Thai Marriage Visa: Complete Guide for Foreigners in Buriram

Most guides to the Thai marriage visa are written by visa agencies with a service to sell. They load the article with caveats, recommend hiring them for every step, and leave you with a vague sense that the whole thing is more complicated than it needs to be. It isn’t.

If you are a foreigner married to a Thai national and you want to live in Buriram — or spend significant time here each year — the Thai marriage visa is the right route. The process is the same whether you use a visa agent or do it yourself. This is what it actually involves.

What the Thai marriage visa actually is

The term “marriage visa” is informal. What you are actually applying for is a Non-Immigrant Type O visa, with the stated purpose being to stay with a Thai spouse. Once you arrive in Thailand on the initial 90-day Non-O visa, you then apply at your local immigration office — in this case Buriram — to extend your stay for one year. You renew that extension every year for as long as you remain married and continue to meet the financial requirements.

The distinction matters because immigration officers talk about your “extension of stay” rather than your “visa.” Once you understand that the visa is just the entry ticket and the extension is the actual long-term status, the process becomes considerably clearer.

Step one: getting the initial Non-O visa

Since January 2025, UK citizens can apply for a Non-Immigrant O visa online through Thailand’s official eVisa system at thaievisa.go.th. Select Non-Immigrant Visa type O and the purpose “To stay with Thai family residing in Thailand.” You do not need to visit the Thai Embassy in London in person.

What you need for the eVisa application:

• Passport with at least 18 months remaining validity
• Passport photo (digital)
• Proof of marriage — your Thai marriage certificate (Kor Ror 3) if married in Thailand, or a legalised UK marriage certificate if married in the UK (see below)
• Thai spouse’s ID card and passport
• Evidence of financial means
• Return or onward flight booking

The eVisa costs approximately £50 and processing typically takes 3–5 working days. You receive a 90-day single-entry visa. Once in Thailand, you have that 90-day window to visit Buriram Immigration and extend your stay to one year.

If you were married in the UK: You must put your UK marriage certificate through a two-step legalisation process before Thai authorities will accept it. First, an apostille from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Then attestation from the Royal Thai Embassy in London. You also need a certified Thai translation. Thailand is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, which means the apostille alone is not sufficient — you need to complete both steps. Allow several weeks for this process if you need to arrange it.

If you were married in Thailand: You already have a Thai Kor Ror 3 marriage certificate — no legalisation needed. Keep this document safe; you will use it repeatedly.

Thai marriage visa financial requirements — and a critical issue for UK citizens

To extend your stay based on marriage, you must demonstrate financial means in one of two ways:

• Savings method: 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account in your name, deposited for at least two months before you apply
• Income method: Proof of 40,000 baht per month in regular income

Note that 400,000 baht applies to the Thai marriage visa — not 800,000. The higher figure is for retirement visas. Note also that there is no combination method for marriage extensions: you use one route or the other.

For UK citizens, the income method is effectively off the table. The British Embassy in Bangkok stopped issuing income affidavit letters some years ago. Without an embassy letter, proving monthly income is extremely difficult in practice — bank statements showing regular transfers can work in principle, but most immigration offices expect the full 40,000 baht/month to have arrived in a Thai account for the past 12 consecutive months. In practice, the savings method is by far the more straightforward route for UK passport holders.

The 400,000 baht (~£9,000 at current rates) must sit in a Thai bank account in your name. The official rule states the money must be in place for at least two months before you apply. In practice, however, many immigration offices now expect to see the balance maintained throughout the year — not simply topped up before the application date. There are consistent reports of people being denied extensions despite meeting the two-month rule, because officers could see from the passbook that the funds were deposited recently rather than held consistently. The safest approach is to treat the 400,000 baht as a permanent floor and leave it alone.

This creates an immediate practical issue: you need a Thai bank account. Opening one as a foreigner has become significantly harder since 2024, with most major Thai banks now requiring a long-term visa before they will open an account — which creates a circular problem for first-time applicants. The most practical solution for many people is to arrive on a Non-O visa, use that status to open the account, transfer the 400,000 baht to Thailand with Wise (handles international transfers to Thai accounts at better-than-bank rates), season the deposit for two months, then apply for the extension.

Our digital toolkit for living in Buriram covers Wise and other practical financial tools for navigating this.

Extending your stay at Buriram Immigration

Buriram has its own immigration office, and this is a genuine advantage over Bangkok. Provincial offices move faster, have shorter queues, and the staff are more accessible. Visitors who have used both consistently report that processes taking hours in Bangkok take 30–40 minutes in Buriram.

Buriram Immigration Office
No. 559 Moo 11, Samet Subdistrict, Mueang Buriram District, Buriram 31000
Tel: 044 666903 | Email: [email protected]
Monday–Friday, 08:30–16:30 (closed 12:00–13:00 for lunch)
Closed Thai public holidays

The office is in Samet Subdistrict, the same area as Khao Kradong — about 6km south of the city centre. You need your own transport to get there; there is no convenient public route.

What to bring for the annual extension:

What to bring to Buriram Immigration

• Passport (original) — ensure your Non-O visa or current extension stamp is visible
• Copies of every used passport page, plus the photo page, current visa, and entry stamp — the office usually has a photocopier; arrive early if you need to use it
• TM7 extension form — available at the immigration office
• One passport-sized photograph
• Kor Ror 2 — a fresh marriage registration certificate from the amphur (district office) where your marriage is registered. This must be dated within the past six months. Your Thai spouse can collect this; it takes minutes at the amphur and costs almost nothing. Do not rely on an old copy
• Thai spouse’s national ID card and house registration book (tabien baan) — copies of both
• Bank letter — a letter from your Thai bank confirming 400,000 baht in your account, dated no more than 7 days before you apply. Most banks charge 100–300 baht for this. Bring your passbook and ATM card as well
• TM30 receipt — proof that your address has been registered with immigration (see below)
• Family photographs — photos of you and your spouse together, ideally at your home in Buriram. Candid, genuine photos carry more weight than formal portraits. A spread of recent images showing your life together is standard practice
• Hand-drawn map showing the location of your residence — this sounds archaic but immigration offices across Thailand still request it. A simple sketch showing the nearest main road, your street, and the house is sufficient
• Extension fee: 1,900 baht cash

Apply before your current permission to stay expires — ideally with at least two to four weeks to spare. Do not cut it to the last day. If your extension is still being considered when your stamp expires, you receive a temporary extension, but it is an unnecessary complication.

One additional requirement worth knowing about: there are reports of immigration offices recently requesting a signed statement from a neighbour confirming that you live at the registered address. This does not appear on official requirement lists, but some offices are insisting on it in practice. It is not possible to predict whether Buriram will ask for this on any given visit. It is worth calling or emailing the office ahead of time to ask what they currently require — requirements can shift without being formally published, and arriving without a document they expect will mean a wasted trip.

Getting the Kor Ror 2 from your local amphur

The Kor Ror 2 is worth a separate mention because it trips people up. It is not the same as your marriage certificate (Kor Ror 3). The Kor Ror 2 is a current extract confirming the status of your marriage registration — essentially a dated confirmation that you are still legally married and that the registration is current.

You get it from the amphur — the district office — where the marriage was originally registered. For most people with connections to rural Buriram, that will be the local district office in whichever district your wife’s family home falls under. It is not the main city hall. Your Thai spouse asks for a Kor Ror 2 at the civil registration counter; it takes five to ten minutes and costs very little. Some amphurs provide a certified English version; ask when you go, because it saves a translation step if yours does.

You need a fresh one each year. Do not assume last year’s copy will be accepted.

90-day reporting

While you are on a one-year extension of stay, you must notify immigration of your current address every 90 days. This is a simple administrative requirement, not a visa renewal — you are not reapplying for anything. You are just confirming you are still at the same address.

The form is the TM47. Your reporting window opens 15 days before the deadline and closes 7 days after. Do it within this window. Miss it and the self-reported fine is 2,000 baht; get caught at a checkpoint or during an immigration audit without having reported, and the fine rises to up to 5,000 baht plus 200 baht per day.

Your first 90-day report must be done in person at Buriram Immigration. After that, you have three options:

• Online — via tm47.immigration.go.th. Since May 2025, this is linked to Thailand’s new TDAC digital arrival system. You will need your TDAC reference number (a 10-digit code from the email you received when you registered on arrival) to complete an online report. The system works in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. It is not always reliable, but when it works, it is by far the most convenient option
• By post — send your TM47 form, copies of your passport and current extension stamp, and a prepaid return envelope to Buriram Immigration. Allow several days each way
• In person — walk in with your passport and fill out a TM47 form. Quickest and most reliable if the online system is giving you trouble

For a countdown to your next 90-day deadline and optional reminder emails when your filing window opens, see our immigration tools page.

Re-entry permits — the thing most people forget

This is the single most common and most expensive mistake people make on a Thai marriage visa extension. If you leave Thailand without a re-entry permit, your extension of stay is cancelled. You arrive back in Thailand as if you had no visa at all.

The re-entry permit is a stamp in your passport, obtained before you fly. Two types:

• Single re-entry — 1,000 baht. Allows one exit and return. If you leave again before your extension expires, you need another one
• Multiple re-entry — 3,800 baht. Allows unlimited exits and returns for the duration of your current extension. If you travel regularly between the UK and Thailand, this is significantly better value

You can get a re-entry permit at Buriram Immigration before you travel, or at Suvarnabhumi/Don Mueang airport on the day of your flight. The airport option works but adds stress to your departure. Getting it at the Buriram office in advance is cleaner. You can also apply for a multiple re-entry permit on the same day you submit your extension application, which saves a separate trip.

TM30 — your address registration

The TM30 is the registration of a foreigner’s address with Thai Immigration. Under Thai immigration law, the person responsible for filing it is the homeowner or landlord — not the foreigner. If you are living in your Thai spouse’s family home, your spouse (or the property owner) must submit a TM30 within 24 hours of you arriving at that address.

You can submit the TM30 online at extranet.immigration.go.th. Your Thai family member registers the property once; after that, each time you arrive they submit a new notification. Forgetting the TM30 can result in fines and will cause problems when you attempt an extension or 90-day report — immigration offices will not process applications without a valid TM30 on file. Make sure your spouse understands this requirement and has the property registered before you arrive.

If you are renting, it is your landlord’s legal obligation. In practice, many landlords are unaware of it; it is worth raising it explicitly when you sign a lease.

The Buriram advantage

Foreigners on a Thai marriage visa with connections to Buriram who have also dealt with Bangkok immigration offices consistently note the same thing: provincial offices are easier. Not easier in the sense that requirements are different — they are not. Easier in the sense that you are dealing with a manageable number of cases per day rather than an overwhelmed system processing thousands.

At Buriram, staff have basic English and there is generally no long wait. The office knows its foreign resident community. This is genuinely one of the practical advantages of basing yourself here rather than Pattaya or Chiang Mai, where immigration queues can stretch across an entire day. An annual extension and a 90-day report in the same morning is entirely achievable in Buriram.

If you have questions before visiting, the office email ([email protected]) is worth trying. Response times vary, but staff are generally approachable and will answer straightforward queries.

Thai marriage visa: the annual cycle

Once you have your first one-year extension, the routine settles into a predictable pattern:

• Two months before your extension expires: ensure 400,000 baht is in your Thai bank account and stays there
• Six weeks before expiry: collect a fresh Kor Ror 2 from the amphur, get your bank letter, gather your documents
• Two to four weeks before expiry: visit Buriram Immigration with your full document set, pay 1,900 baht, get your new stamp
• Every 90 days: report your address via the online TM47 portal, by post, or in person
• Before any trip outside Thailand: get a re-entry permit (1,000 baht single or 3,800 baht multiple) — do not skip this

Practical information

If you are settling in Buriram or spending extended periods here, the cost of living and land ownership guides on this site cover the financial side in more depth. For getting here and finding somewhere to stay, see our transport guide and accommodation guide.

Considering health and travel insurance for your time in Thailand? Get a Nomad Insurance quote — SafetyWing offers flexible monthly cover popular with longer-stay visitors across Southeast Asia. For cover that includes adventure activities and trip cancellation, World Nomads is worth comparing.

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