British/Myanmar baby born in Thailand

[fireroksy]

Hello.

We are expecting a baby. We live and work in Phuket. I am a British citizen, have work permit, passport and work visa. My husband is Myanmar citizen and has his Myanmar ID card, he also has Myanmar passport but the visa has expired more than a year ago. At a workplace he was given a migrant worker ID card and was asked to wait for Thai migrant worker passport, for which he has paid already. Now we found out that this kind of passports are no longer available, so he is left with just an ID card, were also his birth date is not correct and his name in English is not spelled correctly. From Myanmar we do have a marriage certificate, household registration in both Myanmar and English copies and all other relevant documents, since we needed a lot of paperwork to apply for Thai visa.

If the baby is born in Thailand, how do we go about registering his father on a birth certificate?

After the birth we are planning to travel back to Myanmar. For myself it is simple, all I need to do is obtain a social visa and can fly immediately, but it seems that my husband can get back only with a help of human traffickers, he was told. I find it terrifying.

How can our baby cross the border? I cannot apply for British Passport for him, as we will need to produce both of our valid passports with visas, this can be done only in Myanmar now. The baby will not have Thai nationality and we also can not apply for baby’s Myanmar nationality (same problem with expired visa in father’s passport).

All we really want is to deliver our baby safely, register his birth with both parents names and return to Myanmar together as a family (no illegal border crossings, as we have been advised by Myanmar “visa, passport help centers”).

Any useful advice is welcome.

[Morakot]

How can our baby cross the border? I cannot apply for British Passport for him

The child is a British national by descent and therefore entitled to a British passport. This is based on the fact that at least one of its parents was a British national at the time of the birth.

British passports are routinely issued to children of British mothers, who do not know the person who fathered the child. For all practical purposes you may not know where the father currently is. There is no basis in law that could refuse the child a British passport, if the one parent is not known or does not have a relevant piece of documentation.

What is required is a proper birth certificate that at least links you to the child and evidence that you are British (and were born in the UK). You need to get back to the embassy with these documents and tell them in no uncertain terms that the child is entitled to the passport regardless who the father is or what happened to him. Not issuing a passport would effectively mean that they wilfully trap a British person abroad, as the child could never leave the country.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Morakot

[fireroksy]

How can our baby cross the border? I cannot apply for British Passport for him

The child is a British national by descent and therefore entitled to a British passport. This is based on the fact that at least one of its parents was a British national at the time of the birth.

British passports are routinely issued to children of British mothers, who do not know the person who fathered the child. For all practical purposes you may not know where the father currently is. There is no basis in law that could refuse the child a British passport, if the one parent is not known or does not have a relevant piece of documentation.

What is required is a proper birth certificate that at least links you to the child and evidence that you are British (this is usually done with a British passport). You need to get back to the embassy with these documents and tell them in no uncertain terms that the child is entitled to the passport regardless who the father is or what happened to him. Not issuing a passport would effectively mean that they wilfully trap a British person abroad, as the child could never leave the country.

Thank you for your reply.

That is good news. Only one thing is not clear, how can we make sure that a child is not registered fatherless. It would be very unsettling to go this way, since we are legally married and the loving father is always around. This will also cause problems with application for Myanmar citizenship, and a child will be living in Myanmar, due to the fact that our attempts to travel to UK as a married couple have proved fruitless, we have simply wasted our time and money and now not in the best financial position. Do we need to provide father's valid passport to have fathers name on birth certificate, or will our marriage certificate be sufficient?

Edited June 11, 2016 by fireroksy

[Morakot]

Thank you for your reply.

That is good news. Only one thing is not clear, how can we make sure that a child is not registered fatherless. It would be very unsettling to go this way, since we are legally married and the loving father is always around. This will also cause problems with application for Myanmar citizenship, and a child will be living in Myanmar, due to the fact that our attempts to travel to UK as a married couple have proved fruitless, we have simply wasted our time and money and now not in the best financial position. Do we need to provide father's valid passport to have fathers name on birth certificate, or will our marriage certificate be sufficient?

I'd imagine that the father needs proper documentation at the Amphore. From what I understand, Myanmar citizens do not need a passport here in Thailand and as long as the father has a proper ID card (issued by Thai authorities) everything should be fine for getting him onto the Thai birth certificate. As soon as the father's name is on the Thai certificate, providing you have the correct registration of your marriage, the child will also be a Myanmar citizen.

As said above, in terms of the British passport, it's irrelevant who the father is on the birth certificate and should not pose a problem, regardless whether the embassy would like you to show the father's passport.

Good luck to you and your family

PS: You also said that there is a mistake in the English name and DOB on the father's ID. He should go back to immigration/ ministry of labour and have this corrected.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Morakot

[fireroksy]

Thank you for your reply.

That is good news. Only one thing is not clear, how can we make sure that a child is not registered fatherless. It would be very unsettling to go this way, since we are legally married and the loving father is always around. This will also cause problems with application for Myanmar citizenship, and a child will be living in Myanmar, due to the fact that our attempts to travel to UK as a married couple have proved fruitless, we have simply wasted our time and money and now not in the best financial position. Do we need to provide father's valid passport to have fathers name on birth certificate, or will our marriage certificate be sufficient?

I'd imagine that the father needs proper documentation at the Amphore. From what I understand, Myanmar citizens do not need a passport here in Thailand and as long as the father has a proper ID card (issued by Thai authorities) everything should be fine for getting him onto the Thai birth certificate. As soon as the father's name is on the Thai certificate, providing you have the correct registration of your marriage, the child will also be a Myanmar citizen.

As said above, in terms of the British passport, it's irrelevant who the father is on the birth certificate and should not pose a problem, regardless whether the embassy would like you to show the father's passport.

Good luck to you and your family

PS: You also said that there is a mistake in the English name and DOB on the father's ID. He should go back to immigration/ ministry of labour and have this corrected.

Thanks a lot, it was a very useful advise.

I really hope that my husbands ID card will be enough to register him as a father.

Yes, we do have to correct mistakes on the ID, have been asking the employer to do it long ago, but(you know Thai's) Mai Bpen Rai, was the answer. We will need to push for it, now it really matters.

Thank you.