'name change document' in Thailand

[mark9999 0]

Hi all,

My Thai beneficiary was married before, changed her name, and then changed her name back after her divorce.

She does not have any 'proof of legal name change' paper, and her local district office claims that such a thing doesn't exist.

Her name changes were recorded on her 'house book' (tabien baan) and birth certificate. However, USCIS and the US Embassy in Bangkok are requesting the actual document that effected the name change, sort of a 'name change certificate' or something.

Anybody have any experience with this in Thailand? How does one get the document and will other things like the birth certificate or 'house book' work?

Thanks.

[Ning 619]

Hi all,

My Thai beneficiary was married before, changed her name, and then changed her name back after her divorce.

She does not have any 'proof of legal name change' paper, and her local district office claims that such a thing doesn't exist.

Her name changes were recorded on her 'house book' (tabien baan) and birth certificate. However, USCIS and the US Embassy in Bangkok are requesting the actual document that effected the name change, sort of a 'name change certificate' or something.

Anybody have any experience with this in Thailand? How does one get the document and will other things like the birth certificate or 'house book' work?

Thanks.

I think there is some confusion in this story. She wouldnt change her name on her B Cert. I never heard of this.

If she lived in a village there would be a house book for her family. This is held by someone in the family. All of the names in that book are registered at the Amphur for that area. When she married both records should have been changed. When she divorced they would be changed again to reflect the former names. Copies of those records should be easy to obtain.

If she lived within a city her name would be registered with what you call city hall. Upon marrige she would go there to change her name. She would reverse this after divorce. Copies of this would be obtained there.

These things are fairly simple to do but are not easily understood by Americans when first explained. She should now have her Thai I D in her present name so she can obtain a passport in that name in the future.

[mark9999 0]

So what should she ask for at the amphur?

She has her marriage and divorce certificates, as well as ID and passport reflecting current name. USCIS seems to be looking for something beyond that, an actual separate paper the effected the name change.

Is a copy of the tabien baan enough for US visa purposes?

from one of the visajourney checklists:

"13. Proof of Legal Name Change if either the US Citizen and/or foreign fiance(e) is using a name other than that shown on the relevant documents. You must give USCIS copies of the legal documents that made the change, such as a marriage certificate, adoption decree or court order."

Following this, I guess the marriage cert. is good for showing maiden name -> married name. However, her divorce cert. is still in the married name. We don't have any receipt or paper 'effecting' the name change back to her maiden name. Just the recording of the change, after the fact, on the tabien baan.

Edited February 20, 2012 by mark9999

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Thailand regional forum; topic is country specific.

[mark9999 0]

Thanks Ryan and Ning too.

[GandK 168]

There is a certificate of name change, you get it from Am pheur where you resides.

I guess the person you talked to at the Am pheur didn't know what he/she was talking about. You need to talk to the district deputy.

I went to Thailand in 2007 before I got my danish citizenship to change my name at the Am pheur, I got the certificate of name change in Thai, made a new Thai national ID card with the new name and I even translated the certificate of name change to English for use in Denmark.

PM me with your email if you wanna see what it looks like.

Talk to the district deputy and not the clerk at Am pheur, my dad went there to get a certificate of birthplace for me last month since I have lost my original birth certificate.

The clerk told my dad he doesn't know what that is and can't issue it then the district deputy came by and told him, yes they can issue that without any problem.

In most cases, the Am pheur can issue any certificate if they can verify documentary evidences they have on files, sometimes they require two witnesses as it was the case with my certificate of birthplace.

So you just have to talk to the right person.

Edited February 20, 2012 by GandK

[Mountain Climber 186]

There is a certificate of name change, you get it from Am pheur where you resides.

I guess the person you talked to at the Am pheur didn't know what he/she was talking about. You need to talk to the district deputy.

I went to Thailand in 2007 before I got my danish citizenship to change my name at the Am pheur, I got the certificate of name change in Thai, made a new Thai national ID card with the new name and I even translated the certificate of name change to English for use in Denmark.

PM me with your email if you wanna see what it looks like.

Talk to the district deputy and not the clerk at Am pheur, my dad went there to get a certificate of birthplace for me last month since I have lost my original birth certificate.

The clerk told my dad he doesn't know what that is and can't issue it then the district deputy came by and told him, yes they can issue that without any problem.

In most cases, the Am pheur can issue any certificate if they can verify documentary evidences they have on files, sometimes they require two witnesses as it was the case with my certificate of birthplace.

So you just have to talk to the right person.

My wife changed her first name prior to coming to the US. She obtained a certified document of her name change from her local Amphur.

[mark9999 0]

Thanks guys. And Gand, I PM'd you. I sort of figured they didn't know what it was. Hopefully I can get a copy of Gand's to show them.

If anyone can volunteer theirs, just PM me. You can black out your name and identifying parts or I can happily do it for you. Just want someting to show them at the office. Thanks.

Edited February 21, 2012 by mark9999

[mark9999 0]

My gf(soon to be wife, if we follow our plan to file IR1/CR1 in Bkk) tells me the amphur office said:

The reason for the name change determines whether you can get a certificate or not.

The law changed a few years ago and certificates of name change are not issued if the reason for the change was marriage / divorce. In these cases, the name change is simply recorded in the 'house book' (tabien baan), and that's all you get.

For other name changes, not relating to marriage / divorce, one can still get a certificate.

This sounds a clerk mangled a rule or something. There is sometimes an assumption that doing anything 'extra' or above/beyond the normal procedure is prohibited, when that is not the case.

I'm going to press forward and see if we can get a higher up at the amphur office. My feeling is that they really can issue a certificate for just about anything they have a record on, as GandK said.

In the meantime, anyone encounter this 'rule' of no name change certificates these days specifically in the case of marriage / divorce?

If the rule/law exists, I'm going to try to get a copy of it but I don't know what the result of that request will be.

Edited February 26, 2012 by mark9999

[GandK 168]

Definitely talk to someone higher up. I don't think there is a standard form or certificate they have to follow but the district deputy can issue any certificate provided that they can verify the statement with documentary evidences on file. And I'm sure they can verify that your coming wife has changed her name whatever method it was. The clerk just doesn't have the authority to do it

My statement of birthplace is issued by the deputy at my Am pheur, it is something like this

Certificate of birthplace

On this date xxxxx , Mr xxxx , national register no. xxxxx , resides at xxxxxxx has requested the district to issue a certificate confirming the birthplace and birth date of his son XXXX due to

lacking of original birth certificate.

The authority has verified the documentary evidences on files and questioned two credible witnesses XXXXXX and XXXXXX and it is found that XXXXX was born in XXXX

father name XXX and mother name XXX.

The am pheur here issued this certificate as evidence on this date xxxx.

Good luck

[rick313 5]

Hi. My wife actually had a name change when she was very young. Her parents gave her her original name, and I guess they decided they didn't like the name so they changed it to something new a while later. This all happened when she was like 1 years old or something. In anycase, her parents kept an official document indicating the name change, and for the K-1 process she just had it officially translated.