Samphanthawong District Office

I'd like to warn couples with foreign partners to plan their time carefully, as unexpected events can cause time and money to be wasted! We completed our paperwork at the end of the year. After translating and submitting the documents for legal review, we received our appointment to pick up the documents after the New Year holiday break. After receiving the documents, we called District A to register. In short, upon arriving at the district office, the officer informed us that if the foreign registration is unavailable, we'll have to wait in line, and advised us to contact another district office. So, we called the office to see if there were any available appointments so we could register. The office said we could register right away, so we told them we'd be there around 2 p.m. The next day, we planned to register, bringing all the documents and our family as witnesses. In short, when we arrived at the district office, we couldn't register. The district office said that foreigners would have to wait at least two weeks for the process. We explained that we'd called yesterday to ask if we could register, and they said yes, so we came today. The officer said we'd only asked about registration, but didn't mention that we were foreigners. Huh? Who knew there would be a wait time for foreigners? From what my partner and I researched, no website or post mentioned a wait time at all... In short, after talking with the officials, they confirmed that no district office could register immediately. They'd have to wait, just like every other district. (At that time, my boyfriend was about to fly back home. We had allowed extra time for the paperwork and registration process, not realizing the wait.) This forced my boyfriend to fly back to re-register, as the documents after processing were only valid for three months. We resigned ourselves to it, thinking it was okay. A mistake was a mistake. While waiting, we posted to ask our friends in a group about registration. We just learned that some districts allow registration without waiting. Some districts charge a bribe, or what some call an express fee. Some even claimed they had insiders who would help us by skipping the queue. After finding out, we were furious. If they couldn't let us register immediately, they should have told us to go elsewhere instead. They didn't discourage us by telling us the process was the same everywhere, even though we had already told them we were flying back home. Flying back would be a waste of time and money. During our conversation, one of the officials handling our case had a rather unkind conversation, one of them being in the middle of an interview. He was being sarcastic. I want to tell you that it's not your job to interview, but judging you by the fact that you've only been together a short while and are ready to get married is none of our business. You shouldn't be so concerned. The interviewer asked how long you'd been together. How many months have you been together? When I answered, he said it was too short. Could I lie to him? Could I give him an answer that would put his mind at ease? Maybe a year would do…? So why would I lie to him? I told him the truth. I hope you improve your work habits. To others in the same situation as me, if you're in a rush to register, I recommend calling every district office you can find. You'll avoid wasting money and wasting time like I did. My boyfriend's flight costs hundreds of thousands each time, and it's a waste of work time. We've had our family travel from out of town as witnesses. Everyone has to travel again the following month. What are you trying to do to us? (The first picture posted is the one I found on the district office's page. It doesn't mention the waiting time.)

4 months ago