Thailand question: Procedure for family reunification?
Dear readers,
Who has recently completed a procedure for family reunification? Married in Belgium to my Thai wife, she has her Belgian F card. Now we want to travel to Thailand and do a family reunion for her 2 minor daughters.
Has anyone here had any experience with this recently? We have a specific question. My wife has never been married but has 2 daughters from her then Thai boyfriend. After the birth of her youngest daughter, my wife went back to live with her parents, now 6 years ago. The father never wanted to do anything for the children or contributed financially. His name is also listed on the birth certificate.
According to Belgian law, if stated on the birth certificate, the father must give his consent. The last my wife heard about her ex boyfriend was that he was going to Phuket to look for work (5 years ago). My wife is from Isaan and her ex-boyfriend was from Lamphun.
Now we hear stories that some get around this by using the form 'Phor Kor 14' which states that the woman is raising the children alone. Is this form sufficient as proof for the Belgian Embassy/Foreign Affairs Service? We called Brussels but no one on the service can give me a decent answer about this.
So the question is, are there any readers on this forum who also had this problem and how did they fix it?
thanks in advance
Regards,
Ronny (BE)
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Dear Ronnie,
For us it has already been 6 years. My wife was also single, but I don't know what the arrangement with her "ex" was. In any case, everything went very smoothly. If you want, she can always call my wife.
Then you just give a signal. [email protected]
Greetings, Paul
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your suggestion and for responding to my question. The problem is not so much 'what documents' are needed! It concerns the document 'Phor Kor 14' that my wife can take out on the local district of 'Amphoe'.
The text below comes from Belgian legislation on family reunification.
Children only of one spouse or partner (art. 10 § 1, 4° third indent)
If you or your spouse or partner have exclusive custody of the children and have dependents, the children must:
being younger than 18 years;
being single;
come and live with you under the same roof;
submit a copy of the judgment granting you the exclusive right of custody.
If custody of the children is shared with the other parent, the children must:
being younger than 18 years;
being single;
come and live with you under the same roof;
submit the consent of the other parent for them to join you in Belgium.
greetings, Ronny
Dear Ronnie,
We ( Thai wife & myself ) are in about the same boat as you. We are busy getting my wife's daughter to come over to Belgium under family reunification. The most important document you need to present to the Belgian Embassy is the judgment of the court in the district where the child is registered. Just to clarify > my wife's ex has disappeared and can therefore not give permission for the child to leave for Belgium. Even if both spouses sign the necessary documents, this is still not sufficient and not legally valid. A judge must uphold this in a judgment for children under the age of 18. We have engaged a Thai adviser who has already drawn up all the documents. The only formality that still needs to be done is that we must personally present ourselves before the court to sign the judgment. Total cost 24.000 THB. You can also try to arrange this personally, but from personal experience this is a losing battle. The judgment must then be translated into Dutch by a translation agency recognized by the Belgian Embassy. A list of recognized translators can be found on the website of the Belgian Embassy in Bangkok.
Due to covid-19 we are still on standby to travel to Thailand.
Any questions ? Fire it up.
Regards, Eddie
Just go to the municipality where they were born with 3 witnesses that the mother takes care of the children alone and receive a piece of paper. Then have it translated with all the stamps and you're done.