Getting a UK passport for my newborn half Thai child

[Richard W]

Can anyone answer the question about how much you paid to get the visa to get your son over to England to apply there? £83 or £383?

In case you're still waiting, you've got it wrong. £83 is for a single visit. The £300 is for a multi-visit visa. (These are nominal prices - add the cushion to the prices to ensure HMG does not lose out while money changers get their cut.)

There is some bad news though. From the thread British citizenship basics, it seems that such a visa may be refused if the ECO discovers the child is British. 7by7's initial posts are not relevant to this problem, and you may need to skim through the first 10 posts and then reread from the beginning.

[KevWaters]

Can anyone answer the question about how much you paid to get the visa to get your son over to England to apply there? £83 or £383?

In case you're still waiting, you've got it wrong. £83 is for a single visit. The £300 is for a multi-visit visa. (These are nominal prices - add the cushion to the prices to ensure HMG does not lose out while money changers get their cut.)

There is some bad news though. From the thread British citizenship basics, it seems that such a visa may be refused if the ECO discovers the child is British. 7by7's initial posts are not relevant to this problem, and you may need to skim through the first 10 posts and then reread from the beginning.

Thanks for that, the government website does not state anything other than there is an 83 pound application fee. I presume that a single visit can last anything up to 6 months, right? So the cost of bringing my partner to stay with me and our son in the UK for 6 months would be 83 pound, rather than 300+ ?

I read through the link and see that it would be best to get his passport over here. I was born after 1983 so as per the regulations, I need to provide my parents birth certificates and marriage certificate. It's a little awkward as we are not in close contact.

Can anyone here who was born after 1983 and therefore needed to submit the certificates from their parents advise me whether short certificates would suffice instead of long/standard ones? It taken me 2 weeks to get a response from the official site last time and I was looking to get the certificates sent over in good time for the Christmas break so I could head to Bangkok and get it done.

Hope someone can advise.

Cheers

[elvisp1977]

Still waiting for my child's UK passport submitted on 14.8.14 in Bangkok...( see post 120)....i saw my MP today and spent about half an hour with her detailing the case....

I have been emailing Liverpool passport overseas team since 11th November and speaking to the progress team here in the UK....keep being advised that it is still being validated...

One reply i received from Liverpool passport office was " Please note your application for passport facilities is in the process of being validated overseas". Even my MP was rather nonplussed with that reply!!! I had to reply asking them to explain what their email meant!

Cheers..

[KevWaters]

Hey,

I have an appointment in two weeks at the Trendy Building to submit the passport application.

I have been told that I need to get documents stamped at the consulate in Bangkok for 200 baht per page.

Can someone confirm whether it is only the translated birth certificate (wife and son) and tambien bahn (house book) that I need to get stamped? And if this 200 fee covers the document or if there is in fact a stamp needed on every page?

[KevWaters]

and is it possible to get someone else to go to the consulate and get these docs stamped on my behalf?

[stevomaesot]

Hi ,recently went through this process for my son. We had all the Thai documents required translated by a place on the ground floor in the Trendy building, and they were all officially stamped by them . Cant see any reason why you cant get someone to do this for you as well . Our son's passport was ready within 3 weeks ,, Word of advice take every piece of related paperwork with you, ie.. photo id's, proof of address's etc..

Best of luck

[KevWaters]

How much was the translation and the stamp at trendy building? Did you get your address book translated? (Tambien baan). That's quite a surprise I thought it could only be stamped at the consulate. Cheers

[KevWaters]

There are two types of stamp, one from the translator to show they are registered and another from consulate to show it's a proper accepted translation. Do we not need the latter?

[stevomaesot]

That's the first I've heard of a consulate stamp, we just had the stamp from the translator... We didn't need he's house registration because the house address was on his Thai birth certificate.... We used the translator on the ground floor as you walk in the entrance on your right. I'm sure we paid roughly just under 400 baht with an extra copy per document. I'm sure it was cheaper in the shop opposite... Hope this helps

[elvisp1977]

Steveomaesot..i find it incredible that you were able to get your child's passport sorted out within 3 weeks....that would involve the passport being sent to Liverpool....a caseworker being assigned to deal with it..the printing process and DHL delivering it back to Thailand within 7-10 working days...then of course you get the email from trendy to pick it up....

I had to provide additional information and am still waiting for it to be validated after 4 months!!!!!!!!!!! My wife submitted the additional information on 9th October but it was not received in Liverpool until 12 days later!!!!!!!!!

i am very jealous!!

Cheers...

[stevomaesot]

We couldn't believe it ourselves , they actually called us as well, then received an email the following day... From what I've been reading on here ours is definitely a one-off case

Cheers

[elvisp1977]

Yes you were very fortunate but well done...i guess it's similar to some people getting a decision on their settlement visa within two weeks or so when they were expecting 12 weeks...i am gutted about mine because it is virtually impossible that i will be able to get my son over to the UK before Christmas...my wife has a 6 month family visitor visa that began on 1st December...need to get her through the KET test here..

Cheers..

[bigsteve]

My son's passport also took 12 days. The application was sent mid November by Digital Chromakey (with a letter from me allowing him to make the application on my behalf) together with the application for his 2 children. He was kind enough to also be the counter signatory for my son. I then received a call on Friday 28th, very politely informing me that the passport had arrived and I could come and collect it as well as their opening hours.

Collecting the passport was a simple enough procedure. I can state that Trendy are still opening the package though. The guy behind the counter made a great show of opening it in front of me but I asked to keep the yellow DHL envelope and both that and the envelope inside containing the actual passport had been opened.

We had actually expected the application to be problematic. I am not married to my son's Thai mother and I was fully expecting to be asked for a lot more paperwork. Maybe my application ended up on the desk of someone at HMPO who was having a good day.

Incidentally, Digital Chromakey was not contacted as the counter signatory but his own kids' passports have not yet come back, nor has he had any update. He thinks this is due to his having an American friend countersign the photos (this is allowed but it does state that this would delay the application as further checks have to be made). BTW Trendy were very willing to check the status of his application when given the receipt.

So it looks like I got lucky -those of you still waiting I wish you the best of luck with it.

[KevWaters]

Thanks, and you guys didn't need your docs stamping at the consulate beforehand either?

[rob69]

Going to submit my son's UK Passport Application on Friday at the Trendy Building in Bangkok.

Whilst I am sure I have all the original documents, necessary photocopies and supporting translation required, can anyone please confirm if the fathers and mothers copied documents require counter-signing and date??

Cheers

[KevWaters]

Going to submit my son's UK Passport Application on Friday at the Trendy Building in Bangkok.

Whilst I am sure I have all the original documents, necessary photocopies and supporting translation required, can anyone please confirm if the fathers and mothers copied documents require counter-signing and date??

Cheers

Good question, I assume they should each sign and date their own colour copies....but let us wait for the answer.....

Rob. did you only get a stamp from the translator company? Or did you get the consulate to stamp the translations too for 200 baht to show that they are acceptable?

Reading all sorts of conflicting info online about that, but people (or at least 1 person so far) here seem to have done fine without the consulate stamp.

[rob69]

I have only had the required documents translated and stamped by a translation company in Chiang Mai. I hope that will suffice(!).

I used the same company as my friend used recently in order to obtain visitor visas to the UK for his thai girlf and thai born son, he was successful with their applications.

If you check the gov.uk website it doesn't seem to make any mention of having the translated documents then stamped by your consulate to ensure they are 'acceptable'.....this is the first ive heard about this....

Also when your submitting the payment form, my actual (cardholders) address (and bank) is in the UK, though obviously I have an address in Thailand.

- Im assuming ill need to put my UK address here. Any advice would be welcome...

Going to submit my son's UK Passport Application on Friday at the Trendy Building in Bangkok.

Whilst I am sure I have all the original documents, necessary photocopies and supporting translation required, can anyone please confirm if the fathers and mothers copied documents require counter-signing and date??

Cheers

Good question, I assume they should each sign and date their own colour copies....but let us wait for the answer.....

Rob. did you only get a stamp from the translator company? Or did you get the consulate to stamp the translations too for 200 baht to show that they are acceptable?

Reading all sorts of conflicting info online about that, but people (or at least 1 person so far) here seem to have done fine without the consulate stamp.

[rob69]

Bangkok HMPO Office has just emailed me to confirm that there is no need to sign and date the photocopied docs.

[KevWaters]

I've read that the Thai Birth Certificate can be used in place of a British one if stamped at the consulate. Sure I've seen mention of them being needed for this application too, but I may well be confused with the spouse visa application, which is a lot more stringent. Anyhow, it's only 200 baht a stamp and I can send the docs to a friend to translate and stamp at the consulate so no probe there. Will get it done to make sure.

About the bank detaiks, I hope someone can also answer this. Will the transaction occurring in the UK incur any additional bank charges should we use our Thai account?

I have only had the required documents translated and stamped by a translation company in Chiang Mai. I hope that will suffice(!).

I used the same company as my friend used recently in order to obtain visitor visas to the UK for his thai girlf and thai born son, he was successful with their applications.

If you check the gov.uk website it doesn't seem to make any mention of having the translated documents then stamped by your consulate to ensure they are 'acceptable'.....this is the first ive heard about this....

Also when your submitting the payment form, my actual (cardholders) address (and bank) is in the UK, though obviously I have an address in Thailand.

- Im assuming ill need to put my UK address here. Any advice would be welcome...

Going to submit my son's UK Passport Application on Friday at the Trendy Building in Bangkok.

Whilst I am sure I have all the original documents, necessary photocopies and supporting translation required, can anyone please confirm if the fathers and mothers copied documents require counter-signing and date??

Cheers

Good question, I assume they should each sign and date their own colour copies....but let us wait for the answer.....

Rob. did you only get a stamp from the translator company? Or did you get the consulate to stamp the translations too for 200 baht to show that they are acceptable?

Reading all sorts of conflicting info online about that, but people (or at least 1 person so far) here seem to have done fine without the consulate stamp.

[stevomaesot]

Hi, I can only advise from my own experience. We definitely didn't get translated documents stamped by the consulate.. Whilst processing our application I noticed the clerk stamping some of the submitted documents,not sure if that has any relevance.. As far as the payment goes, we had to use a Thai credit card with a Thai address.. That was against advice on this forum. People had suggested using a Uk account because there had been problems with Thai accounts not going through... We also signed all our submitted documents, and I signed my sons on his behalf. As I said before, just submit every relevant proof of ID , proof of address you have even if its above what's requested on the supporting documents list. Also must say we found the whole process once at the Trendy Building totally painless.

Cheers and good luck

[rob69]

One more question if anyone can help.

Section 3 of the Passport Application Form (Have you had or been included on any type of passport before?)

- I am assuming I just tick 'yes' if my son has a thai passport and leave the rest of the section 3 blank?

[stevomaesot]

Correct mate, that's what we did, as my son also has a Thai passport

[KevWaters]

I have only had the required documents translated and stamped by a translation company in Chiang Mai. I hope that will suffice(!).

I used the same company as my friend used recently in order to obtain visitor visas to the UK for his thai girlf and thai born son, he was successful with their applications.

If you check the gov.uk website it doesn't seem to make any mention of having the translated documents then stamped by your consulate to ensure they are 'acceptable'.....this is the first ive heard about this....

Rob, which translation company did you use in Chiang Mai and what was the charge per document or page ?

Did anyone here translate the documents themselves and were they accepted without a certified stamp? I ask as someone within the Embassy is translating the documents for me but can not stamp them as such. Maybe I will need to take them elsewhere and make payment to get a stamp.

[naboo]

Rob, which translation company did you use in Chiang Mai and what was the charge per document or page ?

Did anyone here translate the documents themselves and were they accepted without a certified stamp? I ask as someone within the Embassy is translating the documents for me but can not stamp them as such. Maybe I will need to take them elsewhere and make payment to get a stamp.

I used the translation service at Thai First Translation Service, located at the zebra crossing just north of the large white castle type building on Charoenprathet road.

400B a page, cheapest I could find in Chiang Mai except Star Visas who wanted 300B standard next day service, or 400B for same day. I needed marriage certificate and birth certificate translated, 800B total, the translation of the reverse of the marriage certificate was included for free. All sailed through the application, though this was in May 2013, before the upheaval.

Thai First Translation Service offered to meet me at the British Consulate at no extra charge, and I was able to email them photos of the documents and they were ready for me on arrival a few hours later.

[KevWaters]

Cheers. Having done some more research it looks like I may use "TN Translation" in Bangkok as they charge 250 baht per document if I am getting 5 or more translated.

I have read info online that says I need all Thai documents translated so that will be 1) Childs Birth Cert 2) Partners Birth Cert 3) Partners change of first name letter 4) Partners change of surname letter 5) Tambien Baan (House book) for Son 6) Tambien Baan (House book) for Partner

That should cover it

[rob69]

I have only had the required documents translated and stamped by a translation company in Chiang Mai. I hope that will suffice(!).

I used the same company as my friend used recently in order to obtain visitor visas to the UK for his thai girlf and thai born son, he was successful with their applications.

If you check the gov.uk website it doesn't seem to make any mention of having the translated documents then stamped by your consulate to ensure they are 'acceptable'.....this is the first ive heard about this....

Rob, which translation company did you use in Chiang Mai and what was the charge per document or page ?

Did anyone here translate the documents themselves and were they accepted without a certified stamp? I ask as someone within the Embassy is translating the documents for me but can not stamp them as such. Maybe I will need to take them elsewhere and make payment to get a stamp.

Apologies for the late reply. I've only just read the post.

I got my documents translated at the Asia Translation Service, 4/4 Inthawarorot Road (very near to Three Kings or in that area anyway).

It was 400 Baht a document, though the house book translation may have even been as high as 600 Baht.

Anyway the interview in Bangkok on 19 Dec was much to my surprise handled very efficiently. I arrived 25 mins before my scheduled appointment time and was seen to immediately by an officer.

All I can advise is to make sure you have all the proper documents with you, and its fairly straightforward from thereafter.

I think the application took around 30 mins to complete and double check that I had all documents, copies and relevant translations with me. I was then given a DHL tracking number for the application. I did out of curiously look at this, and the application had reached Liverpool Passport Office by the 22nd December. That's pretty good IMO.

So the waiting begins...

[elvisp1977]

That is very good re the documents getting to Liverpool in 3 days......my experience is 5 days for the initial application and 12 days for the additional evidence...

Cheers..

[KevWaters]

Thanks for the reply.

I've got my interview on the 2nd and my fathers birth certificate still hasn't arrived with me from England. It looks like 2 out of 3 unrecorded letters have gone awol in the last 3 weeks. I'd reschedule my appointment but my hotel is none refundable. Hopefully they'll accept my application and let me forward the certificate on at a later date.

Never send or have letters sent to you by unrecorded post.

[KevWaters]

Oh, there was also a Christmas present worth 60 pound that never arrived here either. Didn't expect Amazon to be sending that unrecorded. Annoyed by it all.

[apb1919]

hi all, quick update from our recent application relation to time scales:

Attended VFS on December 22nd with all docs to apply for a new UK Passport for my son (4 months old)

Seen by the member of staff and dealt with in 1 hour

Went away for Christmas

Money for the application was taken on the 29th December

Got a phone call on 12th Jan saying we can pick the passport up today.

All in all a great service especially given we put the Application in over the holidays.

I submitted my birth cert and that of my parents also, along with their marriage cert. We used the government service to get all the birth certificates needed and then used DHL to get everything from the UK to Thailand, a little expensive but all docs arrived within 3 working days. You can fast track the birth certificates and parents marriage certificates for next day delivery if you are in a rush.

i did put a load of information in the VFS staff member said wasn't needed (P60, letters from employer, rental contract for the house in UK) to make sure everything was covered.

My wife had lost her birth certificate some time ago but a covering letter appears to have been fine.

Edit: for anyone with an issue over a counter signatory;

I had a slight issue given i don't know a UK / EU national in Thailand that is classed as qualified to counter sign a form

I simply showed a suitable person my son on Skype in the UK and then got him to sign the printed form, when I sent the Birth Certs etc via DHL i included the form.

Edited January 12, 2015 by apb1919