British Passport For 1 Week Old Thai Baby

[cake]

Hello,

My baby is 1 week old and I want to apply for his British passport in Bangkok (British Father, Thai Mother). We have a Thai wedding certificate and I have my long birth certificate ready, also have his Thai birth certificate, also have his mothers ID card and Thai passport, also have form C2. I understand all the requirements regarding translating thai documents. I have used the building opposite the embassy before.

My questions are :

1) Do I have to take my baby to the Bangkok embassy ? I hope not as we live in South Thailand.

2) Do I have to take a passport photo of the baby ? Not easy taking a photo of a 1 week old baby and get him to have his eyes open. However, I can do it if required !

I want to get the application in as soon as possible because of busy work schedule. Get is done now. Otherwise I would wait until a later date.

Thank you for any help.

[InterestedObserver]

Link to British Embassy, How to register a birth: My link

[SweatySock]

I obtained my sons passport when he was 3 months old.

No you don't need to take him to the Embassy.

The photograph can be a bit tricky but the guidelines (as per the link above)are pretty clear.

[lectito]

If you are leaving the baby in southern Thailand and going to the embassy on your own, perhaps think about taking a few different photos. If the embassy reject the first lot as not quite meeting the guidelines for whatever reason, it will save you the time and expense of having to travel back a second time.

[cake]

Link to British Embassy, How to register a birth: My link

Thank you very much for the link. I will check it out.

[cake]

If you are leaving the baby in southern Thailand and going to the embassy on your own, perhaps think about taking a few different photos. If the embassy reject the first lot as not quite meeting the guidelines for whatever reason, it will save you the time and expense of having to travel back a second time.

Thats a good idea. Thanks. I have spent the day waiting for him to wake up for his feeds so that I can take photos. I lay him on his back on a big white sheet (as back ground) and click away as he complains. I will load the pics onto my data stick in case the embassy reject the passport photo I have had made up (he is sticking his tongue out but his eyes are open and he is looking straight at the camera. Also the size of his head measures OK as per the requirements. Fingers crossed.

[cake]

I obtained my sons passport when he was 3 months old.

No you don't need to take him to the Embassy.

The photograph can be a bit tricky but the guidelines (as per the link above)are pretty clear.

Thanks for that. Really happy we dont have to take him to Bangkok. My wife is still recovering and the baby is doing very well at our home.

[mark131v]

I obtained my sons passport when he was 3 months old.

No you don't need to take him to the Embassy.

The photograph can be a bit tricky but the guidelines (as per the link above)are pretty clear.

Thanks for that. Really happy we dont have to take him to Bangkok. My wife is still recovering and the baby is doing very well at our home.

We just did the same as you but in London. I would recommend getting the photo done properly most of the print shops should be able to do this for you and we held up the baby and the photographer did the rest even in UK it only cost a fiver. Its just not worth the risk especially if you are travelling to bankok. Just wait till you do the thai one they wanted to know how tall my daughter was, she was 4 weeks old at the time and i explained she would be taller tommorow so what was the point in waking her up to measure her, did no good, they also took her fingerprints as well it was a bit surreal really

All the best mate

Mark

[teddy_bare]

I had to photoshop out a feeding tube and tidy up the background cos my daughter was in NICU. The embassy excepted it no problems. She even had her eyes closed, but as per the website that isn't an issue

Edited July 5, 2010 by teddy_bare

[SantiSuk]

I had to photoshop out a feeding tube and tidy up the background cos my daughter was in NICU. The embassy excepted it no problems. She even had her eyes closed, but as per the website that isn't an issue

British Immigration is very particular about the photo paper used - I have had what I thought were good diy (desk printer with photo paper) efforts refused in London - 'you have done these yourself haven't you!? The paper is too thin and clearly not from a photo shop - go back and get a proper one'

It's dirt cheap to get the photos taken at a photoshop in theThai boondocks. But the first shop I tried for my then 3 month old daughter delivered prints that did not meet the UK requirements - the head took up nowhere near 60-75% of the photo. They were told very specifically in English and Thai what to do but insisted that the photos they had printed (Thai size requirements of course) would be accepted - Thais always know best as we all know! My girlfriend sulked for a couple of hours after I had been so pigheaded as to suggest that perhaps the British Embassy had different requirements and would not be so flexible.

So I had to junk their prints (115 baht for 8) and get another half dozen at the other photo shop in town for 180 baht.

I seem to recall that one of the translation agencies in the shopping centre accross the road from the Brit embassy suggested that one of their translations had to be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sorry I can't remember which one it was that they suggested but I knew it did not, told them as such and It did not!

I think (but not 100% sure) that the process of getting the translations and then applying cannot be achieved in one day alone and that you have to check opening times for the Embassy for the specific action you are taking (lodging something or retrieving something) quite carefully not to be caught out.

The countersignature process by someone who has known you for a couple of years is a bit of a pain if you don't have a British Citizen mate handy here. If you can't comply, call them by phone - they will tell you to use the doctor who delivered the baby, even though he has known you for only a week or two. A rural hick doctor might find this worrying - signing off something for an official English document and my not so hick private hospital paediatrician wanted to give me some certificate of birth (which would not have met the Embassy requirements!) but would have allowed them to charge me more money. Somebody on TV did report that they just asked some passing Brit in the Embassy waiting room to do it, but that seems to be a bit of an eleventh hour gamble to me!

Edited July 7, 2010 by SantiSuk

[cake]

Thank you Mark and everyone for your Help.

I have just returned from the British Embassy this morning. They have accepted all the documents I submitted for the babies passport application. I have also applied for him to have a British birth certificate. The total cost for both was 13400 Baht. Not cheap but it will be good for the little lad when he gets older. The staff in the Embassy were very helpful and efficient.

Regarding the passport photo of the baby:

I took a lot of photos of him to a Kodak shop just outside Ploenchit BTS station (skytrain station at the British Embassy) opposite side of the road to the "Wave Building". They are experienced with doing the passport photos for the embassies there. A young lad chose the best picture and then did some photo shop clean up on it, printed 6 passport photos. Cost 150 Baht. Good service. 30 minutes time waiting.

Regarding getting the thai documents translated into English:

There are many translation shops on the side streets immediately outside Ploenchit BTS station. Walk into them and ask the price for one document translation. After visiting 4 of them they all quoted 250 Baht for 1 document. I chose this shop to do the translation; My link They did the translations immediately and it took about 40 minutes. You can sit and have a coffee there. Staff friendly and helpful.

I hope that helps anyone applying for a babies UK passport in Bangkok.

Job done. Get back to work now. Boo !

[cake]

I had to photoshop out a feeding tube and tidy up the background cos my daughter was in NICU. The embassy excepted it no problems. She even had her eyes closed, but as per the website that isn't an issue

Hope the little one is doing OK. I used to work in NICU in hospitals as an engineer doing maintenance on the monitoring equipment. Great that the embassy accepted the photo with eyes closed. Thats good to know. Wish I had known that before as I spent ages waiting for my baby to open his eyes for the photo ! :-)

[cake]

I had to photoshop out a feeding tube and tidy up the background cos my daughter was in NICU. The embassy excepted it no problems. She even had her eyes closed, but as per the website that isn't an issue

British Immigration is very particular about the photo paper used - I have had what I thought were good diy (desk printer with photo paper) efforts refused in London - 'you have done these yourself haven't you!? The paper is too thin and clearly not from a photo shop - go back and get a proper one'

It's dirt cheap to get the photos taken at a photoshop in theThai boondocks. But the first shop I tried for my then 3 month old daughter delivered prints that did not meet the UK requirements - the head took up nowhere near 60-75% of the photo. They were told very specifically in English and Thai what to do but insisted that the photos they had printed (Thai size requirements of course) would be accepted - Thais always know best as we all know! My girlfriend sulked for a couple of hours after I had been so pigheaded as to suggest that perhaps the British Embassy had different requirements and would not be so flexible.

So I had to junk their prints (115 baht for 8) and get another half dozen at the other photo shop in town for 180 baht.

I seem to recall that one of the translation agencies in the shopping centre accross the road from the Brit embassy suggested that one of their translations had to be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sorry I can't remember which one it was that they suggested but I knew it did not, told them as such and It did not!

I think (but not 100% sure) that the process of getting the translations and then applying cannot be achieved in one day alone and that you have to check opening times for the Embassy for the specific action you are taking (lodging something or retrieving something) quite carefully not to be caught out.

The countersignature process by someone who has known you for a couple of years is a bit of a pain if you don't have a British Citizen mate handy here. If you can't comply, call them by phone - they will tell you to use the doctor who delivered the baby, even though he has known you for only a week or two. A rural hick doctor might find this worrying - signing off something for an official English document and my not so hick private hospital paediatrician wanted to give me some certificate of birth (which would not have met the Embassy requirements!) but would have allowed them to charge me more money. Somebody on TV did report that they just asked some passing Brit in the Embassy waiting room to do it, but that seems to be a bit of an eleventh hour gamble to me!

Yes you really need 2 days to get the translations / photos done and visit the embassy. 3 days is good because you can have a beer and a knees up too :-)

I was lucky with the countersignatory because an old work mate has just started working in Bangkok. Yes our doctor in the South of Thailand would be a bit worried about signing that for us ! I have experienced problems like that before.