Children refused permission to leave Thailand on a UK passport

[Gallstone]

My Thai wife had a UK tourist visa and her Thai born children have only UK passports. They were coming to visit me in the UK but were refused flight at Suvarnabhumi because the children didn't have Thai passports. 

 

Obviously I wasn't expecting that so is that normal?

 

Now it seems I have to somehow get Thai passports for them to be able to come to the UK. What are the options for doing this? Thanks in advance 

[digbeth]

Have they ever traveled into Thailand on the UK passport?

are you able to accompany your wife and children to the Thai passport office?

[Sheryl]

Since the issue was refusal to leave Thailand I think you will get  better answers in the Thai visa forum so moving this there.

 

@ubonjoe would know best. Maybe an the issue was that they had not entered Thailand on the UK passport?

[Gallstone]

3 minutes ago, digbeth said:

Have they ever traveled into Thailand on the UK passport?

are you able to accompany your wife and children to the Thai passport office?

No the UK passports haven't been used. I'm in the UK and wasn't planning to go to Thailand unless I need to.

[Eff1n2ret]

10 minutes ago, Gallstone said:

were refused flight

Presumably it was the airline which refused them? Which one? It doesn't make sense to me, because holding a UK passport the children were obviously admissible at their destination. Unless they were travelling on return tickets, in which case the check-in staff were second guessing problems about them coming back to Thailand. I wonder if your wife has the full story.

The only other thought is maybe some child protection issue, the children travelling with one parent of a different nationality, but that seems unlikely.

 

[BritTim]

The mother travelling with the children you would have thought would be acceptable. What are the ages of the children? If they are old enough to confirm that your wife is, indeed, their mother, that ought to be an end of it. My sympathy on a very unnecessary crisis.

Edited June 30, 2022 by BritTim

[Sheryl]

OP please clarify if the refusal was by airline at check in or by Thai immigration

[Gallstone]

15 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

OP please clarify if the refusal was by airline at check in or by Thai immigration

Refusal was by the airline, Qatar airways.

[Sheryl]

Just now, Gallstone said:

Refusal was by the airline, Qatar airways.

That is extremely odd. Did they have round trip tickets?

[Gallstone]

19 minutes ago, BritTim said:

The mother travelling with the children you would have thought would be acceptable. What are the ages of the children? If they are old enough to confirm that your wife is, indeed, their mother, that ought to be an end of it. My sympathy on a very unnecessary crisis.

Children were 3, 5 and 12.

[Gallstone]

Just now, Sheryl said:

That is extremely odd. Did they have round trip tickets?

Yes they had return tickets. Do you think the airline was at fault? 

[Gallstone]

26 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Presumably it was the airline which refused them? Which one? It doesn't make sense to me, because holding a UK passport the children were obviously admissible at their destination. Unless they were travelling on return tickets, in which case the check-in staff were second guessing problems about them coming back to Thailand. I wonder if your wife has the full story.

The only other thought is maybe some child protection issue, the children travelling with one parent of a different nationality, but that seems unlikely.

 

Yes it was Qatar airways. I don't think it was a child protection issue as this wasn't mentioned, just an issue that that they didn't have Thai passports. 

[ubonjoe]

Unless the children were born here and there showed they were not Thai nationals the must leave on a Thai passport.

They cannot leave on a UK passport without a entry stamp in it unless their birth certificates show both parents are from the UK.

They can easily get a Thai passport. But you will need to do a document with your consent will be needed to get the passports. The parental consent can be done at the Thai embassy in the UK.

This is the form that can be used. https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/เอกสาร/หนังสือให้ความยินยิม.pdf

 

 

[Gallstone]

33 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Unless the children were born here and there showed they were not Thai nationals the must leave on a Thai passport.

They cannot leave on a UK passport without a entry stamp in it unless their birth certificates show both parents are from the UK.

They can easily get a Thai passport. But you will need to do a document with your consent will be needed to get the passports. The parental consent can be done at the Thai embassy in the UK.

This is the form that can be used. https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/เอกสาร/หนังสือให้ความยินยิม.pdf

 

 

Thank you. I understand now. 

[MaiDong]

Stress! Wow, my sympathies go out to you!

[Caldera]

1 hour ago, Gallstone said:

No the UK passports haven't been used. I'm in the UK and wasn't planning to go to Thailand unless I need to.

If the UK passports haven't been used yet, your children don't have Thai entry stamps in their passports. As they're Thai, they cannot leave Thailand on a foreign passport unless they have entered Thailand on that foreign passport. 

[GroveHillWanderer]

I guess this just shows how times have changed. When my daughter first left Thailand with her mother, to come to the UK (this was back in the 1980's) she couldn't leave on anything but her UK passport. Leaving on a Thai passport was not an option.

[GinBoy2]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Unless the children were born here and there showed they were not Thai nationals the must leave on a Thai passport.

They cannot leave on a UK passport without a entry stamp in it unless their birth certificates show both parents are from the UK.

They can easily get a Thai passport. But you will need to do a document with your consent will be needed to get the passports. The parental consent can be done at the Thai embassy in the UK.

This is the form that can be used. https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/เอกสาร/หนังสือให้ความยินยิม.pdf

 

 

I get all that, but it still seems odd.

 

I don't get why the airline refused them at check in.

 

You know better than any of us, the usual flow of things is that you show the passport at check in that grants you entry into the country of destination, either a passport of that country or a visa to that country.

 

It's usually only at immigration where a Thai passport, or a foreign passport with an entry stamp is shown.

 

I along with thousands of us have done this when traveling with our kids out of BKK.

 

I've never come across airline counter agents acting as first line immigration

[3NUMBAS]

my dtr left los on a uk passport for the first time  ,then got her thai pp at a later date to come and go on both

 

[Gallstone]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Unless the children were born here and there showed they were not Thai nationals the must leave on a Thai passport.

They cannot leave on a UK passport without a entry stamp in it unless their birth certificates show both parents are from the UK.

They can easily get a Thai passport. But you will need to do a document with your consent will be needed to get the passports. The parental consent can be done at the Thai embassy in the UK.

This is the form that can be used. https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/เอกสาร/หนังสือให้ความยินยิม.pdf

 

 

It seems the choice is either for me to go over to Thailand and apply with the mother and children present or get the consent form approved and sent over to Thailand so she can do it without me using the consent form

 

Do you know what docs I would need to bring with me to get the consent form approved by the UK embassy? 

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, Gallstone said:

Do you know what docs I would need to bring with me to get the consent form approved by the UK embassy? 

You need to complete this form I found on the London embassy website. https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/umufy3EgqL/คำขอ.pdf  It is in Thai. I think you will need to make a appointment to get consular officer to sign it.

Info is here in English for passports but it is not that clear as to what is needed. I does not mention the consent form if you are married.

I suggest that your wife contact the nearest passport office about it. List of offices in Thai is here. https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/publicservice/19745-สถานที่ให้บริการหนังสือเดินทาง

There may be more info that she can find the website.

 

[BritTim]

5 hours ago, Caldera said:

If the UK passports haven't been used yet, your children don't have Thai entry stamps in their passports. As they're Thai, they cannot leave Thailand on a foreign passport unless they have entered Thailand on that foreign passport. 

... unless, presumably, they can prove they are foreign nationals (without Thai nationality) who were born in Thailand.

[BritTim]

4 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

I guess this just shows how times have changed. When my daughter first left Thailand with her mother, to come to the UK (this was back in the 1980's) she couldn't leave on anything but her UK passport. Leaving on a Thai passport was not an option.

If it was in the 1980s, your daughter would not yet have had Thai nationality. At that time, children only received Thai nationality through a Thai father.

[matchar]

My son is half Thai (born in Thailand) and I traveled alone with him to the UK a few years ago on his British passport.

 

Immigration pulled me aside when leaving but allowed us to leave after calling his mother to check I had permission...they said I should have got an official document from the district office though.

 

Since then he has always entered Thailand on his British passport so he's treated as a foreigner and no questions asked when leaving.

[Doctor Tom]

Of course they were refused leave to use a UK passport to leave LOS.  I'm amazed that you were caught off guard by this as its just common sense. To leave on a UK passport, you must have arrived on one and have the correct visa/exemption  and no overstay, of course they could not fulfill this obvious requirement.   Citizenship is not an issue here. Yes, they do need Thai passports. 

[chickenslegs]

4 hours ago, Gallstone said:

It seems the choice is either for me to go over to Thailand and apply with the mother and children present or get the consent form approved and sent over to Thailand so she can do it without me using the consent form

 

Do you know what docs I would need to bring with me to get the consent form approved by the UK embassy? 

I really feel for you @Gallstone What a mess, and who would have guessed that children with British nationality wouldn't be allowed to leave Thailand without a Thai passport?

 

Your missus and kids must be just as disappointed and as bemused as you are.

 

Unless your wife is completely comfortable with Thai bureaucracy I would suggest you take a flight to Thailand and get everything sorted out here in person.

 

If both parents attend the Thai passport office with all their documents (IIRC - birth certificates, marriage certificate, Thai ID card, copy of your passport) your kids will get Thai passports the same day. It took less than 2 hours to get my daughter's passport at the Pattaya office - staff there are exceptionally helpful IMO.

[Gallstone]

1 minute ago, Doctor Tom said:

Of course they were refused leave to use a UK passport to leave LOS.  I'm amazed that you were caught off guard by this as its just common sense. To leave on a UK passport, you must have arrived on one and have the correct visa/exemption  and no overstay, of course they could not fulfill this obvious requirement.   Citizenship is not an issue here. Yes, they do need Thai passports. 

I'm amazed you needed to type anything as this was obviously explained by others.

[Mac Mickmanus]

8 hours ago, Gallstone said:

They were coming to visit me in the UK but were refused flight at Suvarnabhumi because the children didn't have Thai passports. 

What were your plans for when they returned to Thailand ?

They would have arrived back in Thailand  on their U.K passports and would then need to keep their permission to stay/visa up to date 

[fobuff]

When one parent travels with children, it is wise to have a letter from the other parent that it is OK. Most airlines have standard forms for this.

 

With no Thai passports for the children and just a visa for the mother is enough to raise red flags.

[stubuzz]

1 hour ago, chickenslegs said:

Unless your wife is completely comfortable with Thai bureaucracy I would suggest you take a flight to Thailand and get everything sorted out here in person.

My wife was unable to renew my daughter's passport because i was not with them in person.