Thai Citizens Adopted Internationally

[TaraLotus]

Hello,

I'm hoping that someone here has heard of a similar situation to this and perhaps could offer some advice?

Our child will be adopted from Thailand (to Australia) and we had hoped to be able to buy a home for him in his home area in Thailand, in his name, so that he and our family may have somewhere to reguarly visit and for when he becomes old enough to keep a firm tie with his home-land.

Is this possible once a child has been internationally adopted and a citizen of another country, in this case Australia? Do adopted children from Thailand relinquish their citizenship at adoption or is it still ok for them to go and live in future, if they desire, and own property in their own names?

Thankyou in advance for any insight you can offer.

Adoptive Mum from Australia

Edited February 17, 2007 by TaraLotus

[samran]

I'm not sure how it works from the Thai side, but once the baby is adopted, does he/she get an Australian birth certificate listing you as the parents, or do you keep the Thai one (or do you get both)? I know from the Australian perspective, once the baby is adopted, they automatically become Australian citizens.

The thing is, the Thai birth certificate is the start of all paper trails here in Thailand. Have that (stating that the child is Thai), and an ID number on it (which follows you around for the rest of your life) then, yes it may be possible. It will also help if the baby is put on a house registry document, before you leave Thailand (assuming that you have a Thai BC like I described).

The reason I ask about the birth certificate issue is, if he/she only has proof that they were born in Thailand, it is not sufficent evidence that they are Thai. It needs to be shown that they derive thai nationality from their parents. At least one of the parents on the Thai BC needs to be a Thai national or Permanent Resident of Thailand for the child to aquire Thai nationality.

[TaraLotus]

I'm not sure how it works from the Thai side, but once the baby is adopted, does he/she get an Australian birth certificate listing you as the parents, or do you keep the Thai one (or do you get both)? I know from the Australian perspective, once the baby is adopted, they automatically become Australian citizens.

The thing is, the Thai birth certificate is the start of all paper trails here in Thailand. Have that (stating that the child is Thai), and an ID number on it (which follows you around for the rest of your life) then, yes it may be possible. It will also help if the baby is put on a house registry document, before you leave Thailand (assuming that you have a Thai BC like I described).

The reason I ask about the birth certificate issue is, if he/she only has proof that they were born in Thailand, it is not sufficent evidence that they are Thai. It needs to be shown that they derive thai nationality from their parents. At least one of the parents on the Thai BC needs to be a Thai national or Permanent Resident of Thailand for the child to aquire Thai nationality.

Thanks Samran for that information. From what I hear from other adoptive parents, our child does keep their Thai BC and also at the same time becomes an Aussie citizen, so best of both worlds. The adoption papers also evidence their Thai nationality and link back to their parents so this is looking good for them owning a home!

I'll do some more research when we go to Thailand next and see how we go.

Cheers and thankyou!

Kim

[bkk_mike]

I would repeat Samran's suggestion of ensuring the boy is on a house registration.

Basically, one of my daughter's was born in London, but she has dual-nationality as her mother is Thai. Someone linked to immigration (although not actually an immigration officer) suggested that we ensure she's on the house book just in case, because her birth was abroad, she fails to be issued with a Thai ID card when she's 15.

i.e. With the house registration, which shows her Thai nationality, and her ID number (and her Thai passport), it would be relatively easy to get an ID card "re-issued" for her, just as if the original had been lost...

[TaraLotus]

I would repeat Samran's suggestion of ensuring the boy is on a house registration.

Basically, one of my daughter's was born in London, but she has dual-nationality as her mother is Thai. Someone linked to immigration (although not actually an immigration officer) suggested that we ensure she's on the house book just in case, because her birth was abroad, she fails to be issued with a Thai ID card when she's 15.

i.e. With the house registration, which shows her Thai nationality, and her ID number (and her Thai passport), it would be relatively easy to get an ID card "re-issued" for her, just as if the original had been lost...

Thanks bkk_mike .. I didn't even realise there was anything called 'house registration' so I will make sure we do that.

Cheers!

[lillaludd]

Hi Tara,

We are in the exact same situation, our son was adopted a year ago from Thailand to Sweden and we now wanted to buy a house and him to own the land. He is considered Thai until he is 20 years old and can make a choise if he wants to keep the citizenship.

We contacted a lawyer and he told us that our son could own the land if we could show that he had made about 3 000 000 bht on his own...

The lawyer told us that the local land office (Rayong) probably would say ok to him owning land but that all selling of land that involved foreigners always are sent to Bangkok and a land office there, the office in Bangkok seldom agrees to these kind of contracts.

We still bought a house and will try this way anyway we also made a special contract with a lease of the land on only 20 years ( instead of 30 years x 3) and that our son would be the new owner of the land when he gets 20 years of age, puh!

Good Luck!

Annika with son Oscar Nanthaphong

Living in Sweden but spending more and more time in Thailand

[TaraLotus]

HI Annika,

Thankyou so much for this information! That is great news. I suspect we will do the same for our little one

Wonderful news

Tara

Our Adoption Blog

[samran]

Hi Tara,

We are in the exact same situation, our son was adopted a year ago from Thailand to Sweden and we now wanted to buy a house and him to own the land. He is considered Thai until he is 20 years old and can make a choise if he wants to keep the citizenship.

We contacted a lawyer and he told us that our son could own the land if we could show that he had made about 3 000 000 bht on his own...

The lawyer told us that the local land office (Rayong) probably would say ok to him owning land but that all selling of land that involved foreigners always are sent to Bangkok and a land office there, the office in Bangkok seldom agrees to these kind of contracts.

We still bought a house and will try this way anyway we also made a special contract with a lease of the land on only 20 years ( instead of 30 years x 3) and that our son would be the new owner of the land when he gets 20 years of age, puh!

Good Luck!

Annika with son Oscar Nanthaphong

Living in Sweden but spending more and more time in Thailand

Unless Swedish law mandates it, there is nothing in Thai law which says that a child must choose their nationaity at 20. Thai law stipulates that between 20 and 21 a Thai child with dual nationalty has the option to choose the nationality, and make a submission to renounce their Thai nationailty during that time. But if the child choses not to, they remain a dual national with no penalty.

To repeat, unless Sweden forbids it, there is no problem.

[TaraLotus]

Unless Swedish law mandates it, there is nothing in Thai law which says that a child must choose their nationaity at 20. Thai law stipulates that between 20 and 21 a Thai child with dual nationalty has the option to choose the nationality, and make a submission to renounce their Thai nationailty during that time. But if the child choses not to, they remain a dual national with no penalty.

To repeat, unless Sweden forbids it, there is no problem.

That's even better news ... thankyou so much for supplying such useful info.

Tara

[think_too_mut]

Hello,

I'm hoping that someone here has heard of a similar situation to this and perhaps could offer some advice?

Our child will be adopted from Thailand (to Australia) and we had hoped to be able to buy a home for him in his home area in Thailand, in his name, so that he and our family may have somewhere to reguarly visit and for when he becomes old enough to keep a firm tie with his home-land.

Is this possible once a child has been internationally adopted and a citizen of another country, in this case Australia? Do adopted children from Thailand relinquish their citizenship at adoption or is it still ok for them to go and live in future, if they desire, and own property in their own names?

Thankyou in advance for any insight you can offer.

Adoptive Mum from Australia

Are you really from Oz?

If you were, Oz cares nothing about other citizenships. I have two, Oz being my primary and proud of it.

Another thing that makes me think you are not for real - the adoption procedure in Thai takes 3 -5 years.

As your post said, you just adopted a child like in a supermarket trolley and now you want a house for it.

[TaraLotus]

Are you really from Oz?

If you were, Oz cares nothing about other citizenships. I have two, Oz being my primary and proud of it.

Another thing that makes me think you are not for real - the adoption procedure in Thai takes 3 -5 years.

As your post said, you just adopted a child like in a supermarket trolley and now you want a house for it.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

I am from Australia, Tasmania as a matter of fact. Huonville to be more specific.

About the adoption procedure in Australia for a Thai child ... from what we are told by the Thai adoption services and by the Department of Health and Human Services here in Tasmania who organise our homestudy and the documentation etc that is sent to Thailand, adoption timelines are not specific as they give priority to the matter of finding the right family to suit the child, not the right child to suit the family. Therefore, we are told that we are not guaranteed to be matched with a child and can be turned down by Thailand as suitable parents. We accept that. Also, we are told that they are not in the business of finding children for families, but rather families who suit the childrens needs. We also accept, and wholly support, that view. So, I beg to differ on your 'timeframe'. Perhaps you might do some research?

Not quite sure where you got the supermarket trolley thing but you are misinformed. You seem to have no knowledge of what is involved with adopting a child, let alone a child from Thailand.

If you are a Thai national and object to foreigners adopting Thai children, why don't you just say so?

Hope that you will be able to do some research before you approach people in future. Ignorance shows.

[Tywais]

Are you really from Oz?

If you were, Oz cares nothing about other citizenships. I have two, Oz being my primary and proud of it.

Another thing that makes me think you are not for real - the adoption procedure in Thai takes 3 -5 years.

As your post said, you just adopted a child like in a supermarket trolley and now you want a house for it.

The OP never said how long she has already been in the process of adoption. Please use a little more thought and sensitivity before posting again.