Hi folks

I'm British and the wife is Thai

we live in Thailand 

Our son is nearly 2 years old and he already has a British passport and a Thai passport.

 

How can I get a British style birth certificate for him?

 

Can this be done from Bangkok?

 

I would like to apply or a national insurance number for him on our next trip to the uk

and I'm sure I will need a uk style birth certificate for him.

 

any replies will be appreciated

 

thanks

I'm assuming your son was born in Thailand and has a Thai birth certificate. If this is the case, you can not get a UK birth certificate for him, because he wasn't born in the UK.

 

As you found out when you applied for his UK passport, you needed his Thai birth certificate and a translation.

 

It will always be this way.

 

You can apply for a Consular Birth Registration from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office if you want. You get a certificate that looks similar to a Birth Certificate, but it isn't. It also states on the bottom that it is not a Birth Certificate and cannot be used as one. Indeed if you had tried to use a Consular Birth Registration to apply for your son's UK passport the application would have been rejected. You can pay about 10,000 baht for this if you really want to.

 

There's no need to worry about his NI number for quite a while yet. NI numbers are issued automatically to children whose parents receive Child Benefit, just before they are 16 years old.

 

If you never claim Child Benefit then your son will have to apply himself when he is over 16. Normally this has to be done in UK and it often requires a personal interview. It's nothing difficult - they just want to check applicants are who they say they are and not identify thieves.

14 hours ago, blackcab said:

I'm assuming your son was born in Thailand and has a Thai birth certificate. If this is the case, you can not get a UK birth certificate for him, because he wasn't born in the UK.

 

As you found out when you applied for his UK passport, you needed his Thai birth certificate and a translation.

 

It will always be this way.

 

You can apply for a Consular Birth Registration from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office if you want. You get a certificate that looks similar to a Birth Certificate, but it isn't. It also states on the bottom that it is not a Birth Certificate and cannot be used as one. Indeed if you had tried to use a Consular Birth Registration to apply for your son's UK passport the application would have been rejected. You can pay about 10,000 baht for this if you really want to.

 

There's no need to worry about his NI number for quite a while yet. NI numbers are issued automatically to children whose parents receive Child Benefit, just before they are 16 years old.

 

If you never claim Child Benefit then your son will have to apply himself when he is over 16. Normally this has to be done in UK and it often requires a personal interview. It's nothing difficult - they just want to check applicants are who they say they are and not identify thieves.

 

Unless the rules have changed in the last 12 years you can register your child birth at the UK embassy and get a UK birth certificate. (I asked for two and got them at an extra cost of course).

 

I also used my son's UK birth certificate to obtain a UK passport for him.

 

If you are not sure then the best advice is to call the embassy directly for updated and current information.

 

This link should help you.

 

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

 

 

45 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Unless the rules have changed in the last 12 years you can register your child birth at the UK embassy and get a UK birth certificate. (I asked for two and got them at an extra cost of course).

 

I also used my son's UK birth certificate to obtain a UK passport for him.

 

If you are not sure then the best advice is to call the embassy directly for updated and current information.

 

This link should help you.

 

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

 

 

 

The rules have changed. The embassy doesn't do anything now.  You have to send your original documents to the UK.

 

That link will end up getting the OP a (fairly useless) 10,000 baht Consular Birth Registration, as I previously discussed.

7 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

The rules have changed. The embassy doesn't do anything now.  You have to send your original documents to the UK.

 

That link will end up getting the OP a (fairly useless) 10,000 baht Consular Birth Registration, as I previously discussed.

 

I did suggest that he contact the embassy to find out what the updated rules are and work from there.

 

I am sure that he is bright enough to ask the questions to get what he needs.