What are the steps to legalize a UK marriage certificate for use in Thailand to open a bank account and register an address?

You do not need to return to the UK to resolve this dilemma.. your Uk marriage certificate will need to be certified by the British Embassy in Bangkok.. and a copy will need to be translated into Thai and duly certified by the (Thai) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.. it's a mind numbing job to do yourself unless you happen to live in Bangkok.. we used an agent to do it so as to avoid travelling and to expedite the process.. and they included a translated and certified copy of my passport.. which i didn't know i was going to need for other things until much later.. so this was forethought on their part.. the cost was around 5,000 baht and the whole process took around 3-weeks.. so you really need to get this underway soonest.. bearing in mind it could take longer if you go the DIY route.. once you have it you can register your marriage at the local amphur and obtain a Kor Ror 22.. which is basically a certification of the marriage registration.. these documents will then enable you to obtain a 'Yellow Book' for your marital home (assuming your wife already has a Blue Book in her name) from the Municipality.. which in turn will enable you to get a 'Pink ID Card' from your local Amphur.. all valuable ID's and will serve as proof of identity and proof of address.. making your life here much easier moving forward.. and are (usually) necessary to open a bank account.. these were the requirements of Bangkok Bank at least.. and will no doubt be requested by most other banks too.. once your money is transferred into your Thai account you should obtain the confirmatory letter of your bank balance from your bank the day before you go to immigration.. and make sure your passbook has been updated to current day to mirror the figures quoted in the letter.. then get 2 copies of everything to support your non-o application.. though I'd personally recommend you get 6 copies of every document and keep the extra copies in readiness for your next renewal.. not to mention the many other situations that may arise once you settle into every day life.. it will save you time and money in the long run.. good luck with it my friend 🙂 Ps. I realise there can be minor variations in the process and / or the requirements across different provinces.. but this is the outline of the system we had to navigate ourselves in Chiang Mai.

IF Thaï immigration says it needs to be stamped by Thaï embassy, get à lawyer to have it done for you.

Another work around but I don't know if it will work, get married again in Thaïland

if its a uk certificate you only need to do the following.

1. get a decent thai translation

2. get that approved by the MFA

3. take that to your local amphur to get your koror22 (thai marriage cert ). No need for embassy stuff

What about getting remarried in Thailand should that work, Have you spoken to the local ampour on what you need, would an translated certificate work. Good luck, it's not easy to open Bank account with out the correct paperwork.

Contact them

Express translations in Bangkok can probably help with that

Presumably you were married in the UK? If so, this is why the UK Marriage certificate needs to be legalised by the UK Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes, then certified by the Thai Embassy in London.

Mmm, a pain indeed. 2 friends of mine (1 Dutch and 1 from Austria) had to go to the ministry of foreign affairs in Bkk, to register the mariage in Thailand. Not sure if they had to legalise their passport and mariage certificate first at their Embassy.

But first I would walk along some banks and/or branches with y'r wife. Even in the neighbourhood of y'r city.

You're also going to need that done to get a 12 month extension at immigration. I think it may be enough for you to get a 60 day visiting Thai family extension if you need to buy time.

The embassy has nothing to do with those requirements so they have nothing to tell you about. The requirements to get your marriage recognized in Thailand are requirements of the amphur, banks and/or immigration. You'll need to go through the process to get all that done. As far as agents, there are some that offer that though I don't know enough to recommend some, but I've seen them discussed before. It can take a few weeks because a lot of it needs to be done in person in the UK then send back to Thailand with additional processes once it arrives back.