Advice Needed Regarding Parental Rights/Travelling To UK

[blackcab]

OP - When you get your daughter, also make sure you also get her original Thai birth certificate, and a good copy of her house book entry, her mother's house book entry and her mother's ID card.

I guarantee you or your daughter will need them in future at some point.

[stoneyboy]

UPDATE

Passport application submitted today.

Usual paper work translated and submitted,translations etc.

I shall update with a detailed report when the passport finally arrives.

[laolover88]

You should have an original Thai Birth Certificate with your name as the father which is translated into English with notarisation

The birth should have been registered with the Embassy. However the Embassy will on the basis of the Thai birth certificate issue A UK Birth Certificate. though it is not the same as either the long or short versions issued in the UK, provided you have UK citizenship and a UK Passport. Issues of residency and British by descent or otherwise do not arise at this moment. Nor does it matter where the child was born. It is your nationality and status as the father and a UK citizen that is crucial to the UK Passport. Of course if the child was born in the UK that simplifies matters!.

You should clearly have copies of all documentation that pertains to your partner, particularly ID number/Tabian Baan and any Bank account numbers.. If you go to the UK and stay the only 3 things that can present problems, if you want to return are

1. The acquisition of a new Thai Passport, where theoretically the mother's consent and presence is required; but this can be circumvented

2. Getting a Thai ID card

3. Entering a child's name onto a Tabian Baan

Nothing insuperable

PS Does the child have your surname? I have found UKBA sometimes a bit sticky on this if not.You should certainly have a letter, again notarised and preferably endorsed by the Embassy (expensive) that there is an agreement that the child can travel with you. If you have a UK address and a UK Bank Account and Income, they will relax!

Edited March 22, 2016 by laolover88

[blackcab]

You should have an original Thai Birth Certificate with your name as the father which is translated into English with notarisation

The birth should have been registered with the Embassy. However the Embassy will on the basis of the Thai birth certificate issue A UK Birth Certificate. though it is not the same as either the long or short versions issued in the UK, provided you have UK citizenship and a UK Passport. Issues of residency and British by descent or otherwise do not arise at this moment. Nor does it matter where the child was born. It is your nationality and status as the father and a UK citizen that is crucial to the UK Passport. Of course if the child was born in the UK that simplifies matters!.

You should clearly have copies of all documentation that pertains to your partner, particularly ID number/Tabian Baan and any Bank account numbers.. If you go to the UK and stay the only 3 things that can present problems, if you want to return are

1. The acquisition of a new Thai Passport, where theoretically the mother's consent and presence is required; but this can be circumvented

2. Getting a Thai ID card

3. Entering a child's name onto a Tabian Baan

Nothing insuperable

PS Does the child have your surname? I have found UKBA sometimes a bit sticky on this if not.You should certainly have a letter, again notarised and preferably endorsed by the Embassy (expensive) that there is an agreement that the child can travel with you. If you have a UK address and a UK Bank Account and Income, they will relax!

The birth cannot be registered with the British embassy. It can be registered with the Overseas Registration Unit of the

Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes.

This will cost between 10,000 - 11,000 baht and is a bit pointless as you do not receive a UK birth certificate. Instead you receive a consular birth registration. This cannot be used as a birth certificate.

The permission to travel cannot be endorsed by the British embassy. Instead get it done at the District Office then get it translated and legalised by the MFA. If you do not have sole custody with proof then this is very important. You could be denied leaving the country with your child.

[laolover88]

Quite. There is no "Registration Process" but you can get a birth certificate from the Embassy which is indeed a Consular Birth Registration, which amounts to the same thing. It is printed in red on cream paper just like a UK birth certificate. I have 2 sitting here. They were, in addition to my passport required documents for the children to get their UK passports; but that was 10 years ago. May have changed. They can indeed be used as the equivalent of birth certificates but it is the parent's status nonetheless that is critical to receiving UK citizenship. There is, I agree no point in registering anything in the UK. Notarised is what a lawyer does not the British Embassy. It obviously makes sense to have the MFA stamps on everything in Thai and English. We don't know the status of the OP!This is all about covering all your bases.

Edited March 22, 2016 by laolover88

[bobrussell]

Not sure that MFA stamps will do anything for the translation. Once a British passport has been issued there will be no need for a Schengen visa which is the main purpose of them certifying.

A standard translation, stamped and bearing the details of the translator should suffice. To claim child benefit in the UK I was told that a translation was not required at all!

Cannot do harm to have the MFA stamp it but unless there have been changes, there is no need.

[surat04]

Quite. There is no "Registration Process" but you can get a birth certificate from the Embassy which is indeed a Consular Birth Registration, which amounts to the same thing. It is printed in red on cream paper just like a UK birth certificate. I have 2 sitting here. They were, in addition to my passport required documents for the children to get their UK passports; but that was 10 years ago. May have changed. They can indeed be used as the equivalent of birth certificates but it is the parent's status nonetheless that is critical to receiving UK citizenship. There is, I agree no point in registering anything in the UK. Notarised is what a lawyer does not the British Embassy. It obviously makes sense to have the MFA stamps on everything in Thai and English. We don't know the status of the OP!This is all about covering all your bases.

Consular issued birth certificates are no longer accepted by HMPO for children's passport applications. I thought I was doing the right thing by getting my son this document but I was surprised to get an email from Liverpool telling me it was unacceptable. Staff at Trendy didn't advise me about this so I assume they don't know either.

[stoneyboy]

Further to the above posts.

Yes my daughter has my surname.

Yes I have a UK address and bank accounts etc.

I am self employed.

I will be traveling with both my elderly parents,paternal grandmother and grandfather of my daughter,we all share the same surname.

Admittedly at this time the only thing I don't have is written permission from my ex girlfriend or a notarised letter from the amphur giving me permission to travel or sole custody,I am however in possession of the original paper work that I obtained when I legitimised the birth at the Thai court.

I do however have the time to make any further paper work although this means travelling back up country to my girlfriends home town.

She has however been 100 % cooperative and will assist me as necessary if any issues arise when departing Thailand.

[bobrussell]

There is no absolute requirement for permission to travel but it is worthwhile to save delays.

[stoneyboy]

Just to update the thread and offer some personal information that others may find of use.

Obtaining the British passport with all the necessary documents and cooperation from my daughters mother was a formality and the whole process took around 16 days from application including the Easter bank holiday weekend,I was very impressed.

Leaving the country proved to be more difficult than I anticipated and due to her mother telling Suvarnabhumi immigration over the phone that she didn't want my daughter travelling I was denied boarding and told to obtain the correct paperwork from the amphur,the immigration officer a male was as pompous and uncooperative as could be.

This simple phone call cost me and my family lots of time and money and heartache.

All this because my ex girlfriend said she wanted to see us before we departed for our new life in the UK.

One week later after playing cat and mouse with my ex girlfriend I decided to head to Aranyaprathet to attempt to depart Thailand on our UK passports with out the cooperation of my daughters mother.

Happily it never came to this and my girlfriend drove to meet us and crossed into Cambodia with me and my daughter no questions asked whereby myself and my daughter took a taxi to Siam Reap and departed for Phnom Penh to London Heathrow via Hanoi.

We are safely home in the UK now and looking forward to a new life,but will visit Thailand to see her mother in the future.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the thread.

Edited April 18, 2016 by stoneyboy

[bobrussell]

In some ways it is a comfort that children cannot just be flown from one country to another with impunity. Had you been trying to smuggle the child out of the country you would have been prevented from doing so.

Did you have written permission from the mother and the Thai authorities just made a check?

Good luck!