The amphur: how a death is registered in Thailand
Written by Greg Berryman. Sources last checked 9 August 2026.
The amphur is the district office. It is where a death becomes official, and it is the only place that issues the certificate everything else depends on.
What is the amphur?
The district administrative office. Thailand is divided into districts, and each has one. In Bangkok the equivalent is the district office for the khet.
Under the Civil Registration Act B.E. 2534 the District Chief Officer is the District Registrar, and it is a registrar who accepts the report of a death and issues the certificate. Not the hospital. Not the police. Not your embassy.
Who has to report a death, and how soon?
Within twenty four hours, and who does it depends on where the person died.
| Where the person died | Who must report it |
|---|---|
| In a house | The householder, or whoever found the body if there is no householder |
| Anywhere else | Whoever was with the person, or whoever found the body |
A death outside a house may be reported to an administrative or police official rather than at the office itself. Where transport in the locality is difficult the deadline can be extended, but not beyond seven days.
Failing to report carries a fine of up to one thousand baht. In practice that is not the thing to worry about. The reason to act inside the deadline is that nothing else can proceed until the death is registered.
Can somebody report the death on your behalf?
Yes, and this is the most useful provision in the Act.
Under section 46, where the person responsible for reporting authorises somebody else to do it for them, the law treats the report as made by the responsible person.
That matters because the certificate goes to whoever files the report, and the person who needs the certificate is often not the person standing in the district office.
What does the amphur issue?
The death certificate, to the person who files the report.
That is section 22, and it is why only one original exists and why it ends up wherever it ends up. The consequences of that, and what to do about it, are on the Thai death certificate.
Is the hospital's paper the same thing?
No.
Where a death occurs, the person who attended it issues a document certifying the death, in the form the Director of Central Registration prescribes. That document is what the registrar uses to register the death. It is not the death certificate, and holding it is not the same as having registered anything.
Can the body be moved, buried or cremated first?
Not lawfully.
Under section 24 it is prohibited to keep, bury, cremate, destroy or remove a body from the locality or the house where the death occurred without the registrar's authorisation, and once authorised, only to the place named in the permit. An administrative or police official can order a body moved where public safety requires it.
Most people meet this rule without noticing, because a hospital or a funeral director handles it. It is worth knowing it exists before agreeing to anything.
What happens if the death was sudden or unnatural?
The certificate stops.
Where there is reasonable suspicion that the person died of a dangerous contagious disease or by unnatural cause, the registrar must report it to the relevant official or to the police, and must suspend issuing the death certificate until that official approves.
This is the legal machinery behind the post-mortem delay described on what to do when someone dies in Thailand.
What will the amphur not do for you?
- It will not issue the certificate in English. The certificate is in Thai, and translation is your cost.
- It will not deal with your embassy. No embassy can register the death or obtain the certificate on your behalf, and all three say so.
- It will not release the body. That takes a letter from your embassy. See the embassy release letter.
- It will not touch the estate. That takes a court. See the court order that unfreezes a Thai bank account.
What is in the guide?
This page covers the office and the act of registering. The guide contains an asset and document inventory, the next of kin authorisation letter in the wording the embassies ask for, and separate modules for British, American and Australian nationals whose governments define next of kin differently.
Sources
- Civil Registration Act B.E. 2534 (1991), English translation published by the Department of Provincial Administration. Section 8/2 on district registrars, section 21 on who must report a death and within what period, section 22 on the issue of the certificate to the person who files the report, section 23 on the document certifying the death, section 24 on moving, burying or cremating a body, section 25 on suspension where the cause is unnatural or contagious, section 46 on authorising another person to report, and section 47 on the penalty for failing to report.
- The Department of Provincial Administration states that its translation is prepared for information purposes only and that the original Thai text as formally adopted and published remains the sole authoritative text having the force of law. No official English text of Thai legislation exists. Thai legal review of these sections is under way. Section numbers are given so the provisions can be checked directly. See about this site.
- That no embassy can register the death or obtain the certificate is published by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the US Embassy in Thailand and the Australian Embassy Bangkok, each linked on its own page: British nationals, American nationals, Australian nationals.