Help on baby's Birth Certificate.

Got a official looking Birth Certificate from hospital along with a translation, but the american embassy form says “cannot accept hospital certificates”. They need Original from District Amphur.

So I sent the wife and she came back with plain white sheet, green ink form, filled in with black ink. On bottom is blue Stamp Writing and it looks like someone’s initials above the Stamp. Compared to the hospital, it does not look very official. Hell, I could make same on my computer.

Is this what the american embassy is looking for?

Thanks for any help on this

My daughters is more of a light blue color (I PM' ed you a copy).

We used this translation service in town. You may want to check with ACS to see if it's still acceptable, it was 6yrs ago when we processed my daughters Consular Report of Birth Abroad.

http://www.pwtranslations.com/main.php

could be that the hospital certifcate is acceptable in Thailand but the U.S. embassy needs proof that the birth has been registered at the amphur.

papaguido wrote:My daughters is more of a light blue color (I PM' ed you a copy).

We used this translation service in town. You may want to check with ACS to see if it's still acceptable, it was 6yrs ago when we processed my daughters Consular Report of Birth Abroad.

Thanks PM'd you back. Same translator we used for other doc's. Hmm, guess I should check with ACS also. Thanks

stargate wrote:could be that the hospital certifcate is acceptable in Thailand but the U.S. embassy needs proof that the birth has been registered at the amphur.

by the hospital translation it says it comes from the "Registration Office of Udon Thani Local Municipality Udon Thani Province"

The Hospital one also looks like what "papaguido" sent me. So am having wife do some checking, and I guess will send msg to embassy on that and translator.

Thanks

RL if this is the case it must be a recent change. My daughter was born two years ago at AEK Udon and they furnished us with a birth certificate and translation that said as you did that it had been registered at the Udon Municipality. We gave that to the Embassy and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad, passport and Social Security card sailed through. Or could it be that the hospital forgot to certify the translation?

jimboLV wrote:RL if this is the case it must be a recent change. My daughter was born two years ago at AEK Udon and they furnished us with a birth certificate and translation that said as you did that it had been registered at the Udon Municipality. We gave that to the Embassy and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad, passport and Social Security card sailed through. Or could it be that the hospital forgot to certify the translation?

The translation looks certify, Jimbo. I think the certificate from the hospital is ok, but because of what the instruction said, figured I get one from Amphur and expected them to look alike. To much of a pain traveling to BKK to find out they need something else, hell I have put this off for over 3 years now. I procrastinated and have been putting this paperwork together for a couple of months now.

Having the wife check with Amphur and translator to see if what I got from Amphur will be acceptable to an embassy. If so then another translation. But also thinking maybe taking picture and asking with email to embassy.

Well went to Bangkok and American Embassy. Made appointment and brought paperwork, and all involved. They sent us to a little private room, but still had to talk thru thick glass window. You would think wife was looking for a visa or something, questions had nothing to do with birth. But all the documents were ok. Sent me to get EMS mailer, they have a post office there.

So, after about a month or so received passport and US birth certificate, and about another month, received SSN card. Strange, it came from Baltimore, MD, not the Philippines.

Only problem now is that have heard nothing on son receiving any monies, read somewhere that he should get half of the sum of my retirement til 18. From what I read, it sounded like it should have been automatic? Any ideas? Thanks for any info.

No RL it's not automatic, you have to apply through the SS office in Manila. Don't know if it is still the same, but I did this two years ago and I was able to apply over the telephone. They gave me a date and time that they would be calling and interviewed both my wife and myself. So just give them a call and tell them you want to apply for a dependent claim. the number is 632-301-2416 (can't remember the country code). The guy I talked to was Robert Jocson and he was very helpful but don't know if he would still be there.

One thing to be aware of, they prefer to send the check to your wife. If you want it direct deposited, it cannot go into an account with your name, it has to be in the kid's name, with your wife authorized to draw from it. If you want to draw from it your wife has to sign a release. I figured it was easier to let the $$$ come to the wife, less bother when I kick the bucket.

Feel free to ask any more questions either by PM or on here.

Thanks jim. Kind of wanted it to be separate. Wife doesn't speak that much english, do they speak Thai? Kind of sounds like a rerun of Bangkok! Is this retroactive to birth, or day I apply? Thanks again

RL, had to get off my lazy butt and dig out the files as my memory of the details is fuzzy. I doubt that they speak Thai, as they are in Manila. But no problem, as you are both on the phone at the same time so just put it on speaker phone and you can translate or explain. Mainly they just go over the details, verify names and addresses, etc. Wife also has to swear that the child has not been adopted, that she understands that she is not a US citizen and does not have 5 years of US residency and is not eligible for benefits for herself. They emphasized this point, so I guess there is a lot of misunderstanding about this. And of course the usual stern warning that if any of the information we gave is false we could go to jail.

You said the child already had a SSN card, that's a change. When I applied for her passport they just gave me the application for the card, along with certified copies of everything we would need and told me to send it to Manila. I sent it along with everything else and when Manila got it they called and scheduled the phone application. Here's what I sent to Manila:

1. Form SS-5 Application for Social Security card
2. Thai passport for mother *
3. Certified copy of Baby's American Passport
4. Certified copy of Consular Report of Birth abroad
5. Certified copy of Baby’s Birth certificate
6. Certified copy of Father’s passport

* They only wanted a copy of wife's Thai passport certified by the US Embassy, but they neglected to do that when we were at the Embassy, so Manila said just send the passport and they would send it back, which they did (at their expense!).

I am not sure about the retroactive aspect. Our first check was retroactive for two months since we applied when she was one month old. I've been told that the maximum is six months by another expat, but check this with Manila.

By the way, we applied at the US Consul in Chiang Mai, as I avoid Bangkok at all costs. The Consul told me that I could have applied at any US Embassy in the world, like Laos. They were very accommodating. In fact we applied for her passport on a Thursday afternoon and the following Tuesday I got an email from the consulate saying the passport was ready for pickup! I thought they had made a mistake so I called the consul and made him go get the passport and verify that it was hers. I don't know how they pulled that off, unless they sent it to the State Department by diplomatic pouch.

One caveat in all this, we applied over two years ago and things may have changed, so by all means call Manila and find out exactly what the procedure is nowadays.

Good Luck and congratulations to our newest American citizen.

Ya, I also looked into Chiang Mai, but the cost of flying for 3 not in my budget. Looked into Laos also, but then again costs would be about same as flying to BKK, plus from their Web site, they would need to send everything to the Bangkok Embassy, so, just seemed like too much trouble.

I guess the SSN has changed, the instructions for the form says to sign and date, turn in to Embassy and after they verify everything, they would send to Philippines with the verifying documents. Don't know where they sent it, but the card came from the international SS office in Baltimore, MD all by its lonesome self. I expected a letter and/or a call from the Philippines, for I needed to give a phone #.

Was thinking about calling them at the international SS office in Baltimore, which I have used before, can't remember why, but still have their # on my phone, but checking their
Web Site, says I should call Manila.

thanks again for the help

Yes by all means call Manila. If you call Baltimore they will just tell you to call Manila.

We did this when the baby was one month old and it was around the time of the Fascist Yellow Shirt "revolution" in Bangkok and there were all kinds of rumors running around. I didn't really want to take a one month old on a plane, so we decided to make a vacation out of it and bundled up wife, baby, Mother-in-Law and dog into the car and had a grand time of it. We like Chiang Mai and Mother had never been so it was a nice excursion.

The only rub was the passport came in the following Tuesday, and we had left on the preceding Sunday. Due to the fact that the consul said it might take a few weeks as they would have to do a background check - - on my one month old daughter? And he said this with a straight face. But I suppose the boxes all have to be checked. Had I known it would be that fast I would have waited around in Chiang Mai. So I had to fly back to pick up the passport, in those days the Embassy refused to mail passports although I understand that this has changed.

What the Web site says on their PDF instruction sheet is that the Passport has to now come from the States, so it takes about a month. It also says that the SSN will take (memory is bad), think 3 to 4 months. As I kept looking for it in the mail and tracking #, I would repeat that # to myself, now I can't remember it!

On mailing forms yourself, reminds me of when I tried to get wife a Tax ID # 4 or 6 years ago. Went to out-reach in KK, filled out form, got notarized, paid money. Sent it in the mail to states. Never have heard to this day. Of all the mail I have sent from here to the States, its the only thing that got loss, or they filed it in the circular can.

from inst sheet - We will send the completed application, along with certified copies of supporting documents, to the regional Social Security Administration office in Manila, Philippines. That office will send your child’s Social Security directly to you. Expect this to take three to four months after we receive the application.

but his came from Baltimore

I have renewed my pasport twice in Bangkok 2002 and just a few months ago. It takes just under 2 weeks. Everything goes back to the states dipolmatic pouch. They will send your new passport from Bangkok EMS.