Lao Pride Forum - My wife and me

Chris Cotton

Ex Member

My wife and me
17^th Jan, 2011 at 9:46am

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris. I work in Hong Kong and my wife is from Laos.

We met 9 months ago in Laos and decided to get married. However, Lao laws regarding marriage of a Laotian and a foreigner seemed a bit of a nightmare. I'm from New Zealand by he way.

In December I got a visitor visa for my then girlfriend to come to Hong Kong for 2 weeks. In the time she was here we got married under Hong Kong law. I'm now in the process of applying for a dependancy visa for her to stay with me here permanently.

There was still the issue of how my wife and I would live legally together in Laos in the future. Well, last week we went to the Laos consulate in Hong Kong and they were very nice. We gave them my wife's paperwork and within 24 hours they had translated the marriage certificate, certified that it was a legally registered marriage in Hong Kong, and stamped it.

On Saturday my wife returned to laos and an hour or so ago she went into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs t o see about getting our marriage legally registered in Vientiane. 700,000 Kip later and 2 hours of waiting, and our translated copies of the Hong Kong marriage certificate have been stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A happy day indeed. Quick, painless and it means we don't have to go through all the BS of getting married in Laos and all the paperwork that goes with it.

It will be nice to be legal next time my wife and I are in Laos together.

Cheers all.

Looking forward to chatting with you on this forum sometime.

Chris

CIMG1307.JPG (61 KB | 931 )

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Admin Saovaluck

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #1 - 17^th Jan, 2011 at 7:44pm

Welcome aboard Chris, and that's a beautiful photo of you and your wife. Congratulations on your marriage, and I wish both of you a long and happy life together.

Yes, the paperwork that Lao authorities require from foreigners seems too much. They don't make it easy, this is mostly in order to protect their citizens. It's nice to know that everything worked out well with your marriage in Hong Kong, and that the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved your marriage.

Won't they allow you to live in Laos as a legal non-citizen resident? Maybe apply for a long stay visa, or Lao citizenship is another option.

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Chris Cotton

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #2 - 17^th Jan, 2011 at 9:17pm

Thanks admin.

As for living in Laos and visas etc, I haven't given it a lot of thought really.

The plan is to work here in Hong Kong for a while to save money, then go back and live in Laos in a few years time. We have started building a house in Vientiane which we'll rent out (once it's finished) until we decide to move back to laos permanently.

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Admin Saovaluck

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #3 - 17^th Jan, 2011 at 10:16pm

Just take each day as it comes, and the future will take care of itself. Living in Laos will be more laid-back than the fast-paced lifestyle of Hong Kong.

Renting out your house is a great way to earn extra income.

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llX

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #4 - 18^th Jan, 2011 at 6:54am

Good plan Chris and good luck.

Quote:

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llX God Member Offline "Absolute power corrupt." Posts: 2685 Gender: Age: 36 Awards: 2	Re: My wife and me Reply #5 - 18^th Jan, 2011 at 6:57am Congratulation Chris. I wish you and your wife happiness, health and success.
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Rolf

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #6 - 19^th Jan, 2011 at 8:07am

Congratulations Chis, I am also a Kiwi, but I live in Chongqing in China and my wife is from this town, 10 times the population of New Zealand. I don't know much about Laos - yet, but if it is anything like other parts of Asia, the home is a woman's domain, your just a valued guest. Not as bad as it may sound, quite good actually, Asian women are incredibly skillful and talented in that respect. So to say, since she decided she wanted it this way, and it was your idea anyway, there is not room for an argument, is there. We may come to Laos later, I hope, and learn to know the country a bit better. Cheesy

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Lao Dreamer

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #7 - 29^th Jan, 2011 at 1:16pm

Congratulations Chris to both of you! it was amazing to know how easy it was for you to get married to a Lao citizen and especially it only cost you Kip 700,000. I am a Lao person who had spent years trying to get approval from the Lao Government to marry a foreigner, let alone thousands of US$ over the years....hate to think about it.

Seems like you both are very lucky and happy couple indeed. All the best for the future.

Cheers

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krisuk Newbie to Lao Pride Offline I Love Laos...savannakhet Posts: 2 england Gender: Age: 38	Re: My wife and me Reply #8 - 30^th Jan, 2011 at 2:34pm hi chris my names kris im from england and i have a laoation girlfriend near savannakhet im 24 and she is 26 her name is khamseng and i would like to find out how to take her to england for a holiday but as were not married is this a problem? any information would be greatly appreciated. thank you
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Lao Dreamer

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #9 - 30^th Jan, 2011 at 5:36pm

Hi Kris, I'm a Lao person living in London. My niece got married to an English man 6 years ago. So, I know pretty well how you could get your Lao girlfriend over to UK for a holiday.

It's pretty straight forward if your girlfriend applies for a visit visa. You have to write a formal invitation to invite her to visit you in the UK with all her expenses taken care of by you. You can contact the home office to get some advice as well if you like.

If she applies for a tourist visa, then she needs to have a lot of money in the bank to prove that she can afford all the expenses to include all travelling and living expenses over the period she stays in the UK. It is quite complicated and required a lot of paperwork I have to say.

Hope this helps

krisuk wrote on 30^th Jan, 2011 at 2:34pm:

hi chris my names kris im from england and i have a laoation girlfriend near savannakhet im 24 and she is 26 her name is khamseng and i would like to find out how to take her to england for a holiday but as were not married is this a problem? any information would be greatly appreciated. thank you

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krisuk Newbie to Lao Pride Offline I Love Laos...savannakhet Posts: 2 england Gender: Age: 38	Re: My wife and me Reply #10 - 30^th Jan, 2011 at 7:53pm thank you very much lao dreamer for the information about the different visas available to us. I will let you know of our progress on the visas and agin thank you kris
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longhang Full Member Offline Posts: 144 Gender:	Re: My wife and me Reply #11 - 31^st Jan, 2011 at 10:46pm gotta admit im jealous lolz cute wifey...
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I Air

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Re: My wife and me
Reply #12 - 8^th Feb, 2011 at 5:51pm

First off, congrats on the happy couple !! I wish you two nothing but the best.

I have to admit that I am truly astounded and SHOCKED that it went that smooth. I am assuming that the key was getting the " stamp " from the consulate in Hong Kong???? Thus, a smooth stamp in Vientiane ?

I have a girlfriend in Vientiane that off and on, started the research of legally marrying her ( though my research was not that extensive ) and based from what I've found, it is very difficult because the Lao embassies abroad will NOT stamp the marriage if a Lao citizen marries outside the country. They sure don't do it in Thailand ( I think ).

Could this be your luck or a new policy?

I am a US Citizen. And here is the kicker....., I was born in Laos. Yes, a Lao-American that has to watch his back when I am around my girl in Laos.

Please let me know. Thanks

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Chris Cotton

Ex Member

Re: My wife and me
Reply #13 - 9^th Feb, 2011 at 5:52am

I Air wrote on 8^th Feb, 2011 at 5:51pm:

Thanks for the post I Air.

I've just been into the Lao embassy here in HK to confirm everything is ok. I showed them the stamped document from the MOFA in Vientiane. It was the same guy who originally gave me the stamp when we first got married. He said everything is OK and we are now legally registered in laos.

I guess getting the original stamp in HK was the crucial bit. Very easy...just had to provide my wife's birth certificate, a police clearance certificate from Laos, a document that showed where she lived in Laos, and a document showing she was single in Laos before. We had these already and they were stamped by the village chief so everything went smoothly.

They also did everything they needed to in one day instead of the normal 3 days.

Spoke a bit of my basic Lao as well which he seemed to like.

Cheers
Chris

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Chris Cotton

Ex Member

Re: My wife and me
Reply #14 - 3^rd Mar, 2011 at 11:03am

Just a quick update for all out there.

The wife just got her dependant visa approved for Hong Kong so she can now stay with me as long as I am here in HK. It has been hard not being together from pretty much after we got married.

But now the visa is here, I'll go and pick her up from laos at Easter, do some family stuff with her (including sin sot) and then be back here.

Cheers all
Chris

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