Permission for Son to get passport?

[CameronW]

Hi folks, 

 

I have a 12 year old son in Thailand. My name is on the birth certificate, I am not married to his mother.

 

I am currently away working in the UK, and decided it might be cool for my son to come over to visit the place I am working.

 

His mother went to get him a Thai passport, and was told that he cannot have one unless I give my permission.

 

Anyone know how I can do this from overseas? I won't be able to get back to Thailand until sometime next year to do it in person.

 

Thanks.

 

Cam.

[globalThailand]

Unfortunately I think it's very unlikely - the rules seem to be pretty strict on this one.  I recently renewed my son's Thai passport early for this reason on our last visit to Thailand. 

 

Maybe have his mother contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - see if there is any work around.

 

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by globalThailand

[CameronW]

To be honest, this is what I suspected. A simpler (crazily enough) option might be to get him a UK passport. 

 

EDIT: I actually just found this link, which seems to suggest I could write a letter and go to the Thai Embassy in London and have them witness it:

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/sydney/en/services/95928-Thai-Passport-for-Minors-(under-20-years-of-age).html

 

Cam.

Edited August 22, 2019 by CameronW

[khwaibah]

An an Aussie who was in Australia at the time and who's wife and son were in Thailand at the time had the same problem. She went to the Thai passport office in Udon and got a forum from them that he had to sign and to be witnessed by the Thai Embassy in Australia. I had his email address and sent him the details of the form. He sent the forum to Canberra and then mailed it back to his wife at which time my wife drove her the 200km back to Udon. 7 days later his son had his Thai passport. UJ may have the forum details.

[CameronW]

Thanks, I just emailed (OK so I am a optimist) the Thai Embassy in London to ask. They do have a link to a form in Thai to use on their site. Fingers crossed, and if logic holds true, I should be able to download the form, fill it in, take it to the Thai Embassy in London and then send it to the ex-mrs for her to do the rest. 

 

Cam.

[globalThailand]

That certainly sounds promising!  I was going to suggest a UK passport as an option but he might have trouble leaving Thailand (and entering again) without a That passport.

 

Good luck - keep us posted!

 

[mike787]

Contact the Thai embassy, they can advise you on this.

[CameronW]

Just wanted to update folks on the resolution for this problem, in case anyone else needs to know.

 

I went along to the Royal Thai Embassy in London with my passport, I got there at 9am.

 

I was second in the non-visa related queue, and was out and finished by 9:20am.

 

The woman behind the counter was helpful, and explained exactly how to fill the form in. It cost £18 for the document to be witnessed and then posted to me in the UK. I then post the document to Thailand.

 

The document is in English, and I was told there is no need to have it translated in to Thai when my ex-wife takes it to get my son's passport in Bangkok. 

 

All in all, a pretty painless enterprise. For a change!

[globalThailand]

That's great news - thanks for letting us know

 

 

[GinBoy2]

On 10/8/2019 at 10:33 PM, CameronW said:

Just wanted to update folks on the resolution for this problem, in case anyone else needs to know.

 

I went along to the Royal Thai Embassy in London with my passport, I got there at 9am.

 

I was second in the non-visa related queue, and was out and finished by 9:20am.

 

The woman behind the counter was helpful, and explained exactly how to fill the form in. It cost £18 for the document to be witnessed and then posted to me in the UK. I then post the document to Thailand.

 

The document is in English, and I was told there is no need to have it translated in to Thai when my ex-wife takes it to get my son's passport in Bangkok. 

 

All in all, a pretty painless enterprise. For a change!

Wouldn't it also be a good idea to get him a British passport at the same time?

 

For many of us with dual citizen kids, the easiest way for them to travel is to have both.

 

That way, they check in with their foreign passport, with tells the airline they have right of entry, exit immigration with their Thai passport, and enter the foreign country with their foreign passport.

 

It gets around all the visa complications, and makes it simple.

 

You'll need a letter from Mom which she gets at the local Amphur that she agrees to the travel, assuming he's a minor and you're good to go.

 

He just needs to exit with his Thai passport, and reenter with it 

[theoldgit]

I'd certainly go along with the advice of getting him a UK passport as well, as the previous poster has said it gets round the UK Visa issue, in fact if he's entitled to British nationality, by virtue of you being his father, he shouldn't be issued with a UK Visa, no doubt you were intending to mention the fact in his application, so not something you could ignore.

[CameronW]

I will also get him a UK passport. I have not been back to the UK for many years until this year, and unfortunately I lost my adoption certificate when I moved from Koh Phangan to the mainland about 10 years ago. I needed that adoption certificate for his UK passport application process. So, I needed to get a copy of my original birth certificate. However, for people my age, there is a requirement to go for a counselling session before you can be issued a copy of the original birth certificate with the names of my real parents (complete <deleted> in my opinion). Which of course, needs to be done in the UK. One of the reasons I popped back for a few months was to get a few niggling things like this tidied up while I am here. Subsequently, I found out I could ask for a copy of my adoption certificate (which is used in place of a birth certificate), but this is a slow process that so far has taken 5 weeks and it still hasn't arrived.

 

TL:DR I will be getting him his UK passport as soon as I return to Thailand fingers crossed.

Edited October 19, 2019 by CameronW