Adopted Child Status

[Lostom]

Anyone have experience/knowledge about Thai citizenship status in the following circumstances.

My daughter wants her baby to be legally adopted by both myself & my Thai wife. We were married in the UK but now live permanently in Thailand.

Both parents are British citizens.

We would prefer the child to have joint citizenship in order to avoid immigration/visa hassle, but not sure if this is possible.

[Mario2008]

Moved to family and children forum.

[Mario2008]

Not sure I understand your question.

You are married to a Thai national and you both have a daughter, who has a baby. Now you both want legaly adopt your daughter's baby.

Your wife is a Thai citizen and she may have British citizenship too (unless she renounced her Thai citizenship which is a whole procedure and unlikly she did that). As the nother is a Thai citizen, so is your daughter and because of that the baby too.

Your daughter might not have a Thai passport, but she is a Thai citizen and a British citizen too. (Unless the mother specifically went through the procedure to renounce her Thai citizenship before the child was born).

Regarding adoption you have to consider between an international adoption and a Thai adoption. The inetrnational adoption is a longer process, but will also be recognised by the UK. The Thai adoption should be simpler, but will not be recognized by the UK. In your case, the baby will have both nationalities so the benefits of an international adoption are less.

[Lostom]

Thank you Mario.

My daughter is not from my Thai wife but from a previous marriage.

Hope this clarifies any misunderstanding.

[Mario2008]

That makes a lot of differences and complicates it. If the child will get Thai nationality through adoption depends on if the child was born in Thailand or not, if so the procedure is much easier to get Thai nationality. If the child was born outside of Thailand it will have to follow the normal procedure for getting Thai nationality.

A Thai who adopted a child may apply for Thai naturalisation for the adopted child who is not sui juris in accordance with Thai law, has completed registration for a legitimate child not less than 5 years ago, and also has evidence proving that the child was born in the Kingdom of Thailand. In this case, such persons shall be exempt from possessing the qualifications under Section 10 (1) and (3). Applying for naturalisation as a Thai for others groups under paragraph one shall conform with the Ministerial Regulation.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=120072

Since your daugther is British, the procedure might have to go through the UK, but not sure of that.