Hassle Getting Baby's Thai Passport

[CarlBkk]

Just when you think you've followed every rule, something gets brought up to make you go mad.

My wife and I had our first baby about 4 weeks ago and applied for him to have both a British and Thai passport as we'll all be going back to the UK next week for a few months.

Now when applying for a Thai passport you obviously need the Birth Certificate (sent by the hospital for confirmation at the hospital's local Amphur office then given to the parents), as well as the Birth Certificate needing approval at the Thai parent's local Amphur office (i.e where he/she was born and her ID card is linked to) in this case it was Nakorn Phanom. So...the documents had to be sent to her parents upcountry to get the correct documents from the local Amphur and sent back.

We went to the passport office in Pinklao and, as known, basically waited in line with baby from 10am until 2pm to get seen. It then turned out that there were two problems stopping them for issuing a passport:

a) the hospital's local Amphur office mispelt my middle name in Thai on the Birth certificate

the computer system had not included the baby's middle name at all

Both of these problems stemmed from the Amphur office officials being slack and meant that we had to go back to two Amphur offices (local to our home and local to our hospital) to try and get them corrected, then verified by the HQ in Laksi, and then sent upcountry again to be confirmed by my wife's local Amphur!

Major pain and a couple of weeks worth of waiting, so baby will have to leave Thailand on his British passport and return on his British passport. If he does this, what length of stay will he get in Thailand? Obviously as soon as we return we'll begin the process of getting him his Thai passport all over again.

If anyone's in the same situation and about to apply for a Thai passport just check, check and check again all Thai-written documents as soon as you receive them. It's not easy to get things corrected.

[JayBpool]

Hi good to hear you had everything sorted,

Can i ask you a question

What did you have to do to get the british passport for your son?

Was he born in Thailand?

Does this mean he can travel to and from England or anywhere on his british passport?

Just a few questions i have thought about before i don't have a child yet but it will be good to know for when i do.

Many thanks

Jay

Oh and congratulations and wish you all the best!!!

[singa-traz]

...

Major pain and a couple of weeks worth of waiting, so baby will have to leave Thailand on his British passport and return on his British passport.  If he does this, what length of stay will he get in Thailand?  Obviously as soon as we return we'll begin the process of getting him his Thai passport all over again.

If anyone's in the same situation and about to apply for a Thai passport just check, check and check again all Thai-written documents as soon as you receive them.  It's not easy to get things corrected.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He will be given 30 days. But will not be subject to overstay fine next time he leave Thailand.

If you have the time, check if you can apply for a Thai passport in UK (Check what sort of paper you would need for this).

It would be better for your child to enter on a Thai Passport.

[fxm88]

a) the hospital's local Amphur office mispelt my middle name in Thai on the Birth certificate

You're farang right? So how do they mispell your middle name in Thai? When we were putting my name on my baby's birth certificate we just made up a transliteration of my name -- were we supposed to do it a more official way? We haven't applied for any passports yet.

He will be given 30 days. But will not be subject to overstay fine next time he leave Thailand.

But what happens if the police stop him for whatever reason and find that he has overstayed as per http://www.thaivisa.com/303.0.html ?

[N&M]

As stated, your child can stay on a visa and not subject to any overstay up to I think either 15yo or 17yo. My son stayed for 18 months before a departure and all you have to have with you when you eventually do depart the country again, is make sure you have the birth certificate with you to show immigration. No hassles.

Also, look into the embassy in England as also stated, i have been told it can be much easier, but you need to apply first at the royal thai embassy in ?? England for your child to get a 'Thai' birth certificate issued.... I know, confusing and stupid etc etc, but thems the way things are doen ere.

I have an email from Royal Thai embassy in Australia telling me exactly what to do and this is it, but not sure how long it takes.

[CarlBkk]

a) the hospital's local Amphur office mispelt my middle name in Thai on the Birth certificate

You're farang right? So how do they mispell your middle name in Thai? When we were putting my name on my baby's birth certificate we just made up a transliteration of my name -- were we supposed to do it a more official way? We haven't applied for any passports yet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Somewhere along the line my middle name (for his passport application) was written in English then translated to Thai and then translated back into English again by my wife's local govt. office...which was then passed onto the Passport division. They were apologetic that they couldn't do anything about it...but these govt. office forms need to be looked over very carefully at the time of being made if possible.

[coldcrush]

A bit to add to this topic or more a question to ask?

My child will be born in Bangkok, which is not where my GF is from. Thus is it ok to get my child's Birth Certificate in Bangkok ie, register amphur etc, or do we have to return to her home town Amphur Office?

Please let me know because the fiance seems to be lost on this one as well!

Thanks All

[CarlBkk]

Hi Lopburi,

This is the procedure:

When your baby is born the hospital of birth sends your son/daughter's details to THEIR local Amphur office. You then go to check and pick up this birth cerficate from the office, supplying IDs and marriage certificate. From this certificate you will then send it for translation and verification for any docs/uses you might want in English (this is cheaper than getting it translated by the Brit Embassy).

The next stage is for your child to be registered with your wife's local Amphur office - so this depends which local office her ID card is linked to. For instance if she's from upcountry, her ID is most likely registered to an Amphur office upcountry and not in Bangkok. However, if she's a homeowner in Bangkok she may have voluntarily changed her ID card to stipulate she's now a Bangkok citizen. Whichever it is, documents (child's birth certificate, ID card and marriage cert.) need to be sent to HER local Amphur office. She doesn't have to physically go for this, a relative living there can do it for her - she just needs to post the documents to them. That local Amphur office will produce a certificate linking your child to the address of your wife's ID card....not useful now so much, but it helps to prove his citizenship and rights and also enables his to obtain a Thai ID card easily at the age of 15.

Hope that's a help.

[coldcrush]

Hiya CarlBkk

so that means I can use the Birth Certificate from Bkk to take to the UK Embassy without going upnorth?

Then we can go upnorth and register. Or does the family book have to be change before going to the embassy. Sorry its just Im on a time limit....

How long does the hospital etc take to issue docs to their local amphur office, is it a slow procedure?

Thanks again

[Chayakon]

The London Thai embassy is the only place in the UK you can get a Thai passport but it was very easy, turn up with all relevant paperwork....birth and marriage certs etc and we received the passport about 3 days later...recorded delivery.

Our son was born in the UK, dunno if that makes a difference but we nearly always use his Brit passport entering Thailand and never had any probs.........by the way, check for Thai bank holidays when going to the London embassy, the place was bloody closed the first time I went.