To Have Or Not To Have A Baby In Thailand?

[dogeatinghotchips]

My partner and I will be having our first child in a few months neither of us are Thai (she is Cambodian) and we are not married. I'm wondering about the paperwork and complications this cause in the future for our child to obtain a British/Cambodian passport. At the end of the day it will be her decision which country to have the baby in, but I just want to scope what would be involved so I can get a better idea as I'm currently working here, with better healthcare and accomodation. She has spent sometime here in Thailand, we had the ultra sound and checkup at a Thai hospital and she was impressed. The other option is for us to have the baby in Cambodia where I don't trust the doctors but she would obviously be closer to her family and speak the language which is obviously a huge factor.

At this point I'm mainly concerned about the additional paperwork and getting the correct ID translated when back in Cambodia. What documents are given to a foreign baby born in Thailand? Also how would I go about getting everything correctly registered in Cambodia?

Much appreciated.

[Sheryl]

In terms of the Birtish part, it is going to be the same whether the baby is born in Thailand or Cambodia, and you should consult the Brit Embassy as to what is required (and whether birth to a British father not married to the mother makes the child eligible for British citizenship)

As far as Cambodia goes, only recently has there been an effort to document births there . To my understanding, birth certificates are issued by the Ministry of the Interior through the Village chief or Commune Council. It is supposed to be free if applied for within 30 days of the birth, otherwise there is a charge. it is very common in Cambodia for parents not to bother with this until the child is ready to attend school, though that may be changing. Anyhow, your gf's family can find out from their village chief what is involved. Other than greasing some palms I don't think it is difficult. But she may need to return to her home village with the baby to do it.

If she does deliver in Cambodia, the Visal Sok Clinic in Phnom Penh as well as the "Japanese Hospital" are both pretty good and for that matter the quality of maternity care even at local health centers has much improved Deliveries are not usually done by doctors but rather by midwives and there have been enormous inputs into upgrading midwifery competencies. Your biggest risk is if the baby is premature or has other special needs at birth as the quality of neonatal care remains very poor. The only possible places for neonatal intensive care if needed would be the "Japanese hospital" (NCMCH).

If she decides to deliver in Thailand, there is a Khmer speaking Thai Ob-Gyn (from I think Surin) at St Louis Hospital, I forget her name but if you call the Ob department I'm sure they will know. She is quite friendly to Khmer patients, which will make a big difference. As private hospitals in Thailand go, St Louis is comparatively inexpensive.

[dogeatinghotchips]

Thanks Sheryl, thats given me some thing to be thinking about. I think I really need to find out if a baby born out of wedlock to a British father and a Khmer mother is eligable for citizenship.