Thai Child Name Change

[FJ45]

Hello,

I am a US Citizen. I married my Thai wife in 2006. We live in Thailand but i work in the Middle East . We each brought a daughter to the marriage. "My" daughter (3 years old) was born in Thailand and has both US and Thai passports.....no problem with her.

My wife's daughter (4 years old) does not have a passport.........here's the issue.

My wife and "my" daughter lived with me in the Middle East for over 1 year. Me, my wife and my daughter all have my family surname. My wife's daughter could not join us as she had no passport at the time. My wife's daughters' birth certificate shows my wife's family (maiden) name. It would be easy enough to get the child a Thai passport in her mother's maiden name, but i want the child to have my surname......just like everyone else in the family. This is mostly due to reduce the confusion on visas, Middle East resident permits, flight tickets, school, etc.

FYI, The biological father of my wife's daughter has not been seen or heard from since before the child was born and no one knows his whereabouts.

My plan is to bring my wife, and BOTH daughters to live with me in the Middle East by mid 2009.

Question: How do we get my wife's daughters' surname changed to mine without going thru the adoption process?

[Mario2008]

Were the father and mother married? If not, did the father recognized his child as his and did he do the registration of the birth of the child himself at the amphur. If both questions are no, I believe you are the legal father of your wife's child so no need to go to the adoption process.

I believe changing a name is relatively easy in Thailand, ask at the amphur.

[MetroGirl]

For what I know.....

NO WAY....impossible to change her "surname" to yours, without a legal international adoption process.

However from what I have heard.....it shouldn't be difficult to get her a necessary visa to join her mother ----with "you" as a stepfather and a sponser.

[Boo]

My husbands mum wanted us all to change our family name as she had been informed that we were all goign to get bad luck if we didn't (some kinda mumbo jumbo she gets involved with!!!) I refused point blank but she told us that it only involved a trip to the amphur & the equivilant of changing your name by deed poll that we have in the UK (i.e. fill in the forms, make an announcement inthe papers & it is done) if we ever did decide to. So don't know if this is even right (my mil is prone to flights of fancy on occasion ) or if it will be possible for a minor but worth your wife asking at the amphur or getting a rellie to go if she is our of country.

[bina]

boo , thai guys change their names and get new passports all the time so they can come back for an other five years on a new different passport(well up til last year. i heard there is a crackdown on that now as foriegn countries like israel dont want the same guy with a new name coming to work for more then five years -so they started doing the fingerprint thing so lots of thai guys caught. they fingerprint at entry, and then at exit and run thru the computer. i know of one guy in a court case here due to the thai embassy finding him in the computer as two different people, but thats an other story )

about half the guys i know legally changed their whole name, first and last both, on passports. everyone in the village knows them as lek or dam or noi anyway; noone actually really knows half of peoples' full names. its down to the amphur fill out a form and its done. however, i did hear they are cracking down... but in the boondocks it might still be done for tea money and some khao lao. not sure how that works on their tabien bhaan, and not sure what ramifications there are if getting married out of the country, like with anon, where all documents were checked, certified and double checked.

bina

israel