Birth Cert, Not Married

[Baannok]

Alright so we just had a baby and we are not married. I'm a foreigner, she's Thai. The hospital (or one of the nurses actually) asked me to get my passport translated and stamped by my country's embassy. It was quite clear she wasn't certain of what exactly was needed as she first said I need to translate every single page of the passport (yeah right... that's over 30 pages) but then after some discussion it was just the photo page and the latest arrival stamp, I think! So has anyone else been through this? I just want to clarify what exactly it is they need.

1. Translation from English to Thai of photo page and latest entry stamp in passport.

2. Translation stamped by my country's embassy.

That's what I think they need. I think it's a bit silly that they need to translate something in English to Thai. I think I can do it myself but I'm sure it requires a certified translator that charges 100 baht per word or something silly. Would it be possible to translate by ourselves? Anything else I need?

[g00dgirl]

It's not really silly, they need to confirm the correct spelling of your name in Thai letters so that it is entered correctly on the Thai birth certificate of your child. This is in your best interest because if you have any spelling mistake on the Thai birth certificate it is a very big hassle to correct it and can cause many problems. It should not be expensive, usually the hospital should be able to recommend a translator in the area.

[Baannok]

I've actually already written my name in Thai on some of their paperwork already. So anyone else been through this? Was it alright to translate yourself and have your embassy stamp it?

[Mario2008]

The correct spelling is necessary, as that will be the name of the child. That it has to be an official translation, stamped by your embassy looks like nonsense to me. The hospital is making up their own rules.

Translation should be around 300 or 400 baht.

Note that since you are not married, under Thai law you are not the legal father and the mother has sole parental rights over the child. In order to correct this, you would need to legitimize the child by petitioning the court to be recognised as the legal father of the child. When the mother agrees this is not a big deal, but will take some time and money.

[Baannok]

Thanks Mario. I've read your stickied thread about how to become the legal father too. Good info. Well, I'll try to get hold of a translator and see if they'll accept it without any embassy stamps.

[BuddhistDruid]

Chulalongkorn Hospital tried the "we need it stamped by your embassy" with me too.

I simply translated it myself, signed it myself, and handed it to them, and said "No, my embassy won't stamp anything with Thai script. If you need it stamped, take it yourself to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Cheang Wattana and you deal with it."

When faced with a recalcitrant farang, the "stamping" requirement was waived and everything proceeded as normal. What Mario says is true. This "certification" is not a real requirement, and if you stick to your guns and make it their problem instead of your problem, it will be dropped.

BTW, if you have a copy of your girlfriend's Thai passport and translate.google.com, you would be amazed how easy it is to translate the passport yourself. That is what I did. You might consider this before wasting several hundred baht.

[Baannok]

BhuddistDruid: Thanks! I'm going back to the hospital tomorrow with my own translated papers. Will use your embassy would not stamp excuse. We'll see how it goes

[phuketrichard]

This must all be new, My daughter was born at the small hospital in Phuket town which inow gone. Not married and I wrote my name in thai and that was enough for them.

If ur american make sure u get a "Consolor report of birth abroad" from the embassy. You will need 2 people that have known you to verify that u are indeed the dad if ur not married. Then you can get her US passport

[Baannok]

A little update

I simply translated it myself, signed it myself, and handed it to them, and said "No, my embassy won't stamp anything with Thai script. If you need it stamped, take it yourself to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Cheang Wattana and you deal with it."

This is pretty much what happened. I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (on a different matter) and brought the translation along (translated by a certified translator) to see what would happen. They refused to stamp it because it did not have an embassy stamp. So I went to my embassy where they, of course, refused to stamp the translation. As BuddhistDruid said, they don't stamp anything with Thai script on it. They were kind enough to stamp a copy of my passport and said it should be enough to get the people at the Ministry to stamp the translation.

We have been to the khet office and they said all the paperwork was fine except for the translation of my passport which requires

1. translator stamp

2. embassy stamp

3. ministry of foreign affairs stamp

They showed me a folder full of other foreign fathers who had both stamps so apparently in the khet we need to go to (Jatujak), this is now a requirement. Just a heads up if any of you guys are planning to have a kid around there. I wonder what would happen if we had the baby somewhere in rural Thailand. Would they really force the father to go all the way to Bangkok? I hope the laws there might be a bit more relaxed.

[chris5346]

in chiang mai i asked the hospital not to register the birth because i wanted to do it myself, they gave me some paperwork to take and showed me where the office was on a map.

the births and deaths office wanted a translated copy of my passport and i just got one simply done in chiang mai for 200 baht and all was fine.

i did it that was because i wanted my name on the bottom of the birth certificate as the person registerring the birth instead of someone at the hospitals name, but i don't think legally it's much of an advantage.

any questions please ask,

chris