Disclaimer: all information and links on this page are provided as a starting point only for your own research. Bear in mind that this may not always be the most updated source of information, and be sure to doublecheck this information thoroughly yourself!
Babies born in Thailand will get a Thai birth certificate, but they are not eligible for Thai citizenship unless they have at least one Thai parent. If you are a foreign national, you will have to register your baby’s birth with your own embassy or consulate, and take whatever steps they require to get citizenship, passport, social security number, or any other important documentation.
It’s worthwhile to research your embassy’s paperwork requirements (see links below) and gather all your documentation ahead of time – this can be complicated, and you’re definitely not going to have the patience or time for this after the baby arrives. Also be sure to check processing times, especially if you are planning on traveling with your newborn.
Standard paperwork provided at birth
Many private hospitals offer services where they will obtain all of the necessary Thai paperwork for a reasonable fee. It is definitely worth using this service to avoid the hassle of doing it yourself. This includes:
- Thai birth certificate
- Official translation (with stamp)
- Passport photos
All of the above are required for most citizenship/passport applications. The official translation is as important as the birth certificate itself – be sure to keep them both. If you plan to travel a lot, it’s also worth getting extra copies of the passport photo – getting a passport quality photo of a baby (facing forward, eyes open, mouth shut and in a neutral position) is a lot harder than you would think!
Dual/multiple nationality
If you and your spouse are different nationalities, your child may be eligible for dual citizenship. Be sure to research your country’s laws on this – some countries don’t allow their citizens to have more than one nationality, others limit it to two, while others allow multiple nationalities. Some countries may require that your child choose one nationality when they reach 18. Even if dual citizenship is allowed, check what actions disqualify someone from citizenship under your country’s laws – for instance, some countries may require military service at a certain age (which may then disqualify them from their other nationality at that point). Many countries prohibit their citizens from entering or exiting that country on their other passport (i.e. if you are a US citizen, you must always enter and leave the US on your US passport). See below for more links to specific country regulations on dual nationality.
Thai regulations on dual nationality
Thai legislation is oddly ambiguous when it comes to holding dual nationality – it doesn’t say you can’t, but it doesn’t say you can either. It’s very difficult to get a straight legal answer on this question. In practice, it’s common for half-Thai children to have dual citizenship, but you will still occasionally run across officials who frown upon it. Be aware, as well, that there is a military service requirement for male Thai citizens when they reach the age of 18.
If you are birthing here and wish your child to hold Thai citizenship, be sure to have his/her nationality declared as Thai on the birth certificate. Then you can apply for the other nationality at the appropriate embassy (doing it the other way round will create problems for you).
Some useful links:
- Thai Nationality Act B.E. 2508 as amended by Acts B.E. 2535 No. 2 and 3 (1992)
- If you are thinking of giving birth outside Thailand to a part-Thai baby, here is one legal perspective on procedures and regulations
Again, we repeat that this information is correct to the best of our understanding, but we are NOT legal experts and the above information and links may not be accurate and/or up-to-date. Please use it as a starting point only for your own research. If you have corrections or more updated information, please feel free to add this in the comments below.
Thai visa requirements for newborn babies
At the time of writing, if your baby was born in Thailand, you don’t need to get a visa – when you travel out of the country, you need to present the birth certificate together with the baby’s passport (allow extra time at the airport for this). Note: please recheck this information, as visa regulations can change without notice.
Links for country-specific information
- Australia: How to apply for citizenship by descent and how to apply for a passport and information on dual nationality under Australian law. You must apply for citizenship first, then apply for the passport after the citizenship application has been approved – this can take some weeks, so take note if you’re planning to travel with your newborn. Also, all documentation must be certified by either a Thai national or an Australian national from a specified list of professions who has known the applicant (your child) for one year, or since birth. Usually, the most convenient person who matches this criteria is your pediatrician, so you might want to prepare the documentation for his/her signature before leaving the hospital or at your next pediatrician appointment.
- United States: How to apply for a consular report of birth abroad (the equivalent of a US birth certificate), passport and social security number. Be sure to book your appointment in advance (very easy to do online) – you can apply for the CRBA and passport during the same appointment. Here is the State Department information on dual nationality.
Would you like to add the links for your embassy/nationality? Just mention the correct urls and any information in the comments below and we’ll update it here.
Hi – can you help ? – i have read your coloum on the newborn babies not needing a visa to travel outside the country, i presume this would include travel to the uk ?
We will not have to apply for a visa when travelling back – just to produce her thai passport and birth certificate – is this correct ? #
Thx – Ben
Hi Ben, sorry for the delay in replying, somehow I didn’t see your comment when it first came in. For your first question, any baby that is born here does not need a visa to exit the country. (again, visa regulations subject to change w/o notice, so do not take this as legal advice, but I can confirm from personal experience that we left the country for the first time with our 18-month-old born here, and had not applied for any visa or anything before then, just presented passport and birth certificate and they let us out without questions or problems. This was in end of 2010). This is true regardless of the nationality of the baby.
However, after travelling out, when you come back IN to the country, the visa requirements depend on your child’s nationality. If she is Thai, then she simply travels in on her Thai passport, because as a Thai she doesn’t need a visa to enter the country. However, if she travels in on another passport, than the visa requirements are the same as for any other citizen of that nationality (so if you are British, and she is travelling in on a British passport as well, then she faces the same requirements you do)
I am confused as I didn’t think any child under 12 needed a visa. They are automatically put on the parents??
I have heard this before, and with varying details (valid up til 7, valid up till 12 yrs of age, etc). Simple answer — check this out with your immigrations lawyer, or someone who is qualified to give you an actual opinion on Thai law (which we are not!!!). As always *NOTHING* on this site should be taken as proper legal advice, this is just a forum to bring up different experiences and issues to think about. Get your actual legal advice from somewhere else
. But here are a couple of points to consider:
1) Children being put on the parents’ visa will depend on what kind of visa/work permit that their parents have.
2) It seems that children up to a certain age are not fined for things like overstay, etc, so many parents do not get visas for them. This does not mean that children are not subject to the same regulations, just that there is no penalty applied. As with so many Thai regulations, this is a matter of current policy, not law, so it means it can be changed at any time. If you ask different advisors, you will get different opinions on whether it is necessary or not.
my thai girl friend born baby at Ubon ratchathani in thailand , now she and our baby
wants come to india. My girl friend already have passport,but our baby wants thai passport . what documents required to get passport for our baby. now i am in india
my girl friend and baby ( 4 months) like to come to india . please give me suggetions.
Hi Hari, your girlfriend should check with her nearest passport-issuing office what she needs to bring.
Our experience was that my Thai husband & I went to the Thai passport center (we’re in Bangkok) with the baby and took all possible official documents: Birth certificate and tabiang baan (household registration book, with the baby already listed in it), as well as our own IDs (bat prachachon and passport) and our marriage certificate. It’s not too different from a Thai adult getting her passport and was pretty simple.
Once your girlfriend & baby have their passports, then they need to check with the Indian embassy/consulate in Thailand how to apply for an Indian visa (if required).
Good luck!
My son has a CRBA and a US passport but we reside in thailand. We are planning a trip to america for a family visit for the first time he is one year old. What are the procedures on getting him back into Thailand. He has a Thai birth certificate. Can my son come back into thailand on his birth certificate and US passport. Or do we need to get a thai passport?
Thanks,
James, your son will be able to come back on his US passport, but you may need to organize an extension of stay on his visa, since he is entering the country as a US citizen, not a Thai citizen (though, if you read Georgina’s comment and my reply, you can see that there are people who don’t officially get visas for their children, and at the moment, there don’t seem to be consequences – I don’t have any personal experience with that, however, so this is not a recommendation!).
Of course, if he has a Thai passport, then he can just come in on that as a Thai citizen, and there’s no issue with visas, permits, etc. I dont’ know anything about the process of applying for a Thai passport, but you can see Emanate’s comment on that above.
Here’s what I’ve been told about getting your son’s visa sorted in his US passport: After your son re-enters Thailand, you can take all his Thai paperwork – birth certificate, housing registration, etc – to Immigrations, together with his US passport, etc. There you can apply for an extension of stay for a year, filling out Form TM7 (application for temporary extension of stay in the kingdom). This cost for this is currently THB 1900. The immigrations person fills something in – I think the reason the visa is granted is something like “this person is/used to be a Thai citizen” – but am not sure about this.
If you plan to do more travelling with him during the year, you’d need to get a multiple entry permit for him as well (Form TM8 -THB 3800). If you wish to keep using his US passport in future, you can just renew this visa/permit every year indefinitely (paying the same fees each year).
With this visa, you still need to do 90 day reporting to avoid overstay fines – so you just need to send a form to Immigrations every 90 days, together with the passport – unless you’ve travelled in and out of the country in the meanwhile.
Best to have the Thai parent take care of the applications (and call ahead to Immigrations to recheck the documentation requirements and costs before going there!)
As always, this information is NOT expert, it’s just based on experience and information from other parents in the same situation – please recheck everything yourself before acting on it! Things can change all the time. This is just to give you a starting point.
Hi
I adopted a Thai (with Thai birth certificate) girl when 18 months old in Thailand. I’m British. I then brought her back to the UK and adopted her by British law. This latter action gave her British citizenship and a British passport.
I would very much like her to have dual citizenship with Thailand. Possible?
Thanks for any comments/experience
Hi Jane, I don’t know the specifics of your case. There is a BAMBI Adoption support group, and they might have more information for you – you can contact them at adoptionsupport@bambiweb.org. Good luck, and let us know what you find out!
Hi,
My wife and i just had a baby girl in Nong Khai Thailand. We are about to go to BKK to get my wifes visa to come back to Australia with me.. We dont have a problem with her visa but i am a little bit confused about our 3 week old daughter and whether or not she needs a visa or dual citizenship aswell. As an Australian citizen myself does that make our baby an Australian aswell?? If not and i need to get documents for it do you know how long this would usually take as my wife will have her visa ready for Australia in 4 weeks. Thanks.
William.
Hi William,
Your daughter is entitled to citizenship, but she isn’t automatically an Australian citizen when born – you will still need to apply for both citizenship and a passport for her – see the links for Australia above under the last section of the article, “Links for country specific information”. You should contact the embassy directly for more details if you have questions after reading the linked info, but I remember the whole thing as taking between 4-6 weeks (2-3 weeks each for citizenship and passport). Definitely do your research and get your documentation completed and filled out BEFORE you come to Bkk, as you will probably need to have a lot of the docs signed by your daughter’s doctor. Good luck!
Hi my name is Cameron
I am currentley in australia and am planning on traveling to thailand to bring my wife and new born 2 months old boy back to australia. my wife has just recived her partner visa for australia, i was planning to get a tourist visa for my son to travel to australia then apply for his australian citizinship once in australia. but if he dosnot need a visa to leave thailand on his thai passport this would make life alot easier. where is the best place to get clarification on this.
cheers camo.
Cameron, your son won’t need a visa to leave Thailand, but I would guess that he needs a visa to enter Australia – best to contact the Australian embassy to find out more details about what kind of visa and how best to manage this.
Hi
I currently live in Thailand with my wife (Thai) and our 3 year old son (Thai/Brit). Next year we are moving to UK for a few years. So far I have had no problems in sorting out my Son’s Thai and Brit passports or my wife’s visa applications. My question is?
If (more likely when) we have another baby whilst living in UK will the baby qualify for Thai nationality and also a Thai passport. I found it very easy first time around with our son having a Thai birth certificate but it is a little less clear if the child is born outside of Thailand. I have tried the link on your page above which looks like it could explain this situation but each time I try it, it hasn’t worked.
Any information would be very much gratefully received.
Kind Regards
Sam
hi
Im tifanie filipina girl and currently working in singapore..My problem is,I have a thai boyfriend then I got pregnant to him now..I need to exit in singapore..Now,if my my baby becomes 8months and turning into delivery..My boyfriend want me to deliver baby in thailand..It is possible to stay in thailand as tourist..??
And we are not married..can possible to used the family name of my boyfriend to my baby..??
hi,
am Linda, a Ugandan by nationality. currently living in thailand. my baby was born here in a gorvement hospital and they are telling me to translate some documents in thai and then take them to our embassy/consulate. but what i’ve found out is we dont have any here iam stranded with the baby dont know what to do. my baby’s father runway from me he doesnt contact me but he was from nigeria. i’ve over stayed but i dont know if it ‘ll afect my baby as well. pls any one who can help and tell me what to do i’ll be greatful. its argent and i would like the person to reply me on alindatrecy1@yahoo.com thanks
Hi,Just want to ask if I’m going to give birth here in Thailand(courtesy of my Thai boyfriend) what are the process/step should I do so my baby will be a legal Thai citizen?.Should we carry the surname of my boyfriend?
Thank you
Hallo (=
Please give any idia, if U know what to do in such situation. Thanks, Dmitry.
Please give any idea what I can do.
We (me and my wife) are both russian citizens, our dauther was born in Thailand and got thai birth certificate, wich was translated in english, then in russian and legalised in russian embasy. By the time she was born we was not yet married, me I had surname Molchanov and my wife – Baranova. I decieded to give to baby wifes surname in order to have no problems on the borders.
Now we are in Russia, I have changed my surname to Bukato and we married with my wife officialy. So my wife also Bukato now. When we tryed to change daugther’s surname we met a big big problem with is in russian law: in fact we have no chance to change her surname unless she will reach 14 years old and have russian citizen passport. Our law says that changes in birth certificate can do only that district office wich had isssued it, so in our situation it is in Thailand and that means russian registration office can do nothink to us. I allready wrote a big mail to our consulate in Bangkok about that problem, but they say that thai district office never make changes in birth certificates… They still looking for other opportunities but I don’t bealive they realy are. So we are in a big trouble – daugther is Baranova and parents Bukato,,, U can imagine what a surprise for any custom officer, looking at birth certificate where me – Molchanov and mam – Baranova! Now we making translation to english of 2 certificates: first that I have changed my surname, and second that we married (wich prooves that wife became Bukato). But problem does not ends at that, we want our dauther to become Bukato too and have no idia how to do that!
Dear Mam,
My wife is expecting a child in January and same time she would be for a meeting in Bangkok. In case of delivery in Bangkok what is required for us to bring back the child back to India. We are in touch with aDoctor and hospital already since if there is any emergency.
hi am rachel fulipina and am getting birth by january but my bf is british it is possible that he can get a visa here even were not married?
hi i’m from Philippines my baby was born here in thailand and he has a turkish father and his father wants the baby get 3 citizen but im not married and we have a very complicated refashion right now and he wants to take the baby..and its almost 10 months the birth certificate of baby is not yet done.
what should i do.
My son is a UK Citizen, has lived and worked in Thailand for nearly 4 years. He has a Thai girlfriend whom he’s lived with for 2-3/4 years. They have a daughter who will be two soon and another baby on the way. He wishes to return home to us here in the UK, hopefully to stay as his intention is to get married this year too! My questions are on his behalf
1. Can his daughter travel on a Thai passport to the UK and once settled here apply for her British passport (as we understand she is a British Citizen by birth of her father)?
2. If married either in Thailand or the UK is his then wife allowed to stay and work indefinitely in the UK?
3. How long does his wife have to be here in the UK before she can apply for a British Passport?
4. Does his wife need any kind of Visa from Thailand to stay here in the UK indefinitely even though she’d be married to my son?
5. Can she also apply for dual nationality and if so, when can this be done?
There is a timescale ahead due to the new baby being born around Oct/Nov so time is of the essence travel wise.
Any help truly appreciated as perusal of HO websites is major confusing and seems somewhat contradictory given the different questions.
Many thanks.
Hi, my friend wife just born a baby girl in Thailand.how to register birth certificate without marriage certificate.
Hi! I am new here and i just want to ask if you are familiar about the citizenship or nationality of a baby will be born in philippines but the father is indian.,is it possible that a baby will be born in philippines to have an indian passport or indian nationality? Anyway the filipino mother and indian father is married..hope to here a good answer from you….
Thankyou
hello maria,
Yes your baby can get 2 citizenship, all you need to to do is get him/her a philippine passport and tell the your husband to report the child’s birth in his embassy in Manila (Indian Embassy) Asap! so that the baby can get an Indian citizenship, under the Philippine law as long as one parent is a Filipino citizen then the baby is entitled to a Filipino citizenship, I think that goes the same with Indian law. hope this can help
Hi, I am in love with Thai girl, she came to india marry me then she go to thailand staying there now she is expecting a baby now can tell me that the baby will get Indian nationality or thai nationality. And how he can get Indian nationalty.