Practical Advice for Foreigners Registering a Marriage or a divorce in Thailand

Navigating administration in a foreign country can feel overwhelming. There is a glut of websites from legal partnership and translation websites dedicated to the topic of registering a marriage or divorce in Thailand for foreigners. Some of the sites provide fearfully confusing, and at times contradictory descriptions of the registration process. What are the real rules and documentation requirements for registering a marriage or a divorce in Thailand?

A general truth that you will find looking across these online resources for foreigner is that civil registration is relatively easy and straight-forward in this country.

I have personally witnessed marriages and a divorce in Thailand that required nothing more than a passport, a national ID, the house registration (‘tabian baan’) for the Thai national, and, in the case of a divorce, the orginal marriage certificates (‘tabian som rot’). If both parties are present the process is completed very quickly. But, the exact requirements in your case will depend on a number of factors, especially on whether or not there are any children or shared assets involved, and may depend on the District Office where you intend to register.

The easiest and best way to confirm without a doubt the requirements in your specific case is to visit your local District Office and ask them. If you don’t speak Thai or don’t feel comfortable entering a government office by yourself, than one of the great things about Thailand is it’s not usually that hard to find a kind soul willing to help you by accompanying and helping to ask your question. When entering the District Office, politeness and respect for local culture is paramount. After that, your process should be remarkably easy and streamlined in Thailand.

Of course, it is not in the interest of the legal partnerships and translation services web pages to make this recommendation. It is technically in their commercial interest to make the process seem onerously hard, or even risky to navigate on your own. Maybe that is the reason for the abundance of confusing and fearful information on many of these websites. An example I found on the website for a translation service was a claim that marriage and divorce registrations required translation for the foreigner’s passport. This struck me as bizarre, so I called the translation company’s office. The woman told me that this requirement was actually the translation of an authentication document, to be issued by request by the Foreigner’s national embassy, which is then submitted for approval by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The translation service described a process that required submitting formal requests both to the embassy and then Ministry, with official translation in between, which easily could have taken a month. My visa would expire before it was finished.

I think there are some special circumstances where the approval of a translated copy of an embassy’s authentication of your passport could be useful for your personal business while in Thailand. But, this certainly wasn’t the case for the marriages and one divorce that I have witnessed. Again, this could be easily confirmed yourself with a short visit to your District Office.

While listening doubtfully to the complex explanation and serious tone from the woman at the translation company as she insisted I would need her service I imagined that most people in that situation probably would indeed be ready to pay for professional help. There are legal partnerships, for example, who offer flat-rate packages to handle the paperwork and to support you with representation in a marriage or divorce registration. But, no one wants to pay a service or for a document that they didn’t actually need. This would be a kind of red tape that is not of the government bureaucracy, but manufactured by the private sector.

There are many cases, such as when children are involved, or if it is a contested divorce, where legal services or representation might be very important, or at least more efficient, when registering marriages or divorces. However, it is also worth noting that in the general baseline cases of conducting civil registration, Thailand is likely to be a relatively simple and well streamlined example, with minimal documentation requirements. An example of good governance, often overlooked although civil registration is an important government responsibility.

In the divorce case I witnessed in Thailand, the couple lacked a 2nd witness. No problem, because one of the office assistants that happened to be sitting with some free time at the front of the District Office was more than happy to stand in as their 2nd witness. A series of documents were produced in front of the couple as they sat at the official’s desk. There were a couple of rounds of signatures with the official, and at some point the head of the District Office steps in and adds his signature. Just like that, and it’s over. From the time we arrived until we left the District Office, not more than 30 minutes had passed. I can’t imagine how a lawyer or other professional help could have possibly made it go any easier.

Lawyers are sometimes essential services indeed, but there are also times when your best course of action will be first to gather information yourself and directly from the source. You can visit a Thai District Office yourself, and simply ask them.