IF I HAVE ALREADY DONE A LEGAL TEST, WHY DO I NEED TO AUTHENTICATE MY RESULTS AS WELL?

This is a requirement of the Kingdom of Thailand – any legal document issued outside the Kingdom must be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), in order to be accepted in Thailand. This can be done only after the result report and associated documentation have gone through an authentciation process, which happens in the USA. Once the entire process is completed – which we handle for you from start-to-finish – your results will be accepted by Thai Government and Legal entities.

Learn more about the difference between notarized, legal, and authenticated results in our FAQ.

As our lab is AABB accredited and located in the USA, it also means your results will be accepted in many other countries around the world – without needing to be authenticated. However, Thailand is one country that does require foreign-issued legal documents to be authenticated.

PTC Laboratories is one of the few foreign laboratories that can issue results that are accepted in Thailand, due to this full-service authentication process. If you were to take a paternity test with a Thai Police Hospital or Government Hospital, your results do not need to be authenticated. However, it usually takes a minimum of four months to get your results, and those results won’t be accepted outside of Thailand.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘PER REPORT’?

Each DNA relationship test provides a result of whether two people are related. Sometimes, the DNA of more than two people are needed in order to determine this (such as including the Mother’s sample in a Paternity test in order to get a qucker, more conclusive result). However, the result itself reports on whether or not two people are related.

Therefore, If you are testing for a relationship between an Alleged Father and two (2) Children, these are actually two separate tests (if samples are provided at the same time for all parties, you’ll only be charged for one test, plus an ‘additional person fee’), and will generate two separate reports – one report for the Alleged Father and Child A, and another report for the Alleged Father and Child B. This is how DNA testing works.

In terms of authentication, if you have tested Paternity or Maternity for two or more Children OR two or more Alleged Fathers/Mothers with one Child, then each will generate their own report –  each result report that you plan to use for official purposes in Thailand will need to be authenticated.

Example 1:
Mother + Alleged Father + Child
1 x Paternity Result Report will be issued (Alleged Father + Child)
Cost of Authentication Process = THB 10,000

Example 2:
Mother + Child + Alleged Father A + Alleged Father B
2 x Paternity Result Reports will be issued (one report for Child + Alleged Father A; one report for Child + Alleged Father B)
Cost of 2 x Authentication Processes = THB 20,000

Example 3:
Mother + Alleged Father + Child A + Child B + Child C
3 x Paternity Result Reports will be issued (one report for Child A + Alleged Father; one report for Child B + Alleged Father; one report for Child C + Alleged Father)
Cost of 3 x Authentication Processes = THB 30,000

If you need your Authenticated Results in a hurry, you can choose to express the process by also selecting the Express Authentication Surcharge; the express surcharge is applicable only once per case, not per report. For example, even if you have three reports to authenticate, you only need to pay one express surcharge to cover all three reports. This is because the ‘express’ surcharge upgrades the various shipping domestically within the USA and internationally to Thailand, from regular mail, to first-class courier, and all your reports are shipped together.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET MY RESULTS? 

• You will still get your normal notarized results (English and Thai) via email as soon as they are ready. We can also send you any original (hard-copy) Thai-language reports via regular mail as soon as they are ready. However, the original (hard-copy) English reports will remain in the USA to begin the Authentication Process.
• The entire process – both in the USA and in Thailand – can take between eight (8) to 10 weeks.
• The exact time is dependent on the various authorities in the USA that provide the various authentication seals/stamps, and each of these state Government departments only provide rough estimates of when they will return the result back to our lab with their seal.
• After each stamp/seal is secured, the documentation must be sent back to our laboratory, before being sent out to the next Government department. Some of these departments are interstate; it is in the postage of the documentation to-and-fro that makes this process quite lengthy.
• This process is repeated for each department to which we must send the result report/s (and documentation is sent back to our lab each time).
• If you are in a hurry, you can upgrade all the various domestic USA shipping, and international shipping to Thailand, from regular mail to first-class courier. This Express Authentication Surcharge is payable just once per case (not per individual report), and will take approximately four (4) to six (6) weeks.