation process as number 3.

          Yes. Cambodia is party to the Hague Convention Treaty. This means its citizens have to have documents “legalised/notorised” for international use by the issuing authority. This goes for birth and marriage certificates and some other official documents.

          6. All government offices are closed on weekends.

          Hope this helps!

          Reply

  48. John says

    Hello again…

    Well…finally managed to tie the knot this afternoon and had to tell you and your readers my exprrience.

    Last time I wrote, I mentioned that the British embassy advised that I may have an issue with a Thai address on my affirmation document..
    Went to the Amphur office at Bangrak this morning and…bingo…they wanted a UK address…also wanted to see the reciept from the ministry of foriegn affairs???
    So…off we went to the Sathorn office…same thing…but they also told us they no longer provide foriegn wedding service.
    Bangrak told us they only do 8 weddings in one day, so get there early. We were there for 7.30 am and there was already a queue.
    So…just for the hell of it we went to the Phayathai office (Ari-soi 2…5 mins walk from Ari BTS).
    The difference was astonishing…for a start, there was no other people there and the staff were wonderful…no problem with the paperwork…could not understand why we were asked for the reciept…
    The lady in charge was awesome…cracking jokes all the time and asking me 4 times if I wanted to change my mind….on the 4th time she had signed the certificate…looked up at me and said…ooops..too late…lovely lovely people.

    So in short I would advise using UK address as its one stumbling block out of the way.

    Love the site and please keep up your great work
    Cheers john

    Reply

    • Jay says

      John, Is your wife from the UK too? I am about to get married to a Thai and visiting the UK Embassy next week to get my freedom to marry document….want to know if need to use a UK address as I have lived in Thailand for 6 years???

      Reply

        • Jay says

          John, I know 2 people that have gotten married in last year who are from uk but ex pats and to Thai wife. Please confirm your status. Are you an ex pat? Are you marrying a Thai person or a “foreigner in thailand”and have you been living in Thailand or were you getting married to a UK person on holiday? (Which is why they may have insisted on a UK address?) I have lived in Thailand for 6 years so intend to use my Thai address…

          Reply

          • Jay says

            Hey John, Spoke to the woman at the British Embassy, when I asked her she said UK address better so I changed it. Thanks for your comment otherwise I wouldn’t even have asked. I changed the address on the form on the PC in embassy as I had emailed myself a copy of my previously filled in form. So even though you may have been in Thailand for years my advice is also, use a UK address on your form AND UK references !!!!

            Reply

  49. KY says

    Hi,
    My husband (Thai) and I (HK) got our marriage registered in Hong Kong a month ago. Now we are back in Thailand and I am looking into getting a non-immigrant O visa.

    Is it true I need to also register my marriage at the amphur in Thailand? Do I need to certify my HK marriage certificate, or get some document from my embassy to say I can get married in Thailand?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      That depends on whether a HK marriage is officially recognised in Thailand. I’m not sure about that but I would assume it is. If that is the case, then you can just do the Thai ceremony and not do anything at the Amphur, in regards to documentation. Unless of course your husband is taking your surname, in which case he would need to change his ID card and would need to present the marriage certificate at his local Amphur.

      I would highly recommend getting your marriage certificate translated in to Thai, as you will need this for going forward for various things.

      Reply

  50. Naomi says

    I had a question for Bonny who is getting married to her Cambodian partner.

    May I ask where you found information regarding marrying Cambodian citizens in Thailand?

    I am British/Japanese getting married to my Cambodian partner.

    I e-mailed the Cambodian Embassy in Thailand but they don’t answer their e-mails so I can’t get a template of the “affirmation of freedom to marry” document for my partner to fill out.

    I’ve also e-mailed the Cambodian Embassy in Tokyo where I live (email bounced back) as did the e-mail from the Sapporo branch of Cambodian Embassy, Nagoya and Osaka branches also don’t reply. They also don’t answer their phones.

    I even e-mailed the Cambodian Embassy in the US where I got the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of the other embassies from http://www.embassyofcambodia.org/other_embassies.html
    to ask them for current or working e-mail or phone numbers but also no reply from them.

    I was wondering whether you’ve had any luck contacting the Cambodian Embassy in Thailand or in the UK.

    I was also wondering if you’ve managed to:
    a) find out the required documents for Cambodian citizens other than the “affirmation of freedom to marry” for example, passport, ID card, birth certificate, etc

    In my case, as a Japanese citizen it seems to be just the passport and “affirmation of freedom to marry” document

    b) Have you managed to get a template of the affirmation of freedom to marry for Cambodian citizens? If so from where

    If anyone else other than Bonny can answer my questions please feel free.

    Thanks

    Reply

    • bonny says

      Hi Naomi,
      I’m so sorry, only just saw your questions as I was browsing the internet in hopes something had changed since the last time I attempted to work out a way of marrying my partner. We still haven’t succeeded. I wonder if there’s any update from you?!
      Hope to hear from you!

      Reply

  51. Mick says

    Hello.
    I plan to marry my Thai Girlfriend early next year, I have known her for 4 years.
    I am a UK passport holder living and working as an expat in Germany. I am divorced ( 7 years) from my German ex wife. My question is:
    With which authority (embassy) do I need to deal with regarding the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry in Thailand?
    My divorce was legally verified through the German courts. So, should I deal with the German Embassy or, because I am a UK passport holder (but no UK registered address) should I approach the British Embassy?
    No doubt I will have a multitude of questions as the time approaches so, thank you to everyone in advance.
    This is a great website – Thanks.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Mick, since a German marriage would be recognised in the UK under EU law, you can take your divorce papers (translated) to the British Embassy and get the affirmation. However, I’d see if you can get one from the German embassy too. Reason being that this might confuse a Thai official. They follow strict protocol and might not be able to get their head around you being British but married in Germany. On this basis I would seek both to ensure each base is covered. Last thing you want is to get here and come across this issue. That said, there may be someone else in these comments who has a personal experience of this that can better advise.

      Reply

  52. Alan says

    WOW…..There`s a lot of decent advice here guys , lots of info so I hope someone can advise me.
    I want to marry my Filipina fiancé ASAP. We got engaged last summer while she was over in the UK for 3 months.
    I’m a UK National , I’m divorced and living and working in England.
    My fiancé lives in the Philippines , shes a widow.
    So my options are.
    1, Marry her in the Philippines ( but theres a wait of 10 working days )
    2, Marry her in the UK ( registry office ) when she comes over on a 6 month visit next year.
    3, Marry in Bangkok . This is what we would prefer as this one seems the easiest and quickest….BUT I also read somewhere that because she is a Philippine national then she has to wait for 10 days here also. ( I’m not sure if this is 10 days or 10 working days ). In this case I think we would have to register in Bangkok and then go off on honeymoon. Then come back 10 days later and go to the Amphur office…… am I correct in saying this ?
    I think it would be best just to get an agent to organise this for us if anyone can recommend for us please.
    So any tips would be very much appreciated folks….. We both just want to marry as quickly and easily and trouble free as possible. Everything seems so bloody hard and stressful. Thank you.

    Reply

    • matty says

      i got married in philippines it was easy as long as you get all doc’s done they let you get yours after u apply for the licence cost me less than £100 uk embassy was the bigest bill for the doc free to marry rest was cheap as chips philippine prices and its all done in english too saw judge and was married in less than 30 minutes

      Reply

        • Eric says

          Hello Alan

          So… What have u done at the end? Did you get married in php or in Thailand? I am also in the same situation where i am wondering if I need to wait 10 days even for a wedding in Thailand, since my gf is filipina. I a, wondering if the embassy in bangkok will require that 10 days waiting period

          Anyone knows?

          Thank you

          Reply

  53. Gracie says

    Am Gracie Kenyan and my fiancee is David from Australia. We plan to marry in Thailand in 2016. Thankyou all for all the advise. I would like to outline what i think the procedure is, it would be nice to be corrected where i may have confused or got it wrong.

    1. Getting a certificate of no impediment to marriage in Kenya
    2. Go with it to the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand so as to get the affirmation to marry in thailand
    3. Get the affirmation letter translated into Thai

    After that we get confused where to go should we go register the marriage or get married we really need guaidance.

    Reply

  54. scott says

    I plan to make an appointment with the Consular Section for the Affirmation of Marriage letter. On the booking screen it mentions ‘Please confirm that you will bring’ and then there is a box for Proof of address. Since I live and work in Thailand I do not have proof of my UK address (my father’s house). Is the Consular section strict on this as I don’t know what to bring. Any suggestions? Cheers.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I think the address in Thailand will be fine. You have a work permit and live in Thailand, and therefore it is your main residence. But if you can get a copy of a phone bill and bank statement going to your father’s house in your name, I’d take that as well, just in case.

      Reply

      • scott says

        Thanks TTL, my concern is that I’ve read many comments suggesting that I must submit a UK address as a Thai address is not accepted. But I have no correspondence whatsoever going to a UK address as proof of identity.

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          I understand your concern, but those requiring a UK address are on tourist visas. Because you live and work in Thailand by definition of Thai law.

          That said, the last thing you want is any issues on the day.

          The issue is not on the side of the UK Embassy. In fact, if you look at this document there is no requirement for proof of address: https://www.thethailandlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Information-for-British-nationals-marry-Thailand.pdf

          For general notarial services the Embassy states:

          For all appointments for notarial services you will need to bring acceptable proof of your identity.

          We accept passports or national identity cards as proof of identity.

          If proof of address is required, we accept driver’s licence, utility bills, postal mail showing your name and local address or house registration.

          But for the affirmation of freedom to marry there is no specific requirement, only that you bring your passport and decree absolute (divorced) or death certificate (widowed).

          The issue is on the Thai side, as they expect to see a UK address.

          Therefore, I can’t see why you can’t just use your father’s address anyway. The Legalization Division of Consular Affairs Department at Chaeng Wattana will not ask for proof that you live there. They will just expect to see a UK address on the affidavit.

          Reply

  55. Dean says

    Good day

    I am a South African living in Chiang mai on a Tourist “exemption” Visa for 30 days… I got an extension of 30 days at the immigration office in Chiang Mai at the promenada plaza mall (cost 1900 baht)… I want to marry my long term “dating for 2 years now in South Africa” girlfriend… The only embassy is in Bangkok as the South African embassy in Chiang mai has closed down… In order to get married I have to obtain a Letter of non impediment – which will take 4 – 6 months as the embassy only sends it away once every month…
    After that – I have to get it translated to thai. Take my passport and her passport including her Tabien Baan (house log) (Thai nationals only) – 2 copies to the Amphur in Chiang mai…

    I hope this helps other South Africans who wish to do the same…

    Kind Regards

    Reply

  56. Jeff says

    Hi guys, lots of incredibly informative details here.

    I went through many of the comments however did not see a topic that mirrored my below inquiry.

    My country does not have and embassy in Thailand. I have requested the Freedom Affirmation certificate and should soon be delivered.

    I am living in Koh Samui ,Once this certificate is delivered. Would I also need to go to Bangkok , Chaeng Wattana or can I get that process done here in the South. If so that’s to give some guidance.

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

  57. Melissa says

    ThailandLife, thanks so, so much for the invaluable info on this website! Even the comments are some of the most useful I have ever seen on the internet! Very impressive!

    I (US citizen) and my boyfriend (UK citizen) are planning to get married in Bangkok in mid-January 2016. We have a few questions about the process AFTER registering our marriage at the Amphur office…

    We want to also have our marriage recognized/registered in both the US and UK. The website of the UK Embassy in Bangkok says: “We do not provide the recognition of marriage and only Courts in England and Wales can recognise a marriage under English and Welsh Law.” It is the same at the US Embassy, BUT they also say: “Some states may require your Thai marriage certificate to be certified. To certify a Thai marriage certificate, please have it translated into English and take both documents to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Then make an appointment (at the US Embassy) and bring the certified document to our office; we will authenticate the signature of the MFA officer for the appropriate fee.”

    So our questions about this are:

    I assume that “To certify a Thai marriage certificate, please have it translated into English and take both documents to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)” means repeating steps 2 and 3 all over again, right?

    Is it possible for my boyfriend to authenticate the signature of the MFA officer at the UK Embassy like I can do at the US Embassy? (The UK Consular Office is not answering our email about this.)

    For anyone who has experience registering their overseas marriage in the courts of England – where and how did you do it, and what documents were required? I can’t find the official info on the UK government website, and non-government websites contain conflicting info.

    Does anyone have very current (last few weeks) info on what the current cut-off time for the express service at the Consular Affairs Department at Chaeng Wattana is? Is it 9am or noon?

    Are we allowed to bring electronics (laptops, cameras) into the Thai government buildings (we are not allowed to bring these into our embassies)?

    On both the US and UK Affirmation of Freedom to Marry Forms, we have to list monthly income. Does anyone have any experience of writing $0? We don’t have a monthly income (we are living off savings), but afraid if we write $0 maybe the Thai government will somehow object to marrying us??

    Apologies for such a long list of questions! Many thanks for any answers that any of you can share!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Melissa,

      I assume that “To certify a Thai marriage certificate, please have it translated into English and take both documents to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)” means repeating steps 2 and 3 all over again, right?

      Not repeating. It just means that when you are issued your marriage certificate you will need to have it translated. There’s many places to choose from to do this. Get off at Pleon Chit station and check out the side roads next to Language Express. All those places will translate the document for less than 500 Baht.

      Your husband to be is a UK citizen so the marriage will automatically be recognised under UK law. He should still get the certificate translated but he won’t need to file it with the UK authorities.

      Is it possible for my boyfriend to authenticate the signature of the MFA officer at the UK Embassy like I can do at the US Embassy? (The UK Consular Office is not answering our email about this.)

      This isn’t necessary.

      Does anyone have very current (last few weeks) info on what the current cut-off time for the express service at the Consular Affairs Department at Chaeng Wattana is? Is it 9am or noon?

      It’s noon. But get there as close to opening as possible.

      Are we allowed to bring electronics (laptops, cameras) into the Thai government buildings (we are not allowed to bring these into our embassies)?

      Yes. Thais aren’t oppressive in this regard.

      On both the US and UK Affirmation of Freedom to Marry Forms, we have to list monthly income. Does anyone have any experience of writing $0? We don’t have a monthly income (we are living off savings), but afraid if we write $0 maybe the Thai government will somehow object to marrying us??

      Is your income really zero though? If you live off of savings do you not receive annual interest from those savings? If it is zero then zero is fine. If the Thai officer questions it just say “our families are rich so we don’t have to work”. There is nothing that says the unemployed can’t get married in Thai law.

      Hope this helps. All the best!

      Reply

      • Melissa says

        🙂 Thanks again for all of the helpful info!!

        For any interested UK readers out there… we got a reply this morning from the UK Embassy in Bangkok: “We are unable to authenticate Royal Thai Government Officials’ signatures on Thai public documents which bear the seal of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

        So the US embassy DOES do this (to authenticate the certified translation of your marriage certificate), but the UK Embassy does NOT.

        Reply

  59. alessandro says

    Hello,

    First of all thank you so much for your guideline, it is very helpful.

    I’m italian, and I’d like to marry my russian girlfriend( with a italian long work permit ) in thailand, I’d like to have some confirmation from your experience about time and document.
    I’m single, and even my girlfiend, we will ask to the italian embassy the freedom to mary (how long take?), after traslate it, we have to go do department of consular affairs to ask for express service and fill the form, and now?(how long take),
    If I understood correctly I can go with all the documen to the Amphur office, Samsen Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand (advise from Italian embassy) to marry in the same day?

    Thank you so much

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Alessandro, I don’t know how long the Italian embassy will take or their procedure for this. It should be straight forward though; make an appointment and get it done in an hour or so. After you have the translation you need to go to consular affairs, but you must get there early to get this done in one day. If you have tow days, I’d recommend that. It’s up to you which Amphur you go to.

      Reply

      • Inna says

        Hi,
        my partner and I want to get married in Thailand. He is Cameroonian and I am Estonian. Neither of our countries have embassies here, what can we do? He obtained the certificate de celibat from Cameroon and I have my divorce certificate from Estonia… do we still need the affidavit and how can we get it, any ideas please?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          You will have to get the affidavits from your embassies in your home countries or another country in the region. I would phone your embassies and see if it is possible to arrange this by post, but I doubt it is.

          Reply

  60. Peter says

    Hi ThailandLife,

    My girlfriend and I are both citizen of Hong Kong. If we register our marriage in HK, can we 1) translate the marriage certificate to Thai, and then 2) present it to The Legalisation Division (i.e. Step 3 above) only, and then we can get a Thai marriage certificate?

    I heard that foreigners need to stay in Bangkok 2 days prior to marriage registration, is it true and what’s the reason behind?

    Do u know how I can check the legit HK marriage certification in Thailand? (avoiding illegal double marriage issue..)

    Reply

  61. steve says

    Hi ThailandLife

    Great info – Well done on this.
    I just have one question – When you visit the embassy do they sign the Affirmation there and then during your appointment or do you have to come back for it at a later time?

    Thank you.

    Reply

  62. brad says

    Mate so far this has been so helpful to me!
    But I do have some pretty urgent questions that would put my mind at ese as my wife and I are both travelling to bangkok on the 14th to sort this out for visa application a few days after!

    Firstly I am an australian citizen and on my last trip to thailand my wife and I held a marriage ceremony at her village..now we want to get the marriage licence.. I have obtained a certificate from the australian government stating I have no current or previous marriages in aus and have had that document translated by the right people in thailand .. is this document the same as the affirmation of marriage document you tell to get from the embassy in the morning?
    Also once I take the translated affirmation doc to the thai consular affairs and finish.. are we able to go to any registry (amphur office) in bangkok and finalise it all? And how long will this take?
    And lastly the 2 witness signatures.. am I defenetly able to get those at the amphur office?
    In advance Id id like to thankyou for your article and I hope you can get back to me asap

    One last thing are we able to go to any amphur office? Because once we are in bangkok it will be nearly impossible to get back to the phu wiang registry office aith our travel plans and dates…

    Cheers
    Brad

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Brad,

      That document sounds like the affirmation, but check with the authority you obtained it from that it is the same as you’d be issued from the Embassy in Bangkok. As far as I know the affirmation has to be obtained from the embassy inside Thailand; but if it is the same document then that wouldn’t be the case.

      Please bear in mind from other comments in this thread that you now need to get to consular affairs before 9am to get the express service. This wasn’t the case when I first wrote this post.

      You can go to any Amphur, but it is best to go to a “foreigner friendly” one if you don’t have the two witnesses. Try Laksi, which is close to the MFA, or Bangrak. These two are used to doing foreign marriages and may arrange the witnesses for you. If not you can enlist a member of staff or two. They provide a translator service at Bangrak too, I believe.

      Also see John’s comment below. He said; Bangrak told us they only do 8 weddings in one day, so get there early. We were there for 7.30 am and there was already a queue. So…just for the hell of it we went to the Phayathai office (Ari-soi 2…5 mins walk from Ari BTS).
      The difference was astonishing…for a start, there was no other people there and the staff were wonderful…no problem with the paperwork…

      To answer your last question: Once you have your affirmation, translation and confirmation from the MFA, you can use any Amphur.

      Reply

        • Phi Vis says

          I “heard/read” Bangrak popular, Phayathai friendlier.

          After a turbulent four years, I’ll in Bangrak … tomorrow … and hope everything become successful with an happy future.

          As advised … we made a prenuptial with a thai lawyer, which has to be registered within the marriage paper … at Bangrak as well?

          Reply

      • brad says

        Thanks for your reply mate iv kinda been sweating on it..
        Iv just changed our flights to arrive in bangkok on the 11th and depart bangkok on the 20th to give ourselves plenty of time as we have our 4 week old baby with us , which we also need to obtain his thai passport and apply for spouse visa, marriage cert etc in this time ! All info you have givin has been very helpful..
        But I do have one more question for you mate, we dont know bangkok too well and was wondering if you had any knowledge on a good central area to stay for that time we are there bearing in mind we need to go embassy, MFA, VFS (for visa application located soi 13) and also this Bangrak amphur you mentioned!?
        I look foward to your reply mate cheers
        Brad

        Reply

  63. Melvin says

    Unfortunately recent changes in mean you can’t do this in one day anymore.

    I’m Singaporean and am finally getting married today after 3 days.

    The main thing is that now the Department of Consular Affairs in Lak Si, Bangkok will only accept express applications for the legalization of your embassy affidavit if you are there early – before 8-9am. We got there on the first day after getting my embassy letter at 1030-11am and were told to come back the next day and start queuing at 7am. I recommend u guys come at 7 or 7.30 latest to get your queue number. Immediatelty after the 8am national anthem, they start processing immediately. They call your number, u go to an office where they sign the application, then u go back out where they’ll call you again to pay. They’ll call u a 3rd time to the counter to collect your change and receipt. Thereafter you wait for the legalization in the form of a official sticker and signature at the back of the original and translated affidavits. We got ours at 1.30pm.

    2nd thing to note – Amphurs only accept about 7-8 applications for foriegners getting married to Thai nationals. I reached the nearest Amphur from the Dept of Consular Affairs – Laksi District Office at 1.45pm and was told they already hit their quota. We tried calling other nearby ones before giving up as all were full.

    This is where having money helps. We got to know a guy offering his company’s translation services at the Consular affairs office. He initially offered to help us shortcut the entire thing for about 4000baht. We called him for help and he managed to pull some strings at the Amphur for 2500baht.

    In about 30 minutes we will finally be married. Thank god.

    Watch out for some other snags i encountered.

    1) translations – have your thai spouse to be write out in thai the correct thai spelling of all names on the documents to be translated. And then check the documents thoroughly after getting it back. These translators just do a fast job and make mistakes. We went through several translators and all made at least one mistake.

    2) have photocopies of all your documents ready before u reach the Dept of Consular Affairs. Passport / ID, affidavit, affidavit translation (in case). The photocopying service on the 2nd floor only opens at 8am and you might miss your queue no. being called.

    3) standby extra cash. After paying and getting the receipt for legalization, we paid our guy 200 baht to pick it up for us. You never know what time yours will be done.

    4) make friends with these touts offering translations. They have connections all over including at Amphurs that come in really useful as we found out.

    5) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Consular Services that legalizes your affidavit from the embassy, is located in Lak Si near Don Mueang international airport. If you Google Map search The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they will bring you to another location 25 kilometers or 45 minutes away.

    6) You need 2 witnesses at the Amphur / District office when you register your marriage. If you dont have anyone this is where those translators can come in handy again.

    —-
    Alright time to say those vows. Good luck guys.

    Reply

  64. Gracie says

    Dear Thailandlife,
    Its Gracie again,

    Kenyan citizen by birth marrying the love of my life David who is Australian. Both of us being foreign citizens wanting to marry in Thailand does make the situation a little not so straight forward.

    Firstly i have three questions:

    1. Where is most advisable place that is friendly to foreigners to obtain a sworn translation of our marriage certificate into English from Thai?

    2. What are some ideas of foreigner friendly Amphur offices in Bangkok where we can easily be provided two witnesses among other relevant services?

    3. Do we go with certified copies of documents from our mother countries or can we still have them certified at our individual embassies in Bangkok?

    4. The article says to print affirmation form before we go to the embassy from our embassy website, i have tried looking for it from my Kenyan embassy but to no avail. Is there another way/?

    Soon we shall fly to Thailand to get married, so i would like to summarize the whole procedure just to make sure we get it right. Please do advise where i could have gone wrong.

    PROCEDURE
    (i) Obtain a certificate of no impediment to marriage in Kenya, he gets his divorce paper from Australia.
    (ii) Get to Bangkok, go to our individual embassies to obtain an affirmation to marry in Thailand and carry with us our passports, divorce paper (my fiancee), freedom to marry cert (me), and their copies.
    (iii) Translate all the aforementioned documents from English into Thai. Documents to take with us are both our affirmation letters, passports, passport copies, and the envelope they will hand us at the embassy.
    (iv) We go to the registrar of marriages with the following documents: Two passport copies each of us, my visa copy he doesn’t need one as he is Australian, our letters of affirmation of freedom to marry (original and certified translation and copies of both). A good Amphur will provide us two witnesses.
    (v) After we obtain a sworn translation of our marriage certificate into English.

    I have been going through it many times. Did i get it right? Your input is highly appreciated.

    Lastly i really do appreciate all of the advice and comments on here, they are quite helpful.

    Many of us dream to marry in Thailand and i wish everyone success love is truly so beautiful.

    Gracie.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Gracie,

      Your procedure is correct except that you missed out a step. After you obtain the affirmations from your respective embassies you need to go to the Ministry of foreign affairs to get the approval.

      1. Go to Ploen Chit BTS exit 2. On the far side of the Language Express building you will see a number of shops that can provide a translation.

      2. If you read through the comments in this thread you will find ideas for an Amphur. Try Laksi (near the MFA), Bangrak, or Payathai. Some people are reporting that Bangrak and Laksi are only doing 8 marriages a day.

      There is no guarantee on witnesses. Sometimes they don’t ask, other times one is fine, and sometimes you have to ask a member of the public waiting inside to assist, and or a member of staff or two. I think Bangrak provides this service but I’m not 100% sure.Is it possible for you to take a witness with you?

      3. What do you mean? Which documents? To get documents certified by an Embassy you would probably have to make a separate appointment to the affirmation appointment.

      4. I’m sure they provide it for you then. Call them up to enquire beforehand. This post is based on my experience as a British national so the Kenyan embassy requirements may be different.

      Reply

      • Gracie says

        Hello again,

        Firstly thank you for the insight on that little step i overlooked that is going to the Min of Foreign Affairs to get an approval after our embassy visits.

        As for the other documents i was talking about, they are such as my fiancees divorce paper or copies of our passports, can the embassy certify the copies as true copies of the original? Moreover the article insisted on original so am sorry i may have thrown yo off on that question.

        Okay about the affirmation form from the embassy website.

        But sure i will ring them in advance (Kenyan Embassy)

        Thank you very much for the advise, i will ask for more as soon as a need arises we have three weeks until we can go get married i really want things to go right.

        From Gracie/David

        Reply

  66. John says

    Hi My name is John. I am an indian but residing in usa. My fiancee is in Saudia Arabia who also an indian.We would like to get married in thailand because for us to marry in india we should be residing there for 30 days- 60 days and we dont have that much leave . I have heard the marriage registration in Thailand is applicable for foreigners marrying Thai nationals or other foreigners. But, an affirmation of freedom to marry should be obtained first from your respective embassies. Unfortunately, the Indian embassy in Thailand does not issue an affirmation of freedom to marry for Indian passport holders who do not reside or work in Thailand. This is something i read please advise if this is right. Please advice how we can carry this forward.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi John, this does sound problematic. I couldn’t say for sure if this was the case, so I’d ring the Indian Embassy for advice. It may be that you can obtain the affirmation from inside India for use in Thailand.

      Reply

  67. Wayne says

    Thanks for the Info it was very helpful, although we tried to get the process done in the day – it ended up taking 3!
    I was first into the Australian Embassy & straight out in no time – decided to go direct to the Consular office by using the “Chang Wattana pass-a-bort off-ice!” line – the taxi ended up taking us to the wrong building (Immigration office next door) but we still made it to the passport office within your time frame.
    We got our documents translated and walked up the stairs by 11.10 – but then told the express service was closed. (The guy looked very official – but in hindsight I think he was just another agent looking for a few extra baht!)
    I think the process is slightly changed as you describe – they have a desk with the forms you need to fill out before you get to the ticket booth. It did look like they were turning people away from the ticket counter without the forms filled in correctly – rather than just letting them fill the forms out in the line.
    Anyway we went back the next day very early – went through the process (Of mainly waiting!) then went straight to the Bangrak Amphur office, only to be turned away as they had finished doing the marriage registrations that day. It seems they only do 8 registrations per day.
    So we went back very early the next day (We were there at 7:15 and got ticket 5!) As soon as they gave the 8th ticket for marriage registrations away they started to turn couples away.
    The office was okay with letting my wife translate for me as her English is good, and I understand a little of Thai. But, they were unwilling, and the people in the line were unwilling to be our witnesses! (I think because everyone knows its a waiting game) Anyway, my wife managed to find some friends in Bangkok who came to our rescue and witnessed our marriage registration.

    At the end of the 3 days we now have Registered Marriage which has been witnessed by good friends of ours (Rather than some strangers) in Bangrak (The place of Love). And, we got to stay an extra few days in Bangkok

    You have to be patient and just go with the flow – If you blow up and cause a fuss it will not help you – Although it relieved our boredom watching this unfold with other less patient couples! . My suggestion if all of the waiting doesn’t sound like you – pay the extra and get someone else to do the waiting!

    Thanks again,
    Wayne & Panida

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Thanks for your feedback Wayne, and congratulations! I think 2 days is definitely possible still if you get there very early on both days and have your witnesses sorted. My original one day process has been spoiled by them closing the express service so early, and by many Amphurs restricting the number of marriages to 8 per day.

      Reply

  68. Chris says

    Hello.
    Followed this guide a couple of weeks ago and everything you have mentioned was perfect! Gave me a stress free marriage so thank you. Took us 4 days in total as we weren’t in a rush. If you ask for express service after 9am it costs 800bhat with a 24 hour tunaround time. Regular service is 400 bhat and 48hours to get the stamp. Ended up registering our marriage in Phuket on the 14th of Jan.

    Thanks heaps for the help.
    Chris

    Reply

    • Jo says

      How did you register your marriage in Phuket?? My fiancé and I are going to Thailand next April and have planned only 2 nights in Bangkok and then going to Phuket which is where we would like to get married. Is it possible to arrange everything in Bangkok in 2 days and then go to Phuket for wedding and registration??
      Many thanks
      Jo

      Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hi Michelle, to get married in Thailand you need to follow the steps above set out in the post. You must get your freedom to marry document from the embassy in Bangkok and then have it certified at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. There are companies in Koh Samui who can arrange for a registrar to attend your wedding and do the official signing there, or you can have the ceremony and then go to the Amphur (district office) afterwards to do it there.

          Reply

      • Chris says

        Thank you 🙂 Just have a couple of questions. Where do i get a sworn translation of our marriage certificate? Do i need it translated from a translator and then sworn by someone else?
        And also when i get back to Australia do i need to notify the government that i am now married? I know the amphur send some information through to the Aus government but unsure if i need to notify them.
        Thanks 🙂

        Reply

  69. Q.D. says

    Hi TheThailandLife,

    Quick Question:
    1. Do i need a translator at the Amphur to register the marriage?
    or will they use english on the forms when i fill out to get married?
    We do not speak or understand any thai at all.

    2. Now is it only 8 (Thai citizen involved) marriages per day and unlimited foreigners (Canadian marrying Vietnamese) marriage?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi,

      1. It depends which Amphur you go to. The ones commonly used by foreign couples will have someone who can speak English or a translator hireable for a fee.The forms are filled out in Thai by the official.

      2. From what I am hearing it is 8 marriages per day. All marriages included, not just Thai.

      Reply

  70. Mukesh says

    Hi,

    I have a question. I am an Indian national and in a relationship with Thai girl. We both wants to get married. Last year, in December i went to Indian Embassy in Bangkok to get single certificate or affirmation to get married, but they declined to provide me and insisted to show a work permit instead. And its also a hectic to get a decent job in Thailand.

    Is it possible to land up with a job by just having exp of 1 year in recruitment? i hv done MBA also bachelors in computer applications.

    Please Help!!!

    Reply

  71. John Cody says

    Just a question about the affirmation to marry certificate from your embassy and it’s translation. How long are these documents valid? I’ve been reading 3 months, but opinions seem to vary. My documents were made just over a month ago and I want to get my marriage legalized within the next 2-3 weeks. I hope they will still be valid then as I don’t want to have to start the process again. I read somewhere that some offices prefer they were issued within the last 30 days, but that was not confirmed as fact.

    On a related matter, I am a dual citizen. The passport I am using in Thailand is not the same passport I used to obtain a freedom to marry certificate. I hope the amphoe doesn’t require my original passport and a copy of the visa. Can I just present the certified copy of the front page of my passport that was done by my embassy to the amphoe? Because the last thing I would want to occur is an official asking me: “well, so you have two passports, why don’t you have a freedom of marriage certificate from the country that issued the passport you are using to live in Thailand?” The answer being that that particular country makes it much more difficult to obtain said document, that’s why.

    Of course, only a by the book official would even make such a demand. However, after asking around it remains unclear as to whether an original passport or just it’s copy has to be produced and the same for the visa. If just a copy were required, I could of course just produce a copy of the visa or entry stamp from passport B along with a copy of the front page of passport A.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi John, as I understand it, the document is valid for 3 months from date of issue.

      Regarding your passport dilemma: I only remember having to show a copy of my passport, not my visa. Don’t worry too much about this. I think the issuing country is irrelevant. For the sake of argument, you could go out of Thailand and come back in on the other passport and get a 30-day entry stamp on the passport for which the affirmation was issued, so what would it matter?

      Reply

        • John Cody says

          OK so yesterday I went to Bang Rak and an official spotted the issue with my dual nationality. They asked to see my visa and entry stamp as they did for everyone else and for that they needed the original passport.

          They suggested I needed to get a stat dec (also known as a notarized copy) from the embassy that issued the original marriage documents stating that I am a dual citizen and I carry two passports, translated into Thai but no need to have it certified at the MFA as that has already been done.

          So I did that, but it cost me another 900 Baht. Now I have an appointment to get married next week.

          However, the official also mentioned the need to bring along a copy of my work permit. That’s a weird requirement. Although I used to work in Thailand and therefore have a copy of my old work permit and although I am on a non-B multi entry now, I’m in Thailand for business and don’t yet work for a new Thai employer hence I don’t have a current valid work permit. I might start working for one of my business partners soon but that’s an entirely different matter and I don’t see the relevance in needing a work permit to getting married anyway.

          If it comes up I’ll explain why I don’t have a current one, but could it be that they just want to check the spelling of my name in Thai, which incidentally was misspelled on that work permit?

          If so, I might as well bring along a copy of my business card, which has Thai on it with the correct Thai rendering of my name.

          Reply

  72. Will says

    Hello!
    I am American and my fiancée is Cambodian and we plan to marry in Thailand in March 2016. I have one question about obtaining a certified copy of divorce certificate. Is it possible to obtain a certified copy of divorce certificate from the state the divorce was granted in USA without return to USA to obtain a copy? Would like to use that expensive round-trip ticket for our honeymoon.

    Reply

    • Naomi says

      Hi Will,

      I went to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok in December and I was informed as of 2013, Cambodians can no longer get married in Thailand due to the non cooperation of both governments, so the embassy worker claimed. I checked this with several legal services in a Bangkok who confirmed that the law has indeed changed. Getting married in Cambodia is a long drawn out process. Might I suggest getting the relevant documents and doing it in the U.S.

      My partner is Cambodian and we are trying to register our marriage in Japan as Cambodia is a complete nightmare.

      Reply

      • iris says

        Hello there! For those who are having troubles thé usual marriage requirements I suggest you consider getting married in Singapore. I am from thé Philippines, my husband from France, we got married in Singapore December 2015. Certificate of freedom to marry is not à requirement there, and thé process is pretty straightforward and inexpensive.

        Reply

  73. scott says

    Does anyone have any recent experience about registering their marriage at Bangrak or the Phayathai office on Ari Soi 2? My girlfriend called both offices today and both said that they cannot provide a witness and translator and that we have to organise by ourselves.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Bangrak used to offer the witness and translation as a separate service but it seems this has changed. Any Thai person who speaks English can translate for you; it’s simply a case of explaining what the official is saying. The witnesses I’m not sure about how you can get around this. Any Thai person with an ID card can be a witness.

      Reply

      • scott says

        Just to let you know we registered our marriage at Bangrak on Thursday and the process was very smooth. Doors opened at 8.00am and we officially married at 8.45am. Not too busy and the staff was very helpful.

        I’ve had the certificate translated and approved at Chaeng Wattana but does anyone know the process to notify the British Embassy in Bangkok as there doesn’t seem to be any information on their website?

        Reply

        • Matt says

          Hi Scott,

          Great to hear it was smooth at Bangrak, me and my fiance will be heading there in the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed). We were also wondering about getting “sworn translations” in order for the certificate to be accepted in the UK. We thought perhaps it had to be at an Embassy, but you said you managed to get it at Chaeng Wattana. What is that – another Amphur? And what do you mean when you say approved?

          Thanks! Matt

          Reply

          • scott says

            After receiving the marriage certificate from Bangrak I had the certificate translated into English and sent to Chaengwattana Immigration for the legalistion stamp as this is the requirement from the British Embassy. I now need to send the legalised certificate to the British Embassy to register our marriage. However I can’t find any info on the Embassy’s website on how to do it.

            Reply

  74. Salanya says

    Hi there ! I have one more question . I used to live in USA for 4 years but I over stay tho . I and my boyfriend are planing to get married while I still was in USA but then my mom got sick so I had to come back to Thailand ASAP . I came back like 6 months ago but now my boyfriend wants me to go back to USA so bad so we were planing gonna get married in Thailand next month but the thing is he is only 21 years old and he used to work in Thai restaurant which they paid him under table so he doesn’t have any w-2 or income tax to prove that he can support me ? So what can I do ??? Can he lets his mom cosign it ? I been calling more than 15 company in Thailand and they all said the same thing that he need to show his income tax .. If he doesn’t have it he can’t apply me back to USA !! 🙁 can u help me figure it out ? By the way I’m Thai and he is American .. Thank you so much

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I really have no idea about American immigration law. The best thing would be for your BF to call the US government helpline and get advice from someone who knows. If you overstayed the first time, I think you will have a problem getting back in. From what I understand, you should have married before you left, and that would have solved the returning after overstaying issue you now have.

      Reply

  75. Chichi says

    Hi, would like to know whether I can get the affirmation of freedom to marry outside Thailand and have it certified by Thai consulate in same country. This is because my country has no Embassy within Thailand and I happen to work here.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      It isn’t a requirement that you get the affirmation inside of Thailand, it’s just the rule made by the majority of embassies. If your country has no embassy here, then to get the affirmation outside of Thailand is the only possibility.

      Reply

  76. Matt says

    Thanks for this really useful post. Myself and my fiance (both British) actually live and work in Cambodia, and are getting married in Cambodia in April. We have tried to negotiate our way through the Cambodian system, and have decided it is either impossible or just too difficult. So we are going to shoot over to Thailand to get legally married, and then have our own ceremony in Cambodia. One question though:

    We already have marriage affidavits from the British Embassy in Phnom Penh. Will these be valid in Thailand, or will we need to get another set from the British Embassy in Bangkok?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Matt. As far as I am aware, you are required to get the affidavits from the embassy inside the country in which you intend to marry. I’d give the embassy a quick ring to confirm this, but I’m pretty sure.

      Reply

      • Sharmaine says

        Hi the thailand life

        Its me Sharmaine again, I am trying to call philippine embassy in bangkok but canoot get hold off them. I just want to ask if I need to make an appointment to the CLCCM or the affirmation to married.

        I want to ask help also if what steps do I need to take, is it the same steps as stated above?

        We are planning to get married as soon as everything is scheduled.

        Many thanks and kind regards
        Sharmaine

        Reply

        • dez says

          hi sharmaine,

          i just want to ask if you already managed to get an affirmation to get married in phil embassy im also a filipina and we are planning to get married in thailand this coming may anyhow i hope you can advise me how is the procedure and how long does it take to be released thanks alot

          Reply

          • Robin B Mateo says

            hi dez

            just want to ask were you able to finished the papers in two days? im a filipino my girlfriend and o plan to get married in thailand this oct.. but she try to call the phil. embassy in thailand and it says thay we need 10 days to finished the document and get married.. i want to know your expirience.. thanks

            Reply

      • Sharmaine says

        Hi Thailand life ,
        I am from Philippines I can tell that you’ve been being too helpful about marriage in Thailand so I take guts to ask some questions also.

        My partner is from UK, he’s been married before to a Thai national but it was about 10years ago so he don’t know anymore if something has changed. I would just like to ask if how long will it takes for us to get married and register the marriage to Thailand as well as to our both countries? The problem is he has a job and he can’t be away for too long. And in my part are they going to ask me some additional papers except the requirements that they posted like cenomar,affidavit of consent(since I am 20) and etc. Are they not going to ask about jobs or employments like that?

        We intend to get marry next month.

        Kind regards,
        Sharmaine

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hi Sharmaine,

          Has your husband finalised his divorce in Thailand? He will need those papers in addition to the freedom to marry document from the UK embassy in Bangkok. With the correct documentation, you could get your marriage done in Bangkok in 48-72 hours. It used to be quicker, but as you may have read from the comments, many district offices are only conducting 8 marriages a day now due to the volume they are having to deal with.

          You will need to follow the standard procedure, which is to obtain your freedom to marry from your embassy in Bangkok. You should also make sure you have copies of your passport and ID card. Also makes sure that any personal documents that are not in English are translated to Thai. Let me know if you have any further questions.

          Reply

          • david gilbert says

            Can’t see how to post on your excellent web site, so just to say tomorrow 8-30am interview uk embassy for affirmation cert, then I’m doing my best to do it in a day recent posts suggest express 24 hour turnaround if that’s the case wonder if a sweetener may speed it up? I’ll let you know how I get on, ps your website is much more informative, than the embassy website. Pops. The going rate in pattaya is now 15 thousand Baht and you still have to go (and pay) for affirmation thanks Dave

            Reply

            • TheThailandLife says

              Hey David, you just did 🙂 When you post a comment it gets queued for approval. I usually get to them within a couple of hours. Good luck with your Embassy appointment. By the way, what do you have to pay 15k Baht for?

              Reply

              • David Gilbert says

                Update, embassy done by 8-30 am came out touted waving affirmation cert. You need translation 300 baht? Ok, come out of embassy turn right 100 yes to traffic lights turn right 100 yards look for 7 11 on opposite side cross road (an adventure in itself) in between coffee and cake shop and 7 11 small soi 20 yards down on right side very small travel shop lovely young lady very good english offered to do all the foreign office stuff for 3,000bht accepted 2,500 bht now bearing in mind a few people on this site have said express is taking 2 or 3 days I went for it, she will be posting them Tuesday so I’ll update you then. Now if you take into account 800 baht for express and another 500 or 1000 bht waiting time for my taxi bargain, left had nice coffee and cake next door and was home by 12 o clock, agents want 15000 for wedding docs in pattaya basically you still have to go to the embassy yourself and pay the 3000 bht on top of the 15000 bht fee and all their doing is probably posting to agent in bangkok and then presenting them to you, ive worked out I have saved about 12,500 bht plus a he’ll of a lot of hassle, thanks to your site….

                Reply

  77. Gracie says

    Hello to you all and many congratulations to all those who managed to get married. My fiance and i didn’t make it at all. This was attributed to the fact that we were both foreigners and that my embassy, Kenyan embassy, had its short comings with assistance mainly because i think i was the first to want to marry in Thailand.

    Firstly despite making time for express service, my fiances divorce translation was said to be a lot, therefore more time was needed to verify it. We were forced into regular time that took three whole days.

    What blocked the whole marrying aspect was the lack of a statutory order from my Kenyan Embassy. I really don’t blame them, i really think they have never married a Kenyan before.

    But all the information on this blog is of great essence and i do thank you for it even if it didn’t work for me and David.

    All the best to those still undergoing the three steps one thing is for sure its doable.

    From Gracie and David

    Reply

  78. Linda W says

    Hi,

    My fiance and I are going to marry in Thailand in June. I am Malaysian and he is a British National. One problem with my fiance is he has no divorce certificate from his previous marriage. His ex wife divorced him in 1990 when he was working in Brunei. His wife doesnt want to provide any single detail about their divorce. How to solve this matter? Can his daughters be the witnesses and affirmed has divorced?

    Thànks.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Linda, do you mean he was divorced in Brunei or in the UK when he was working in Brunei? Either way if your fiance was divorced then records of this would have been filed somewhere. He will need this proof. Can he contact a lawyer in Brunei to investigate this for him and obtain the deed of separation.

      Reply

  80. Thavry says

    Hello The Thailand Life.

    your post really helpful, i am Cambodian and my boyfriend is South African, my question are.

    do we both have to our embassy in Thailand for affirmative document( free to married letter ? or can we bring from our own countries and translated it. so we save more time. we can only to the the office then translate to Thai and register?

    Thanks you for getting back

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Thary, you are supposed to obtain it from the embassy in Thailand. However, as you might have read in the comments some embassies don’t issue the document in Bangkok, so check first by giving them a call.

      Reply

  81. Valentina says

    Thank you so much for such a valuable article! I just wanted to check if you believe it would be possible to have legal wedding in Thailand even though my country has no embassy in Bangkok?.. It seems that in this case it is not possible to get married there.. My country does not have embassies in many countries in south-east Asia, I don’t wanna believe that my dream wedding on the beach cannot happen only for this reason 🙁

    Thank you guys!

    Reply

  82. Carl B says

    Good Afternoon, I’m British and I have just recently legally married my Thai wife in Thailand, however the next step of our relationship will be to apply for the UK spouse visa, however I’m aware I need to get my marriage certificate and my wifes ‘name change’ certificate into English, but my next question is, will that be enough evidence for the visa or will I have to go back to Ministry of foreign affairs in Bangkok to get the translation authorised again? also one last question do I need to register the marriage at the British embassy in Bangkok or at a registry office in the UK or not at all, all I can find in my research is what to do before the registration of marriage and nothing really after we have signed the register so any help will be greatly appreciated.
    kind regards

    Carl

    P.s thank you very much for your step by step guide to getting married too, it was a great help!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Carl,

      1. No, you don’t need the translation certified by the MOF. You just need to use a translator that is accredited by the MOF. They stamp the translation with an official stamp that says just that.

      2. No, you don’t need to register the marriage with the Embassy or in the UK. Your Thai marriage is automatically recognised by UK law.

      Congratulations and best of luck with the visa!

      Reply

  83. Divorcee says

    I’m a Divorcee from Malaysia who would like to marry an Indian citizen guy who works in Malaysia. He is younger than me. Our love doesnt get blessing from both family so we plan to get married at Thailand.

    Please briefly explain how we can get thru this marriage. How long it takes for us to get the document? How if after our marriage, he need to get marry at India to fulfill his family wish as our marriage gona be secret forever.

    please advice me. I’m very confused?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Just follow the steps in this post. Get your affirmations from your respective embassies 9in Bangkok if possible), get these translated to Thai, then certified at the Ministry of Foreigns affairs, make an appointment at an Amphur (district office) to get married, take 2 witnesses with you are you’ll be fine. Read through the comments on this post and you’ll see answers to a number of questions from people who have been through the same process.

      Reply

      • Emma says

        Sorry to piggyback this comment. Bit of an emergency, does anyone know about new rules with the Vietnamese embassy? I’m British trying to marry my Vietnamese fiancé, my paperwork done all ok today, but the Vietnamese won’t stamp his affidavit. All the paperwork is correct from Vietnam and certified translated etc. but they are saying he doesn’t live here so they don’t have the authority ?! Anyone know anything ? Thanks loads

        Reply

  84. Sarah says

    Dear Thailand Life,

    Gotta keep the Thank Yous current – THANK YOU!!! Incredibly concise information, and yes – completely do-able as of today, 24 March 2016 (my date of blissful matrimony)!!

    I’m a USA female wedded in Chiang Mai to a Thai national. The process was easy, smooth, and just as your original post instructs.

    Seems CM does not see as many couples as BKK: The MFA* (step 3) clearly accepts express service by NOON, and it took only one hour to complete (perfect for taking a lunch break). The Amphoe office was packed (standing room only) but amazingly that step only took one hour as well!

    Everyone is sabai sabai and HAPPY up here in CM. 🙂 <3

    Kob Kuhn maak ka!

    Sarah

    * It actually took me longer than one hour to complete step 3 because I chose to have my friend be my "official" translator (this is completely acceptable in Chiang Mai. It's posted at the MFA office: ANYONE can do it.) The MFA in Chiang Mai is SO JAI DEE – they spent one hour checking out the translation my friend produced, made corrections in pencil (of everything on my Thai translation document) and then told me I should take it back to my friend to fix on her computer. Mind you, the entire document had to be properly re-translated and re-formatted, which took another 1.5 hours of scrambling. I was able to bring back the new translation within the same day, and they kept my original place in line (due to having already paid for express service). Five minutes later, the updated translation was approved and I went on my way to the Amphoe! Amazing service, considering they literally translated my Affirmation (properly) for FREE…(and my friend was thanked with an amazing sushi dinner and promises of personal English assistance for life)!
    Jai yin yin, we lived happily ever after.

    Reply

  87. Steve says

    Hi,

    Thank you for all the information, very helpful. Unfortunatly I was unable to do the express service and pick up same day because it’s only between 8am-9am, not 12. I had everything ready at 10:40 but was unable to get it back on the same day. Have I misunderstood something or has it changed recently?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Steve, they are always shifting the goal posts, so to speak. It used to be 12, so they’ve changed that now. I just think the volume they are dealing with is increasing and they have had to change this.

      Reply

      • Steve says

        Yeah that’s what I thought. States clearly on the form when you get there that it’s only 8-9 for same day. This kind of renders the whole thing impossible to do in one day :/ shame! Thank you again for all the info, been a massive help.

        Reply

        • Ian says

          Hi Steve, as discussed at the mfa. Yes it really is a two day service now. Get your translations on day 1 and then authenticate on day 2 with express service. For all those others intending to use this service be advised.. we turned up at 6.30 am and we’re number 12 online. After going through the process at 9 am we were finally given our change and a receipt being told our documents would be available in 4 hours. I asked if this is the quickest available service and am willing to pay to get the documents quicker but they said no this was the fastest service available.
          I would recommend people just do the necessary paperwork at your leisure as the express system does not really seem to do much more these days. The regular service is just two working days.

          Reply

          • eric says

            We managed to get the “express” service last week but still only got our documents by 4pm ish. The next day we tried about 5 actual marriage registrars in bangkok and all of them required us to book in advance apart from the Banrak office who told us to arrive at 7am the next day. We arrived at 6:58am and were the 9th couple in the queue. Unfortunately they only take 8 walk in couples a day (they forgot to mention that to us the day before). Luckily we were able to book an appointment for the next day. (Even that one was held up while a Thai celebrity couple swanned in with complete with camera crew and was seen to immediately, while we had already been waiting for two hours having arrived on time for our 8am appointment). All in all it has taken 6 days because we also hit a one day public holiday where all the offices were shut. Still managed to break a smile when we were finally married though 😉 At the moment, it seems like 3 days would be an absolute minimum.

            Reply

  88. Mark says

    Hi, I am an irish citizen married to a Thai Girl two years ago and we have a foreign ‘Marriege Certificate’.
    Last month we went to immigration office to get ‘Non Immigration O Visa’ but officer asked me to get stamped on our Marriage Certificate from ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Bangkok office on Watthana Road.

    Please help and give more information, which office we should go to get stampe on our ‘Marriage Certificate’ and what document I need.

    Next month I will come bangkok on Friday morning and is it possible to be done in one day on friday because we are not living in Bangkok.

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Mark, I’m pretty sure you’ll need it translated into Thai before you get it stamped, because the officer reading it probably won’t speak English. The address you need is listed in this post. Go straight in, up the escalator and you can ask at the help desk in front of you. You’ll then need to get a ticket and join the queue. To get this done in one day you’ll need to be there before 9am.

      Reply

      • Mark says

        Thanks a million for reply and information. We already translated ‘Marriage Certificate’ into Thai language.

        Hope I have correct details
        1. Address : The Legalisation Division, Department of Consular Affairs, 123 Chaeng Wattana Road, Laksi District, Bangkok 10210
        2. 3rd floor – up the escalator, turn right on Help Desk
        3. Marriage Certificate, Passport, Thai ID
        4. Do we need house book and two witnesses?

        Thanks in advance.

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          I’m not entirely sure on the process here because this is a slightly different case in that you are seeking an authorization on a marriage certificate rather than a stamp for your affirmation. I would take a copy of your house book. You won’t need witnesses as this isn’t a marriage in a district office. Always overcompensate for documents. Take as many as you can! Take photocopies too so that you don’t need to mess about on the day. Always sign and date photocopies.

          Reply

          • Mark says

            Thanks a million for information. Do you know any company who can help us to get it done because in Thailand if any expert help will be very easy only have to some service charge to avoid any hassle. It something missing i have stay in Bkk and it will make more expensive if i pay to a person. Hope you understand what I mean. Thanks

            Reply

  89. David says

    I have just been told by the British Embassy that my address and those of the people I gave for reference must be in UK not Thailand. The registrar will not accept Thai addresses. I have no current UK address.
    Is this correct?

    Reply

  90. Lj says

    Hi I see your post and you are amazing helping people. I am from the uk and I am marrying my egyptian boyfriend in thailand. Do we have to go to the British embassy and the egyptian embassy to get affirmation what we require to marry. Any help will be fantastic.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You will have to go to the British embassy in Bangkok to get your affirmation. If there is an Egyptian embassy in Bangkok, your boyfriend will need to do the same. However, he should call his embassy in London to check on this, because as you will see in the comments, there have been instances where certain nationalities have been unable to obtain the affirmation in Bangkok from their embassy and have had to do it in their native country.

      Reply

      • ahmed says

        if i may reply this one too , iam egyptian and yes there is an embassy in thailand on ekkamai 63 , you can get the letter from there it takes one hour or so and you will need a proof that you r single before they can hand you the letter , i had my id that said iam single and it was enough

        Reply

  91. Rachel says

    Hi,

    Thank you so much for the excellent information on this site. After being quoted well over £500 (without embassy fees), we are going to go to Bangkok for 3days and do this ourselves. However we intending to get an Amphur representative to come to our wedding at Kho Samiui a few days later to legalise the wedding. I have s couple of questions;

    1) would we just take the documents needed to register our wedding to Kho Samui with us or do we need to had them in to the registrar office for them to send to their office in Kho Samui?

    2) once we have done the documentation at the wedding, do we need to return to Bangkok and hand this to anyone?

    3) can we use UK residents as our witnesses?

    Sorry to asks I much but there is not a great deal of detailed information on this, even on the Thai government website.

    Thank you,

    Rachel

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Rachel,

      1. I don’t know how this works. I don’t know of anyone who has approached a local Amphur and tried to arrange the office to come to the wedding themselves. This is usually done through a wedding company.

      2. No. Once you have been marriage by a district office and have your certificate that is it – completed.

      3. No. You must use Thai nationals. The Thai nationals will need to present their ID cards.

      Reply

      • dez says

        hi thailand life,

        i read your post and im very happy to know the procedures in getting married in thailand its really a big help for us who wants to get marriage easily without too much hassle. we are planning to get married in thailand this coming may and we are already preparing the documents we will bring in thailand but just today a friend of mine told me that once all requirements are complete and submitted for marriage registration in thailand we need to wait for 2 to 3 months is it true ? there is really such a long procedure to follow now i hope you can advise me about this matter coz really it bothers me alot thank you very much

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          That is not true. Please read through the comments and you will see that many people here have married successfully within 1-3 days. Where getting your affirmations from your respective embassies is concerned, the time that takes will depend on the rules and turnaround time of your embassy, though usually it is just a case of making an appointment and attending for a couple of hours.

          Reply

          • dez says

            hi the Thailand life,

            Thank you very much for your prompt reply you really encourage us that we can have our marriage done in Thailand. I guess we just need to prepare all documents that we will need in our respective embassy anyhow i will keep you posted as well as the other couples who are also following your blog again thank you very much

            Reply

  92. Md.Nazmul Hussain says

    Hi this is Nazmul I live in USA.My birth place Bangladeshi.My girlfriend she live in Bangladesh so we both of decided to get married in Thailand .*we just come Thailand as tourist so we can get married as a tourist ..?
    *what kind of document we have to provide …?
    *How much cost marriage & registered..?
    *How long it’s to get marriage certificate…?

    Reply

  93. Gray says

    Thanks for the detailed instructions. I hope to be following them in the not too distant future.

    I have a question though that I can’t see an answer to in the article or subsequent posts. Can I get the process completed up to and including the Thai Consular Affairs bit in May but using an affirmation stating we will be getting married in August? Or does the affirmation/consular approval expire after a certain time meaning I need to complete the steps closer together time-wise?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Gray, don’t quote me on this but I have a feeling it is 90 days. Hopefully someone still subscribed to these comments can clarify this. I can’t find the information on the MOF website but I’m sure I was told this previously.

      Reply

      • Gloria says

        Hi TheThailandLife, I am American & have Affirmation of Freedom to Marry from my embassy in Philippines (because I’m traveling the world so it was convenient to get it there at the time) but plan to marry in Thailand. Do you think they will accept that affirmation letter since it IS from my government…or do you think they will make me get one from my embassy in Thailand location?

        Thank you in advance for your time and response!

        Cafe Con Leche

        Reply

  94. Enrique says

    Hello,

    First off, thanks for all of this information. Does anyone have any current information on the process for a Filipina? Some site say Filipinos need to wait 10 days before they can marry in Thailand. While other site have said nothing to this affect. I am Canadian and my fiance is from the Philippines.

    Plus there have been some Filipinos who have asked this question within the comments sections BUT there have been no answers. I am happy to provide an answer but that will not be till the end of 2016!

    If the author or any readers who have married a Filipino National in Thailand has concrete information, please let us know. We will also try and contact the Philippines Embassy in Thailand.

    Thanks in advance!

    Reply

  95. Jen says

    Is the affirmation of freedom the same as the affidavit of legal capacity to marriage? I am a from the Philippines and my fiance is from the US and we are planning to get married in Thailand on September. Thank you very much!

    Reply

  96. Amanat says

    Hello!we want to get married in thailand but we have some issues iam live in india nd my boyfriend also indian but he live in usa from 2013 he is green card holder yet he have no citizenship.
    So he need to marriage confimation from usa embassy or indian embassy?

    Reply

  97. Julia says

    Hello,
    I’m from the Philippines and my fiancè is from Burma/Myanmar. Actually, I’m half Burmese and half Filipina, but I’m holding a Filipino passport and I grew up in Burma. Since it’s extremely difficult to get married in our country, we are planning to get married in Thailand before the end of this month. I’m thankful you wrote this post, because we’ve been hopeless for weeks since we know nothing about getting married in Thailand.
    In your post, you mentioned an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry in Thailand. Do we obtain it from our embassies in Thailand or from our country? After we translate it to Thai, do we need to translate it back to our native languages? Oh, and do our witnesses have to be from Thailand or from our country?
    We’re really desperate right now and we hope everything turns out okay in Thailand. I hope I didn’t ask too many questions. Thank you so much!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Julia, if you read through the comments you will see feedback from other Filipinos; I think someone mentioned that you have to be inside the country for 10 days first, but double check on that. The affirmation of freedom to marry is obtained from your respective embassies inside Thailand. Yes, you will need to translate it, but not back again, as the original will already be in your native language. Witnesses have to be Thai nationals, as stated in the post. All the best!

      Reply

  98. Duncan Scobie says

    Quick question: if myself (UK citizen) and my Thai GF do the above this constitutes marriage i.e. the MFA provide us with a ‘marriage certificate’ suitable for use with a spouse visa application. We don’t have to have a ceremony in Thailand do we? As we plan to do that upon arrival in the UK. Thanks in advance.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      The marriage certificate is issued by am Amphur (local district office) not the MFA. At the MFA you will need to present your affirmation of freedom to marry from your embassy and other documents. Please see the post for details on what happens at the MFA. When you have your marriage certificate, this can be used to apply for a spouse visa. A ceremony isn’t necessary; you need only to get the marriage certificate from a district office.

      Reply

  99. Jeffry says

    hi, a lot of excellent, useful information here. as of today, the 9th of may, 2016, are all the instructions in the post still valid and up to date? a friend, who recently got married (usa citizen to thai citizen) advised me to be at the MFA by 6:30 a.m. in the morning. he allowed that they only processed a set number of applicants per day for express service and that agencies were able to supersede the que. anything you could pass along would be appreciated.
    thank you. j.d.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      If you look through the comments you will see some of the more recent experiences. I would advise getting there early as I heard the express service must be applied for by 9.30am now, not 12PM. You may also need to make an appointment at a district office to get married, as many are limiting it to 8 couples a day now due to high volume.

      Reply

  100. Nadia says

    Thanks for all your very useful information!!

    Do you know if it’s possible to get marriage certificate and translation legalised by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs via mail?
    We won’t have time to go back to Bangkok after our wedding, but need a legalised doc to be stamped by the Dutch embassy as well to register the marriage. Maybe there are agents that offer this service?

    Thanks,
    Nadia

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I think there probably are agents who offer this service, but I don’t know of any. I have never used an agent for anything other than the translation of a document. There’s a few agents based on the ground floor of the MFA; give a couple a call and see what they say.

      Reply

  101. Val says

    Hello,

    My husband (UK) and I (Argentine/UK) married in Argentina some 13 years ago. We would like to renew our marriage vows in Thailand. Do you know if that is possible and which documentation do we need?

    Many thanks!

    Reply

  102. Geoffrey says

    Very useful article, thank you. I’m not sure if my question should be under ‘How to get a visitor visa’ or here…

    I am coming to Thailand in June and intend to propose to my Thai girlfriend. I am 99% certain she will say yes. I would get the affirmation and authentication as described in your article. But I would plan for the marriage itself to be next January so as to give my family in UK plenty of notice and not be off doing something else.

    In the meantime, I want my GF to come to England for 3 months or so on a visit visa to meet my family and see how life is in England. I would use the plan to marry and associated documents to support the visa application (3 previous attempts to get a visit visa have failed due my girlfriend’s lack of regular income). Her reason to return to Thailand on this occasion would be to get married, hopefully convincing enough for the Visa Application Centre.

    I have a feeling my plan would unravel if the Affirmation has a limited period of validity. Is there a way around this?

    Can the Registrar be booked 7 months in advance (so as to get a receipt to show the VAC)?

    Thank you

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You wouldn’t be able to book that far ahead. It only costs 40 Baht (at most places) for the certificate, so it’s not something you can pay upfront for and get a receipt in advance. In my opinion the intention to marry won’t be an advantage for the visa. An incentive to return would be a job and a letter from your GFs boss to say the job will be held open for her return while she visits you in the UK. I can’t find a definitive answer on the affirmation validity. I would assume it is 6 months.

      Reply

      • Geoffrey says

        Thanks for that.

        My GF is the boss – of a business that is not doing well. What if we book a hotel for a traditional ceremony along the lines you describe elsewhere on this site, would a receipt from the hotel cut any ice with the VAC?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Ah, I see. This won’t be a problem then. Your GF can provide her company or sole trader registration documents for her business and that will be proof enough of an intent to return. You can be the financial sponsor for her trip and provide evidence that you have enough money to cover her flight, expenses etc. This is accepted in circumstances where the applicant does not have the funds to finance his/her own trip.

          Reply

          • Geoffrey says

            Thank you.
            Unfortunately, we have already supplied all those documents, with translations, in our previous attempts, all to no avail. They accept I have the means to sponsor her fully, but they keep harping back to her lack of regular income. This is why we are looking at another way, perhaps a definite plan (with hotel booking) for a wedding might cut it??

            Reply

            • TheThailandLife says

              This isn’t clear at all. I would seek further advice directly from the embassy. Her income doesn’t matter if you are the sponsor and have provided enough evidence that you can finance her trip. Her income also has nothing to do with whether or not she’ll return to Thailand. If her business is legitimate then that is good enough reason to return, as is having family there. Does she own land or property? Evidence of this is also a reason to return. How long are you asking for her to visit? If it’s a long time that could be an issue. Can you post the exact wording of the refusal here so I can see exactly what is being stated.

              Reply

              • Geoffrey says

                The refusal letter below is mostly about her income. The business is legitimate, we submitted her business registration documents, she has an agricultural plot of land, she has 3 daughters the youngest of whom was 17 at the time. We did ask for 5 months but that was not mentioned in their letter as being an issue. We presented ourselves as just friends on this application. Here’s the relevant section of letter which includes comments from me in square brackets …

                The decision

                I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragragh(s) V4.2 of Appendix V: Immigration Rules for Visitors because:

                You have applied for a visa in order to visit Mr Geoffrey [surname] who is a British citizen and you state is your friend. I am satisfied that you and your sponsor have met. You state Mr [my surname] will fund your trip and I have noted his ability to do so, however I must take account of your personal and economic circumstances when coming to my decision. It is your responsibility to satisfy me that your circumstances are such that if granted a visa to the UK, you will comply with all the conditions attached to such visa and that you will leave the UK on completion of the proposed visit.

                You were refused a UK visa on 25/6/15 when you intended visiting your current sponsor as you did not provide documents demonstrating your relationship, you did not provide documents showing your circumstances in Thailand or income and you had not explained the source of a large recent deposit in your bank account.

                I have noted the documents you have submitted in support of your application. You state that you are the proprietor of the [xxxx] Bar and receive a monthly income of 50,000 Baht, around £1000 at the present exchange rate of 50 Baht to the pound. You have stated in question 82 of your visa application form that you do not run the bar, this is undertaken by your mother [not true, Mum has a shop hundreds of miles away]. I have also noted the letter dated 9/7/15 from Mr [my surname] which states that you do not receive a large salary, although he has not specified your current income. You state that you own a plot of land, however, you derive no income from this land and you were previously unable to service an outstanding mortgage, so Mr [my surname] remitted funds to you for this purpose [this completely paid off the mortgage]. I also note that bank documents you have submitted do not support your stated level of income (50,000 Baht) [after paying bills not much was left]. In addition, you state that you are not in a position of sufficient capital to fund your UK journey [I had promised to pay for this], however, you can afford the costs of £25 for the bus journey from Sangthaew [!] to Bangkok and the trip across town. Based upon the details you have supplied in your visa application and description of your current and historic financial position, I am not satisfied that you are in receipt of 50,000 Baht per month as you state, your circumstances in Thailand are as you describe and you intend a genuine visit to the UK.

                Mr [my surname] states that you intend visiting his elderly mother and I have considered this compassionate aspect of your application, however, it is your intentions that are paramount in considering your visa application and I am not satisfied that this, in isolation, and in the light of the above merits exercising discretion in your favour.

                I am not satisfied you have addressed the reasons for your previous visa refusal, specifically concerning your circumstances in Thailand. I am therefore not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry as a visitor and will leave the UK at the end of your visit and your application falls for refusal under paragraph V4.2 of Appendix V.

                Future Applications …

                … In relation to this decision there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.

                Reply

                • TheThailandLife says

                  Thanks for posting that.

                  So essentially the refusal is based on not having addressed the first refusal.

                  The key thing when applying for any type of visa is that everything you say must be backed up with evidence. So if you earn 50k Baht a month but can only prove 20k don’t say you earn 50k. From the officer’s POV, a level of income has been stated but not substantiated with evidence. They expected to see this evidence on a second application, but didn’t and are therefore assuming this was a lie. Therefore, the officer cannot be sure that the application is of genuine intent.

                  There is also confusion over the ownership of the business and who runs it; though you say you did submit business documents, so you could challenge that. Make sure the documents are translated.

                  A new application would have to iron out these issues by providing proof of who owns the business, what salary she earns and details of the account where earnings are paid in and out, and I would assume who will run the business when she is on holiday.

                  When a visa is refused based on lack of evidence surrounding personal circumstances, you can’t just apply under alternative circumstances. They view the previous refusal and expect to see the issues addressed.

                  In my opinion the only way forward would be, if that is you can’t prove her income and provide the evidence required to address the issues on the first refusal, to get the help of a law firm like Siam Legal. I’m quite sure you will struggle to get a visa without someone who understands immigration law and what can and can’t be challenged.

                  Reply

  103. Brian Chesher says

    Dear thethailandlife,

    Thanks for the guide. I’m Canadian and my fiance is Vietnamese. We are both able to get our “Letter of Affirmation of Freedom to Marry” from our current locations and have them translated into English. That seems more efficient then waiting until we are in Bangkok. Do you know if this is ok, of do we both need to visit our Embassies with all of our documents (ie: Single Status Certificate obtained from your hometown’s district office, Household Registration Certificate, Birth Certificate, ID Card for Vietnamese) and get those created and stamped in Bangkok? I appreciate any help you can give.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You need to get the letter from your respective embassies in Bangkok. This is the (annoying) rule. You only need your passport to get this from your embassy. If you are divorced then you will need the decree absolute to prove this.

      Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          I’m not sure of the requirements for Vietnamese nationals. My experience as a UK national was as above. I assume for ASEAN countries ID card and house document will be standard requirements.

          Reply

          • Brian Chesher says

            It does seem that way. It really is difficult to get clear information. I just spoke with someone at the Thai embassy here in Dubai and they said we can get letters of affirmation of freedom in our countries and that is all we need. A little frustrating. But thanks again for your on the ground info.

            Reply

            • TheThailandLife says

              Hi Brian,

              This is the official stance:

              Any foreign national wishing to marry in Thailand must obtain an “affirmation of freedom
              to marry” document. The affirmation must be made in person at the Consular Section of
              the British Embassy in Bangkok. It is not possible to obtain the affirmation from the United
              Kingdom in advance.

              Read more here.

              Reply

  104. Jack missakian says

    Hello , thank for alot of information just a quick question i am lebanese and the girl i want to get marry has an amerian passport , we live in lebanon , do you think we need any papers from lebanon? We only need our passports for this?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You will need to visit the Lebanese and American embassy websites and see what guidance they offer for nationals getting married in Thailand. You could also call the respective embassies in Bangkok. The requirements on the Thai side are as laid out in this post, but the requires for obtaining an affirmation from your embassy differs between countries.

      Reply

  105. muhammad says

    hi i am muhammad from pakistan i live in united Arab emirate i want to know what documents are required to get the affirmations from Pakistani embassy in thailand and unmarried certificate required for that?

    Reply

  106. Stephan says

    Hi

    This web site is great!

    Do both of you have to go to The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to legalise the Affirmation? Or can one person take both people’s documents to hand in and pick up?

    Thank you!

    Reply

    • Peter A Cromie says

      I’ve UK divorcee about 1984/5 and a Vietnamese Divorce 6/8 years ago is it necessary to get both documents certified at respective embassy?

      My intended is Cambodian there her doc certified at that embassy

      Reply

      • bonny says

        Hi Peter, I’d really appreciate an update – did you and your Cambodian partner succeed in getting married in Thailand? I’m a UK citizen with a Cambodian partner and had looked into marriage in Thailand to try to avoid paying corrupt Cambodian government bribes – but it looked impossible as the Cambodian Embassy refuse to issue the affidavit to Cambodians wanting to marry foreigners… any update?! Hope all went well for you.

        Reply

      • Sophie says

        Hi, quick question, I sent my affirmation certified and translated into English translation to the MOFA thru the mail, they (MOFA) mailed it back to me legalized with the MOFA stamp will they accept this at the amphur without a Thai translation? Or should I translate the affirmation into Thai and send it again to the MOFA?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          If they leaglized that copy then that should be fine. If you want to get a translation, you won’t need it stamped again because the translator will translate the stamp (ask and make sure they do).

          Reply

  107. ahmed says

    so here is my experience so anyone can use …
    i was in Thailand on may 18th till the 29th , got married to my canadian girl , from my experience it can never be done in one day , or maybe thats in my case but here is how it went
    1- embassies open at 9 and to get the letter translated and legalized from the MFA you have to submit your application there before 9
    2- to get a queue at the MFA you have to be there before 7 coz it gets crowded
    3- after u finish submitting and paying they give u back the stuff after 3 hours or more of the time you got on your receipt

    so it will take at least 2 days , i went there at 6 30 , left at 4 30 because at 12 they called my name saying i have a mistake in the thai translation so i had to wait for another 3 hours after i went and corrected my thai translation

    also if ur marrying in bangkok make sure to get a copy of your passport translated to thai and legalized because the next day when i went to the KHET or the registry office they asked for it , i went to 2 offices and called another 6 of the 50 offices in bangkok

    also the rule of 310 days after divorce applies to foreigners and thai people and thats what i have been told , but the thai law says you can waive that by going to a thai hospital and make a pregnancy test and get a paper that says your not pregnant in thai

    we didnt have enough time so we thought about trying another office in pattaya , and it worked there without the passport translation and legalization

    they literally said that the thai law is about marriage had no certain explanation so each office gets it on its own way and you will have to satisfy the one your applying to , the lady at one of the offices in bangkok showed us many cases of marriage that had the passport translated and legalized

    so to make the story short , if you r staying in bangkok dont risk it and translate a copy of your passport and legalize it too while ur legalizing the embassy’s letter

    if u dont have time then pattaya is only 2 hours away and they only ask for the letter , and of course you will need a translator and 2 witnesses , the translator can be one of them

    good luck and i hope i was of any help 🙂

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Thanks for reporting back Ahmed. Indeed, one day is pretty much impossible now. I wrote this post some time ago and the processing time at the MOF has changed since then. But two days, as you have proved, is very possible.

      Reply

      • Ahmed says

        You are welcome, i hope my report helps others their dream come true and marry in thailand, i think the rule of resdincy is weird and i think people can email any of thai law offices, they speak english and will confirm if there is a new rule, they answer for free and only will take the fee if you will use them to help you marry, i also think the new rule might only be in bangkok, so please when you reply people tell them to contact any lawyer for free to make sure of the new rules because people work at khet rarely speak english, thank you so much for the support bro, take care

        Reply

      • dez says

        hi,
        i just want to ask for clarification i read that there is a rule of 310 days for divorced people what do you mean by that coz my partner is a divorcee but he is divorced for almost 30 years do you think that rule will be a cause of delay for our marriage we intend to get married by august i hope you can advise me on that thanks alot

        Reply

        • Ahmed says

          Hi dez, the law says you can get married only after 310 of your divorce, so no you dont have a problem since your partner has been divorced for 30 years, but he has to take the certificate to his embassy, so they can give him the letter of affermative to marry, they will state that he is divorced and for how long in the letter which will be translated to thai and legalized, so have no worry but take all your documents with you, good luck and congrats

          Reply

  108. paul says

    sir were both Filipino and we’ve planned to get married in Thailand.my fiance is in Canada right now,she is divorse,what should we do,how do we do that English translation.can you help us and give advise pertaining into getting marriage in Thailand ..thank you for this site

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Paul, please read through the post and the comments. All the instructions are there. Some other Filipino people have left their experiences in the comments section too; read these because there may be specific requirements for Filipinos. At the very least you both need to get your freedom to marry document from your Embassy in Thailand and have them translated. Your finance will need to show her divorce certificate to obtain hers. Then go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have it certified. You can then make an appointment to get married at a district office.

      Reply

      • Scott says

        Fantastic step by step guide which has helped me immensely.

        Few tips for new players:

        It appears the express service is only valid for those before 9am. I arrived at 9:30am and was told express only available before 9am.

        Make sure you get there for 6am if you want to be seen early, there are 2 lines, . Make sure you stand in the right hand queue on the far side from Black Canyon coffee. When they open at 7am you will be given a ticket with a number prior to heading up stairs. This is like a pre ticket which you exchange when up stairs when they do a quick check of your documents. You will then be given the electronic ticket where you wait to pay and hand over your documents.

        I got my translation done at the ministry of foreign affairs, 500 baht and only 30 mins from start to finish.
        Make sure you have a clear transaltion of your partners name in Thai.

        Reply

    • rabecca says

      Hi We are a british couple who are getting married in koh smaui in may, we land in Bangkok on the 14th april (which I believe this is the thai water festival – is this a bank holiday and will people be working so we can still get our legal paperwork done?) we will arrive on the Saturday in Bangkok and leave Bangkok to head to koh samui on the Thursday. will this be enough time to get everything sorted? also is there any advice that anyone can offer us??

      Also I understand the express legal side cost £599 is this still applicable and also does that pay for the person to marry you in koh samui

      All help would be greatly appreciated

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You can only get an English marriage certificate if you marry in Britain. Your marriage is automatically recognised under UK law, so just get a translation of your Thai marriage certificate when in Thailand. You used to be able to deposit your foreign marriage documents with the General Register Office (GRO), but they stopped this some time ago: see here:

      Reply

  111. Claudio says

    First, thanks for the great post! But I strongly suggest you edit it to prominently warn everyone to carefully read the comments. They might miss relevant updates, as I did.

    My Thai fiance and I (USA citizen) tried this today in Bangkok (Huai Khwang Khet office). Not only do they require the passport translation, but they also now require that the combined (original with translation) marriage affidavit from the US Embassy be sent to the embassy first and validated. Apparently they have had forged affidavits brought to MFA for translation. This process will take several days, and I will report back how long, but it’s looking like for this situation (foreign national and Thai national) cannot be done even in 3 days in Bangkok. The boss at the Khet office showed my fiance and witnesses the relevant orders mandating this process.

    They were also concerned about my finances and stated that their mandate is to protect the Thai national from being duped. In my case I am pursuing an advanced degree in the region and so listed my occupation as student on the marriage affidavit. This is causing more concerns.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      This is strange. Why would they require you to validate a translation of an original document that had already been validated? Could this process be getting like opening a bank account, whereby it’s different rules for different branches?

      Thank you for letting me know about this though. I will try to pop into the Huay Kwang office and ask.

      Reply

      • Steven says

        Maybe the original receipt from the MFA was missing. We got married yesterday, but another couple had a lot of trouble, because they did not have the receipt. The officer needs it to confirm that the authentication is real.

        Reply

  112. Alejandro says

    Hi!!

    This is very helpful. I am trying to marry my gf…she is from Poland and I am from Mexico….Thailand seems like a paradise for us to do it….I was wondering if the same requirements apply for us.

    thanks

    Reply

  113. Lilo says

    Hi,

    Cheers for this very interesting post ! Very good to read such details and so many tips !

    My partner is British / I am French and we are both living in the UK…

    We are getting married in Koh Samui in August.. Has anyone got into trouble to get the French affidavit / CCAM ? Looks like it takes at least 8 weeks from application to get it and, only then, you are allowed you to get legally married !

    If anyone could help with this one, that’d very appreciated !

    Cheers,
    Lilo

    Reply

    • Quinn says

      I (American) and my fiancee (French) are wondering the same things! It looks like we’ll have to translate my documents into French (probably get official translations … More money…. :/) and mail everything from China (where we work) a few months before we arrive in January for the ceremony. Why is it so needlessly complicated for French people?

      Reply

  114. fabrizio says

    Went to The Legalisation Division in Chaeng Wattana Road yesterday to get my affidavit (already translated) certified.
    I got there at 6 and stood by the door, not in the seating area were about 20 people were waiting, so I was first in at 7, some nice person handed me the paperwork and at 8am when I got upstairs I paid 400thb for express service. They told me that it would be ready at 12 but I decided to stay put and it worked out, they called my name around 10am. All done.
    Recommend going early.

    Reply

      • Right says

        Hi TheThailandLife!
        Thanks for the wonderful article. I’m living and working in Thailand and we would be getting married next month in Thailand. I am from Cameroon and my fiancée is from Ireland. I have a certificate of single status that I did when I was in Cameroon. Cameroon doesn’t have an embassy in Thailand and our nearest embassy is in China. Can I translate the Certificate of Single Status and take it to the MFA for the documents to be authenticate? Or do I have to contact our embassy in China for them to issue me an affirmation of freedom to marry?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          I’m not 100% sure, but I assume you would have to have this translated by an official translator into Thai, in Thailand. Or get it translated to English, then to Thai. I don’t know if a single status certificate is the same as a freedom to marry document in your country, so confirm this by ringing the embassy in Thailand.

          Reply

      • stuart says

        Hi, thanks all for the input. My Thai fiancee and I (English Citizen) are planning to get married in Bangkok on the 6th August. I have been married in UK ,Australia and u.s before and have all of my original divorce certs. My question is , do I ha e to go to the Australian embassy and u.s embassy to validate these certs and if so do I need to do this before the UK affirmation ???
        Also do I book an appointment now for the UK affirmation ?

        Regards
        Stuart

        Reply

          • Jee says

            Hi,

            I have a question for you, is my divorce paper that I get from the US Courthouse is good? Or it need to get certified by the Department of States? I talked to the Thai emmassy here in Los Angeles, they told me my divorce papers have to get it seal by the Department of State in order to get it translated, can I just go to Thailand with the court issued divorced? Plzzzz help!!! I’m planing to go to Thailand and get married next month

            Thank you

            Jee

            Reply

          • stuart says

            but these are original decree absolutes i have. Do i still need to go the u.s and australian embassies with them ? i did call the uk embassey and explained and they said i can just take what i have there. Im a bit worried now

            Reply

  115. Phoebe rivera says

    Hello there! I am a Filipina and my fiancè is Portuguese. I have inquired requirements from our respective embassies already and took note of all the steps and process that you wrote.

    I am just quite confused. After the authentication of all documents, are we already certified and legally married even without the ceremony yet?

    And could you advice where to do a simple ceremony just for a civil wedding.

    Your response is highly appreciated.
    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

      • G says

        I married my Thai fiancee at the Bangrak Amphur a few weeks ago. We followed the process noted above. All went as noted but things were a bit slower. My country’s embassy to get the affadavit, department, translation and then legalisation of the documents at the Dept of Consular Affairs. We chose to do the translations at the Dept of Consular Affairs and it was a little busy which meant we missed the legalisation express deadline for the Monday but went back on the Tues and completed it with no problems, just a frustrating wait but we were done by lunchtime.

        Went to Bangrak on Tues after lunch but could not get an appointment at the Bangrak Amphur until Thursday morning so it meant a day and a half of relaxing and sightseeing first.

        The Amphur was busy and would not supply witnesses but we sourced our own and was done by lunch (our witnesses arrived late so we missed our appointment time and had to wait until they finished processing a couple of others).

        No issues, just some bureaucracy!

        Reply

  117. Mardhiah says

    Hi! Thanks for the article and noted the comments. May i know if the procedure for Muslim Marriage is similar? Me and my fiance are muslim and from Singapore. We will be going to Thailand in Dec to register our marriage. Is there a need to go to the district office after going to the Thai MFA? Or can i go straight to the National Islamic centre of Bangkok to register?

    Reply

    • Ahmed says

      Hi bro, it is the same steps even if you r muslim because it will have to be a civil marriage if you want a document that will work back in your country, you can marry in a mosque there but i dont think they will register that, only civil marriage gets registered, so do a civil marriage and you can then go to a mosque for a cermony later :), good luck and congratulations

      Reply

      • kayleigh says

        hi ahmed, do u know how long it takes for a Pakistani man to get all his documents back after hes took the freedom to marry affidavit certificate to Pakistan embassy? I’m british n my partners Pakistani ,my affirmation can be sorted very fast at the british embassy but how long will it take for my partner to sort his? I read 7-30 days as they need contact Pakistan district, hes got the affidavit and done everything he needs to do before he goes to his embassy, wud be great if u knew, thank you from kayleigh

        Reply

  118. John says

    Hi,

    I contacted Khet Bangrak Registration Office and was told that if two foreigners are getting married at least one must have a work permit and be resident in Thailand.

    Neither of us are, and if this is a new policy, it seriously messes up our plans.

    Any advice much appreciated,

    John

    Reply

    • Colin says

      Hi John,

      I have just checked a website (see below) and it has a note which i have pasted below..Seems it is still possible even if you are both foreigners. Good luck…I would love to hear how you got on because I am planning to do the same in September of this year…please post back how it goes.

      “SPECIAL NOTE

      You should allow four working days in Bangkok prior to registering your marriage as you are required to have been a resident in Thailand for at least three days before you marry and you must allow time for the paperwork to be processed in Bangkok. This also allows you to visit some of the wonderful attractions in Bangkok.”

      Reply

      • violeta tar zona says

        Hi I’m a Filipino and my bf is a Greek. Were planning to get married in Thailand. We both have documents ready . if we get married in Greek embassy do we need to translated in Greek language? Or Thai language? Thanks I really appreciate your replying.

        Reply

      • John says

        Hi TTL,

        Thanks for your reply. Is there any way I can verify that? The lady I spoke to said that each office might have different requirements. I have tried several offices, but most don’t answer, and the other one that did wasn’t much help given my lack of Thai and their lack of English.

        It’s the first I have heard of it as well,

        Thanks,

        John

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hmm, it’s quite worrying since Bangrak is supposed to be the most foreigner-friendly office. I’d contact a Thai embassy and ask if the rules have changed. Are you from the UK? Id so, phone the Thai Embassy in London, or drop them an email and ask. I’ve never heard of that rule. Friends of mine married in Thailand last year with no issue, and so have many people here in the comments section. Another option would be to call an agency that handles weddings in Thailand and pretend you are an interested customer. Quiz them on any new rules and ask what the procedure is. I will try and verify this myself over the next few days.

          Reply

          • Kayleigh Garner says

            Hi me and my fiance are planning to marry in September now I’m really worried after seeing the post about needing to be residents in Thailand, is there any update? I’m British and my fiance is from Pakistan

            Reply

            • Colin says

              Kayleigh, please see my earlier post (copied below). It still seems possible. Check the website and let me know what you think.

              Hi John,

              I have just checked a website (see here) and it has a note which i have pasted below..Seems it is still possible even if you are both foreigners. Good luck…I would love to hear how you got on because I am planning to do the same in September of this year…please post back how it goes.

              “SPECIAL NOTE

              You should allow four working days in Bangkok prior to registering your marriage as you are required to have been a resident in Thailand for at least three days before you marry and you must allow time for the paperwork to be processed in Bangkok. This also allows you to visit some of the wonderful attractions in Bangkok.”

              Reply

              • Kayleigh Garner says

                Hi again, I emailed the British embassy in Bangkok and as I asked about do you need work permit and be s resident to marry and you don’t,, they said any foregeiner can marry in Thailand and there’s no residency requirements or work permit requirements so it’s all good

                Reply

                • U.K. says

                  Hi all, we got married 2 weeks ago registering in Bangkok and the U.K. Embassy, and ceremony in Phuket. It was a bit stressful as they told us 4 hrs wait so we left for lunch and came back within 3 hrs, and then told us there were mistakes in our translations and we had 30min to get it fixed. Luckily express translators did it for us on site. Hopefully not a scam, but it did take the entire day from 8am to past 5pm at the ministry!

                  Reply

              • Kayleigh Garner says

                Hi I’ve seen all the info on this site though weeks ago so it’s still worrying me, I’m on hold on the phone to the Thai embassy in London, been on hold over 30minutes, I don’t think anyone Is gonna answer

                Reply

  119. Dennis says

    Am Australian, just submitted my papers today 04/08/2016
    Please note of changes in Thai consular process if submitting divorce papers with statuary decleration. Divorce papers must now be submitted separately at the consular department as divorce papers are approved via the Thai court system. Paid the 800baht same day express fee but this only gets you the verified statuary decleration back. Had to pay an extra 660baht for divorce papers to be sent in 3 days via EMS back to my thai address.

    Reply

    • ดิภถย says

      Going through this process it takes more than a few days, having been divorced I had to have this stamped as well as an authorisation to marry from my Embassy, then have all English paperwork translated into Thai, this took two days and ฿3,000.
      Also the Bang Rak office it Bangkok requires farang to book as they can only do a small number a day, and the witnesses they say you must know them, so all in all not an easy process.

      Reply

  122. Cameron Cooke says

    Just going through the process of getting married and followed the steps outlined in the article but the MOFA no longer is offers the Express Service for Legalisation of Afffirmation documents. The minimum amount of time is now 3 days.

    We got to the MOFA at 6:20am today and we’re 3rd in queue only to be told that the Express service has been discontinued due to a number of fake translations and they need more time to verify documents.

    Apparently they discontinued the Express Service a week before when we arrived on the 6th Sept 2016.

    This has completely messed up our plans and I hope readers of this article see this. Please update the article too as this is the most comprehensive guide on the Internet.

    Reply

  123. Cameron Cooke says

    Further to my previous comment, just having checked with the Laksi registrar it turns out they no longer allow couples to sign the manage certificate if the Affirmation of Marriage document contains any legal disclaimer as ours does.

    A legal disclaimer was stamped on the bottom of our Affirmation of Marriage document by the British Embassy essentially voiding our documents!

    Apparently the rejection of this document when containing a legal disclaimer is a new rule that was also introduced last week.

    There is no mention about this on the British Embassy website and the Embassy staff clearly did not know about the change.

    We’re currently on the phone to the Embassy now trying to work out what we do next.

    But it seems like we may have to start the process all over again and have wasted two days and a lot of money.

    Warning to any British citizen who is planning on marrying a Thai national please check that the British Embassy don’t add the disclaimer to your Affirmation document.

    Reply

    • Pete says

      Further to my last reply- there are a few Khet that are still leaving door open on this area. Looks like I am booked into one but through an agent only and they’ll not tell me which one in order to get their fee. 5000 baht all up. Pick up from hotel , go Khet via FM for papers including witness’ and translator. I’ll let you know how I go. The u.k. embassy is of zero help. BTW my bride is a Russian national and her embassy informed us of this new law when handing over the affidavit.
      The u.k. embassy jut handed it over.

      Reply

      • Cameron Cooke says

        I would be careful, it’s pretty clear that the law has changed and Agency’s are known for taking advantage, they want your money for a normally relative simple process.

        I would take what they say with a pinch of salt. In the end that’s a lot of money to gamble. We should hear back today regarding the result of yesterday’s meeting on the issue so might be worth holding out a little longer.

        Reply

      • Kayleigh Garner says

        Hi Pete cud u please let me know asap which agency have sed they can sort it, as I’ve come to marry n do not wanna leave here Friday evening empty handed n upset, do u have the agency number please? It’s urgent, thank you

        Reply

        • Pete says

          Further to the last post. As of this morning the last 2 khet in Bangkok offering to marry are now turning down all affidavits that do not guarantee the information given. Right now the only people getting this done are those with Danish nationality as their embassy underwrites a guarantee and the French embassy is now agreeing to “cross out and stamp” their non guarantee on the affidavit.

          Reply

    • Pete says

      I am here in BKK and have come a cross the same situation. I’ve visited the 3 main Amphur prior to receiving our translated docs and they’ve all told me the same info. Thinking of trying Pad Ttai and also talking to 2 agents. The agents assure us they can have it done but all the staff at the Amphur said that an agent would be of no help. We’ve been on it since Monday solidly, but it looks like we’ll go home on Saturday empty handed.

      Reply

      • Cameron says

        I assume the issue will be the same as a British National you have to supply the same Affirmation of Marriage document which will have the same legal wording added by the consulate.

        Your best bet is to call the embassy and check with them as well as calling the Laksi. The British Embassy just told us to try a different district office.

        Reply

      • Cameron says

        Will do we still plan to register the marriage on Thursday but it’s 50/50 whether they will accept the Affirmation. The Embassy told us to try Bangrak instead of Laksi so will let you know how it goes. The British Embassy said they had a nightmare last week with loads of couples phoning up about this though they were all eventually resolved.

        Seems both the withdrawal of express service at MOFA for affirmations and new rules on legal text on Affirmation document at registrars was introduced at the same time. They are trying to crack down on forgeries and fake applications apparently.

        The MOFA now requires 3 days which is a hell of a lot longer than the express service that I got up at 5am for this morning 😉

        The British Embassy thought they had resolved the issue of the legal disclaimer last week but they said they are having problems with Thai authorities and said they are just being stupid.

        They solution is just to find a registrar that will accept he document and if they don’t to call the Embassy and get them to speak to the registrar directly in order to convince them to allow the marriage. Though this is not guaranteed to work and it’s just pot luck at the moment.

        The British Embassy was not informed of the changes. Typical.

        I will feedback if and when I get married on Thursday.

        Reply

        • Cameron Cooke says

          Ok so today the Department of Provincial Administration were due to meet to discuss the issues with the legal text on the letter of Affirmation documents.

          The British Consulate called me today and said that the meeting does not appear to have appened yet and that they still know nothing. I now have to wait another day before I will know if we’re going to be able to get married at all. The ceremony is on Friday and guests and arriving tomorrow.

          We’re due to fly to Koh Samui for honeymoon and have everything booked but if we can’t marry in Bangkok before the wedding we’re going to have to try and get married in Samui though with the 3 day processing of the Affirmation document with the MOFA I really have no idea if we’re going to be able to pull it off.

          Reply

        • Cameron Cooke says

          I should alsjust point that the issue over the Affirmation disclaimer may not affect just British nationals trying to marry it will affect other countries that add a disclaimer. I believe the USA also add this.

          One that I am 100% certain on at this time is that the MOFA does not offer an express service for Affirmation legalisation and that it takes 3 days not the 2 previously required for the normal service. So please factor this in to your schedules.

          Reply

        • Cameron Cooke says

          Latest update is that no Bangkok district office is accepting Affirmation of Marriage if it contains a legal discimaer. We’ve just spoke to the Bangrak district office and they are saying the same thing as the Laksi district office.

          We’ve been told the marriages that were allowed last week were a mistake and should not have been allowed to go ahead.

          Spoke to the British Embassy’s pro consul today and was told that they are still having problems with this and they thought they had been resolved.

          They said that there is a meeting on the issue scheduled for today at the Ministry of Provisional Administration and we will know if they are going to change this rule or at least allow the UK disclaimer.

          The UK government can’t remove the disclaimer so at this time no British citizen can marry in Bangkok as we’re finding out.

          The British Embassy also said that district offices outside of Bangkok are still marrying but I’m just trying to confirm this. We would have to redo our Affirmation and pay all the fees again and resubmit to MOFA so are waiting for result of today’s meeting before we proceed with this option.

          Th British Ambassador has been taking this issue out with the Thai govement and the British government has been lobbying the Thai Ambassador in London. So it’s been raised at the highest level.

          Just seems really bad luck that I’ve choose this week to marry.

          Reply

  124. Cameron Cooke says

    Good news! The department for provincial administration had the meeting to discuss the problematic disclaimer and have agreed to re-allow marriages with the disclaimer present on the Affirmation document.

    I was told this by the British Embassy this morning and we also phoned the Department for Provincial Administration and confirmed this. What I don’t know is if this change to allow the disclaimer only applies to the British documents of all nations that add disclaimers.

    Apparently the original reason for rejecting the disclaimer was due to issues with Indian documents and they made a sweeping change.

    We tried again to marry today but the district offices are awaiting the update by fax which should be sent out by the end of the day. Until they have this official confirmation from the Ministry of Provincial Administration they still can’t marry people.

    Should be good to go from tomorrow.

    Reply

    • Mathew says

      I wanted to add my experience today for all Americans trying to marry in Bangkok. Last week I completed the USA right to marry Marriage affidavit stating that I am single . Had it notarized at the US embassy , translated and certified at Thai ministry of foreign affairs . I’m good to go right ? Wrong. We showed up today at Amphur office with our witnesses and the manager tells me line # 9 of affidavit is makes the statement of single status null and void.
      Line # 9 reads : “The US Embassy does not guarantee the contents of my own sworn statement under penalty of perjury I assume full and complete responsibility for the veracity of the claims here in.”
      I called the embassy and had a Thai speaking. Embassy officer speak to the Amphur personally. He writes something down and makes another call finally he comes back and says go to he US embassy and have them cross out line #9 and notarize. Then translate it and have certified by Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
      I go to Embassy thinking they won’t cross out a line on an official document . Hey won’t let me in without an appointment. I call and speak to the Thai officer who originally spoke with the Amphur. She says I told him to call my supervisor to verify the document is legitimate. He told me the # she gave him was a fax#. I was then transferred to an American officer who informed me this “phenomenon” ( her words ) is brand new and they are getting a lot of calls about it and are in ommunication with Thai counterparts of government and trying to resolve it asap . But it won’t be anytime soon. So in the meantime we cannot marry? She said not all Thai Amphurs are enforcing this new change of procedure and to try another Amphur office. So we go to Rathethewi office wait one hour and are told the same thing. The Amphur was nice engough to tell us to try the country as they may not have been informed of the new rules ? So we will go to Ayuthaya Monday to try our luck. They also said India India India bad people try to marry here on Bangkok?
      Any help anyone can offer is much appreciated!!! I’m leaving in a week and came here to get married to my fiancé !
      Mathew

      Reply

      • TheThailandLife says

        Cameron’s update yesterday indicated that the British Embassy had resolved this issue with the Thai authorities and they were now accepting affidavits with the legal disclaimer, which they weren’t the day before. Did you try speaking to the boss at the MFA? The change back to the old rule may not have filtered down to desk staff yet.

        Reply

        • Brad says

          We tried yesterday to marry with british affidavit at 3 offices in Bangkok, none of which will accept. We were told later in September that would accept. Was going to try country office but affidavit says we will marry in Bangkok. Will this be an issue? Unsure.

          Reply

          • Cameron Cooke says

            This seems really odd. Others have since married with the legal disclaimer.

            Unfortunately you’ll have to marry in Bangkok or start the process all again with a new affidavit specifying where you are to get married.

            We wanted to marry outside of Bangkok when we had issues and were told it’s not possible as the document says Bangkok.

            I’m really hoping these issues are resolved now as we’re returning to Bangkok on Friday to marry.

            Reply

            • Mathew says

              Good news everyone we married today at Laksi office with no problems whatsoever . The legal disclaimer was not discussed at all. It seems this office marries a lot of foreigners as they have signs in English with instructions etc. the lady with glasses in the first desk from right side . Worked thru her lunch hour to help us and was very thorough and sweet. She even posed for a picture with us. Nothing is easy in Thailand and it all takes a long time . We are now at the MOFA for English translation of Marriage license and certification. This will probably take a few days and I leave Friday ! Will follow up.

              Reply

                • Mathew says

                  The issue we all had was with the marriage affidavit when presented to Bangkok Anphur / Khet offices not accepting. Having the affidavit legalized at the Thai Ministry of foreign affairs was no problem at all.
                  The Laksi office had no issue with my legalized affidavit even tho it had the legal disclaimer language. The marriage license and registration we received today is now legal in Thailand . The next step for us is to translate into English and have that translation certified at the Thai Ministry of foreign affairs. I highly recommend going to the Laksi office north of Bangkok it is in the Bangkok district of official Amphur / Khets. So if your documents say you must marry in Bangkok this office should work for you. I hope this helps and thank you for this forum!

                  Reply

                • Bradley Munro says

                  They legalized the translation of the certificate of single without issue. It is when you attempt to register the marriage that they are rejecting the affidavits.
                  I will keep you updated with how i get on this week.

                  Reply

    • Kayleigh Garner says

      Great news, me n my Pakistani partner married today at laksi district at about 4-4.30pm, we just need to take our marriage certificate to ministry of foregein affairs Tomorrow for a English translation and then get it legalised

      Reply

  125. Tapash says

    I just discovered this discussion thread and after reading the latest posts i’m a bit worried as we are planning to arrive Bangkok on the 12th to get married. I’m an Indian national and my fiancé is Polish and we are in constant communication with our respective embassies and arranged all our paperwork accordingly. The Indian embassy told me that once I submit my personal documents, they will send them to India to verify the authenticity of all the stamps and signatures and thereafter will issue my affirmation to marry document. Neither the Indian or the Polish embassy informed us anything about this issue being discussed here. Also, I’m double concerned being an Indian national since the above posts indicates India being the trigger to all this. Can anyone update what going on with the thai authorities at the moment?

    I did manage to find an online news published during Oct 2014 which looks like to be the epicentre of this present situation as thai officials “sold” identity of thai women to facilitate scam marriage between foreigners and Thai women. Most of those foreign men were from India, Malaysia and Nigeria according to the post. Link: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Women-caught-in-fake-marriage-registration-scam-30245742.html

    I would highly appreciate if anyone can come up with some updates regarding this.

    Reply

  126. Cameron Cooke says

    So the plot thickens. Just called the Laksi and Bangrak office to make sure they are now accepting the affidavit with legal disclaimer and have been told that they are still not allowing them until they receive official letter from Ministry of Provincial Administration after the 16th September.

    Was told by the British Embassy that the fax would be sent out last Friday. I’m flying out of the country on The 17th and the local district offices are closed at the weekend!

    The couples that have managed to marry in the mean time we’re not marrying Thai nationals so they are currently allowing marriages between British citizens and non Thai nationals.

    But if like me you are marrying a Thai national then who knows when they will actually allow this.

    Reply

  127. Cameron Cooke says

    I’m more confused that ever today. We’ve called both Laksi and Bangrak and both said they can’t accept British affidavits still.

    We called the Ministry of Provincial Administration who told us to call Interior Ministry who told us to call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and basically kept going around in circles with each department blaiming the other.

    We were told that the British affidavit would not be accepted as they are not accepting Indian ones and it would be discriminatory to accept some country’s affidavits and not others that contain the legal disclaimer.

    I’m waiting for a call back from the British Embassy as it seems bangkok district offices are marrying everyone apart from
    British nationals marrying Thai nationals. Which makes no sense at all. The issue was always to do with Indian affidavits we’ve been told hence the original blanket ban.

    Yet it seems British people can marry non Thai nationals with the same legal disclaimer present, Americans with similar legal disclaimer can marry Thai nationals but the British nationals can’t!

    I don’t really know what else to do other that pressure the British Embassy to get answers as I was told this was sorted last week.

    It seems pot luck if you get married at the moment.

    Reply

  128. Shannon says

    Hi, We have had a disappointing day as well. I am Canadian, my beau, Indonesian. When we arrived at Bangkrat they told us that we would have to wait a month, so they could send the documents back to our embassies and the Foreign Ministry to approve. But these are approved, fresh off the press from all three locations??? We were told they just changed the rules a week ago. My embassy knew nothing of it, I asked them to show me the new law, and they laughed at us, as tears streamed down my face. It was very bizarre. I am going to call my embassy first thing tomorrow am, but I am wondering what the address, location is of this Laksi place others are speaking of? Perhaps we should try there before we give up hope for this trip.

    Reply

  129. Michael says

    Bad news! So I just got off the phone to Khet Bangrak. Apparently the lady told me that it’s unlikely they will accept the avidavits for 1 to 2 months, due to (in her words) the British Embassy’s unwillingness to accept legal responsibility. She then went on to say this applied officially across Thailand. Sad news indeed. Will seek further clarification from the British Embassy.

    Reply

    • Cameron Cooke says

      This is all very odd as British Embassy has previously told me this was resolved and that they would start accepting the disclaimer again as it was never an issue with British affidavits but Indian ones. That said I’ve since heard mixed messages from different departments that they can’t accept the documents due to discrimination if they allow U.K. but not Indian etc.

      Best bet is to call the British Embassy and ask for Pro Counsul Sarah from Consular services. She was really helpful when I last spoke to her.

      Alternatively just marry outside of Bangkok seems local district offices are marrying and the one we used in Koh Samui didn’t seem to care about the mention of Bangkok on the document or the legal disclaimer.

      Seems to be a lot of different information out there. Good luck.

      Reply

      • Michael says

        Thanks for the advice.

        I have just got off the phone to the embassy. They were surprised about the ongoing issue as they indeed thought that it had been resolved. seems to be a brick wall preventing communication between the various sides of the process. But he did tell me to speak to Sarah who would be back after 1pm. So I will update everyone later.

        Unfortunately marrying outside Bangkok is not really an option for us right now, and if this is issue is not resolved then we will postpone the whole process.

        Regards

        Micheal

        Reply

        • Gary ede says

          I have an appointment on 30 September at ghe british embassy so am a bit concerned with whats going on. I am marrying a philippina and this is our second go at getting married as the philipino embassy rejected my fiances passport 3 months ago because her married name was still on her passport even though she is widowed. She has had her passport amended to now show her maiden name. Very petty i thought so we dont want another castrophe!!!

          Reply

        • Cameron Cooke says

          Good luck and let us know what you find out. I’m interested too as we were told it had been resolved.

          It does seem government departments just not talking to each other or blaiming / Shifting responsibilities to the other. Now it’s the British Embassy’s turn.

          Reply

          • Michael says

            So the embassy’s official line is that it has been resolved but that it may take a little while longer until certain district offices begin to accept applications once again. They said to try and pass the phone to them during any difficulties. I will be trying next week, but I won’t hold my breath. All seems hopelessly vague to be honest.

            Reply

            • Mathew says

              Michael
              The Thai bureaucracy is hopelessly vague and completely disorganized from what my experience has shown. Do not try to Marry in Bangrak district and you should be ok. We married in Lak si district which is just north of Bangkok proper and had no problems. Everyone has a different story even at the offices. The women that so graciously helped us was named Miss Banyong Kamsap she is a governing officer and acting chief of registration. First desk on right side. I wouldn’t bother calling just show up at Lak Si.
              Also we picked up our now translated and legalized marriage license and registration forms today. So now I can return to USA and start the long application process for a marriage visa for my wife.

              Reply

  130. Bernard says

    As the address is:
    Department of Consular Affairs
    123 Chaeng Wattana Road,
    Laksi District, Bangkok 10210
    you should tell the driver “pass-a-bort off-ice tannon chaeng wattana khet Laksi”
    or show him: สำนักงานหนังสือเดินทาง
    ถนนแจ้งวัฒนะ
    เขตหลักสี่

    Reply

  131. Andy Jennings says

    Came last week and hit this legal brick wall. Took a week off and saw the success messages here so thought, ok, let’s give it ago. So far lak si and Don muang said.. dai dai ( one on phone one on counter) but the reality is thst once you get there and begin the process.. all of a sudden, it’s mai dai mai dai ( cannot cannot) reason being the British embassy is unwilling to flex on the legality if our affirmation stamp that according the embassy is legally binding and fine under uk law but according to thai law is not. Lak si requested I go to my wife’s home for marry to which I replied roi et is in Thailand as well. . Why Is YOUR thai law different here in BKK to the rest if thailand..?? to which I got only a look and no reply. Complete waste of time and effort with both thai offices and British embassy. Don’t waste yours… make alternative plans and let Thailand, its tourism and everything else sink I say.. I’m done with its B’S and put up with it for 7 yrs too long.. I’ve seen the light today. This military reign combined with its keep face culture is gonna be the death of this country.

    Reply

    • ben says

      Just an update.

       

      The Bang Plad office on Charansanitwong road in Bangkok called us last Friday saying they couldn’t register the marriage for the same reason. Disclaimer on the affirmation.

      I went and collected all the documents back yesterday and called the British embassy.

       

      The embassy said there had been a meeting last week at the MFA and it had been confirmed this issue was resolved and the affirmations would be accepted. They even had proof in the form of a Thai letter. She said if I had any problems to give them the phone and let them talk to the embassy.

       

      Off we went to Laksi office. Got there and same old rubbish. Cannot accept it. I flatly refused to leave and they spoke to the British embassy. Even after faxes, emails etc etc of this letter confirming the meeting last week after 2 hours the lady just said “no cannot” and pointed to the disclaimer. On a sidenote I’ve been here 6 years and I speak good Thai. I had the whole argument with her in Thai and she just kept saying they couldn’t accept this document.

       

      Gave up. Went to Nonthaburi. All be it next door to Bangkok but still a different province.

       

      They were very nice there unlike at Laksi. However they said the process was now to take the forms and send them to be checked and confirmed as true. Then once this had happened they would call us in to register our marriage. They said this could take anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months.

       

      So I just submitted the paperwork. They had a pile of paperwork from other foreigners who had done the same.

       

      They also said that British was good. If the nationality was Russian, Indian or any African country they WOULD NOT accept the paperwork.

       

      I called the British embassy after. They have no idea about this “checking” process and where the affidavits will go to be “confirmed as true”. 

       

      The embassy is looking into it and trying to sort it out again and will call me back.

       

      Any information or accounts of personal experiences over yesterday or today would be extremely appreciated.

       

      Thanks
      Ben

      Reply

      • Michael says

        That’s interesting. I’m going to try tomorrow. Have been trying to ring Nonthaburi all day with no luck. But then my Girlfriend got through to them just before closing and they told her to ring another number tomorrow. So will update everyone tomorrow. Looking for clarification on this really, as it seems a bit risky to just drop off all your documents and trust them to fix it for you, and Also what about the date on it expiring?

        will post back tomorrow.

        Regard

        Michael

        Reply

    • Andy Jennings says

      Forgot to mention that the British embassy are adement the matter is resolved ( even publishing so on the .gov website) but it may time time to filter out to all offices. A more realistic situation has just been painted to me by an official at another thai office which agreed the legal issue was resolved already early this week with the British stamp however some offices are still reluctant and will refuse Indian british ( since it was a fraudulent India british registry which kicked all this off apparently) yet at the same time their powers at be seem to ‘feel’ it’s unfair to hold such a ban on a selective British element so therefore are ignoring the resolution and refusing all british applicant until god knows when….who knows what to believe???

      Reply

      • Andy Jennings says

        Now just spoke to rad pao office on phone who said dai dia come and we’ll speak to the British embassy on the phone and see what we can do… get there and it’s the same mai dai mai dai B’S. . We think you should go and talk to bang rak since we have to send to them anyway…going home.

        Reply

        • Cameron Cooke says

          Trying district offices outside of Bangkok. We hit the same brick wall in Bangkok and married in Koh Samui. They didn’t mind that the affidavit document said marrying in Bangkok.

          I’m pretty sure all district offices outside of Bangkok or marrying British citizens. Might be less stressful.

          Reply

  133. Joh says

    Didn’t have any problems at all. All my documents were correct, as were my wifes.

    Went to the Amphur & only needed one witness.

    Don’t know why so many people appear to have so many difficulties; & then attempt to shift ‘blame’ onto the Thai Authorites.

    Reply

    • Ben says

      Joh when did you do this? You are British and your wife is Thai? British marrying British is no problem. The problem is British marrying Thai. The situation most certainly is due to the Thai government not accepting the affirmation of freedom to marry from the British embassy. They won’t care if your fiancee is British though.

      Which amphoe office did you go to?

      Reply

      • Ben says

        My documents are perfectly correct and so are my fiancee’s. As for the Nonthaburi office I hold little faith that anything will ever come of it. It feels like they are just taking documents and telling you to wait 2 months. I don’t know where and who checks these documents. It certainly isn’t the British embassy. I’ve asked them.

        For any British citizens having problems with this please contact Sarah at the British embassy on 023058333. She is a lovely lady and trying to build a record of all the people experiencing problems.

        As I said I went to 3 different amphoes. Bang Rak, Laksi and Bang Plad as well as calling several others before submitting documents at Nonthaburi but I’m still not confident anything at all will come of that. As Michael says they didn’t even check his original affirmation.

        I have today been in touch with a company in Ploen Chit who are adamant that for 7,500 baht they can get you married, registered all done in 1 day between British and Thai including translation of the Thai marriage certificate from Thai to English.

        Apparently you pay the fee AFTER you are married too. They do everything then you pay and then they hand over the marriage certificates apparently.

        This is only what I have learned today. I CANNOT vouch for this comoany but it is a registered company in an office in Ploen Chit area. I am considering giving it a go with them.

        I had a long conversation with Sarah from the British embassy yesterday and she advised many people have called this week regarding the problem. It has been escalated and taken up with the Thai ambassador in London and one way way or another MUST be sorted out quickly even if that means the British embassy compromising over the affirmation disclaimer. Those were her exact words to me.

        Cheers,
        Ben

        Reply

  134. Michael says

    OK. So ditto everything Ben said in his update. Came to Nonthaburi this morning. Very helpful lady behind desk. Said no problems about the date being September if it takes abit longer before they can process again. They said 1 or 2 months. And in and out in 10 minutes. All seems rather positive. Although for those who cannot wait I appreciate this isn’t much help.

    Reply

    • GARY EDE says

      This is becoming beyond a joke!!!! It seems that there seems to be no logic, uniformity oder or anything. It just seems like a bureaucratic nightmare to me! My filippin fiance and me are visiting our embassys on September 29 and leaving Thailand on 18 October. We are both stressing about the situation because of all the conflicting comments. We cannot afford to be waiting around so are going to ring around some amphurs outside of bangkok. You caanot tell me that every amphur in thailand is not going to register our documents!!! We will go anywere as long as someone will do it. What does everyone else think?

      Reply

  135. Sophie says

    Hi,

    I was wondering if anyone could help me? My partner and I (both British) have planned to get married in koh lanta this November. Has anyone else get married there since all of the problems have occurred?
    We are really worried they won’t accept the paperwork and it all become a disaster.
    If anyone has any advice, it would be much appreciated. Thankyou

    Reply

        • ben says

          It’s difficult to be totally sure about anything the way things are. IMO though I think it will likely be fine. At the end of the day the Thai government sees this act as protecting Thai people and if neither of you are Thai I doubt they care providing your paperwork is all in order of course.

          I would recommend calling the Bang Rak office in BKK and asking them. What they say seems to be going for every other amphoe in Bangkok at the moment.

          If on the off chance there is and uncertainty I would recommend doing it in Phuket or Samui or somewhere else use to foreigners (as you’ll need witnesses and maybe a translator) far away from BKK. There was a report of couple (both non Thai) who successfully married on Koh Samui recently.

          First thing, I’d call Bang Rak in BKK to check. Number is 02-236-1395.

          Reply

          • GARY EDE says

            Yes i spoke to Ban Rak amphur last week on skype and they told me to contact them again next week. I also phoned a number of amphurs but it is difficult trying to have a technical conversation when you dont speak the lingo. However, a lady from amphur pathumwan was very nice, spoke english but didnt seem aware of the difficulties and just said bring your documents, no appointment necessary. But of course anything can be said on the telephone and you really need to be there to get a clearer picture. I will be in Bangkok from 29 september so will advise everyone as best i can

            Reply

  137. Anon says

    Hi There,

    Me and my other half are thinking of marrying in Thailand.
    It’s just us two (both British) so we don’t want a huge costly ceremony.
    We like to travel and don’t mind putting in the hard work. Is it best to get married in Bangkok or can we do it in one of the southern resorts?

    We were going to fly to Bangkok, get married and then go onto a resort or two for a couple of weeks.

    Cheers!

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You will need to visit in Bangkok if you do it by yourselves, so you might as well do the marriage at a district office here too. The embassy and MFA are in BKK, both of which you have to visit. You could still use a district office down South, but I’d do it in BKK.

      Reply

  138. Randy says

    My Thai girlfriend and I (Canadian) got married this week in Thailand. I arrived there on the sept 13th and we started the process on the 19th. Here is the process and timeline for our marriage.

    19th – went to the Canadian Embassy in Bangrak to get the no marry certificate. It took about 20-30 minutes. Make sure you have an appointment set up before you get to Thailand. Not that I really think it was needed but they suggest you do.
    Then we went to a Thai-English translator which was close by. She tried to tell me she wasn’t able to do it that day and continued to explain to me there was no way to have everything done in a week. Oh how wrong she was. She just wanted to do every step for me and charge me for it. Don’t fall for it. It can be done. Keep reading.
    We then went to the foreign affairs office in Lak Si to have the certificate translated. We used one of the touts there as it was easy and convienent for us. After doing that we have them (foreign affairs) our copies and were told to come back on 21st.

    21st – We woke up early and got back to Lak Si to the foreign affairs office to pick up our translated no marry certificate. But there was a mistake made in the translation. So we went back to the translator and had him fix it. After that we then had to give them back the translation. We then has to wait until 15:00 to get it back.
    At 15:00 we received the corrected translation back. We then hurried to the local registrar and and got the marriage certificate. We just got it in time but too LTE to head back to foreign affairs to have it translated back to English.

    22nd – We got up early and headed back to foreign affairs to have the certicate translated back to English. We just the translation office at the top of the escalator. Took about 30 minutes. After that we tried to have the foreign affairs stamp the certificate bit we would have to wait around all day. So we decided to go to the Canadian embassy to have this done. Now I was smart and made an appointment on Monday for this to be done at the embassy. I didn’t want to take the chance of not getting this done. So we went back there and had it certified.

    Now saying all this we unused taxis for all of the travel which was from Bang Kapi, Bangkok. It was a bit pricey but we wanted to have this done in the few days we had set aside.

    Hope this helps someone out there looking to do this. If you have any questions I’ll answer to the best of my ability.

    Reply

  139. Adam says

    Hi. I have been following the recent posts closely. I have the affirmation to marry document, plus translation already. On both documents it says my fiancé and I plan to marry in September 2016, however with these recent problems at the amphurs, I don’t think we will be able to do it until these problems are resolved. My fiancé is heavily pregnant so I don’t want to put her through the stress of going to he Amphur to then be turned away. Does anyone know if the September date on the documents is going to be a problem if we can’t do it until next month? Thanks

    Reply

    • Michael says

      I’m in exactly the same situation as you Adam. And funnily my girlfriend is also heavily pregnant. Baby due Nov 3rd. We are just going to sit it out for now. But copies of all our documents are sitting at the Nonthaburi Office. However i have no idea whether they will get back to us. I also would like clarification on the date issue as ours also says September. But to be honest i think that’s small fry compared to the legal disclaimer.

      Reply

    • Nan says

      I called the Bangrak aumpher today , the thai guy said its still cannot do for today or in this week , he said he is waiting the letter from embassy to confirm that we can do it he also said its not about the Aumpher its about the Embassy ! I wish the embassy fixed it asap coz Me and my fiance have just booked time off for next month to do it ! Well , i tried to contact embassy aswell but no one pick up my call !

      Reply

  140. JoJo says

    I am/was in the process of marrying my Thai fiancee.
    Today I learnt the reason why British citizens marrying a Thai citizen are not being accepted. It is because of the sentence on the affirmation that reads:

    I am free to enter into this proposed marriage and believe that there is not any impediment by reason of kindred or alliance, or other lawful hindrance, to this proposed marriage.

    Thai registry offices are not accepting this sentence. I have no idea why but I am told the embassies are now communicating regarding this and suggest a period of 3 to 4 months to have it resolved.

    Reply

  141. TheThailandLife says

    LATEST UPDATE!!
    Just had a message from a reader via the TTL Facebook page:

    “Hi, just want to update that we’ve got married fine at Don Muang today. Not sure about other district offices though.”

    I replied: That’s great! Thank you for the update. And no problems with the British affirmation?

    “We complained to the district office and they said ok. We also requested for affirmation of the passport (not sure what the proper term is) to supplement the required documents. I heard from Don Muang that it should be all okay now. (District offices do not like complaints).”

    Reply

    • Michael says

      Wait a minute. Now I’m really confused. Is this a British marrying a Thai at Don Meung? And what is an affirmation of passport?

      Furthermore, what is JoJo saying about the Thais not accepting a sentence on the document which reads: I am free to enter this marriage and believe bla bla blan etc…. Which is separate from the legal disclaimer and that the embassy believes it may take 3-4 months.

      What’s going on? So confused with all the conflicting stories.

      Reply

        • Nan says

          Hi , When did you get that message from Thai woman ?
          when I saw your message I directly called the Don Muang district and all they say it has been okay for a couple days and all district in Bangkok should be okay aswell then I made a phone call to re check at Bang Rak because my house is really close to Bang rak , the lady picked up the call with vert agressive voice so I asked her very politely she said no still cannot t then I said but I just call Don mueng the officer said its all okay now then you know what she suddenly answered me with agressive voice again ” why dont you go don muang if its okay ” so I said thank you and hung up the call , I got soooooooooooo very mad at her why she said that never ever help at all even I am thai she should be more polite , Sometimes I hate my people so much …anyways I am finding the way to complain her even I still still dont know her name but I will still complain .
          well, I just made an appointment with the embassy next week so hopfully everything okay .

          Reply

      • Nan says

        I mean Don Muang and Lak sri District are the same place , They cannot accept thais married with British still, We need to wait the Embassy to confirm to all district , I dont know how long does it take ,
        does anyone know that , How long can I keep the Affirmation letter ? I mean keep it and not expired when we go to do married certificated .

        Reply

        • ben says

          GOOD NEWS.Hello everyone.
          I AM BRITISH and I just got married this morning to my Thai wife successfully at Don Muang district.

          There were no problems at all and we were done in less than an hour.

          BUT..

          I went through a company based in Ploen Chit. A visa company who specializes in these things. The same company I previously mentioned before on here. I paid 7,500 baht total including translation of the marriage certificate to English language.

          I don’t know if you can do it alone but you can DEFINITELY do it with this company. I didn’t ask many questions at the office because everything was going fine and frankly I didn’t want to cause any problems.

          Good luck guys.

          Reply

    • Nan says

      Did you mean that we can only married in Don Muang or Lak sri District? not Bangrak District
      So Do I have to book an appointement to get an afirmation certificated from the embassy ?
      Im getting confused now , the embassy shoud fix asap
      🙁

      Reply

  143. Jenna says

    I want to get married in Bangkok, we are both British and have not been married before. How long do you need to reside in Thailand before getting married? Where can i find a list of Amphurs to use and will they be open on a weekend?

    Reply

  145. Nan says

    Hi , When did you get that message from Thai woman ?
    when I saw your message I directly called the Don Muang district and all they say it has been okay for a couple days and all district in Bangkok should be okay aswell then I made a phone call to re check at Bang Rak because my house is really close to Bang rak , the lady picked up the call with vert agressive voice so I asked her very politely she said no still cannot t then I said but I just call Don mueng the officer said its all okay now then you know what she suddenly answered me with agressive voice again ” why dont you go don muang if its okay ” so I said thank you and hung up the call , I got soooooooooooo very mad at her why she said that never ever help at all even I am thai she should be more polite , Sometimes I hate my people so much …anyways I am finding the way to complain her even I still still dont know her name but I will still complain .
    well, I just made an appointment with the embassy next week so hopfully everything okay

    Reply

      • Michael says

        Last time called Don Mueang, they said we can marry there however we need to have a non related person who could speak Thai and English to act as a facilitator/ translator, plus 2 Thai people as witnesses and we need to ring before hand to book an appointment. Perhaps that’s why other people have had success through an agency as they would supply all of these. I’m currently still waiting. Hopefully next week we can find someone to help which doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg. haha

        Reply

        • Nan says

          Hi Michale , I just called to recheck at Don Muang again the lady said I have to bring 2 witness and one translator which is can speak thai and english , for me I have to find them which is probably not easy becuase all of my friends they are all working 🙁 What Process are you on now ? and how long you can get all paper back from the Department of Consular Affairs ? I checked the update so the express way is not available anymore .

          Reply

          • Michael says

            Hi Nan,

            I have already done all of the steps except the actual registration. I went to a translator who i used regularly and they took the documents to get approved on my behalf. So i paid for that extra service. Because I couldn’t get too much time off work and it was good to cut out that hassle. I paid 1900 for translation and to get it stamped by the MFA and sent back ready for collection( I know that’s a bit expensive, but I know this translator well, and she does a good job. I submitted to Ann at the Express Translation service in Ploen Chit and she told me it would take 2 to 3 working days. Anyway I went back on the following Friday and picked it all up. Then I went to Nonthaburi as they were the only office at the time accepting paperwork. But essentially our copies are just sitting there on file at the moment. Every time we call its just wait longer. So I’m keen to try out Don Meaung, but have the same problem as you. We have even tried calling an agent who helped some friends of ours last year, but he’s not picking up the phone. I finish the school term this week, so will be looking to get this all sorted next week in earnest as my girlfriend is due to give birth later this month and i want us to be legally married before the baby is born ideally. But she needs to be taking it easy, so i think an agent would be better to take care of our situation. its gone beyond caring about money now. Good luck to you too. Let me know if you get any progress or find any translators etc…

            Reply

  146. Nan says

    Hi there, I have one question to ask
    how long that I can get all my documents back from the Department of Consular Affairs ? can it be one day still or three days ? I have read it from another website it said 3 days 🙁
    anyways this is the number of
    Don Mueang Ampher 02-5659413
    Bang Rak Ampher 02-2361395
    Lak Sri Ampher 02-9822081,02-9822082

    Nan

    Reply

    • ben says

      Hi again Nan. Minimum wait is 3 days from MFA. No same day service anymore.
      Reference to the witnesses and translator that was a definitely a bonus of going through the company. They provided all of them.
      Cheers,
      Ben

      Reply

      • Nan says

        Hi Ben, Thanks for the answer so I though It was still in the same day, that too bad there is no process for one days any more and I need to do it another week then . also its good for the agency that they provide all witness and translator for you but for us I might have to find them , it could be friend from my fiance
        🙁

        Reply

  147. Michael says

    Hi all,

    Does anyone know or have any useful contacts with a Thai who can speak English and is willing to help translate during a marriage registration? Or an agent who can do this and supply witnesses. Open to all potential costs as i am desperate to get my situation resolved quickly.

    Reply

    • ben says

      Hi Michael. I totally recommend the agency who got me and my Thai wife married 1 week ago today at Don Muang. No problem at all.
      Total fee is 7,500 baht. You just turn up with all your paperwork on the day. That 7,500 baht include translated marriage certificates to English too.

      Lady’s name is Khun Nida.
      Here are details.

      Please follow the company location below :
      Company name : Professional visa service co.,ltd
      Place : Maha thun Plaze building , Phloen chit road ( BTS Phloen chit exit 4 )
      ** our company is located on the left hand side of the Maha thun plaza building ( next to RADI Coffey shop )

      Nida
      0896117636

      I sorted it all out with her over the LINE application first.
      You pay 50% (3,750 baht) before then the other 50% after you are married and have your official certificates.

      Her LINE ID is : thaivisa

      I am very pleased I decided to use the service. My documents were also sat at Nonthaburi. Nothing will ever come of that. I am sure which is again why I used this agency.

      Cheers and good luck.
      Ben

      Reply

  148. Nan says

    Hi , Some of the comment they use Lak Sri also Laksri they provide witness aswell , that is awesome for that but I dont know if you have to bring translator
    I think I change my mind to go Lak Sri not Don muang but first of all I have to recheck again If it Okay for british married with Thai and also translator if i have to bring ..
    this website is soooooooooooo helpful for us 🙂
    thanks everyone

    Reply

  150. Nan says

    Hi All, I did everything today except go to the District because all documents we will get it in couple days which is we cant take off anymore so we decided to do it next week and Hopfully there is not gonna be any problem about witness or any translator.

    good luck everyone,

    Nan

    Reply

      • Nan says

        Hi Gary, I am abit confused that Don muang told me that We dont have to book just walk in , also do u have to bring witness and translator ? because last time they asked me to bring two witness and one translator , please keep an update so I am abit worry of there is a problem after . We are gonna do it next wednesday 🙂

        Thanks
        Nan

        Reply

        • Gary says

          Just to update you, we were married in Don Muang yesterday. We used one translator and one witness done through an agent. Process took about 45 minutes. Pretty painless. Just waiting for our marriage document to be translated in to english and cerified today and then we are done.

          Reply

        • Gary says

          We are using an agent as the whole process just been too stressful trying to do it ourselves whilst the problem with the british affirmation going on. The agent has booked me a time slot but maybe because we are being picked up at 9am. Yes you need witnesses and a translator.

          Reply

          • Michael says

            Just married today at Don Meaun. Went with an agent and paid the 7500 ouch. Even though there were suppose to be 2 witnesses only one agent/ translator was there. She seemed to know what she was doing though. To be honest it seems like a big cash cow. Because there was minimal work involved for this payment. And it all went through in little over an hour. I even noticed her signing 2 different signatures for the witness part. Can’t fault the service though. All done hassle free. So perhaps i should be thankful. Yay finished!!! Also thanks Ben for the tip.

            Reply

    • Mike says

      Please help with time frames for US Citizen. I can be at the US Embassy on a Monday for their first appointment which is 9:15. Will I get my Affirmation of Freedom to Marry right away? Once I have that we can go the Department of Consular Affairs. Will we be able to register marriage on Thursday? We have flight out of Bangkok on Friday morning. Thank you.

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      When you receive an update, click through to the post and find the box where you would normally reply and click on ‘You are the author of this entry. Manage subscriptions.’ You can then manage which posts you are subbed to. I think you’ve already done it, as I just had a look to do it for you and couldn’t see your email 🙂

      Reply

  152. Dominic Whiteoak says

    Hi,

    I have read so much information online and think I now have a decent understanding but I just need some help for the marriage side of things

    I will be arriving in Phuket on the 22nd November and will be there until the 14th December – I will by flying out to Bangkok at some point for 5 days to try and get everything sorted:

    I have filled in the template affidavit to marry from the UK Gov website and will bring this with me but I am unsure where I need to take this? Is it the MoFA office or the British embassy office to get it translated and signed?

    I am hoping I can get it all done pretty quickly as we will be applying for a Spouse visa for her to come live in the UK with her intended travel date as March 2017 (I have read that two days seems to be possible from the comments below)

    Thanks for any help as it will be greatly appreciated

    Reply

      • Nan says

        Hi, Mike this is the address of Don mueang district
        999 Thanon Choet Wutthakat, Don Mueang, Bangkok 10210, Thailand
        Tel.02-565-9413
        I am not happy with the service at don mueang by calling and ask their information so I decided to use lak sri instead 🙂
        Yes some case are better to use agent but i am thai tho its quite easy 🙂
        Anyways good luck to both of you .

        Cheers
        Nan

        Reply

      • Nan says

        I think 4 days should be enough 🙂 and also i think if u wanna do it at phuket you have to call and check first even in bkk some district they dont do it i dont know why !! But lak sri is really good service ! Some of them use an agent I dont think we should use agent because its easy for prepare documents if anyone have any problem you can ask me !!!

        Nan

        Reply

        • Mike says

          Does anyone know if the single status documentation can be obtained in Ho Chi Minh City prior to arriving in Bangkok as we are told it takes 5 business days for the Vietnam consulate to process the paper work in Bangkok.

          I emailed the Legalization Ministry in Bangkok and the Thai Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. This is what they said:

          From Legalization:
          Dear Sir/Madam,

          I would like to inform you that for registering marriage in Thailand, basically you need to prepare your marital status certificate which issued by the concerned authorities of your country and must be passed certifying process by your Embassy in Thailand or The Thai Royal Embassy in your country, or incase your embassy in Thailand is able to issue that certificate to you directly you can contact them for issuing. After that you need to translate it to Thai language and bring it together with your original certificate from your Embassy and copy of passport to Legalization Division, Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok for legalizing. Then bring the completed document contact Thai district office for registering marriage.

          Regards,
          Legalization Division

          From Thai Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City:
          Dear sir,

          Her Vietnamese doc must be translated into Thai and get the legalization at the External Relations Office, Ho Chi Minh City (most of the time they wont accept the thai translation but English so you can do the Thai translation once using in Thailand before handing to the Consular Affairs Dep in BKK). Then you take the doc with legalization from Vietnamese authority to legalize it here at Thai Consulate-General.

          Regards

          My question to Thai Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City:

          Thank you for your response. Will her single status document certified by External relations office in Ho Chi Minh City be good enough to take to Thailand Consular Affairs?

          Thai Consulate Ho Chi Minh City response:

          yes it is good enough

          Reply

          • Chris says

            Hi Mike I’m curious if you had a chance to try this out? Apparently it is impossible to get a single status certificate from the Vietnam Embassy in Bangkok, therefore I am interested in this ‘alternative’ legalization method you’ve outlined. Elsewhere though it sounds like you used an agent.

            I’m American trying to marry a Vietnamese woman.

            Reply

        • Mike says

          We have decided to use Nida. Line app id: Thaivisa after reading this board (see October 6, 2016) to assist us in December. She has been so helpful and responsive. We have a very limited time in Thailand and my fiancée is from Vietnam (where it is time consuming and very complicated to get married). Others discouraged us regarding the Vietnam consulate in Thailand providing the Freedom to Marry document but Nida said she has many customers from Vietnam. She told my fiancée exactly what she needs to bring from her country. Nida told us the time frames of when to go to the embassies (Vietnam takes 5 business days). She will do the translations and even file our documents with the Ministry so we do not have to go there. I hope all goes as planned. It is well worth it to us to pay her fee to have someone in Thailand guiding us every step of of the way and heading off any problems.

          Reply

          • Dominic Whiteoak says

            Thank you for this, it really helps a lot

            The biggest problem I have come across now is that I booked the A1 life skills test without realising that we would need to be married first so that she could take the test using my surname 🙁

            I am going to have to try and do as much stuff as possible whilst I am with her and then leave my documents so that she can go apply for the visa alone after I go home

            I’m pretty tempted to pay for a visa agent just to make the process as easy as possible as it’s so stressful trying to organise it from the UK

            Can anyone on here advise how easy their wife found the A1 test? My girlfriend speaks really good English so I don’t think she will have any problems passing

            Reply

      • Nan says

        Hi , Dominic , after you fill the affirmation letter then made an appointment to the embassy ( choose what day you can go and time ) then go embassy and give them that form and it takes a about 45 mins or less than that , and then take all paper that the embassy give u back to the MFA and translate there its 400 baht , wait around 30 mins for your paper to be translater then go upstairs at MFA get a queue then pay another 400 baht for little stamp this step takes you about 2 days 🙁 after you get all documents from MFA you directly go to Lak sri District and all u need is just the documents that MFA gave you back also u dont have to bring witness coz the officer there will do it for you but they ask me to put in the envolop for 1000 baht 🙁 i had no choice so i had to give them but i didnt mind accually also they asked for translator aswell I said i dont have translator but in fact I work as an english translator at hospital so they said okay I can be the translator 🙂
        I did everything done today !! Thanks godddd , have been stress all week 🙂

        Good luck
        Nan

        Reply

  153. Joyce Jinan says

    First of all, I would like to thank the writer for this very informative blog!

    I am a Filipina with an Arab partner and I am a Muslim revert. We have learned it is easier to get married in Thailand. I’ve been online searching for information and recently contacted an agent who offered to process required documents which costs a lot (THB26,000 for processing, THB5,000 for Muslim marriage ceremony, and THB2,000 for document translation to English/Arabic). As the writer mentioned, hiring an agent doesn’t eliminate the first step which is acquiring a CLCCM (Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage) from the Philippine Embassy.

    I have seen others asking about staying in Thailand for 10 days before being allowed to marry. Yes, it takes 10 calendar days clearing period before the Philippine Embassy releases the CLCCM for marriage banns purposes. Here is the link to get more information.

    I also have confusions regarding the Marriage Ceremony, when does it happen? Can we get wed after we acquire the CLCCM or after the Thai Consular Affairs Authentication of our documents?

    Lastly, we both have limited number of days we can stay in Thailand as we want to spend more time with my family in the Philippines before going back to the Middle East. We want to get wed on Valentine’s Day February 14, 2017. I’m planning to book our flights on January 31, 2017 to give a 10 day allowance for CLCCM clearing period, plus additional 3 days for other document processing. So I am wondering if any Filipino had recently been married in Thailand or anyone of you here who has the latest information, please let me know if the number of days I set will be enough.

    I appreciate your help.
    Thank you very much!

    Reply

  154. Sims ooi says

    thank you for the very informative blog.
    Is it possible for me to get just the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry in 2 days.

    I am a malaysia citizen, i had obtained my single status declaration letter from our Malaysia Registration Office, and certified by Ministry of Foreign Affair in Malaysia.

    based on the blog and my correspond withe Malaysia Embassy Officers as below.

    My question will be on the Translation Office and Ministry of Foreign Affair in Bangkok.

    1. Translation Office – How long would they take to translate the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry and how much would it cost?

    2. Ministry of Foreign Affair – since the express service is no longer available, how long would it take actually?

    Reply

    • OOI KOK liang says

      I am now at South Sathon 3, near Embassy malaysia.after obtained the sample of affirmation of marry from embassy. today will be using the service of translation. Embassy mentioned that i must put the 2 witness name is malaysia citizen. which is very troublesome.

      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      1. It can take 2 hours or 1 day. It depends on how busy they are. If you pay for an express service, you could get it done within an hour. Not all companies offer this though.

      2. 24-48 hours. Please see the comments of others for recent updates.

      Reply

  155. Mark says

    Witness – Hi I’m looking to get married to my Thai partner in Bangkok in Decmber and have taken on an agent as I just don’t have time to stay in Bangkok to sort everything out. The agent is now telling me that my witnesses been to be British citizens living in Britain. Can anyone tell me if this is true. I realize that the affirmation requires the names of two witnesses but I’m a little confused as I’ve ready may blogs about witnesses being provided at the wedding. If all else fails anyone fancy being a witness in Bangkok on the 20th December.

    Reply

  156. Yan says

    Thanks for the information you guys took time to write for us.I’m from Cameroon and my fiancee is from the US. I have a certain preoccupation, my country doesn’t have any representative here in Thailand. Is the certificate that proves that I’m single made in my country enough?

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I think so. I mean there is no other way you can get around this if there is no Cameroonian embassy in Thailand. But you should check with another embassy to make sure. It may be that you have to get the document from the closest embassy (nearest country).

      Reply

  157. Graham says

    Many thanks for all the information , I am planning to marry a Thai National later this month. I am Australian and it is easy to get the form from my Embassy to allow me to marry. I am concerned that the express service may not be available from the Thai Consular Affairs. Please can you tell me how many days it may take to get documents back from Thai Consular Affairs ?

    Reply

  158. Peter says

    Hi thanks for the article.

    I am from the UK in Bangkok and only here until the 19th. I had someone helping me with the marriage but now it is turning into a nightmare. Both myself and my partner are form the UK.

    I have the affidavits and they are at the translation shop apparently waiting to go to thai consular of affairs.

    However the agent has apparently been told by the district office that they have to wait for 1 month after receiving the application before they can marry us because they have to contact our embassy.!!!

    We only have 3 days now to do this. Both

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      That has never been a rule, and it can’t have just suddenly changed. This would be ridiculous. Are you sure the agent isn’t trying to pull a fast one just to get more cash? I’d get the affidavits and go to the MFA yourself. You don’t need the agent.

      Reply

      • Peter says

        Yeah i think so. they are also trying to charge me 4000 thb for the authentification from the thai consul.

        Unfortunately they had collected my affidavits off me and taken them to the MFA before i knew any of this was happening.

        First they made out that I could not receive them back before next week (when we would be leaving) and now they mysteriously appeared today!

        It is very dodgy. I haven’t paid them anything yet and wont before I am married tomorrow. So fingers crossed.

        I will update tomorrow

        Reply

  159. Melissa says

    Hi Thailand Life.
    You are ace for setting up this website. When I stumbled across it I was so excited I tried to hurdle my ironing board! This information is so helpful. I think all the users on here should buy you a beer.

    I have for the last 10 weeks been trying to phone the British Embassy in England, they either have poor staffing levels or they are sat around dunking biscuits in tea because they do not answer the phone!

    We are getting married in Phuket end of Jan 2017. We are both Bristish Nationals. We are paying a registrar to come to our wedding to marry us in Phuket. I understand that we need to go to Bangkok first and complete your Steps 1&2. What I am confused about is whether we need to take Step 3 as the registrar is coming to marry us on the beach. Just to be clear we don’t want to be married in Bangkok inadvertently by misunderstanding the process.

    Thank you so much.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I cannot be held responsible for any ironing board hurdling related accidents 🙂

      So, the registrar will be from the local district office. She/he will issue the certificate there. So no need to use a district office in Bangkok. You may have to pick up your certificate from the office the next day, or they may deliver it to you. Confirm this beforehand. All the best!

      Reply

  160. Groom says

    October 2016. If your a foreigner thinking of getting married in Thailand, do yourself a favour. DON’T.

    Get married in a country that welcomes foreigners like Bali. We saw all the tourist booklets about Thailand and thought wow… this would be an amazing place to get married. Wrong. We spent over $5,000 in this racist country and got in return a marriage process from HELL.

    Twice we had to cancel our pre-booked wedding ceremony and I had a bride in tears. The Thai bureaucrats don’t care and probably enjoyed laughing at the white foreigners. Basically the military junta staged a coup d’état against the democratically elected government and have since changed all the marriage procedure rules making it almost impossible for Westerners to get married in their country.

    Getting married in one day is impossible. There is now only one Khet in the whole of Thailand that does not make foreigners wait one month before they will marry them. It feels like they want to get rid of foreigners i.e. Westerners. I hated this poo-hole country and never felt so unwelcome in a place in my life.

    By contrast we spent our honeymoon in Cambodia and it was amazing. The people were so welcoming. The food was great. We really loved this country and its people. Thank you so much Cambodia.

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Sorry to hear about your bad experience. This year has unfortunately turned up a bunch of problems for foreigner trying to get married in Thailand, not least the issue regarding the legal disclaimer on the affidavit for British nationals. Then there’s the having to book appointments at local district offices to register the marriage, and the witnesses thing whereby some people are being asked to use two witnesses from their own country.

      Much of the confusion is coming from operational changes, whereby new management make rash decisions without understanding the implications. Fortunately, with hindsight, these decisions are usually rolled back fairly quickly

      It makes no sense to intentionally make getting married difficult, because foreign marriages are a solid source of income for the tourism industry.

      Reply

      • Tracy says

        Hi, thanks for the great info and the sense of humour. Loved the detailed timing, it felt like the amazing race…. you wrote lately in the post ”issue regarding the legal disclaimer on the affidavit for British nationals”, can you please explain what this means and what are the consequences?

        Thanks

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Hi Tracy, this was an issue whereby the legal disclaimer on the British affirmation was causing it to be refused by the Thai MFA. The standoff lasted about 2 weeks before it was resolved. It’s all good now though.

          Reply

    • Groom says

      I will add this. This is the best advice I can give. If you for some reason cannot avoid getting married in Thailand. If during the marriage process a nightmare scenario eventuates. Go to see Conchita in the Marriage Section of Khet Lak Si. She is obviously a pro democracy supporter and a mid range departmental head official. She salvaged our wedding and you can trust the information she provides. Cheers.

      Reply

      • Tim says

        Hi Groom, what was the reason your ceremony had to be rescheduled? The way I understand it, its separate from going to the Amphur office. Or am I misunderstanding?
        The way our wedding organizer brought it was, the ceremony is nothing legal, its just a party. The Amphur is the legal part of the wedding.
        Thanks a lot for any advice
        Tim

        Reply

  161. Julian says

    Hi,
    Thanks for the great info on this page. I would first like to point out to everyone that saying bad things about Thailand because you got ripped off by an agent is poor form. You SHOULD be aware that no matter where you go in the world, there will ALWAYS be someone looking to take your money and rip you off. If you are not aware of this then get with the program. It happens in every country and you just need to know not to fall into their traps.
    I am planning to get wed in Thailand also. I am from UK and my partner of ten years from Cambodia we are both in Vietnam at the moment with our daughter. My partner and my daughter both have full passports. They also have their blue book or house book and my daughter has her birth cert. We also know that we will need a doc from our embassy saying we have not been married before. So we have all our documents needed.
    I have several friends in Bangkok as I have been there many times. So I am asking them if they can get me and my partner to and from the embassy/gov offices and get our documents translated. I am obviously avoiding agents but trying to get everything sorted out before so the whole process will run smoothly.
    My question is will my daughter need any documents for her mum and me to get married? And is there anything I am missing out here? Will my partner need a birth certificate? She does have a full passport and her house book already.

    Any feedback or advice would be much appreciated.

    Have a great day.
    Julian

    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You don’t need any additional documents for your daughter for you to get married in Thailand. Once you have your affirmations from your respective embassies, then the translations, and the MFA legalise the documents, you are good to go. But I don’t know if this will be the case with the Cambodian embassy. To get the affirmation from the embassy, they may ask to see some other documents relating to your daughter. So check on that first. I have no idea of their requirements.

      Reply

      • Julian says

        Hi,
        Thanks that’s great news. Can you just tell me what the MFA stands for?
        And what do we have to get translated? Everything including copies of passports?
        So then we take everything to the MFA to legalize all the documents and that’s it? Once they are legalized we are done and married with many happy days ahead:) ?

        Reply

        • TheThailandLife says

          Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

          You only need the affirmations from your embassies translated to Thai. You will also need copies of your passports.

          But no, once legalized, you then need to book an appointment at a local district office (known as an amphur) to be issued with your marriage certificate.

          See the last section of the post: What Marriage Documents to Take to the Registrar

          All the best!

          Reply

  162. Tim says