Reader question: Register marriage in Thailand?

Your wife will only lose her Thai nationality if she has requested this from the Thai government. I don't think many people do this and if they do, it is often because otherwise they cannot take on another nationality.

I would contact both the Thai embassy in the Netherlands and the Dutch embassy in Bangkok. Although it is usually the other way around (register Thai marriage in NL instead of Dutch marriage in Thailand) you will not be the 1st and they can tell you exactly what to do. Probably (actually 100% certain) the Dutch document(s) will have to be translated into English (in the Netherlands) and legalized (by the Dutch embassy) and then translated back into Thai and legalized (by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

It all costs time and money, but that's the way it goes.

Dual nationality is no problem. Your wife would be wise to apply for an ID card in the Netherlands – in addition to a passport. Then she can use her Thai passport + Dutch ID card when she leaves Thailand for the Netherlands. And use the Netherlands in/from her Dutch passport.
Then she can stay in Thailand as long as she wants and that saves her TBH 2.000 exit/re-entry costs.
My girlfriend has been doing this for years.

Thailand makes no issue of dual nationality and will revoke Thai nationality if requested.

Hi Bacchus,

How can you get married in both countries?
If you are already married in the Netherlands, you still have to bring papers that you are unmarried in terms of marital status. Or can you just get married again if you are already married?

If you get married in the Netherlands, someone knows how long it will take before you receive the (possibly international) marriage certificate. Is this months of work, or days of work?

If I read everything like this and my girlfriend / wife stays in the Netherlands, then the most obvious thing to do is to get married in the Netherlands. Because with the marriage certificate is also legally valid in Belgium or Germany. Is this correct? BVD

Dear Tjamuk,

A woman married to a Dutchman also did NOT lose her rights in the past, after registering that marriage in Thailand. You are making a fallacy here by confusing the word marriage with the concept of nationality. Your daughter can therefore continue to buy additional land. She did not lose her Thai nationality through her marriage to a farang. Not even by registering that marriage in Thailand. Unless she gave up her Thai nationality herself.

As for the sister of your neighbor across the street who married a Japanese: she bought land and put it in the name of the neighbor's children. In short: an aunt buys land for her nephews/nieces. What does that have to do with her marriage to a Japanese??? She just has a lot of sympathy for those children!

Frans' question is whether his wife will have problems afterwards if they register their marriage in Thailand? You answer that question with a counter question about the usefulness of registration. I think Frans himself decides what makes sense for him.

With regard to having a dual nationality, it is true that possession of it will not end soon: that is not the point at all. The registration of dual nationality is under discussion. Having a dual nationality continues, e.g. by birth. Or through courses and exams and obtaining a Dutch passport. What changes is that a municipality no longer registers both nationalities in the birth register resp. GBA. Someone will be asked to choose. But they keep both passports/nationalities. That's how it is, and not otherwise. Plus it's not that far yet.

Ownership of Land in Thailand by a Thai Married to a Foreigner

There has been much debate in recent weeks as to the validity of land ownership rights of Thai nationals who are married to foreigners. The controversy stems from claims that any Thai nationals who are married to foreigners will be under scrutiny by the authorities at the Land Department. This is due to the fact their right to the ownership of their own home may be void if they are deemed as a nominee to their foreign spouse. This would be shown to be the case if the Thai national cannot prove they have sufficient funds within their control for the purchase.

History of Ownership Laws for Foreign Spouses

To give some context to this notion, when a Thai spouse purchases property in Thailand, the couple must give a joint written statement to the Land Department stating that the money for the purchase is the “separate property” or the “personal property” of the Thai national, as defined in the Thai Civil and Commercial Code. This, in essence, means that the foreign spouse would have no future rights or claims to this property. This regulation, in fact, has been in place since 1999 where a Letter of Declaration was issued by the Ministry of the Interior and is, therefore, not entirely a revelation. Many foreigners here who are married to Thai nationals are quite aware of this requirement.
Normally, all property acquired by a husband and a wife after marriage is considered “marital property” or “community property” and would generally be shared equally between the husband and wife in the event of death or divorce. Gifts to one spouse, however, are deemed as the spouse's “separate property.” Again, it is well known here that the purchase of a property is regarded as the “separate property” or the “personal property” of the Thai spouse. This is not that unusual given the case that foreigners, except under certain conditions, cannot own land in Thailand.

Issue in Contention

So with this being the case, the question remains. Since it is considered a gift to the Thai spouse, it would appear difficult for the authorities to claim that the money used for the purchase of the property was given to the Thai spouse as a nominee. It seems impractical for any country official to determine whether such funds were indeed given as either a gift or deceitfully in order to own property.

Exceptions to Property Ownership by Foreign Nationals

The rule providing for full ownership of land by the Thai spouse applies to all Thai spouses or foreigners, even if the marriage occurred in another country or if the marriage is common-law.
The rule, however, applies only to land and there are several exceptions to this rule:
•Foreigners can own the buildings and physical structures on the land. This means that if a Thai and a foreign spouse are buying land with a house, the couple could work with a lawyer to give the foreigner rights to the house;
•Foreigners can own up to 49% of freehold rights to condominiums provided that several requirements are met; and
•A foreigner can own interest in land by using a number of registered instruments such as leases, superficies, or usufructs as appropriate.

Legal Rationale to this Law

Once again, the rationale for this rule ensuring that Thai spouses own 100% of the land exists because foreigners cannot generally own land in Thailand. There is a degree of xenophobia in Thailand when it comes to land ownership rights. This aspect is not in contention here as it is not uncommon in developing nations such as Thailand to be protective of their rights to land. The question, however, lies in the basic nationalistic right of a Thai citizen to own property in their own country despite who they may wish to marry.
As marriage is supposed to be a union of two persons, it is impractical to suggest that one spouse cannot cause benefit to the other as it may appear as if they are acting as a nominee. Indeed, the law in Thailand, in both the Civil and Commercial Code and the Land Code, allows and recognizes the concept of gifts to a spouse. Any notion which repudiates such right can only be found in exceptional circumstances such as, for example, undue enrichment cases. However, the mandatory requirement of signing the declaration letter at the Land Office stating that the property will belong in full to the Thai national would make such cases difficult to prove in any event. It would appear that at the end of the day, the Thai national will still own the country. As significant steps by the authorities have already been taken to ensure that this is the case, it would appear that the spirit of the Thai Land Code has not been circumvented in any way at all if a Thai married to a foreigner should wish to buy a property with funds gifted by their spouse.