Marrying in Thailand – Many Ways for Australians to Tie the Knot
For many years Thailand has been a top holiday destination for Australians. According to the stats around 400,000 Australians visit the South East Asian nation each year enjoying its fine cultural heritage, spectacular beaches, cooler mountains and excellent cuisine and shopping.
The relaxation of the marijuana laws has done nothing to change that – more like the opposite! Many enjoy the fabulous nightlife in places like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
Many Aussies decide to make their lives in Thailand perhaps after holidays or maybe after pleasurable spells working in a country that has a very charming attitude towards foreigners of all nationalities.
In fact, it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 Aussie expatriates resident in Bangkok and the other 76 provinces that make up this country of nearly 72 million.
Many of those expats – mainly men but also a fair proportion of women – have decided to marry Thai nationals and live in the country rather than return home to the old country. While it is true that many Thai nationals marry foreigners to help them leave their homeland and gain nationality in their spouses’ countries, many Thais are more than happy to stay in the land of their birth and accommodate foreign nationals into their lives.
There are many ways to get married in Thailand and this blog by a foreign permanent resident of the country gives two very different ones. It doesn’t have to be custom wedding suits and swanky hotels; some marry officially and some do it on a budget so read on.
Firstly though to get married in Thailand the Thai authorities require what is called a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage or CNI to prove that you’re really free to wed. The Australian Embassy in Bangkok and the Consulate-General on the southern holiday island of Phuket charge for CNI’s and issue them by appointment Monday to Friday. These are only issued to those who have arrived on Australian passports.
The Australian authorities have a pdf file that explains all the steps needed. Be aware that all documents need to be in the Thai language so there are quite a few costs involved in making sure that all the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed. For example, if divorced you’ll need proof of that and if you are a widow or widower you will need your previous partner’s death certificate – all translated.
This blogger has married not once but twice in Thailand in very different ways – yes I have had the pleasure of meeting several Thai ladies and have many children from these two unions.
I met my first wife in Bangkok and after a rather tempestuous relationship we married at a registry office in the Thai capital. It was a memorable day. I thought I had everything buttoned down with all the documents from the embassy duly translated and held in a whole bunch of papers as thick as a book.
I was living in the Chatuchak area near the famed weekend market in the northern part of Bangkok and went to a registry office at that district office where marriages are routinely registered. Unfortunately, the clerks there were reluctant to okay the paperwork being largely unfamiliar with marrying foreigners despite the area containing many expatriates of many nationalities.
Almost in a whispered voice, the clerk told me and the bride-to-be that we should try our luck in Bang Rak.
This was not a great surprise. This is a district of Bangkok that is often referred to as the District of Love (rak means love in Thai). Each year on Valentine’s Day in February there are huge ceremonies at the Bang Rak district office where they marry hundreds of lovers both Thai-Thai and Thai-Non-Thai.
Indeed with the change in the law ratified by the Thai monarch Rama X in September 2024 there are plans to register perhaps 1,000 same sex marriages in the Bang Rak district office on February 14th next year. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have waited for years for this legislation.
My girlfriend and I hotfooted it to Bang Rak and a memorable day ensued. They confirmed that our paperwork was in order and that we were about fifteenth in line having arrived rather late at the office. Our joint tempers got a little frazzled as the 4pm closure of the office approached and we were still not near the front.
At 4 pm the chief clerk announced that there would be no more marriages that day and it looked like we had been thwarted! However, as with many societies in Asia, money talks and I was able to persuade the clerk to stay open to 6 pm with a small contribution to the “Clerk’s Ball” if you catch my drift.
We lived together for twelve years and had two children but separated in 2004.
I married again that year but in very different circumstances. I had met a lady from the northeastern province of Loei and we married unofficially according to country traditions. This involved a lot of dressing up in suits and traditional Thai costumes and travelling to my wife’s village 630 kilometres from Bangkok.
On the way, I went to the ATM to get a dowry that the next day was laid out on the floor of the family’s home – little more than a shack at the time. Everyone and his dog came from the village to attend our nuptials – the first ever there featuring a Thai and a Westerner.
Our wrists were covered in “sai sin” (holy string) as each villager tied that particular lucky knot and gave us a token 20 baht (about 80 cents). I was anointed with the earth of Isaan (the northeast) and held two eggs as the vows were made. No paperwork was needed.
A cow was slaughtered and eaten raw to celebrate! This union has been blessed with two more children.
Marrying in Thailand is fine, follow the links for all the advice.
Author.
