Are divorce papers required

[boatman37210]

I am an American who will marry a wonderful Thai lady in November. I am 62 and have been married and divorced twice over the years. Do I have to provide copies of divorce papers for both marriages in order to marry? The reason I ask is the first divorce took place 30 years ago and I've since lost the papers. I have the papers for the second divorce.

Thanks.

[FARANWIDE]

I believe formalities require you show proof of your marital status, thus if divorced you should be able to present your most recent divorce papers if asked. Not sure what a single guy would have to do. Perhaps a letter from his Embassy confirming his status. Interesting, considering he could come from anywhere to here, leaving a trail of deserted wives!

[AjarnV]

I am an American who will marry a wonderful Thai lady in November. I am 62 and have been married and divorced twice over the years. Do I have to provide copies of divorce papers for both marriages in order to marry? The reason I ask is the first divorce took place 30 years ago and I've since lost the papers. I have the papers for the second divorce.

Thanks.

No, just go to the American Embassy and sign an affidavit swearing that you are single. I did the same thing 6 years ago; no problem. Cheers.

[Danthai]

As an American previously married, you must provide a copy of your divorce papers to an office in Bangkok along with translation to Thai. They will provide a certified stamp to copy of your divorce papers. This must be done before you can register your marriage in Thailand. Registering the marriage must be done to get your marriage certificate to use at Immigration. You should get two or thee certified copies to have available if you misplace or lose the original.

It is not advisable to ever lie about or falsify documents. They may never find out, but if they do your in a lot of trouble. Never take someones advice to lie to obtain anything, especially something as important as your marriage and efforts to live honestly here in Thailand.

The procedure cost you a little time and money, as well as inconvenience, but it is worth it. Once your documents are provided to marry and register, you should not need the paperwork again unless requested.

The office is an office in a suburb of Bangkok out near a stadium. Its been 12 years for me, so I don't remember the name of the office, but you should find out easily. Good Luck.

PS We got our translation just a block or two down the street from the office and stadium.

[Danthai]

I must add, it applies to all foreigners, not just Americans. Sorry I didn't indicate that in the orriginal reply.

[Pimay1]

AjarnV is correct:
No, just go to the American Embassy and sign an affidavit swearing that you are single. I did the same thing 6 years ago; no problem. Cheers.

I did the same thing ten years ago. Don't waste your time and money doing otherwise..

[drrobert]

guys,

you all have parts of the story but not quite. I was going to type it but I have let the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs do it instead. This is all that is required but may not be as easy if the marriage is registered in a rural area.

Appear in person with your passports at your Embassy in Thailand to complete declarations attesting that you are single and free to marry in accordance with Thai Law (blank forms are available at the Embassy).
Take the completed declaration to a reputable translation office to have the contents of the declaration translated into Thai.
The documents together with translation and copies of passports have to be taken to the Legalization Division of Consular Affairs Department (address: 123 Chaengwattana Road, Laksi, Bangkok 10210 Tel: (66-2) 575-1056-60 Fax: 575-1054 E-mail: consular04@mfa.go.th ) where the Consular Official's signature will be authenticated. This normally takes 2 days. The documents and translation are then ready for submission to the District Registrar who will register the marriage and issue the marriage certificate in Thai.

[Just-1-Voice3]

Sorry, this may be irrelevant, and maybe even none of my business, but I can't help but wonder about something. You are 62 and twice divorced, and getting ready to "marry a wonderful Thai lady" soon. Should we ask how old this wonderful Thai lady is? In other words, is it love? Or just love of money on her part, especially if she's young enough to be your daughter, which happens more times than can be counted.

Feel free to ignore this if you want.

[Bodin]

Your affidavit must contain the names and addresses of two referees who can verify your status. So if you knowingly make an inaccurate statement that you're single and not divorced, then those referees will have to substantiate that claim should the need arise. So do you really want to ask your friends to lie on your behalf too?

Also, if things go sour between the two of you at some time in the future and the family find out that you weren't single as you originally claimed, then you'll be leaving yourself wide open to a blackmail threat that they'll inform immigration concerning your previous status unless you come up with some cash. Since you made a false statement, you can't very well go to the police yourself without landing yourself in jail for 7 years, the latter of which is the maximum penalty in Thailand for knowlingly making a false statement to immigration or to the police.

[AjarnV]

As an American previously married, you must provide a copy of your divorce papers to an office in Bangkok along with translation to Thai. They will provide a certified stamp to copy of your divorce papers. This must be done before you can register your marriage in Thailand. Registering the marriage must be done to get your marriage certificate to use at Immigration. You should get two or thee certified copies to have available if you misplace or lose the original.

It is not advisable to ever lie about or falsify documents. They may never find out, but if they do your in a lot of trouble. Never take someones advice to lie to obtain anything, especially something as important as your marriage and efforts to live honestly here in Thailand.

The procedure cost you a little time and money, as well as inconvenience, but it is worth it. Once your documents are provided to marry and register, you should not need the paperwork again unless requested.

The office is an office in a suburb of Bangkok out near a stadium. Its been 12 years for me, so I don't remember the name of the office, but you should find out easily. Good Luck.

PS We got our translation just a block or two down the street from the office and stadium.

Sorry, that's just plain wrong. What I posted is correct; but I didn't include the translation thing because the question was; "are the divorce papers required?".