My baby boy is 9 months old. I am married to a Thai lady and the Baby boy was born in BKK.

Now in order for us to travel the baby should have a passport.

To do the passport the baby needs to be on the house resgistration certificate. Since my wife's family has no house of their own, and we are also renting, most of the family members are registered on other house certificates. My baby was registered on a neighbours house certificate for convenience and now we wish to transfer his name to the house registration certificate where also his mother is registered, however we cannot locate the holder of the original. The neighbour wants our baby out of their house certificate as he only agreed to keep it there temporarily.

I am confused with all this, and however well I speak thai, I can't get through to my wife to comprehend the legality of the tabien ban. Please can someone explain to me how this system works. Isn't it illegal to be on others tabien ban? Or is it merely frowned upon. Why does the thai law have no provision for persons that do not own property? Now we are at an impasse.

Finally, can I forget all this and just make a UK passport for my Boy? Or does he need first to have a thai passport?

The tabien baan is the official registration that a person lives on that address. It doesn't mean that you are the owner of the property, only that you are officially living at that address. Many Thais live somewhere else then where they are officially registered, but is has an influence for example on where they can register to go to school.

To be registered on a tabien baan you need the permission of the owner of the property (house).

A Thai passport is not needed, but when entering Thailand again on a foreign passport the child will be subject to immigration controls (visa, extension of stay, 90 day reporting etc). Best to get a Thai passport this week, takes about 3 work days. That gives you more time to arrange the registration at an other address. But in the end you will need to take care of the registration, it is important.

Yes, but before getting the passport for the child, he must be registered on a tabien ban right? I have arranged with one of our employees and he has agreed to let me register the baby on his tabien ban.

Yes, the child must first be on a tabien baan, before the passport can be applied for.

make sure you get a dozen or so photocopies of the new tabieen baan. In most cases, you never need to show the original, only a signed copy.

To move from the old tabien bahn to new, you don't need to locate the holder of the old. You just need permission from the holder of the new one. You can get taken off the old one without notifying holder.

Problems with getting family members on a house book locally to where you live (renters)?

Dead easy, ask your landlord, maybe offer 1,000bht per person he accepts on his house book.

It also entitles your family members to use the local hospital and schools free of charge.

(A problem when you rent in Bangkok and your family members are registered in Korat)

or neighbor, friend, etc.