Birth certificate in English from Amphoe. Is it acceptable for a child's British passport?

[barry553]

I read that you can get a copy of a birth certificate and marriage certificate in English from your local amphoe. I want to get a British passport for my son who was born in Thailand, I'm British, his mother is Thai. I would much prefer the convenience of getting this English birth certificate to getting his Thai one translated and certified. I would like to know if anyone has experience of using this when applying for their child's British passport.

[bbko]

22 minutes ago, barry553 said:

I read that you can get a copy of a birth certificate and marriage certificate in English from your local amphoe.

Where did you read this?

[barry553]

Someone posted it in this forum.

 

[StevieAus]

I appreciate that it is called Amazing Thailand and that there is always the first time for everything, however as those offices are there to deal with Thai matters I somehow think you may be disappointed.

[stbkk]

Why don't you just get him a proper British birth certificate?

 

That's what I did for my son, no problem at all. Dual nationality, British and Thai, Thai mother, born in Thailand.

 

I did it at the Embassy just after he was born, admittedly 17 years ago now.

[brewsterbudgen]

You can't get a UK birth certificate if the child was not born in the UK!  The birth certificate is a record of the date of birth and needs to show where it took place. Just get the Thai birth certificate translated and it's fine for getting a UK passport.  More importantly, you will need your long-form birth certificate to show that you are British Otherwise Than By Descent and can pass on your citizenship to a child born abroad.

[brewsterbudgen]

46 minutes ago, stbkk said:

Why don't you just get him a proper British birth certificate?

 

That's what I did for my son, no problem at all. Dual nationality, British and Thai, Thai mother, born in Thailand.

 

I did it at the Embassy just after he was born, admittedly 17 years ago now.

I don't think this can be done any more, and certainly is not an Embassy function.

[KhaoYai]

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

[KannikaP]

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

You can't get a UK birth certificate if the child was not born in the UK!  The birth certificate is a record of the date of birth and needs to show where it took place. Just get the Thai birth certificate translated and it's fine for getting a UK passport.  More importantly, you will need your long-form birth certificate to show that you are British Otherwise Than By Descent and can pass on your citizenship to a child born abroad.

Correct. My son has two girls born in Dubai. UAE birth certs, but got UK Passports after getting Mum & Dad's own Birth Certs from UK authorities at £45 each!

[stbkk]

 

17 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

You can't get a UK birth certificate if the child was not born in the UK!  The birth certificate is a record of the date of birth and needs to show where it took place. Just get the Thai birth certificate translated and it's fine for getting a UK passport.  More importantly, you will need your long-form birth certificate to show that you are British Otherwise Than By Descent and can pass on your citizenship to a child born abroad.

Interesting. At the time my son was born (17 years ago) I investigated and was told to get the birth registered at the Embassy, which I did. Several different people told me they had done this, and that it should make things easier generally in the UK, not just for passports etc.

 

I have just checked the document we have and at the top it says 'Birth within the district of the British Consul at Bangkok', and after the details the bottom part says that the registration officer confirms that it is a true copy of the entry in the register. I don't know if something has changed since then, or if this is indeed just the document mentioned in the ukgov register-a-birth link further up the thread.

 

I remember it was a simple enough thing to get though, just a trip to the embassy, filled in a form and a week or so later collected the document. My approach was always to do anything like this that might help to make things easier for him in the future.

 

We have certainly used it a couple of times where his UK birth certificate was asked for, and it's always been accepted as one, including for his British passport application.

 

Hope this is of use.

[BritManToo]

19 hours ago, stbkk said:

Why don't you just get him a proper British birth certificate?

 

That's what I did for my son, no problem at all. Dual nationality, British and Thai, Thai mother, born in Thailand.

 

I did it at the Embassy just after he was born, admittedly 17 years ago now.

No longer available, and previously issued consular birth certs no longer count for anything.

Including your one 17 years old ......... they changed the rules and invalidated them all.

[barry553]

On 10/15/2021 at 1:53 PM, StevieAus said:

I appreciate that it is called Amazing Thailand and that there is always the first time for everything, however as those offices are there to deal with Thai matters I somehow think you may be disappointed.

What a useless comment. I have just got the certificates quite easily.

[eiszele2005]

4 hours ago, barry553 said:

What a useless comment. I have just got the certificates quite easily.

Can you please enlighten us of the procedure, my girl was born a few days ago and interested in the latest upto date facts not the general speculation. 

Thanks in advance 

Edited October 18, 2021 by eiszele2005

[StevieAus]

20 hours ago, barry553 said:

What a useless comment. I have just got the certificates quite easily.

Why is it useless?

Thats my experience in dealing with our local office they will not give anything in English and if you produce any document in English they want an official translation, certified by the MFO and your own embassy.

Try climbing down from your high horse.

[barry553]

17 hours ago, eiszele2005 said:

Can you please enlighten us of the procedure, my girl was born a few days ago and interested in the latest upto date facts not the general speculation. 

Thanks in advance 

Go to your local amphur with your Thai wife/girlfriend and ask for a copy of the birth certificate in English, I also got our marriage certificate in English. My wife showed them the original certificates and then they printed the English versions out and stamped them. The price is 10 baht per certificate.