Want to wed in Phuket? Sorry, not now

PHUKET: Want to get married in Phuket City? Thalang? Then you’re out of luck. Both offices have run out of marriage certificates. The only district office that still has supplies – now in very limited numbers – is Kathu.

An official from the Muang District Registration Department, who asked not to be named, admitted that her department ran out of certificates two weeks ago.

“If anyone wants to get married, they will have to wait until we get fresh supplies of certificates from Bangkok,” she said. “Alternatively, they might ask the Kathu District Registrar to register their nuptials.”

She added that the shortage of certificates is not confined to Phuket but is a national problem – the entire country is gradually running out.

“We have many couples coming here [wanting to marry], but we have to tell them they must wait or register somewhere else because we have to wait for new certificates to come from the Department of Local Administration in Bangkok.”

An officer at Thalang District Office, who also requested anonymity, said that his office, too, had run out of marriage certificates.

“We ran out last week, and now we are telling people who want to get married that they should go to the Kathu District Office. We are waiting for fresh supplies, but we can’t say how long that will take.”

Suksan Siang-Ake, Chief of the Kathu District Registration Department, said he still has some forms left.

“People can come here to get their marriage registered until we, too, run out of certificates; we have only a limited number left.”

Asked why he could not hand some of his certificates to the other districts, he said this was impossible because each certificate has a unique code number, part of which indicates the district in which the marriage is registered.

Due to government holidays, no one at the Department of Local Administration could be reached for comment.

Oh, and before we forget: The official at Muang District said that her office has also run out of the spiffy new “smart” ID cards for Thais. Anyone living in Muang who wants to upgrade from the traditional “dumb” card will also have to wait until fresh supplies arrive from Bangkok.