Changed my name but don't know how to change my name on my Thai documents

[Nali]

I am in need of help and advice

 

I am a dual citizen (Thai-British) but was born in Thailand, so my birth certificate is Thai, and the only thing that isn't Thai on my documents is my British passport. I live in England currently. I changed my full name via a change of name deed in June/July of this year (in the UK), which legally means I have my new name, and I am trying to change my documents to have a valid ID. I am changing my British passport first because 1. I cannot afford to go to Thailand 2. My Thai passport was only used once when my parents corrected the name on my birth certificate over 10 years ago, and 3. It is easier since I am in the UK and don't speak or read Thai.

 

The problem is, they refuse to proceed as I don't have an up-to-date Thai passport with my new name on it and they want it but I don't have one. I don't know the process to change the name on my passport because I think it means I have to change my birth certificate too, but I don't know how to do that. There is no information online or on the Thai embassy website. I have no contact with either of my parents as they are not good people to me, the side of the family that is Thai doesn't see me as their family because I am half Thai so do not care, I have no Thai friends or contacts in Thailand as my mother did the best she could to separate my Thai heritage by not teaching me the language and not letting me near other Thai people.

 

I don't know what I am supposed to do as nobody is here to help me, I've tried asking people on online forums, but they ignored my questions. I keep reading different information but nothing specifically about my issue as everything pertains to underaged children, I am in my early 20s with no contact with Thai or English parent and only lived in Thailand as a baby before they moved to England, so I have no Thai home address (I don't know where they lived when I was a baby), no Thai contacts to do this for me on my behalf, and I don't have any passports as I sent my current valid British passport to be renewed and the expired Thai passport that I had as a child to the passport office to renew the British passport but they won't give any of these documents back.

 

The only thing I have is my change of name deed stating that I have changed my previous name to my current name.

 

I am really stressed about this situation as I am supposed to move to Korea at the end of the year to start a new job and new life away from the UK but they won't give me the passport. I have to send a letter explaining why I can't get a Thai passport in my new name but I don't know the process to change the name of my documents so I can't write the letter.

 

How do I change the name on my Thai birth certificate, renew the Thai passport with my new name, and get a new ID card? Is it possible to do it without travelling to Thailand? If the passport office don't accept my letter, I will have to change my Thai passport/birth certifiate before being allowed to change my name on my British passport.

 

Please, if anyone has any advice or can offer help I would really appreciate it~

[blackcab]

9 hours ago, Nali said:

How do I change the name on my Thai birth certificate, renew the Thai passport with my new name, and get a new ID card?

 

You cannot change your name on your birth certificate.

 

If you cannot go to Thailand, or going to Thailand is not convenient for you then contact the Thai embassy in your current country to get a new Thai passport. The embassy will register your change of name first then arrange a passport for you next.

 

Your Thai ID card is going to be a little bit more problematic because you need to change your name in your Thai house book first, which can take time if you are not in Thailand.

[digbeth]

If your UK passport is valid and your work in Korea is not contingent on you having the Thai passport, is it necessary to keep Thai passport updated if it's such a hassle? 

[VocalNeal]

Surely the time to ask this is before you change????

[Nali]

10 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Surely the time to ask this is before you change????

You have no idea on what my home life situation is like. Actually, I had already asked this but I have abusive parents who did everything to keep me away from my Thai heritage and Thai family. Up until a year or so ago, I had no idea how to do any type of legal documents and didn't even know where my legal documents were because they have been hidden from me. I have tried to change my name since I was a child and since I am a dual citizen who has to live in England, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I am no contact with them because they are mentally and sometimes physically abusive and was able to change my name last minute so my graduation and degree were of the name I had been trying to change to for 13 years. I changed my name because I am trying to seperate myself from that family (both Thai and English sides) and start a new life. But thank you for your unhelpful assumption/opinion.

[Nali]

10 hours ago, digbeth said:

If your UK passport is valid and your work in Korea is not contingent on you having the Thai passport, is it necessary to keep Thai passport updated if it's such a hassle? 

It isn't necassery to keep the Thai one updated and I'm trying to tell the passport office that because I never really got to use it (which is why it's expried) but they don't want to go ahead and renew the British one if there is another passport from a different country in another name (Thai one). I don't even have a passport right now because they won't give any of my legal documents that I sent to them back to me until I send them a letter saying why I can't update the Thai passport (if they approve then they will change my name on the passport). I don't think they're understanding me when I tell them that it's quite a difficult process just to change my Thai passport.

 

I have no form of legal ID that has my new and current name on it which means everything I do when I register for anything, even booking a plane ticket, is in the incorrect name. Its taken me over a decade to even get a name change due to my parents, this is the only thing thats standing in the way of me finally being free lol

[Nali]

11 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

You cannot change your name on your birth certificate.

 

If you cannot go to Thailand, or going to Thailand is not convenient for you then contact the Thai embassy in your current country to get a new Thai passport. The embassy will register your change of name first then arrange a passport for you next.

 

Your Thai ID card is going to be a little bit more problematic because you need to change your name in your Thai house book first, which can take time if you are not in Thailand.

I've tried that and they ignored my 3 times before saying "no we will not be able to do that", to be honest I'm not too pressed about the ID card because thats a lot less important than the passports and since the passport office is demanding my non-existent Thai passport with my current name on it, I have no idea what to tell them of the actual process of doing that.

 

When they replied to me, they (Thai embassy London) said I can change my documents from England if I have someone in Thailand go to these government buildings on my behalf legally (this is what a Thai person told me and the embassy) and it will be okay. However, since asking both parties how to go about that or if there were any websites I can search up that offer services like that since 1. my Thai side of the family are pretty terrible and wouldn't help since they see their daughters (my mother) children as not part of the family 2. I have 0 Thai contacts or friends as the friend who told me this just stopped messaging me, the embassy also stopped replying (they don't have the best reputation at answering customers).

 

I keep getting information that contradicts and I'm very confused since people say its usually quite easy to change these things but I don't know the process and the Thai embassy doesn't tell me anything if they reply at all or pick up the phone. I also don't even have my Thai passport because I had to send it off to the passport office who are keeping my British passport and change of name deed (I have copies of this) and won't give them back until I send them a letter stating why I cannot produce a new Thai passport or until I give them a new Thai passport.

 

I have seen something about house book things but I have never had a house in Thailand, I have no idea where my parents lived when I was a baby/toddler in Thailand so I have no idea how I would even get that information and even if I did contact my parents again (I can never do this again after knowing the peace I have without them) they refuse to help me or even tell me this information because they're super angry that I would have the audacity to change my name and distance myself from them. I was also told this could be done at the Thai embassy but since they don't like responding, I don't know if this is true

[Presnock]

On 10/8/2023 at 1:25 AM, Nali said:

I am in need of help and advice

 

I am a dual citizen (Thai-British) but was born in Thailand, so my birth certificate is Thai, and the only thing that isn't Thai on my documents is my British passport. I live in England currently. I changed my full name via a change of name deed in June/July of this year (in the UK), which legally means I have my new name, and I am trying to change my documents to have a valid ID. I am changing my British passport first because 1. I cannot afford to go to Thailand 2. My Thai passport was only used once when my parents corrected the name on my birth certificate over 10 years ago, and 3. It is easier since I am in the UK and don't speak or read Thai.

 

The problem is, they refuse to proceed as I don't have an up-to-date Thai passport with my new name on it and they want it but I don't have one. I don't know the process to change the name on my passport because I think it means I have to change my birth certificate too, but I don't know how to do that. There is no information online or on the Thai embassy website. I have no contact with either of my parents as they are not good people to me, the side of the family that is Thai doesn't see me as their family because I am half Thai so do not care, I have no Thai friends or contacts in Thailand as my mother did the best she could to separate my Thai heritage by not teaching me the language and not letting me near other Thai people.

 

I don't know what I am supposed to do as nobody is here to help me, I've tried asking people on online forums, but they ignored my questions. I keep reading different information but nothing specifically about my issue as everything pertains to underaged children, I am in my early 20s with no contact with Thai or English parent and only lived in Thailand as a baby before they moved to England, so I have no Thai home address (I don't know where they lived when I was a baby), no Thai contacts to do this for me on my behalf, and I don't have any passports as I sent my current valid British passport to be renewed and the expired Thai passport that I had as a child to the passport office to renew the British passport but they won't give any of these documents back.

 

The only thing I have is my change of name deed stating that I have changed my previous name to my current name.

 

I am really stressed about this situation as I am supposed to move to Korea at the end of the year to start a new job and new life away from the UK but they won't give me the passport. I have to send a letter explaining why I can't get a Thai passport in my new name but I don't know the process to change the name of my documents so I can't write the letter.

 

How do I change the name on my Thai birth certificate, renew the Thai passport with my new name, and get a new ID card? Is it possible to do it without travelling to Thailand? If the passport office don't accept my letter, I will have to change my Thai passport/birth certifiate before being allowed to change my name on my British passport.

 

Please, if anyone has any advice or can offer help I would really appreciate it~

got married, late planned a trip to US as daughter would go to college.  When we applied for visa, wife needed a copy of birth certificate here - found out someone when her family moved when she was 11 years old, changed her birth number.  Thus she could continue using that new number on all her documents (but really illegal) so she opted to correct that.  Talk about bureaucracy!!!! took 6 months or more...have to start at the bottom and work one's way

to the top.  Seemed that every level had never heard of and the main office in BKK had to advise each level until

the provincial level and then they said that they saw such activity every day!  having to get mooban chiefs, local

chiefs at every level to come and confirm what she was doing.  She had a headache daily from this.  Since you are

in the UK, it would seem to me to be impossible but... good luck in any case!

[rwill]

Perhaps easier to give up your Thai citizenship?

 

One wrinkle in changing your name in Thailand is that if your last name is already being used by a Thai citizen you have to get their permission to use the same last name.

[Nali]

19 hours ago, Presnock said:

got married, late planned a trip to US as daughter would go to college.  When we applied for visa, wife needed a copy of birth certificate here - found out someone when her family moved when she was 11 years old, changed her birth number.  Thus she could continue using that new number on all her documents (but really illegal) so she opted to correct that.  Talk about bureaucracy!!!! took 6 months or more...have to start at the bottom and work one's way

to the top.  Seemed that every level had never heard of and the main office in BKK had to advise each level until

the provincial level and then they said that they saw such activity every day!  having to get mooban chiefs, local

chiefs at every level to come and confirm what she was doing.  She had a headache daily from this.  Since you are

in the UK, it would seem to me to be impossible but... good luck in any case!

This has terrified me further, I have partial memories of changing my birth certificate at age 11 since someone at the hospital spelt the name wrong and at one point, was told I was too "black" to be my mothers daughter and I looked nothing like her because I had spent 2 months in the heat of Pattaya without sun screen and was housed on the doorstep of the beach. It took 2 months for them to believe I was Thai and the kid of my parents, I don't want to go through this again as they were racist and colourist towards me but since I have no family now, it will be harder for me to prove I'm real.

[Nali]

19 hours ago, rwill said:

Perhaps easier to give up your Thai citizenship?

 

One wrinkle in changing your name in Thailand is that if your last name is already being used by a Thai citizen you have to get their permission to use the same last name.

I would never in a million years be referred to as "British", I hate being half english as it is, hate the uk and never wanted to come here as a child, I'd sooner die than be a single citizen. My surname is very unique with very few users as its a very uncommon surname. The only time I see myself as British is using the passport for easier movement through airport security, I used to cry as a small child whenever I was reminded that I was a Thai citizen AND a British citizen. Once I can finally get this sorted, I will never again come back to the UK unless someone pays be a few stacks because I have hated being forced to live here for a good 19-20 years.

 

But I have also known sime Thai people who changed their surnames and never had to get permission from other people with the same surname (I don't know if it was different because they were in Thailand and not in the UK at the time but when I was interrogating them about it at university, they just said it was easy but never elaorated)

[jak2002003]

You are traumatised by the way your parents raised you. 

 

Changing your name will do nothing to change those feelings.

 

All the stress into changing your name and passports etc is not going to help your mental health or make you feel any better once you do it. 

 

You are not a child now and are independent from your parents and have your own life. 

 

You have an advantage over many people in  having duel nationality. Britain has many good things to offer, so has thailand. 

 

Better use of your time would be to go and get some therapy to talk about your problems and get better mental health.  

 

You can't delete your past by simply changing your name.  

 

 

 

 

[Presnock]

3 hours ago, Nali said:

This has terrified me further, I have partial memories of changing my birth certificate at age 11 since someone at the hospital spelt the name wrong and at one point, was told I was too "black" to be my mothers daughter and I looked nothing like her because I had spent 2 months in the heat of Pattaya without sun screen and was housed on the doorstep of the beach. It took 2 months for them to believe I was Thai and the kid of my parents, I don't want to go through this again as they were racist and colourist towards me but since I have no family now, it will be harder for me to prove I'm real.

yes, the very first thing my wife had to do to get started was to have relatives that were still around when she was

born and they had to go with her back to her original birth province.  Fortunately one uncle is still a police colonel so that helped but other relatives too had to go.  Then she got lucky at her new school when the family moved to the

big city and someone there changed her birth number.  An older teacher had to go through boxes of student

registrations to find my wife's original / changed number as nothing was computerized.  Yes, a very long and difficult 6-7 months of going to every level of government bureaucracy to change everything.  

[Nali]

7 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

You are traumatised by the way your parents raised you. 

 

Changing your name will do nothing to change those feelings.

 

All the stress into changing your name and passports etc is not going to help your mental health or make you feel any better once you do it. 

 

You are not a child now and are independent from your parents and have your own life. 

 

You have an advantage over many people in  having duel nationality. Britain has many good things to offer, so has thailand. 

 

Better use of your time would be to go and get some therapy to talk about your problems and get better mental health.  

 

You can't delete your past by simply changing your name.  

 

 

 

 

Actually, once I changed my name and started being addressed by it and getting away from my family, I have never felt happier, when my name was called out at my graduation, I almost cried out of happiness and felt extremely relieved. Britain has nothing to offer for me or what I want to do in life which is why I used to beg to be able to live with the Thai cousins and do school there/ why I'm leaving since I've finished university. Not trying to delete anything, perfectly normal to cut off the past and change your life whether thats changing your name and identity, moving countries and starting over again.

 

My mental health is great thanks and I still also need a valid legal ID lmao which I don't have yet, I've been in wayyy more stressful situations, this is just a huge inconvenience due to the timing since I'm preparing to leave this sad little island within 2 - 3 months and a passport renewal can take up to 10 weeks

[Nali]

6 hours ago, Presnock said:

yes, the very first thing my wife had to do to get started was to have relatives that were still around when she was

born and they had to go with her back to her original birth province.  Fortunately one uncle is still a police colonel so that helped but other relatives too had to go.  Then she got lucky at her new school when the family moved to the

big city and someone there changed her birth number.  An older teacher had to go through boxes of student

registrations to find my wife's original / changed number as nothing was computerized.  Yes, a very long and difficult 6-7 months of going to every level of government bureaucracy to change everything.  

Thats... actually awful, I have heard many stories like this and cannot imagine the frustration. Sadly, my Thai side of the family are kind of trash and have only ever conacted me or my mother if they wanted a "favour" aka money otherwise we are basically dead to them lol

 

Its too much hassle for me to go to Thailand from the UK but if I have to go (I am waiting for the Thai embassy to respond to me since I spammed them) I hope to go from Itcheon airport because its a far cheaper flight - when I changed my birth certificate as a child since they spelt the surname wrong, I remember we had to hunt down my parents old landlord??? because my Thai family wanted nothing to do with us ???? they didn't contact us once whilst we were there for 2 months

 

All I know is, there ain't nobody to hunt down or conact over there because that sweet old lady is long gone now bless her soul and I don't even know the names of my cousins because them mfs changed their names too hahahaha

[Tropicalevo]

Note to Nali

An amazing and sad story.

Sorry that I cannot help but I wish you all good luck in your new life.

[RanongCat]

If you have a UK Passport then you have a legal form of ID despite seemingly having personal objection to being termed "British". Why is it so necessary to re-establish Thai credentials ? Is it because you would feel more secure with an associated asian ethnicity. Or because relocating to Korea where as an ASEAN member a Thai Passport makes some aspects easier or simpler?

 

[Nali]

21 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Note to Nali

An amazing and sad story.

Sorry that I cannot help but I wish you all good luck in your new life.

Love you thanks ???? I am mainly worried about the timing since I really need to get to Korea for this job during December-Janurary so I really hope I can get it sorted by then

[Nali]

17 minutes ago, RanongCat said:

If you have a UK Passport then you have a legal form of ID despite seemingly having personal objection to being termed "British". Why is it so necessary to re-establish Thai credentials ? Is it because you would feel more secure with an associated asian ethnicity. Or because relocating to Korea where as an ASEAN member a Thai Passport makes some aspects easier or simpler?

 

The passport office have my passport and won't give it back to me, I have literally no ID and they aren't budging about giving it back to me until I 1. give them a letter saying why I don't have a Thai passport that isn't expired or 2. give them a Thai passport that has my name on it and isn't expired. I wasn't interested in redoing my Thai passport (aside from redoing my birth certificate which I've done before) until needing to go to Thailand/being able to go but the passport office wants a valid Thai passport with my new name.

 

My initial plan was to get my british passport sorted so at least I can book my flight with the correct name/have valid ID with the correct name and then go to Thailand once I'm settled in Korea with the job since its cheaper and far less stressful because I will be in Thailand instead of 8000km away. Last time they ammended my birth certificate, I was in Thailand with parents but I was 11 and we had to hunt down everyone and their mother since I was underage and they told me I wasn't my parents child because I was super tanned from staying 2 months in Pattaya on the beach daily. Since they amended my BC, they also did my passport (expired) and ID card (stolen and expired) so in my mind, it made more sense to at least have a British passport with my real name on it to travel and then do all these documents in Thailand at once instead of having to relay things from 1 country to another.

 

I thought this would be common sense but the passport office doesn't do common sense apparently so I have to find out the process of this name change to put it in the letter to them as reasons why it isn't possible to get a Thai passport right now (especially since it will take a while any to process) and why it makes more sense for them to give me my new passport with my name on it so i can finalise the Thai documents in the near future. I had to spam the Thai embassy with weekly emails just to get a response so they're just as bad as the passport office

[Nali]

34 minutes ago, RanongCat said:

If you have a UK Passport then you have a legal form of ID despite seemingly having personal objection to being termed "British". Why is it so necessary to re-establish Thai credentials ? Is it because you would feel more secure with an associated asian ethnicity. Or because relocating to Korea where as an ASEAN member a Thai Passport makes some aspects easier or simpler?

 

I would also like to note that if the embassy replies with something helpful and actually registers my change of name deed and issues a passport, I probably won't bother too much with the uk one (will still go through with it because I had to save to afford it since its almost £100) but I noticed that unless I am in the UK, the british passport isn't that much more useful than the Thai one (can access more countries but I don't intend on travelling the world yet) so the Thai passport was probably more important but I had no idea where my parents hid it until a few weeks ago

[blackcab]

28 minutes ago, Nali said:

The passport office have my passport and won't give it back to me, I have literally no ID and they aren't budging about giving it back to me until I 1. give them a letter saying why I don't have a Thai passport that isn't expired or 2. give them a Thai passport that has my name on it and isn't expired. I wasn't interested in redoing my Thai passport (aside from redoing my birth certificate which I've done before) until needing to go to Thailand/being able to go but the passport office wants a valid Thai passport with my new name.

 

The situation with the British passport office is that they do not agree with one person having passports from different countries with different names. They won't move from this position.

 

You need to either 1. Get a new passport from the Thai embassy in London, or 2. Go to Thailand to get a new passport. The choice is yours. Perhaps your next step might be visiting the Thai embassy.

 

In terms of taking your passport, the British government view it a different way. Passports are the property of the government, not the property of the individual citizen. A passport can be retained or even cancelled should the government believe it has a good reason to do so.

[digbeth]

what is  your status in the UK? Citizen? Resident? Indefinite Leave to Remain? 

what forms of UK identity do you have?

 

What is the UK passport office asking of you?

[Presnock]

4 hours ago, Nali said:

Love you thanks ???? I am mainly worried about the timing since I really need to get to Korea for this job during December-Janurary so I really hope I can get it sorted by then

I have been told and read it too, if you have a US passport then it is free entry into Korea - have you checked to see if a Brit p/p can do the same?

[Nali]

On 10/10/2023 at 6:35 AM, blackcab said:

 

The situation with the British passport office is that they do not agree with one person having passports from different countries with different names. They won't move from this position.

 

You need to either 1. Get a new passport from the Thai embassy in London, or 2. Go to Thailand to get a new passport. The choice is yours. Perhaps your next step might be visiting the Thai embassy.

 

In terms of taking your passport, the British government view it a different way. Passports are the property of the government, not the property of the individual citizen. A passport can be retained or even cancelled should the government believe it has a good reason to do so.

I was finally able to get a renewed british passport after then asked for a letter explaining my situation so thats one problem solved, I just need to know the process for doing full name changes in Thailand so I can plan accordingly. I was told once by the embassy (the only time they ever replied to me) that I can use lawyers to act on my behalf in Thailand to do this but still don't fully understand the process as they never elaborated. I tried to get an appointment with them but they never pick up the phone or reply to emails

[Nali]

 

On 10/10/2023 at 6:48 AM, digbeth said:

what is  your status in the UK? Citizen? Resident? Indefinite Leave to Remain? 

what forms of UK identity do you have?

 

What is the UK passport office asking of you?

I am a dual citizen, I was able to get my renewed uk passport after some back and forth and sending them a letter explaining the situation (one of the agents had someone go through the exact same thing as me and was really helpful). Now I just need to know the process for doing this in Thailand as I haven't got solid info on what I am supposed to do or how to do it

[Nali]

On 10/10/2023 at 9:58 AM, Presnock said:

I have been told and read it too, if you have a US passport then it is free entry into Korea - have you checked to see if a Brit p/p can do the same?

I have no got a renewed uk passport and with that, I don't need a visa for 90 days, however now i just need to find out how to change my birth certificate and stuff (since its all in thai) and then my problems are (kind of) over