With regard to our situation that we want to take my wife’s son 12 with us to the UK. When I went to the Embassy the woman said three forms were necessary; Sole Custody Form, a letter from the father giving permission to get a Thai passport and a letter from him giving permission to take the boy to the UK.

OK, but it occurs to me that if we have the Sole Custody Form that gives my wife the right to provide the other two letters herself. Am I correct? Sole Custody means Sole Custody right?

The father is alive but has had nothing to do with the family for years. Does not contribute to their upkeep and has not seen the boy for years – according to my wife.

With regard to our situation that we want to take my wife’s son 12 with us to the UK. When I went to the Embassy the woman said three forms were necessary; Sole Custody Form, a letter from the father giving permission to get a Thai passport and a letter from him giving permission to take the boy to the UK.

OK, but it occurs to me that if we have the Sole Custody Form that gives my wife the right to provide the other two letters herself. Am I correct? Sole Custody means Sole Custody right?

The father is alive but has had nothing to do with the family for years. Does not contribute to their upkeep and has not seen the boy for years – according to my wife.

Under International Law it is a requirement that the non custodial parent has to give permission for a child to travel overseas....if the whereabouts of that parent is unknown or the NC parent has passed away then a court document giving the custodial parent the right to make those decisions on the childs behalf is required.

There are no grey areas here.

I need a lawyar, don't I?

When I went to the Embassy the woman said three forms were necessary; Sole Custody Form, a letter from the father giving permission to get a Thai passport and a letter from him giving permission to take the boy to the UK.

I dont understand this advice. These are the requirements to get a Thai passport. If your wife has sole custody and is divorced she does not need any permission from the father. I have a Thai divorced mother and child who is in her sole custody in UK with visitors visas at present. She didn't need the fathers permission to get either the passport for the child or the Visitors visa. She showed only the sole custody agreement and the divorce papers and she didn't use a lawyer or agent.

Yes, I guess she just said everything she could think of – all three forms. I was only speaking to the woman for about 2 minutes. Your post does tend to contradict the previous post but it seems more logical to me Sole Custody = Sole Custody. Especially if you have doe it already for your wife!

Especially if you have doe it already for your wife!

It's not for my wife, but family visitors...it's the same though as you say sole custody = sole custody and I confirmed with them it was correct before I posted.

In order to have a passport issued to your wife's son, she will need to be the sole custodian and have the proper papers from her local Amphur office stating this.

The Thai passport office are most particular about this.

If your wife was not married to the father of her son it complicates matters somewhat. If she knows of his whereabouts, she will need to take him to the Amphur office to sign papers giving her sole custody of their son.

If she doesn't know of his whereabout, she will need to take a witness from her village to give evidence supporting her claim.

If she was legally divorced from the father, then you can follow Maout Angrit's advice.

The same Amphur office papers will probably be required by the UK Embassy for a visa application but I'll let more knowledgeable people advise you on this aspect.