The Process Of Getting Dual Citizenship For Your Child - Part 1

In my previous post, I was sharing about things to consider for a Singapore/Thai couple choosing to deliver their child in Thailand instead of Singapore. Today I would like to share about the child registration process in Thailand, how to bring your child back to Singapore and then how to finally register as a Singapore citizen to officially have a dual citizenship till 21 years old.

Right after the child is born, you will have to get a Birth Document from the hospital certifying that the child is born at the hospital, who the parents are and details regarding the new born. You will have to fill up a form with the parent's detail and give it to the hospital before they can process this birth document. Form is in Thai but you can still write in English. 

If I don't remember wrongly, you will also have to give them a copy of you and your wife's IC and marriage certificate. For me, I had my passport and marriage cert translated to Thai and got them certified at the Immigration Department so it is easy for the hospital to verify my documents. 

It should take about 1 - 2 days to get the Birth Document from the hospital. If you are rushing for time, talk to the nurses nicely and they usually can help to give it to you the next day.

With the Birth Document and the Household Registration Book (a little blue book which documents all the residents of a particular house, think it is call Samut Baan), you will have to go to the district office (Am-per) to register the birth and get the Birth Certificate. If you do not have the House Booklet at that point of time, you can still get the Birth Certificate but will have to resister the child to a house within a month of the child's birth. You will have to check with your wife which is the correct district office to go based on the place of resident.

It should take about an hour or less, including waiting time, to get the Birth Certificate. With this, You child is officially a Thai Citizen and you are also 1 step closer in bringing your child to Singapore and getting his Singapore Citizenship.

I would recommend anyone doing this to get all necessary documents ready so as not to waste time running in and out of the hospital to get copies of the necessary documents.

In the next blog, I will continue to share the next part of this process of how to get the Thailand Birth Certificate translated to English for registration of Singapore Citizenship.

Giving Birth In Singapore or Thailand?

I think the question of where to give birth to you child, whether Singapore or Thailand, will be on the mind of parents-to-be who are of a Singaporean Father/Thai Mother couple. 

And I am pretty sure the husband will want to let the child be born here and the wife in her home country.

I would like to offer my thoughts and share my experiences.

1) Standard of Care

In this area, I would say that both countries have a high standard of medical care. Facilities and equipment, at least for child birth, is adequate whether you are looking at Government or Private Hospital

2) Cost

In terms of cost, I would say that Thailand would definitely be much cheaper. My wife gave birth in a Government Hospital and the delivery bill came to about 12,000 Baht (if I don't remember wrongly) for cesarean birth. And because my wife had a Bat Tong (a medical card with subsidies for Thai), the cost for the delivery is free and I only had to pay room and board (because I upgraded to a 1-bedder room) and some medication and the bill for a 3 days stay came to about 5,000 Baht.

In Singapore, I am not sure about the cost but I checked around and it will cost at least $1,000 upwards for a normal birth.

3) Language

Unless your wife have a strong English background and can speak the language well, chances are that it will be a chicken and duck talk situation between the doctor/nurses and her. I feel that as we are not the one giving birth, it is important that she can communicate with the doctors and nurses during the delivery just in case she needs to express some difficulties but the doctors do not understand.

4) Citizenship

This is the part I like the most. I choose to let my 2 kids be born in Thailand and they are holding dual citizenship until the age of 21. They have 2 passports and have no trouble staying in either country for as long as they want.

They also enjoy the benefits of being both a Thai (they also got a Bat Tong each as their mother had 1) and a Singaporean (I am entitled to all payouts of the Baby Bonus Scheme ).

It is fairly easy to apply for the Singapore citizenship for them but that is something I will share in another post.

Conclusion

Overall, if a Singapore Father/Thai Mother couple were to ask me where should they deliver their child, I will advice them to do it in Thailand. Even if we do not need to consider the cost, I think that there are other advantages in delivering the child in Thailand.

And Thai people have very different views/practices on postpartum care (they do not and cannot stand not washing their hair for 1 month). They would prefer to be taken care of the Thai way and this is something that only their parents can offer.