Not enough time to register marriage at US embassy in Bangkok

[tipaklongkano 13]

I'm getting married the next couple of days to a Filipino here in Bangkok, but I won't have enough time to have the Thai marriage certificate translated and certified by the ministry of foreign affairs and then authenticated by the US embassy for US immigration purposes. I absolutely cannot afford to stay any longer. I don't know what to do. Does this mean I'll be legally married but she'll be unable to emigrate to the US unless I fly back to Bangkok just for translation stuff? I won't be able to do that any time soon. I am so stressed and so worried!

[apple21 953]

The US embassy doesn't need to authenticate the marriage certificate. USCIS will accept a certified copy of your Thai marriage cert. Your wife can have it translated. You don't have to be there.

If your wife wants to use your last name, she must do a Report of Marriage Contracted Abroad at the Philippine Consulate in Bangkok. Its not a requirement though for the i130.

[tipaklongkano 13]

Thank you for replying. I should have mentioned that she doesnt live here in Thailand, she lives in Makati. We'll be flying back there this Friday.

Regarding the certified marriage certificate, do you mean certified specifically by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs? The reason for my confusion is that when I got my "permission to marry" document notarized at the embassy, they provided me with a page listing instructions for getting married in Thailand, and the last paragraph states that if the foreign spouse intends to apply for an immigration visa, then i will in fact need to get the certificate stamped by the MFA and then authenticated at the embassy (for a $50 fee, naturally). On the embassy's website, the instructions don't include that last paragraph. I tried calling and emailing the embassy for clarification, but they're unresponsive.

Edited April 20, 2015 by tipaklongkano