My Son Is Half Thai

[seonai]

My ex Thai husband is refusing (out of spite) to sign papers to make my half Thai son a Thai citizen. My son and I live in Thailand and the ex lives in Britain. Can his brother sign the papers on his behalf?

Seonai

[RootTV]

I don't believe you can, the child always is only entitled to the mothers nationality, the father has to apply to get the child naturalised.

[Maestro]

I don't believe you can, the child always is only entitled to the mothers nationality, the father has to apply to get the child naturalised.

RootTV, I don’t think this is a case of naturalisation. The child acquired Thai nationality at birth under Thailand’s Nationality Act because one of his parents is a Thai national (Section 7(1):

Section 7. The following persons acquire Thai nationality by birth:

(1) A person born of a father or a mother of Thai nationality, whether within or outside the Thai Kingdom;

The problem here seems to get the proper document, for example a Thai passport, for the child.

If the son were an adult, he obviously could apply for his Thai ID card in his own name; I don’t know what documents he would need, I guess his birth certificate, house registration, and a few other things. With the ID card, getting a passport will then be a mere formality.

Being a minor, he needs a parent – or both parents? – to sign the papers needed for a passport application. If “ex-husband” means that the divorce has been completed and is a matter of record, and the mother has custody of the boy, shouldn’t the boy’s mother be authorised to sign for the boy, without the need to involve the father? I don’t know, but talking to the passport office should bring forth some answers.

Seonai, if your ex-husband’s brother is willing to help you with this, perhaps you could have him accompany you and your son to the passport office to talk to the officials and get the right answers.