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A Guide to Status (Nationality & Citizenship) for Children Born in Thailand

Most people don't relocate or travel to Thailand expecting to have a baby. But hey, life happens.

  • Perhaps you relocated as an expat looking forward to retirement in the sun, but ended up finding romance, marriage and eventually a child.
  • Perhaps you flew to Thailand for holiday and didn't realise that your baby would be arriving prematurely.
  • Perhaps you sowed your oats on holiday and, nine months later, have found out that those oats became a baby.

Whatever your situation, you might be wondering about the status of your child.

There are a number of scenarios to cover, including a baby born to foreign nationals in Thailand, a baby born to one foreign national and one Thai national, and a baby born to foreign nationals with permanent residency.

And then there's babies born to Thai nationals living overseas, which also isn't quite as straight forward as one might think.

So let's look at these different scenarios and determine what status your child will inherit as a result of being born in Thailand, or to a Thai parent(s) outside of Thailand.

baby-born-thailand-nationality

A Child Born to Foreign Nationals

Unlike some countries in the world, if you are both foreign nationals and your child is born in Thailand, your child will not gain Thai citizenship, residence, or any other rights given to a Thai national.

It doesn't matter if you both have work permits, business visas or any other type of official document, your child will not gain Thai citizenship or related rights.

This is because Thailand follows a nationality doctrine called “jus sanguinis”, which roughly translated means ‘right of blood'.

When the baby is born in a Thai hospital, there will be some notation on the birth certificate that stipulates the status of the child and the fact that the child is not of Thai nationality/citizenship.

There is, however, one exception to this rule…

A Child Born to Foreign Nationals with Permanent Residency

If a foreign national couple, both with permanent residency, have a biological child, the child will be granted Thai citizenship.

Permanent residency is quite difficult to obtain, and therefore there are probably very few Western foreign couples who would fall into this category. If you do fall into this category, it will be interesting to hear from you and your experience with this process.

A Stateless Child (Born to Foreigners)

There is one other circumstance where a child born of foreign parents in Thailand may be able to gain Thai citizenship. And that is if a child is born stateless.

By stateless we mean not belonging to a state/country, so having no official citizenship. In this situation, the parents would need to seek legal advice and go through a number of hoops to obtain this for the child.

Indeed, if we look to the Hill Tribes of Thailand we see a case in point. Many of these communities have gone through and are still going through this process of registering stateless children.

Many of the Hill Tribe peoples can trace their bloodline to outside of Thailand. However, their ancestors settled in Thailand due to displacement or territorial change over the years.

Many of these people do not have official documentation such as birth certificates or passports. This makes it extremely problematic to obtain Thai citizenship for a child, because not only is the child stateless but so too are they. They may not be able to prove their origin either.

You may remember last year when 13 children from the Wild Boars football team got stuck in a cave in Chiang Rai province (northern Thailand). Many of these children were children of Hill Tribe families. After their ordeal, those without permanent status were awarded Thai citizenship.

A Child Born to a Foreign National & Thai National

In the case of a child born to a Foreign national and a Thai national in Thailand, the child automatically gains Thai nationality. This status will be stipulated on the birth certificate provided by the hospital. The parents can then go forward and obtain the child a Thai passport.

For more information on obtaining a passport for your Thai child, please read this post here. 

In the case that a Thai national is married to a foreign national and living overseas, the child will be granted Thai nationality due to the nationality of the Thai parent. However, this doesn't happen automatically by descent. To be registered as a Thai national, the child will need to obtain a Thai birth certificate from the Thai embassy in that country.

Without a Thai birth certificate, the child cannot be registered on a Thai House Registration document (Tabien Baan – ทะเบียนบ้าน), or get a Thai passport (หนังสือเดินทาง) or ID card (บัตรประชาชน) issued. Note that Thai children aged 7 years and above are required to have identification cards, so no need to worry about that until a number of years down the line.

A Child Born to Thai Nationals

Of course, it goes without saying that a child born to Thai nationals – even if those Thai nationals are living abroad, or if one is living in Thailand and the other is living abroad – will be eligible for Thai nationality.

However, even if both parents are Thai nationals, they must still go to the embassy in that foreign country and obtain the Thai birth certificate for their child. Only then will their child officially gain their Thai nationality.

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I think I've pretty much covered all the common scenarios. But if you're circumstances are not covered in this post and you have a question about a child's status, leave your question below and I'll get to it as soon as I can.

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  1. Derek says

    I know two Thai nationals (man and wife) who are currently living in Canada. They both have permanent residency cards. Have been here for many years. They have two kids born in Canada, 1 seven-year-old daughter and 1 seven months old newborn. They recently visited Thailand to see their family (who are farmers) and stayed the 30 days before heading back to Canada. The mother told me she left her 7 months old daughter with family in Thailand because she feels Thailand is safer than Canada because of the Covid 19 situation. Is this legal to do? Just leave a foreign national baby in Thailand??
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      The daughter is a Thai national by birth so on the Thai side there wouldn't be an issue. As for Canada, I don't know the law, but I presume social services would be very concerned about a Canadian national being taken on holiday and left there at such a vulnerable age. In the UK you need court permission for this. Their reasoning seems very strange to me. COVID-19 poses no proven risk to children and the evidence that children transmit the virus is statistically insignificant. So what are they worried about?
      Reply

  2. Boonmar Davis says

    I was born in Thailand in 1972 to a US father and Thai mother. We moved to the States when I was 12. I do not have a Thai passport, only US passport. However, I do have a copy of Thai birth certificate. I am looking to move back to Thailand in couple of years when I turn 50. Will I qualify for a Thai passport so that I do not have to deal with getting a retirement visa?
    Reply

    • James E says

      Your kid, just for being your kid, will automatically have citizenship. If you report the birth to the embassy then it's a done deal. I'm sure you're aware of some of the downsides to US citizenship at the moment those would also accrue to your daughter. If you wait for her to decide later I'm sure there will be more hoops to jump through but still doable. If it were me, I'd report the birth and then wait to let her decide about an SSN and passport later.
      Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Not if you plan on living in Thailand.As I understand it, the children would need to have settled status in the UK. And only you would be able to claim for them, not your wife, since she would have no recourse to public funds until she gained permanent residency. You would need to prove that you are responsible for the children. The first step would be to move back to the UK. To do that you would need to get a settlement visa for your wife and the children. That is not going to be easy.There is probably more to it than this and I'm just reading the information on the .Gov website. I'd speak with the Citizens Advice Bureau for accurate information.
      Reply

  7. gordon taylor says

    my sister in law is thai her husband is british ,,he now lives in uk. my sister in law wants to get her 3 year old daughter a thai passport . does her husband have to be here present to get her one ,,or can he give power of attorney to me to be able to get the child a thai passport here in thailand her mother has all the legal documents
    Reply

  8. Sara says

    What about parents, gf Cambodian and bf foreign. Child born in Thai hospital. What need to do? Can obtain Thai passport for child? if not what about visa for child. Iam living now in Thai on ED visa and after maybe will get elite visa for 5 years.
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Your child will not be Thai because there is no blood relationship. Generally there is a visa provision for dependents, but I'm unsure about the ED visa. 3.2 Applicant’s family members (i.e., spouse, parents and children who are unmarried and under 20 years old) are eligible to apply for a Non-Immigrant Visa (category “O”) and will be allowed to stay for a period of 90 days but no longer than 1 year. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15388-Non-Immigrant-Visa-%22B%22-(for-Business-and.htmlBut this is usually applied for in your home country when you apply for your ED visa. It may be possible to sort something out in Thailand but you'd need to speak to immigration as it will be at their discretion.What status does your GF hold in Thailand? It may be possible for your child to remain with her.To be honest, immigration don't usually bother about very young children and visa rules. I wouldn't be surprised if they just tell you to carry on as you are.
      Reply

  9. rita says

    Hi! When the child is born in thailand from foreigners who are there whit tourists visa, how long does it take for the child to get a passport and so be able to cross the borders ( for the need of making a new visa for example) ? And does the new born baby need a visa to stay in?
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi, the child doesn't get a Thai passport. Both foreign parents would need to have permanent residence for the child to gain citizenship. If a child is born while you are on holiday, you would need to go to the embassy of your home country to obtain a passport.
      Reply

  13. Laura Correia says

    Great information! Do you know anything about foreigners' birthing choices? Is it legal to have your baby out of hospital, either with or without a midwife licensed in another country? I am a US citizen who would like to help foreigner moms birth at home, but have no idea if that's legal or how we would register the birth. Thanks for any info you might have!
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      I'm not sure of the law but if you are planning to do this as a business then I'm sure you'd need a midwifery license of some sort, and you'd have to set up a business. You could go under the radar but that's not a wise choice considering that if something went wrong you'd be arrested for performing un unlicensed medical procedure.
      Reply

  14. Dreamcatcher says

    More wrinkles if you are non-Thai adoptive parents of a Thai child. There is no direct visa for you to reside in Thailand with your child. There is no non-immigrant visa that recognizes your parentage. You must get an education visa, work visa, investment or retirement, etc.While the child is attending school in Thailand, and the child is under 18 (or is it 16?) you can get a non-immigrant visa tied to the child's status as a student. But once the child matriculates, you have no status. Say your child decides to go to university abroad or, worse, decides to stay in Thailand to work, there is no "family-relation" type visa that would allow you to remain in the family home, maintain the family residence, or live with your child.And if your child gets married, raises a family in Thailand etc., and wants you, grandma or grandpa, to live with the family in your dotage, there is no visa available that recognizes your status as a family member.Should your child, unmarried, die in Thailand, you as an adoptive parent have no rights to claim social security benefits, or be a direct heir to your child's estate.
    Reply

  15. GEORGE says

    Q: I have child to my thai wife ( Married and have Thai passport & British Passport. I would like take him to uk for schooling but my wife will not agree and if we get a divorce my wife get's my son which leaves me with no were to go apart from stay in Thailand is there any solution to this problem
    Reply

  17. Ernst ALBUS says

    Yes - there is an interesting question not covered here, maybe elsewhere....How about a foreign parent and his or her rights of residence in Thailand if a child is born of a mixed couple?And worse - how about a foreign partner being parent but not married - there are often reasons why one cannot get married to a Thai partner and as you mentioned yourself it must be very difficult to BE married to a Thai partner...Since in Germany - my country - it's common to have residence as foreign partner and parent easily and even if she is Thai and having the baby unmarried in Germany but actual a legal father she could stay there...So I think there should be some solution on that in Thailand as well.E. A.
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      If you have a child out of wedlock you can apply to stay in Thailand on a Non Immigrant O visa, based on having a Thai child. Many foreigners stay in Thailand on that basis. Permanent residency in Thailand is extreme hard to obtain for any person. Being married or having a child does not make this easier. It has to be that way otherwise you'd have millions of migrants flocking to Thailand and trying to shack up with the first Thai woman they could just to obtain residency.
      Reply

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