Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Marriage Visa process in 2026. I like to make these videos toward the end of the year starting at New Year, where I basically ring in the New Year by mentioning the year in the title because it gives me an opportunity to do sort of roundup on the underlying topic. 

I made a lot of videos over the years; I just checked our body of work. I made 8,300 videos in some 9 years. So during that time we put out a lot of content, I have talked about a lot of things and there are things that I talk about that in my mind I just sort of set aside once I have discussed it and then I just don't talk about it as much as maybe I should on this channel from time to time, because I forget not everybody is like an avid watcher of a channel largely devoted to Thai and American Immigration as well as Thai legal matters and American legal matters which is a pretty niche thing, I think anybody can kind of agree with that. So I like to make these videos to do sort of a roundup on these topics generally.

The Marriage Visa, the Thai O Marriage Visa; it is open and eligible to those foreign nationals who are married to a Thai National. Again, issues associated with where the marriage took place and certifying documentation associated therewith can be a rather problematic thing in the context of Thai Marriage Visas. I've discussed this in other videos; I urge those who are interested in that to check that out as well.

It is also worth noting, again I think the continuing trend will continue into 2026 of heightened scrutiny on Thai Marriage Visas as opposed to Thai Retirement Visas. Now, we have seen developments throughout this year that show us that hey, actually scrutiny is kind of amping up a little bit on Retirement Visas but at the same time, they're still doing a lot of spot checks associated with Thai Marriage Visas. They are still checking to see if people are really living together because they are worried about sham marriages. I actually did a video on this going back years ago where there was corruption associated with some Indian nationals who were marrying Thai nationals on paper and then using that to get a visa and they weren't actually married to those people; they didn't even know them in certain cases. That created a situation where we have seen heightened scrutiny on the Marriage Visa ever since. 

Do I see that heightened scrutiny abating in 2026? Not really. I think if anything, going into at least the first quarter of 2026, the Marriage Visa process or at least the application process and the extension process, will look largely the same. That being said, it remains to be seen, so we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.