British family stranded in Thailand over son’s passport issues

[OmarZaid]

Dad goofed !

[Time Traveller]

Let me correct the headline, "Thai Boy Attempts to Leave Thailand on Expired Passport".

 

 

 

[natway09]

Read the whole story. A Thai passport takes 48 hours (they are very efficient here) 

but needs a valid Thai ID card to get the passport. Simple

Why do you lot always blame Thailand ?

They were stupid enough to travel without checking validity of documents.

Hope it is resolved quickly

[outlaw11wa]

The guy in the article seems to be quite pragmatic about the situation. Has not called foul about it and is just working through the necessary steps to appease the authorities so they can move on. It only seems to be a few people on here that feel the need for another round of Thai bashing coz they got nothing positive in their lives. He made a mistake and now he is resolving it. Thats how life goes.

[tonywillo]

Zero sympathy here. 

Case of being too tight with money and trying to save a few bucks on a visa, makes no sense when the father needed to go down this route anyway. 

Second piece of stupidity here and I would think almost common knowledge that any travel document which has or about to expire is next to useless.

His son would have been better off overstaying on his Scottish passport. Being under 18 he would not have been fined anyway. 

[Cranky]

1 minute ago, outlaw11wa said:

The guy in the article seems to be quite pragmatic about the situation. Has not called foul about it and is just working through the necessary steps to appease the authorities so they can move on. It only seems to be a few people on here that feel the need for another round of Thai bashing coz they got nothing positive in their lives. He made a mistake and now he is resolving it. Thats how life goes.

Where's the Thai bashing?  Vast majority calling it the way it is - moron traveling with soon to be expired passport. 

 

 

[British Bulldog]

I like the newspaper article which reckons its cost the 2000 pound over the last 2 weeks in accommodation and meals ..... my God, where are they staying "The Hilton ?"

[thaiguzzi]

So I read the full story in the link.

Am I missing something or is it just these parents are either thick or lazy or both.

Ya know, my son is a 12 y/o dual national, and along with his Thai mother, frequently flies to and fro from here to the UK and back again on holidays, and has done since he was 3 y/o.

 It's pretty damn common sense when planning holidays a few months in advance to make sure, check and double check that all the paperwork is in order, inc all the travelling passports.

Sorry, zero sympathy here (which is unusual for me).

Numpties.

[Just Weird]

21 hours ago, BobbyL said:

How can things like this not be easily rectified. 

They can, they can also be avoided by not using an about to expire passport to travel on!

[Mad mick]

21 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Would the UK or any other country let you depart on an expered passport? 

 

 

 

no australia would not let u fly ! same as thai immigration they correct ..2 - 3 days if u have your paperwork u have a passport 

[Just Weird]

21 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

That said, I’m not sure he needed to overstay, he could have applied for an extension, or made a quick border run. He now risks being locked up for overstay unless he has special permission to remain.

He does have special permission to stay, it's called an extension.

[Just Weird]

20 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

The young man has another VALID passport. Immigration could go up the ladder until someone with common sense could solve the problem. Unfortunately in LOS the only thing that can solve a problem outside the box is a box of money.

No other country would have been able to allow someone to leave on a passport that he did not enter on, it is nothing specific to Thailand and nothing to do with common sense.

[Just Weird]

20 hours ago, JTXR said:

Every day, in international airports all over the world, people are denied entry or exit because of expired passports or expired visas.  Stuff happens, people make mistakes.  Hardly news and hardly worth denigrating someone over.

The denigration is a result of the family trying to blame everyone but themselves for their own error.

[Thaidream]

Yes, the couple made a mistake. However, the child's original Thai Passport had to have a birth certificate shown to get the Thai Passport.   The Thai Passport agency should have not even needed the origins birth certificate for renewal since the Passport number would have been in their computer.  Since the child was away in the UK for years and could not apply for a Thai National ID card-  this could have been waived if the authorities wanted to be helpful.

 

While the authorities are in their right to follow the letter of the law- some compassion could have been shown.

The National ID card is issued by the local Amphur and the Passport by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Immigration Department is  under the  Police- Minister of Interior.  

[Just Weird]

19 hours ago, markaoffy said:

So they let him in with this passport ? What a joke Thai

How could they refuse to allow a Thai citizen into Thailand with a valid passport? Immigration's job is not to advise every traveler of the date that  his passport is due to expire!

[AdamTheFarang]

6 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Read my post #171.

Please stop trying to be clever it really is not working............1,000,000% 

[Just Weird]

19 hours ago, watcharacters said:

If immigration  was  checking for a return ticket to their homeland it should have been obvious the passport the boy was using would run out of validity.     If  only as a courtesy i'd hope the immigration officer would have mentioned this so the  boy could have used his valid British passport.

Thailand is the boys homeland, no need for return tickets or for the IO to mention anything.  The IO would not be aware of the boy having a UK passport.

[RT555]

Sleeping Parents. 

[Just Weird]

18 hours ago, watcharacters said:

A fine has been paid and I say let them go.

They haven't been detained and its likely that the "fine" was just the B500 per day overstay charge. 

 

He can't go anywhere until he has a valid passport, it's not difficult to understand that or are you advocating that anyone should be allowed to travel on an expired passport?

[Just Weird]

17 hours ago, tolsti said:

Thailand does allow Thai citizens with an expired passport to enter the country.

He didn't enter on an expired passport!

[NoshowJones]

18 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

The great thing about Thailand in the good old days is there were no rules (or at least they were never enforced).

They still aren't for the most part.

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, dotpoom said:

How was he allowed into Thailand in the first place with so little time left in his passport?....did nobody either from the airlines or airport notice it

He's Thai!  That's how.

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, Ron19 said:

There appears to be some confusion about the boys passport.

Please go back and read the opening post in particular the link 

included.

This clearly states that the boy has a British and Thai passport.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/family-stranded-in-thailand-over-son-s-passport-issues-1-4777948

Read the OP properly?  Are you serious?  That's not the way most Thaivisa posters work!

[Stoker58]

19 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I don't see how you can blame the FCO... The child is dual nationality - In Thailand he is Thai, he entered on his Thai passport, his Thai passport has expired. 

 

The British FCO can't do anything, he's not classed as a British Citizen while in the country of his alternate nationality.

 

It never ceases to surprise me the degree to which issues will be twisted to suit ones bias and flame away. This is nothing to do with the FCO.

  “Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary”.

  That’s why. Now if the boy had committed a crime while in Thailand that would be different, but he had not. The FCO, on behalf of the British Sovereign, has at the very least an obligation to ensure that the bearer of a British passport may “pass freely without let or hindrance” and be afforded “such assistance.....as may be necessary”. They may not be able to change Thai rules, but some representation on the boy’s behalf would have been required at the very least, otherwise the words in your passport mean nothing.

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, Proboscis said:

I doubt it was immigration who stopped them. I would imagine that no airline would take them back to the UK with an expired passport! Keep up!

You're right, it was spotted at the check-in desk.

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

Thai bash falls flat ?

They present an expired Thai passport when 'leaving' so the OI refused exit correctly as an expired Thai passport won't allow entry into UK.

The other passport was a valid UK passport that had no entry stamp so can't be used to exit Thailand.

Immigration wasn't involved, he wasn't allowed to check-in.

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, Howard said:

He presumably came in on his Thai passport and as it has expired possibly trying to leave on his Brit passport. There lies the problem: no record of an entry for that Brit and his Thai passport has expired. Personal problem...

...alternatively you could read the OP and it would tell you exactly what happened without having to "presume" anything.

[overherebc]

2 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Immigration wasn't involved, he wasn't allowed to check-in.

No-one knows the actual details but even if not allowed check in still same result.

Maybe if someone showed 2 passport at check-in the staff would allow on the valid passport. Move to Immigration show 2 passports and there it goes toes up.

We're basically dealing with a UK rag story written for effect only.

[Ron19]

A large number of trolls, off topic posts and answers to them have been removed.

[Just Weird]

4 minutes ago, overherebc said:

No-one knows the actual details but even if not allowed check in still same result.

Maybe if someone showed 2 passport at check-in the staff would allow on the valid passport. Move to Immigration show 2 passports and there it goes toes up.

We're basically dealing with a UK rag story written for effect only.

Anyone who read the OP, and the link, knows that the expired passport was spotted at the check-in desk!