Letter for 4 year old travelling out of Thailand with just farang father?

[cocopops]

Hi all,

 

I'm confused about the letter I need for my 4-year-old to travel to Australia with me, his father (and without his mother). Details are as follows:

 

• I'm on his birth certificate as the father (but I'm not married to his mother),
• We have his Australian and Thai passports - the Australian he has had for years, the Thai one was issued last week,
• His last name is the same as mine,
• We have return tickets,
• We'll be departing through Chiang Mai airport,
• If it's necessary, his Mum could accompany us as far as the immigration counter at the airport. But this is a bit inconvenient...

 

When we went to apply for his Thai passport last week the lady behind the counter said that no letter was required if the child was traveling with his father, but this doesn't seem to comport with things I've read on thaivisa and reddit.

 

So, has anyone done this with their kid recently? Do I need his Mum to write a letter giving permission for him to travel? And does it need to be notarized or anything like that at the Amphur?

 

Thanks very much,

Cocopops.

 

 

[blackcab]

Moved to the Family Forum.

[blackcab]

Where was your son born? If he was born in Thailand and he has not left Thailand then you will need the consent letter from his mother.

 

If your son was born in Australia and he entered Thailand with you on his Australian passport (which means he would need a yearly extension of stay and 90 day reports) then you wouldn't need a consent letter from his mother (however immigration can still ask if they choose to do so).

 

The letter is easy to get. His mother needs to visit the District Office with her Thai ID card and house book, your son's birth certificate, plus you and your passport.

 

It's best to have the letter because immigration can and will deny travel if they are not satisfied. Like all border authorities they are on the lookout for child abduction, especially by estranged parents.

[cocopops]

46 minutes ago, blackcab said:

Where was your son born? If he was born in Thailand and he has not left Thailand then you will need the consent letter from his mother.

 

If your son was born in Australia and he entered Thailand with you on his Australian passport (which means he would need a yearly extension of stay and 90 day reports) then you wouldn't need a consent letter from his mother (however immigration can still ask if they choose to do so).

 

The letter is easy to get. His mother needs to visit the District Office with her Thai ID card and house book, your son's birth certificate, plus you and your passport.

 

It's best to have the letter because immigration can and will deny travel if they are not satisfied. Like all border authorities they are on the lookout for child abduction, especially by estranged parents.

 

Thanks for this. He was born in Thailand and this will be his first trip abroad, so it sounds like I definitely need it.

 

So it's a standard thing - we just rock up to the Amphur and ask for such a letter? Or do we write something ourselves and then have them notarize it?

 

I imagine the Amphur office here in Chiang Mai knows what these things are, as they seemed to know what Mum was talking about when we asked - they're just not sure it's required in this case. But surely it is - as you say immigration would have no way of knowing I'm not an estranged parent doing something wrong.

 

Thanks again,

Cocopops.

 

 

[blackcab]

26 minutes ago, cocopops said:

So it's a standard thing - we just rock up to the Amphur and ask for such a letter?

 

Yes.

[GinBoy2]

22 minutes ago, cocopops said:

 

Thanks for this. He was born in Thailand and this will be his first trip abroad, so it sounds like I definitely need it.

 

So it's a standard thing - we just rock up to the Amphur and ask for such a letter? Or do we write something ourselves and then have them notarize it?

 

I imagine the Amphur office here in Chiang Mai knows what these things are, as they seemed to know what Mum was talking about when we asked - they're just not sure it's required in this case. But surely it is - as you say immigration would have no way of knowing I'm not an estranged parent doing something wrong.

 

Thanks again,

Cocopops.

 

 

Now my experience with my son, wasn't recent in fact over a decade ago, but from everything I've read on TVF it's exactly the same.

 

My son is a dual US/Thai and we were headed to Los Angeles. We'd checked in with both passports, but at immigration used his US passport, then the fun began!

 

Took me over 40 mins at immigration getting Mom on the phone, talking to immigration, getting my son having to confirm he was actually talking to his Mom, it was bizarre. We barely made our flight.

 

Now, as annoying as it was, with hindsight I understand it. I was a middle aged farang with a, I think he was around 12 or 13 at the time lekueng, they are right to question since as unfortunate as it is, child trafficking exists.

 

After that we always got a letter from the Amphur, Mom would go, blue book, both ID card's, they knew me so she'd just take my passport.

 

Just don't risk it

[cocopops]

2 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

Just don't risk it

Excellent advice I think!

[GinBoy2]

7 minutes ago, cocopops said:

Excellent advice I think!

BTW, I misspoke in my earlier post.

We used his Thai passport at immigration not his US one, that was used at check in to prove he had a legal right of entry to to the US. It was when we presented his Thai passport to immigration thats when it got sticky

Edited September 22, 2019 by GinBoy2

[cocopops]

On 9/22/2019 at 5:43 PM, blackcab said:

The letter is easy to get. His mother needs to visit the District Office with her Thai ID card and house book, your son's birth certificate, plus you and your passport.

For anyone reading this thread at a later date - the above is precisely correct. We didn't have the original handy, but they accepted a copy of the tabien baan. All told, took about half an hour to get the letter from the district office for Muang, Chiang Mai.

[blackcab]

The letter should last for a period of 1 month, so for most people that go abroad once or twice a month it means a new letter for each trip.

 

Well worth the time for the piece of mind.

 

Please let us know how you get in with immigration.

[hgma]

we, father son 14 and daughter 11 visited family in The Netherlands.

Just download a letter of consent, signed by you and mom

Marriage certificate - house registration, i thought we covered all, and we did..........not a question asked in Thailand, Finland and beyond but just as with medication, a signed and sealed paper WILL travel a lot easier , its a 5 minutes job.

[cocopops]

On 9/23/2019 at 9:23 PM, blackcab said:

let us know how you get in with immigration.

No problem departing with my son through Chiang Mai airport immigration.

 

I get the impression immigration have a lot of discretion with this. When I got to the immigration counter the officer immediately clocked the situation, and sighed thoughtfully when I confirmed that this would be the youngster's first trip outside Thailand and that his mother wasn't present. He made a big show of checking that the surnames in our passports were the same, then looked thoughtfully at my boy. At that point I thrust the letter at him. Once he had read it he seemed much happier. He asked if he could keep the letter - I said, "No, I might need it in Bangkok". So he asked quite deferentially if he could take a copy instead. That was pretty much it.

 

My point in mentioning this is that I think it's a bit of a high-pressure situation for them. I guess the individual officer's gut-feeling is the last line of defense against an international kidnapping and, however rare such things might be in practice, it's not something you want to stuff up. And if you do stuff it up - better to have some evidence to show you made an effort.

 

[blackcab]

Lovely to hear it so went well. This topic is a case study of what to do if you are taking your Thai child abroad without their mother.

 

As an aside, you can get additional prints of the document made at the District Office at the same time as you get the original. The cost is next to nothing. Extra copies are useful for multi-leg journeys or if you are travelling more than one time in a month.

[justin case]

a question for the experts here...

 

isn't there a clause in Thai law that the letter of consent of the mother (or father) is not needed anymore once the child has reached the age of 15 and can travel alone, domestic or abroad ?