Ministry of Public Health Tightens Birth Certificate Issuance to Prevent Citizenship Fraud

On September 16, 2026, Thailand’s Minister of Public Health, Phatthana Phromphat, announced a new initiative involving 400 private hospitals nationwide to strengthen the integrity of the national birth registration system. The move follows investigations into criminal networks, including cases where foreign nationals allegedly hired Thai citizens for sham marriages to secure Thai citizenship for their children, facilitating money laundering and other illicit activities.

To address these vulnerabilities, the Ministry has introduced four specific guidelines for private medical facilities regarding the issuance of birth certificates. These measures are designed to prevent the exploitation of the system, often referred to as the 'fake father' scheme, and to bolster national security by ensuring that citizenship is granted only through legitimate processes.

For residents and expatriates, this development highlights the government's increased scrutiny over civil registration documents. While these changes primarily target administrative procedures within private hospitals, they reflect a broader effort to tighten oversight of identity documentation. It remains to be confirmed how these new internal hospital protocols will affect the processing times or documentation requirements for legal residents registering births in the future. The Ministry emphasized that these steps are essential to maintaining the credibility of the Thai nationality system.