Friend "stuck" in Thailand... how to get home?

[Davidvs]

So this is going to be a strange question, but hopefully someone knows the answer...

 

I'm getting this info second hand from my wife, so I hope I have the facts right...

 

Wife's friend (Thai citizen) and 7yo son (US/Thai citizen) travelled into Thailand in December. In order to not have to quarantine as long(?) or for cheeper(?) they both entered on their Thai passports. (Son's passport was "temporary 30 day" passport(?). 

 

They were due to leave on Sunday to come back to the US. They were told that since they entered on Thai passports they need to leave on Thai passports. Problem is, son's temp passport has expired... They are now stuck in BKK until she can register the son to her parent's house in order to get a new passport. With Songkran coming, this is going to take at least 3 weeks, and she needs to get back to the US.

 

Does anyone know if it is true that they have to use their Thai passports to leave or can the son use his American passport?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[GinBoy2]

I think they are stuck.

 

Since they chose to enter on the kids Thai passports, they can't leave on the boys US passport since he doesn't have an entry stamp or a valid visa extension.

 

Nope this is one where I think they just have to buckle down and get the kid a new passport.

 

The good news from my experience at least, Thai passport requests get processed pretty quickly

[moe666]

Yes they are stuck but could take longer than usual as the holiday starts in a few days. A case of not having your stuff together.

[orchis]

It's true. And Songkran causes delays. Tough titty.

[digbeth]

Thai passport is available on 1 day or next day service for extra fee, 

but judging by the sounds of things, the Thai son has never had a Thai ID card? as the consul in the US wouldn't be able to issue one unless he had one issued in Thailand prior and looks like he's on his 'first' passport issued to him without getting a Thai national ID/house registration

 

looks like a mountain of paperwork https://thaiconsulatela.org/home_th/services-for-thais_th/legalization_th/การเพิ่มชื่อเด็กไทยที่/

[orchis]

1 hour ago, digbeth said:

Thai passport is available on 1 day or next day service for extra fee, 

but judging by the sounds of things, the Thai son has never had a Thai ID card? as the consul in the US wouldn't be able to issue one unless he had one issued in Thailand prior and looks like he's on his 'first' passport issued to him without getting a Thai national ID/house registration

 

looks like a mountain of paperwork https://thaiconsulatela.org/home_th/services-for-thais_th/legalization_th/การเพิ่มชื่อเด็กไทยที่/

they are in Thailand.

[Kerryd]

They've had nearly (or fully) 4 months to deal with this and waited until the last day.

Now they have no choice but to get new passports in a hurry. It seems that, especially now (with fewer people travelling) they can be done quickly and are not that expensive.

[bunnydrops]

On 4/8/2021 at 6:47 PM, orchis said:

It's true. And Songkran causes delays. Tough titty.

 said the kitty, but the milks still good

[sencelebi]

Yes,They have leave the country with the same passport they've entered. No entry stamp no exit stamp.

[Ploddo1111]

Once you have your son on your family book and you go to renew passport then they will tell you you need the father to give approval for you to get new passport and he will have to go to embassy in us to sign papers and send to you as they won't take email.

Took me 3 months to get my boy out of Thailand when his Thai passport expired

Good luck

[fakser]

On 4/8/2021 at 12:23 PM, GinBoy2 said:

I think they are stuck.

 

Since they chose to enter on the kids Thai passports, they can't leave on the boys US passport since he doesn't have an entry stamp or a valid visa extension.

 

Nope this is one where I think they just have to buckle down and get the kid a new passport.

 

The good news from my experience at least, Thai passport requests get processed pretty quickly

Perhaps he can show the expired passport to show the entry stamp and use the US passport to exit and travel.

Bets thing is to visit immigration at air port before the date of leaving, and consult the officials

[natway09]

What a stupid thing to do, travel on a 30 day Thai passport & not get it renewed before now

[GinBoy2]

53 minutes ago, natway09 said:

What a stupid thing to do, travel on a 30 day Thai passport & not get it renewed before now

Well I must say I kinda agree with that, and they are reaping the consequences of, deciding to travel on temporary Thai travel documents, and not the day after they landed getting all this stuff taken care of and waiting 4 months.

 

I think @Ploddo1111is probably right.

 

It's been a long time since I had to do this. But I do remember after we moved from Singapore to Thailand we needed to get our son on to the house book before we could get him a Thai passport.

 

I also vaguely remember since he wasn't born in Thailand there was an unGodly amount of paperwork required

[GinBoy2]

So after talking with my wife, and as every woman does remembers much more than me.

 

What we did was get away with our son's Singapore birth certificate, before he got a Thai ID card to get a Thai passport.

 

She said they also asked to show his US passport and the house blue book,  her ID card, even though he wasn't on the blue book since he didn't have an ID card at that time.

 

That is as my wife recalls what we did, but remember TIT and God knows if that is representative of today, and or the whims of the apparatchiks of the day

 

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by GinBoy2

[Preacher]

Problem will not be the new passport, although the requirement that the father must agree with the application will cause a delay. As said, father can give aprova; at the Thaiconsualte/general consulate.

The time consuming thing will be the entering of the child on a tabian baan. But the child already has a Thai ID-number, is registered with the Thai government given the Thai passport. If going on Friday it should not take longer than a week. But do contact the Thai embassy/consulate to give aproval in advance.

[Davidvs]

On 4/9/2021 at 10:43 PM, Ploddo1111 said:

Once you have your son on your family book and you go to renew passport then they will tell you you need the father to give approval for you to get new passport and he will have to go to embassy in us to sign papers and send to you as they won't take email.

Took me 3 months to get my boy out of Thailand when his Thai passport expired

Good luck

 

Thanks, yeah, apparently the problem of not renewing had to do with the father (ex-husband) refusing to sign the papers.  

 

On 4/10/2021 at 4:50 AM, natway09 said:

What a stupid thing to do, travel on a 30 day Thai passport & not get it renewed before now

 

Apparently she tried, but the ex-husband was giving her problems. 

 

 

Thanks everyone for your responses. It sounds like she will have things worked out in about 2 weeks time. I think she is more upset about having to stay in BKK during Songkran. It seems that hotels and rental cars just about doubled in cost... 

[ChaiyaTH]

2 hours ago, Davidvs said:

I think she is more upset about having to stay in BKK during Songkran. It seems that hotels and rental cars just about doubled in cost... 

Nonsense, everything is super cheap at the moment.

[Davidvs]

33 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Nonsense, everything is super cheap at the moment.

Not saying things are expensive... all I know is she told my wife that the hotel went from about $40 a night to about $60. That's still super cheap, but definitely an increase. 

 

Again, I can't confirm it is actually true, I'm just hearing complaints about it third hand. 

[rcuthbert]

Have they contacted a visa agent?

[meechai]

On 4/12/2021 at 5:08 AM, Davidvs said:

 

Thanks, yeah, apparently the problem of not renewing had to do with the father (ex-husband) refusing to sign the papers.  

 

 

Apparently she tried, but the ex-husband was giving her problems.

 

Boy if so...I hope you folks do not have much bigger problems is the X finds out & she returns

 

afaik it has always been law that a minor cannot leave the country without consent of both parents

His not signing a passport renewal sounds like a refusal to let his child out of the country

 

Good Luck hope all ends well

 

[thailand49]

On 4/9/2021 at 5:54 PM, Kerryd said:

They've had nearly (or fully) 4 months to deal with this and waited until the last day.

Now they have no choice but to get new passports in a hurry. It seems that, especially now (with fewer people travelling) they can be done quickly and are not that expensive.

That's for damn sure!  I believe this was posted earlier prior to Songkran it has been a long time but when I first got a Thai passport for my son we didn't need an ID. just his birth certificate. I think for Thais if you are under 20 years of age you still need a parent present?

 

Sure closed if registration of house is done one could just go down stand in line crowded or not pay the money end of story. He isn't going to get it done here on TV that is for sure!

[Davidvs]

15 hours ago, meechai said:

 

Boy if so...I hope you folks do not have much bigger problems is the X finds out & she returns

 

afaik it has always been law that a minor cannot leave the country without consent of both parents

His not signing a passport renewal sounds like a refusal to let his child out of the country

 

Good Luck hope all ends well

 

The ex husband is in the US. As far as I know, he did eventually sign the papers.

[StevieAus]

On 4/8/2021 at 4:23 PM, GinBoy2 said:

I think they are stuck.

 

Since they chose to enter on the kids Thai passports, they can't leave on the boys US passport since he doesn't have an entry stamp or a valid visa extension.

 

Nope this is one where I think they just have to buckle down and get the kid a new passport.

 

The good news from my experience at least, Thai passport requests get processed pretty quickly

We renewed our young daughter’s  Thai passport in Chiang Mai a couple of weeks ago, they were super efficient.

No copies of documents were required everything was scanned into their system.

The passport was received at our home 48 hours later.

[NanLaew]

On 4/13/2021 at 6:18 PM, rcuthbert said:

Have they contacted a visa agent?

 

What for? Visa agents are cozy with Immigration and thus whizzbang at visa-related stuff but AFAIK, they have no truck with the MFA that does Thai passports.

 

On 4/16/2021 at 8:40 PM, Davidvs said:

The ex husband is in the US. As far as I know, he did eventually sign the papers.

 

Glad to see he pulled his head in. Sounds like a bit of a control freak.