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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing documentation pertaining to marriage and certification within Thailand. So we are talking about marriages that are foreign to Thailand; these are marriages that were solemnized in some other jurisdiction outside of the Kingdom and folks are looking to go ahead and legitimize, not legitimize but certify that documentation for use in the Kingdom. 

What is the context of somebody who would want to do this? Well there are various contexts. One of the big ones is Marriage Visa. If you want to get a Marriage Visa you have to prove up that you are married in Thailand, or married for purposes of recognition in Thailand. So if you are married abroad, say in the United States, you have to have that foreign marriage certified here in Thailand. This is one of those things that has over time become increasingly Byzantine and increasingly cumbersome. The marriage registration process in and of itself here in Thailand has also become increasingly cumbersome, increasingly onerous and Byzantine to deal with as time has gone on. I can remember a time when it almost took a day or two; then it went up to like a week. These days, just registering a marriage in Thailand can take three weeks up to a month sometimes, depending on circumstances and when you can get appointments and things. 

Meanwhile, certifying a foreign marriage, this is something that in the past it was just not something we dealt with that was very difficult. Oftentimes you could get documentation certified from the Embassy or at least a notarized statement stating that the document was real and then Thai Immigration would use it. Now that is not the case. Now you have got to process it through various state organs back in the United States as well the Federal Government before the documentation comes back here to be counter-certified by both authorities from the US Government here in Thailand as well as from the Thai Government itself. So generally speaking, when you are dealing with certification of a foreign marriage in Thailand, you're going to be dealing with a lot of paperwork; it's complex and I hate to say it, it is rather time-consuming as well.