Registering a birth in Laos

In Laos there is no such document as a birth certificate.
Each family has a 'phim khopkua' or family book in which all births deaths and marriages are written and witnessed by the village headman.

@stumpy - thanks for the sharing of information

My friend is Aussie with 2 kids here with his Lao wife - both children are registered as Aus citizens (maybe dual citizenship - i never thought to ask) to do that he went to the Aus embassy with a lot of paper work and $

good luck

Unfortunately any children of mixed parentage ( Australian, Lao ) cannot get dual citizenship. 

My daughter has Oz citizenship but Lao passport. There are not too many countries that Lao govt allows to have dual citizenship. 

Australia is on the prohibited list because of it's involvement in the Vietnam war siding with the Americans.

Stumpy.  You are quite wrong.  There IS a birth certificate in Laos and everybody must have one if they later wish to get any other documentation without great difficulty.  Even to get a nationality other than Lao, a birth cert is needed if the child is born in Laos.  The child would normally take the father's nationality, unless 'father unknown' is entered.  If birth is in a hospital, the hospital admin will be held responsible together with both parents (or mother) for registering a birth.  Such registration must be witnessed by the local; authorities.  Instructions on how to complete the form are available in Lao and Hmong on the internet.  For home births in remote areas, the midwife is responsible for ensuring initial registration.  If a birth is not registered at the time, it can be registered later.  Simple inclusion in the Family Book is not evidence of nationality.  If a Lao is born overseas or in Thailand (as many are), birth certificates are always given at the Thai hospital and registered at the Amphor.  This certificate is accepted in Laos only as evidence of nationality.  If the child is Lao there is no problem.  But if a Lao certificate is obtained from a foreign one, the child takes the nationality of the father, whatever the father's nationality.  The child of mixed birth is considered within Laos to have both nationalities and may have both passports, but only until age 18, when it must choose.

Quite wrong to think that the only certification for births, marriages and deaths is entry in the family book.  Certification exists for each eventuality.

My youngest daughter has birth certificate from the Thai hospital where she was born. She is registered in the family book in her village.
There may well be such a thing as a Lao birth certificate now.

Yes, Stumpy, things change and are changing.  Indeed in slow Laos the lawyers can't keep up with the laws and legal requirements (or just don't bother to do so).  Back when there simply was no legal code (1980s) I too had two daughters born in Thai hospitals, but In both cases the hospital certificate was no use in getting a (Brit) passport, I had to go to the Amphur (but it was easy).  At that time, since both children had my nationality there was no problem their coming into Laos with me.  The two nationality rule was the same in Thailand then with no legal exceptions, but I still managed to get my kids Thai and Brit nationality and passports.  Ways of doing things then were different and everything had its price.  My kids, now grown, can work in Thailand and visit Laos without visas ~ so worth doing.