Children Born To A Foriegner

[lanky]

I would like to know if a child is born to a thai from a foreigner can that child be legally registered in that person foreign embassy as a citizen of the foreigner nationality or does he have to bring the child and family to his country

[gotlost]

The child can be registered in the foreigners parents Embassy or Consulate with birth certificate.

[Mario2008]

That would depend on the situation. Ae you married to the mother or not? That can make a lot of a difference, depending on the nationality of the father.

There is no problem registering the birth at the amphur.

As the the child has a Thai mother the child is also Thai. If you are not married to the mother you will have to legitimise the child as yours. In Thailand that is done by registering the birth of the child by the father. If anybody else did the registering, the child is not legitimised.

See the pinnend topic in the family section.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I don't recall going to register myself, I believe the hospital did it for me, though I filled in the form with my name and everything.

For some nationalities when not married you indeed need to legitimize the child before birth. Talk to your embassy.

[pjclark1]

I don't recall going to register myself, I believe the hospital did it for me, though I filled in the form with my name and everything.

In Thailand I believe that you are not officially considered to be the father (as you didn't take the form to register the child yourself)

To become the father you can either marry the mother or wait until the child is seven years old and go to the Ampur office with the mother and child.

[Bill97]

I know of a case where the foreign father did not take the birth certificate form to the Thai office to register the birth but his name was on the form as being the father. The resulting birth certificate was subsequently used a number of times with the US counsel, the Thai passport office, the Thai ID card office and the Thai land offices where the father was asked to be present and sign documents and the officials at those offices accepted him as the father and issued the papers without raising any problems or issues. I can not say that they considered him "legitimized" or "officially considered to be the father" but they processed the papers as if they did. There was no Thai marriage license and that was never an issue. But as we all should know, there is not consistency with how Thai officials decide issues on a case by case basis. Every moment of every day is different.

Edited November 16, 2009 by Bill97

[paulchiangmai]

My daughter's mother and myself are not legally married, I was overseas at the time my daughter was born, she arrived a little early. A friend registered the birth in my absence showing me as the father. A few weeks later I had her made an Australian citizen without any problems. She is also eligable to be a British citizen should I apply.

[Mario2008]

I don't recall going to register myself, I believe the hospital did it for me, though I filled in the form with my name and everything.

For some nationalities when not married you indeed need to legitimize the child before birth. Talk to your embassy.

If the hospital did it for you and you are not married to the mother, the mother currently has sole custody over the child. Legally you are not considered to be the father.

[Mario2008]

I don't recall going to register myself, I believe the hospital did it for me, though I filled in the form with my name and everything.

In Thailand I believe that you are not officially considered to be the father (as you didn't take the form to register the child yourself)

To become the father you can either marry the mother or wait until the child is seven years old and go to the Ampur office with the mother and child.

There is a third way, petitioning the court to be recognized as the father. However, this does not automatically means you will joined custody together with the mother. That is a separate issue. Only when legitimizing the child at birth will mean automatic joined custody.

[Mario2008]

I know of a case where the foreign father did not take the birth certificate form to the Thai office to register the birth but his name was on the form as being the father. The resulting birth certificate was subsequently used a number of times with the US counsel, the Thai passport office, the Thai ID card office and the Thai land offices where the father was asked to be present and sign documents and the officials at those offices accepted him as the father and issued the papers without raising any problems or issues. I can not say that they considered him "legitimized" or "officially considered to be the father" but they processed the papers as if they did. There was no Thai marriage license and that was never an issue. But as we all should know, there is not consistency with how Thai officials decide issues on a case by case basis. Every moment of every day is different.

In daily live there won't be a problem. Many officials don't know how to check if a person has sole or joint custody. But if it comes for example to a divorce, legally you won't be the father and the child goes automatically to the mother.

[Mario2008]

My daughter's mother and myself are not legally married, I was overseas at the time my daughter was born, she arrived a little early. A friend registered the birth in my absence showing me as the father. A few weeks later I had her made an Australian citizen without any problems. She is also eligible to be a British citizen should I apply.

The British embassy also will consider her to be a British citizen. But you will have legitimize the child under British law, not Thai law. Also, you now don't have joined custody. The mother has sole custody.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I think that's the most proper thing to do anyway, in case of a divorce, to have the mother as the main caretaker?

I would assume that even in case of a divorce the mother would appreciate monthly alimony payments to ensure the kid gets a proper education and all that; with those payments I assume would come rights to spend time with the kid; you can't really have it both ways.

I'm sure i could think of some horror scenarios, but when having kids with someone then it's really supposed to be with a responsible person.

Edited November 16, 2009 by WinnieTheKhwai

[Bill97]

The OP raised the question about dealing with registering a child for foreign nationality and much of the information posted, yes including some of mine, is about the Thai law which has nothing to do with his request for information. Since the OP has not stated the foreign nationality, I doubt that anyone can give him an answer except to say that he should contact his Counsel or Embassy and get his answer as Winnie posted.

[Mario2008]

I think that's the most proper thing to do anyway, in case of a divorce, to have the mother as the main caretaker?

I would assume that even in case of a divorce the mother would appreciate monthly alimony payments to ensure the kid gets a proper education and all that; with those payments I assume would come rights to spend time with the kid; you can't really have it both ways.

I'm sure i could think of some horror scenarios, but when having kids with someone then it's really supposed to be with a responsible person.

About the mother as principle caretaker many people hold different views, I wil not go into that.

As to the rights, no. Even if you now legitimize the child, it will not bring you any rights. Only the obligation to help in the support of the child. If you want more, you should get joined custody.

Of course that is for when it all goes wrong with the relationship.

[pjclark1]

As to the rights, no. Even if you now legitimize the child, it will not bring you any rights. Only the obligation to help in the support of the child. If you want more, you should get joined custody.

As far as I know Thai law automatically gives joint custody to a legitimized child.