Best Place To Get My Kids Thai Passports, Uk Or Thai?

[tomuk76]

I am married to a thai national who resides in the UK.

We have two children from our marriage, girl aged 18 months and boy 2 months old.

Both the children have british passports as they were both born here in the UK.

My questions are...

As we are all going to thailand in april 08 for a peroid that will be a minimum of 2 years is it best to let my children travel on there british passports and get the standard 1 month visa/3 month tourist then apply for there thai passports in bkk or apply for there thai passports in london and get them before we go?

will it be straight forward to get them thai passports in bkk even though they were born in the UK?

any advice will be appreciated.

[Mahout Angrit]

As you intend to go to Thailand for at least 2 years it would be a lot easier for your children to enter on Thai passports. It should be straightforward to get passports at the Thai embassy in London before you go.

Make an appointment with the embassy, you will all have to go in person and you should get the passports in about 6 weeks posted to your door.

Then they leave and re-enter UK on their UK passports and enter and leave Thailand on their Thai passports, as should your wife if she has a UK passport. You of course will have to get a visa for Thailand. If they enter Thailand on the UK passport they should leave on the same passport and will be technically subject to immigration restrictions while in Thailand.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

A Thai travelling on a foreign passport can get a 12 month visa extension on arrival at the airport in Thailand. 1900 baht fee. Proof of being a Thai needs to be shown as part of the extension process ( such as ID card old passport birth certificate and the like. )

[tomuk76]

Been to london and applied for my childrens thai passports. fees where £25 each plus £5 for them to send them special delivery back to you.

I highly recommend to anyone when booking your appointment with the thai embassy that call them back a few days later to confirm your appointment as when we are arrived there they tried to say we hadnt booked a time with them. After much arguing on the behalf on my wife they said if we waited we could get a emergency appointment at 2pm, 1 and a half after the embassy closes. Its not convenient to come back another day for some people. So just be careful and call them to reconfirm.

thanks for the advice

[tomuk76]

Forgot to say......

The embassy stated that we COULD NOT get them thai passports in bkk because they were born in the UK with british birth certificates. It had to be applied for from here in the UK

[lopburi3]

I would suspect passports could be made in Bangkok but it would probably involve international legalization of the birth certificate. Believe doing at Embassy is thus easier. Has anyone experienced obtaining first passport while in Thailand and not having a Thai birth certificate?

[tomuk76]

I would suspect passports could be made in Bangkok but it would probably involve international legalization of the birth certificate. Believe doing at Embassy is thus easier. Has anyone experienced obtaining first passport while in Thailand and not having a Thai birth certificate?

They told us that it couldnt be done. On applying for the thai passports they also processed us thai birth certificates free of charge which will be sent to us along with the thai passports from bkk.

[samran]

while you get both the BC and PP's at the same time at the embassy, technically the BC comes first, which establishes citizenship, then the passport can be issued.

The issue arises when trying to apply for a passport in Thailand of having a valid Thai BC. Problem is, Thai BC's are physically different depending on if you were born in Thailand or outside of Thailand. If you were born outside of LOS, you can't get one issued to you in Thailand, as no-one has the authority to do so.

Turn up to Thailand without a Thai BC and try to apply for a passport, is neigh impossible. However, I do seem to recall one post, a long time ago, where a family did eventually do just that via establishing the right to Thai nationality for their daughter - in Thailand. They did this via blood tests etc etc and took almost a year.

That is why it is always easier to get the paperwork done wherever you were born, get the PP there as well, and then enter Thailand on the Thai passport from the get go.

[tomuk76]

while you get both the BC and PP's at the same time at the embassy, technically the BC comes first, which establishes citizenship, then the passport can be issued.

The issue arises when trying to apply for a passport in Thailand of having a valid Thai BC. Problem is, Thai BC's are physically different depending on if you were born in Thailand or outside of Thailand. If you were born outside of LOS, you can't get one issued to you in Thailand, as no-one has the authority to do so.

Turn up to Thailand without a Thai BC and try to apply for a passport, is neigh impossible. However, I do seem to recall one post, a long time ago, where a family did eventually do just that via establishing the right to Thai nationality for their daughter - in Thailand. They did this via blood tests etc etc and took almost a year.

That is why it is always easier to get the paperwork done wherever you were born, get the PP there as well, and then enter Thailand on the Thai passport from the get go.

So to anyone who reads this post with the same question i had, Get the passports done in there country of birth and then travel to thailand and they can enter on there thai passports.

Thanks for all the above advise