Going Abroad With Child Without His Mother

[Tokker]

My wife and I have an eight month old son. Our child was born in Thailand and my name is on the birth certificate as the father and he also carries my last name. We are legally married in my home country (Europe) but have never made the effort of registering our marriage here. (We do have a certified thai translation of our marriage certificate.) Our son has 2 passports.

If I want to take my son to visit my family at home, can I do this without my wife? Do I need any written permission from her to take the boy with me? Is immigration going to ask questions when we're just travelling the two of us? Thanks in advance.

[Jimjim]

Just get written permission and it should be fine. Alternatively ask a lawyer of some kind.

[Boo]

some posters have said they have been stopped even when both adult & child have the same name & others have said they haven't so if you can carry your childs birthc ertificate in your documents & if mum can write a small note & include a copy of her passport/id card then it would prevent any issues. But tbh, if you both have the same name & you have the childs BC then thee should be no issue.

I travelled a lot when my son was 3 months old alone with him (we took 7 internal flights) & no one questioned me at all but then I am the mother so maybe they tend to question men more?

[Ananke]

As Boo suggests, I would carry some extra paperwork just in case, if you are concerned. Makes life easier. I almost always got stopped with my son (not in Thailand, but abroad). Offering the extra papers with an understanding shrug has always got me through. They are just doing their job to protect the kids.

Mine is perhaps an unsusal case though. I am half Thai and look quite oriental. As a toddler, he was very pale skinned, blond as a snow ball, with blue eyes .... I'd have been more worried if we didn't get stopped really.

Actually, come to think of it, even I double checked when he was born. LOL

[Goinghomesoon]

Interesting topic, I'm always fascinated to hear how families that 'look different' to the standard Mum/Dad/2kids are treated. I'm a white single parent with Asian children. In 12 years of extensive travel around Asia and Australia I have never once been stopped or asked for anything extra.

[sylvafern]

My son travels out of Thailand on a Thai passport with a Thai surname and I travel on an NZ passport and have a western surname. I have never been stopped or questioned once which I actually find a little concerning. I suppose they can tell I'm not just kidnapping some random child by the fact that he obviously knows me and seem like his mother, but still. I've carried a copy of his birth certificate before just in case I do get asked.