16 minutes ago, Geoff914 said:

For the UK you can travel to your home country on an expired passport. So expired or not how could Thai Immigration refuse entry to two Thai passport holders? Given the UK now demand that dual passport holders travel to the UK on the UK passport I wonder why Thailand is not doing the same? As Thai nationals being refused entry to Thailand is work a complaint to the Thai Embassy in China. I guess a good idea to keep the second passport updated.

Well, I guess the first thing to note is that UK rules don’t apply to Thailand. So the fact that it’s possible to travel to your home country on an expired passport from the UK doesn’t really count, I suspect. Also, these kids weren’t travelling on their expired passports.

The story isn’t precisely clear but as I read it, the kids were travelling to Thailand on a foreign passport. When stopped the mother produced two expired Thai passports. It doesn’t say how long ago they expired. Might be a year, might be ten years.

I have no axe to grind either way but I do know that my daughter exits Thailand on her Thai passport and enters other countries on her British passport. So far as those other countries are concerned, she is British.

On the birth certificates that the mother produced, I have a British birth certificate because I was born there. And yet I am Singaporean, travel on my only passport which is Singaporean and go through the alien channel when I go to the UK. So the Thai birth certificates aren’t conclusive proof that the kids are Thai now.

I think the critical part in this case is not that immigration denied entry to two Thai citizens, it’s that the two kids couldn’t prove to the satisfaction of immigration that they ARE Thai citizens.

Like I say, I have no axe to grind either way, but I do think that there are subtleties here other than just “how can immigration deny entry to two Thai citizens”.

16 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Chanporn explained that immigration officers denied the teenagers entry after describing them as suspicious travellers.

Was that suspicious?

Or, did the officer actually say: INSCRUTABLE

Or, half-inscrutable, as the case may be.

12 hours ago, harrycallahan said:

Where is daddy? The kids can only be in one country at a time. Nothing fishy at all.

Who is daddy might be another question. Does Immigration have intel or is this just another cock up?

1 hour ago, Geoff914 said:

I thought that post was about Thai minors travelling "out" of Thailand not into Thailand.

Yes, my post referred to minors travelling out of Thailand. But I suspect that the IO may have said, well if these are Thai kids, where is their consent to travel documents allowing them to leave in the first place? They should still have them because there is no expiry date on it.

Not having them may have been viewed as another piece of evidence that the kids were Chinese and not Thai.

The inference being that if they were Thai, how could they have left without the consent to travel document.

TBH, the reality is that the consent to travel document is infrequently requested in my experience. So you don’t need it, till you need it.

45 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Yes, my post referred to minors travelling out of Thailand. But I suspect that the IO may have said, well if these are Thai kids, where is their consent to travel documents allowing them to leave in the first place? They should still have them because there is no expiry date on it.

Not having them may have been viewed as another piece of evidence that the kids were Chinese and not Thai.

The inference being that if they were Thai, how could they have left without the consent to travel document.

TBH, the reality is that the consent to travel document is infrequently requested in my experience. So you don’t need it, till you need it.

My kids, grown up now, I travelled with on UK passports, born in the UK but dual nationals having Thai passports also. Was I also wrong not to get permission from Thailand to travel with them between the UK and Thailand?

"Not having them may have been viewed as another piece of evidence that the kids were Chinese and not Thai." Does the matter if they were born in China? My kids were born in the UK but had Thai passports. If they were British how come they also had Thai passports. If these kinds were "Chinese" how come they were issued Thai passports. Isn't dual national the correct term?

Strangely the only problem I had once was returning to the UK and getting a stroppy UK Immigration Officer wanting to know why we were travelling to the UK. Odd that they couldn't give a damn when I was leaving the UK with two kids and without the mother but returning was suspicious.

2 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

Well, I guess the first thing to note is that UK rules don’t apply to Thailand. So the fact that it’s possible to travel to your home country on an expired passport from the UK doesn’t really count, I suspect. Also, these kids weren’t travelling on their expired passports.

The story isn’t precisely clear but as I read it, the kids were travelling to Thailand on a foreign passport. When stopped the mother produced two expired Thai passports. It doesn’t say how long ago they expired. Might be a year, might be ten years.

I have no axe to grind either way but I do know that my daughter exits Thailand on her Thai passport and enters other countries on her British passport. So far as those other countries are concerned, she is British.

On the birth certificates that the mother produced, I have a British birth certificate because I was born there. And yet I am Singaporean, travel on my only passport which is Singaporean and go through the alien channel when I go to the UK. So the Thai birth certificates aren’t conclusive proof that the kids are Thai now.

I think the critical part in this case is not that immigration denied entry to two Thai citizens, it’s that the two kids couldn’t prove to the satisfaction of immigration that they ARE Thai citizens.

Like I say, I have no axe to grind either way, but I do think that there are subtleties here other than just “how can immigration deny entry to two Thai citizens”.

I wasn't suggesting that UK rules do apply to Thailand, just speculating that as a rule returning to the country of the passport if it had expired was a general rule for other countries also.

Again may be only applies to the UK but a UK passport does infer UK citizenship on the holder. I find it odd that having a Thai passport can mean that you are not necessarily Thai. Isn't that the point of a passport.

Just a word of caution, were you daughters born in the UK, not that it makes any difference. My understanding is that a dual national entering the other country on the foreign passport is not entitled to support from the UK Embassy if things go wrong. I know this as I worked with a guy from Singapore also as it happens who had gone to Singapore using his British passport. When returning to the UK he was arrested for evading Singaporean national service. But as travelling as a UK citizen the UK Embassy were obliged to offer support which they did not do. He was in the process of making a formal complaint through his MP against the UK Foreign Office. I don't know what the outcome. He was waning me as he knew my kids and my wife were dual nationals.

6 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

@unblocktheplanet - curious - what is it about my post you disagree with ? - I thought the comments were fair...

This is the problem with these damned emojis. I was thumbs-down at Immigration not your post!

And then there are times when I'm conflicted and would like to add two!

21 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Chanporn explained that immigration officers denied the teenagers entry after describing them as suspicious travellers. She said she attempted to prove their relationship by presenting documents, including the children’s birth certificates and Thai passports issued when they were younger.

According to the mother, officers questioned whether she was genuinely related to the children, stating that her appearance did not match theirs. She said officials instructed her to arrange flights returning the teenagers to China on the same day.

It is stated, that immigration did not believe those to be her children.

But then they ask her to pay for a flight back to China? Why?

Something in this article does not add up at all!

9 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

I wasn't suggesting that UK rules do apply to Thailand, just speculating that as a rule returning to the country of the passport if it had expired was a general rule for other countries also.

Again may be only applies to the UK but a UK passport does infer UK citizenship on the holder. I find it odd that having a Thai passport can mean that you are not necessarily Thai. Isn't that the point of a passport.

Just a word of caution, were you daughters born in the UK, not that it makes any difference. My understanding is that a dual national entering the other country on the foreign passport is not entitled to support from the UK Embassy if things go wrong. I know this as I worked with a guy from Singapore also as it happens who had gone to Singapore using his British passport. When returning to the UK he was arrested for evading Singaporean national service. But as travelling as a UK citizen the UK Embassy were obliged to offer support which they did not do. He was in the process of making a formal complaint through his MP against the UK Foreign Office. I don't know what the outcome. He was waning me as he knew my kids and my wife were dual nationals.

Okie, gotcha on the travelling on the expired passport bit.

I think the issue in this case is that the Thai passports had expired. We don’t know how long ago, or whether the photos in the passports look like the girls now. Maybe not if they were 10 years expired.

The other thought that struck me is that there is no mention of a Thai ID card, expired or current. Thai citizens would have them. And of course the no consent to travel document was missing.

I would add that I have many expired UK passports. But have been a naturalized Singaporean citizen for 30 years. So although I could produce those UK passports, they are not proof of my current nationality.

Immigration may have made a disagreeable decision, but there ARE red flags if one looks at purely the documents produced.

9 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

My kids, grown up now, I travelled with on UK passports, born in the UK but dual nationals having Thai passports also. Was I also wrong not to get permission from Thailand to travel with them between the UK and Thailand?

"Not having them may have been viewed as another piece of evidence that the kids were Chinese and not Thai." Does the matter if they were born in China? My kids were born in the UK but had Thai passports. If they were British how come they also had Thai passports. If these kinds were "Chinese" how come they were issued Thai passports. Isn't dual national the correct term?

Strangely the only problem I had once was returning to the UK and getting a stroppy UK Immigration Officer wanting to know why we were travelling to the UK. Odd that they couldn't give a damn when I was leaving the UK with two kids and without the mother but returning was suspicious.

It’s definitely not a hard and fast procedure that is followed.

Again though, the passports were not with the kids and had expired. Perhaps many years expired.

If parents are both travelling with their Thai kids, my understanding is that a consent to travel document is not required. Both parents are present and can give consent on the spot.

If one parent is missing, technically, the missing parent should give a consent to travel letter, authorized by the Amphur. The Amphur has a template, the parent who is not travelling signs it and the Amphur stamps it with their red seal.

I say technically for two reasons. Firstly it seems that a foreign father doesn’t count for much, so a Thai mother would routinely be able to travel without her child, without a consent letter from the father. Secondly, it’s hit and miss whether a child travelling with a foreign father will be asked to produce a consent letter signed by the mother and stamped at the Amphur.

I have been asked for it when travelling with my daughter, but also I have not been asked for it.

The children may or may not have been born in China or Thailand. The issue is, what nationality are they now. If I read the story correctly, they had passports proving Chinese citizenship (valid Chinese passports) but not a single valid document proving Thai citizenship. No ID card, no valid passport, no consent to travel document. A birth certificate doesn’t prove current citizenship, so whilst evidence of possible Thai citizenship, not conclusive proof.

The point here is that when you and I travel with our children, they have current passports for both Thailand and UK. They must exit Thailand on their Thai passports and can enter the UK or other countries on their British passports.

How did these kids exit Thailand without Thai passports? You can’t exit Thailand on a foreign passport, unless you entered Thailand on that foreign passport.

I know about this because when my daughter was about 8, we were due to fly to Spain. Her Thai passport had expired by just a few weeks and I mistakenly thought she could just fly on her UK passport, which was current. We were refused at the check in counter because she was living in Thailand as a Thai person, so had to exit using a Thai passport. Even though I had the recently expired passport with me, it was not accepted

I mean, we don’t have all the facts so it’s hard to be conclusive and also there is an element of subjective judgement by immigration, but all I am saying is that there are red flags that bear consideration. There is no conclusive proof that the kids currently have Thai nationality.

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Agreed - but I'm not even sure under what law the Immigration could refuse entry to Thai Citizens ?

They both had Birth Certificates - though I'm not sure if the Birth certificates were Thai, they also had Thai Passports issued when they were younger - so I assume they had expired - nevertheless - that alone proves citizenship - so I'm not sure how Immigration could legally refuse them entry.

Thinking about this a bit. I have many expired UK passports. But I am not British. So expired passports don’t prove current citizenship. And maybe the photos don’t look like they currently do.

I also have a British birth certificate, but am not British.

On another day, another IO, they might have sailed through. But if hard questions are asked, they don’t have conclusive proof of Thai citizenship.

No current Thai passport, no Thai ID card, no consent to leave document. If they can’t speak Thai, another strike against them. If the Chinese passport (if that’s what they have) that they traveled on is on a different name to their Thai name, another issue.

Plenty for immigration to get their teeth into if they choose to do so.

2 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

Thinking about this a bit. I have many expired UK passports. But I am not British. So expired passports don’t prove current citizenship. And maybe the photos don’t look like they currently do.

I also have a British birth certificate, but am not British.

Are you being deliberately disingenuous?

Surely there's a key detail that changes the entire context of your post - conveniently leaving it does not present honest commentary.

i.e. have you renounced your British Citizenship in leu of another ?

2 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

On another day, another IO, they might have sailed through. But if hard questions are asked, they don’t have conclusive proof of Thai citizenship.

Other than the mother waiting for them ?

Ultimately - this implies immigration can simply state - no, that child is not yours and cannot travel - but is that reason enough ? If a 15 year old wants to travel to Thailand - even if they are not Thai, what immigration rule prevents that ?

2 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

No current Thai passport, no Thai ID card, no consent to leave document. If they can’t speak Thai, another strike against them. If the Chinese passport (if that’s what they have) that they traveled on is on a different name to their Thai name, another issue.

Plenty for immigration to get their teeth into if they choose to do so.

Again - as mentioned above - On what grounds can immigration prevent a 15 year old of China from entry ?

Even if they can't provide absolute proof there are Thai - are Chinese citizens not permitted entry ?

6 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Are you being deliberately disingenuous?

Surely there's a key detail that changes the entire context of your post - conveniently leaving it does not present honest commentary.

i.e. have you renounced your British Citizenship in leu of another ?

Other than the mother waiting for them ?

Ultimately - this implies immigration can simply state - no, that child is not yours and cannot travel - but is that reason enough ? If a 15 year old wants to travel to Thailand - even if they are not Thai, what immigration rule prevents that ?

Again - as mentioned above - On what grounds can immigration prevent a 15 year old of China from entry ?

Even if they can't provide absolute proof there are Thai - are Chinese citizens not permitted entry ?

Please, I’m just stating a view.

You said they had Thai passports and that proved they were Thai citizens. I pointed out that their Thai passports had expired. So they may have been Thai citizens when they were in date, but it doesn’t prove they are Thai citizens now.

As you guessed, I renounced my UK citizenship, so although I have many expired UK passports, I am not British. Do you know for sure that the parents of these kids did not renounce their Thai citizenship? I’m not saying they did, I’m saying that it’s possible.

Immigration have stated that they do not believe that she is the mother. Do you know more than immigration does? Can you prove she is the mother? Because she couldn’t, not to the satisfaction of immigration anyway.

Ahh but she had the birth certificates. But can you prove that the girls listed on the birth certificate and shown in the expired passports, are indeed the two girls standing in front of the IO? The photos in the expired passports presumably don’t match them.

And what names are on the current passports on which they are travelling? Thai names or a Chinese name?

Where are their Thai ID cards?

I think I am right in saying that immigration can deny entry to whomever they like if they feel they should not be permitted entry. Being Chinese doesn’t guarantee entry.

I don’t know what thought process led to the kids not being allowed in. I can speculate that immigration decided that they were not Thai citizens, the “mother” was not the mother and that they didn’t feel it was right to permit two teenagers in on their own. Having sufficient funds would be one reason for that because if the mother isn’t the mother, her funds probably don’t count. And since they were staying with family/friends, they had no hotel booking.

So, if they are Thai citizens and it was their mother waiting for them, immigrations decision is bizarre. If that’s not their mother and they aren’t Thai citizens, it’s not so bizarre.

They obviously couldn’t prove those two things to the satisfaction of immigration and looking at the documentation they had, I’m not entirely surprised.

13 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

I know about this because when my daughter was about 8, we were due to fly to Spain. Her Thai passport had expired by just a few weeks and I mistakenly thought she could just fly on her UK passport, which was current. We were refused at the check in counter because she was living in Thailand as a Thai person, so had to exit using a Thai passport. Even though I had the recently expired passport with me, it was not accepted

When still married my wife usually entered Thailand on her Thai passport but at some point switched to using the UK passport. So one year we travelled out as a family, using her UK passport and when she went to change some cash in a bank was refused as the passport had expired. But it got worse, 6 months previously she had travelled to Thailand and back to the UK on the same expired passport. Thinking what the hell to do now just winged it going back with Finn Air. At Helsinki the BA check in staff pointed out the passport had expired. This was before I realised you could travel back to the UK on an expired UK passport. But did beg the question 6 months prior she had left the UK, entered Thailand, left Thailand, entered the UK, left the UK again, entered Thailand again on an expired passport. I guess back then they didn't pay much attention as they do now.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Please, I’m just stating a view.

You said they had Thai passports and that proved they were Thai citizens. I pointed out that their Thai passports had expired. So they may have been Thai citizens when they were in date, but it doesn’t prove they are Thai citizens now.

As you guessed, I renounced my UK citizenship, so although I have many expired UK passports, I am not British. Do you know for sure that the parents of these kids did not renounce their Thai citizenship? I’m not saying they did, I’m saying that it’s possible.

Leading with that would have been more clear - there was nothing in the report stating that the minors had 'denounced' their Thai citizenship - the report simply stated expired Thai passports - highlighting the are Thai.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Immigration have stated that they do not believe that she is the mother. Do you know more than immigration does? Can you prove she is the mother? Because she couldn’t, not to the satisfaction of immigration anyway.

How can a parent prove they are the parents ? - Birth Certificate / Passports / Expired Passports etc.

This mother had no less information at hand than we all possess - my point here being, if my child were to fly into Thailand and met the same difficult immigration officer, how could I prove that I am the father - I only have a Birth Certificate and Thai and UK Passports.

Thus: Exactly what more could the Immigration officer be asking for, for parental proof ? - many dual nationals carry a different name from the mother as in many cases a married mother may not go through the process of officially changing their name to the husbands family name.

It seems the only thing 'missing' was certified consent from parents or guardians for the trip - but consent certified by who exactly ?

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Ahh but she had the birth certificates. But can you prove that the girls listed on the birth certificate and shown in the expired passports, are indeed the two girls standing in front of the IO? The photos in the expired passports presumably don’t match them.

How can 'anyone' prove that - my childs Birth Certificate simply has his name, my name, mums name - theoretically - this Birth Certificate stated the same - unless the Childrens names has changed - travelling under a Chinese Passport with Chinese names etc.

I'd assume that as the Passports expired the photo's were older.

Maybe the names in the Birth Certificates were not the same as those in the expired passports - if thats the case there are missing key details in the information reported.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

And what names are on the current passports on which they are travelling? Thai names or a Chinese name?

Where are their Thai ID cards?

Not every Thai of dual citizenship has a Thai ID card - I know plenty of parents of mixed kids who have not secured Thai ID cards for their children.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

I think I am right in saying that immigration can deny entry to whomever they like if they feel they should not be permitted entry. Being Chinese doesn’t guarantee entry.

Thats not quite true - Immigration cannot deny entry to 'Thai citizens' and unless (as you have) they denounced their Thai citizenship officially - then they are still Thai Citizens - unless of course, as you pointed out - the expired passports are not theirs.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

I don’t know what thought process led to the kids not being allowed in. I can speculate that immigration decided that they were not Thai citizens, the “mother” was not the mother and that they didn’t feel it was right to permit two teenagers in on their own. Having sufficient funds would be one reason for that because if the mother isn’t the mother, her funds probably don’t count. And since they were staying with family/friends, they had no hotel booking.

So, if they are Thai citizens and it was their mother waiting for them, immigrations decision is bizarre. If that’s not their mother and they aren’t Thai citizens, it’s not so bizarre.

The reporting indicates they are Thai citizens and the mother was the real mother - the mother is the one who went public.

Its also reported that The children, aged 17 and 15 (boy and girl think), usually travel to Thailand during school holidays to visit her and other family members - so they 'theoretically' have a travel history within the Immigration records.

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

They obviously couldn’t prove those two things to the satisfaction of immigration and looking at the documentation they had, I’m not entirely surprised.

Thats the alarming thing about this story - if there's a difficult immigration officer how can parenting be actually 'proven' if they decide to 'contest' your claims.

Perhaps there is key missing information - or this was an immigration officer being very very awkward.

On 7/2/2026 at 4:10 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Imagine going to the airport to meet your Children to be told by an immigration officer that they don't think they are your children !!!...

Imagine they weren't your children and the immigration officer doing his job and thwarting your attempt to break immigration rules and child protection laws.

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Leading with that would have been more clear - there was nothing in the report stating that the minors had 'denounced' their Thai citizenship - the report simply stated expired Thai passports - highlighting the are Thai.

How can a parent prove they are the parents ? - Birth Certificate / Passports / Expired Passports etc.

This mother had no less information at hand than we all possess - my point here being, if my child were to fly into Thailand and met the same difficult immigration officer, how could I prove that I am the father - I only have a Birth Certificate and Thai and UK Passports.

Thus: Exactly what more could the Immigration officer be asking for, for parental proof ? - many dual nationals carry a different name from the mother as in many cases a married mother may not go through the process of officially changing their name to the husbands family name.

It seems the only thing 'missing' was certified consent from parents or guardians for the trip - but consent certified by who exactly ?

How can 'anyone' prove that - my childs Birth Certificate simply has his name, my name, mums name - theoretically - this Birth Certificate stated the same - unless the Childrens names has changed - travelling under a Chinese Passport with Chinese names etc.

I'd assume that as the Passports expired the photo's were older.

Maybe the names in the Birth Certificates were not the same as those in the expired passports - if thats the case there are missing key details in the information reported.

Not every Thai of dual citizenship has a Thai ID card - I know plenty of parents of mixed kids who have not secured Thai ID cards for their children.

Thats not quite true - Immigration cannot deny entry to 'Thai citizens' and unless (as you have) they denounced their Thai citizenship officially - then they are still Thai Citizens - unless of course, as you pointed out - the expired passports are not theirs.

The reporting indicates they are Thai citizens and the mother was the real mother - the mother is the one who went public.

Its also reported that The children, aged 17 and 15 (boy and girl think), usually travel to Thailand during school holidays to visit her and other family members - so they 'theoretically' have a travel history within the Immigration records.

Thats the alarming thing about this story - if there's a difficult immigration officer how can parenting be actually 'proven' if they decide to 'contest' your claims.

Perhaps there is key missing information - or this was an immigration officer being very very awkward.

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Leading with that would have been more clear - there was nothing in the report stating that the minors had 'denounced' their Thai citizenship - the report simply stated expired Thai passports - highlighting the are Thai.

How can a parent prove they are the parents ? - Birth Certificate / Passports / Expired Passports etc.

This mother had no less information at hand than we all possess - my point here being, if my child were to fly into Thailand and met the same difficult immigration officer, how could I prove that I am the father - I only have a Birth Certificate and Thai and UK Passports.

Thus: Exactly what more could the Immigration officer be asking for, for parental proof ? - many dual nationals carry a different name from the mother as in many cases a married mother may not go through the process of officially changing their name to the husbands family name.

It seems the only thing 'missing' was certified consent from parents or guardians for the trip - but consent certified by who exactly ?

How can 'anyone' prove that - my childs Birth Certificate simply has his name, my name, mums name - theoretically - this Birth Certificate stated the same - unless the Childrens names has changed - travelling under a Chinese Passport with Chinese names etc.

I'd assume that as the Passports expired the photo's were older.

Maybe the names in the Birth Certificates were not the same as those in the expired passports - if thats the case there are missing key details in the information reported.

Not every Thai of dual citizenship has a Thai ID card - I know plenty of parents of mixed kids who have not secured Thai ID cards for their children.

Thats not quite true - Immigration cannot deny entry to 'Thai citizens' and unless (as you have) they denounced their Thai citizenship officially - then they are still Thai Citizens - unless of course, as you pointed out - the expired passports are not theirs.

The reporting indicates they are Thai citizens and the mother was the real mother - the mother is the one who went public.

Its also reported that The children, aged 17 and 15 (boy and girl think), usually travel to Thailand during school holidays to visit her and other family members - so they 'theoretically' have a travel history within the Immigration records.

Thats the alarming thing about this story - if there's a difficult immigration officer how can parenting be actually 'proven' if they decide to 'contest' your claims.

Perhaps there is key missing information - or this was an immigration officer being very very awkward.

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Leading with that would have been more clear - there was nothing in the report stating that the minors had 'denounced' their Thai citizenship - the report simply stated expired Thai passports - highlighting the are Thai.

How can a parent prove they are the parents ? - Birth Certificate / Passports / Expired Passports etc.

This mother had no less information at hand than we all possess - my point here being, if my child were to fly into Thailand and met the same difficult immigration officer, how could I prove that I am the father - I only have a Birth Certificate and Thai and UK Passports.

Thus: Exactly what more could the Immigration officer be asking for, for parental proof ? - many dual nationals carry a different name from the mother as in many cases a married mother may not go through the process of officially changing their name to the husbands family name.

It seems the only thing 'missing' was certified consent from parents or guardians for the trip - but consent certified by who exactly ?

How can 'anyone' prove that - my childs Birth Certificate simply has his name, my name, mums name - theoretically - this Birth Certificate stated the same - unless the Childrens names has changed - travelling under a Chinese Passport with Chinese names etc.

I'd assume that as the Passports expired the photo's were older.

Maybe the names in the Birth Certificates were not the same as those in the expired passports - if thats the case there are missing key details in the information reported.

Not every Thai of dual citizenship has a Thai ID card - I know plenty of parents of mixed kids who have not secured Thai ID cards for their children.

Thats not quite true - Immigration cannot deny entry to 'Thai citizens' and unless (as you have) they denounced their Thai citizenship officially - then they are still Thai Citizens - unless of course, as you pointed out - the expired passports are not theirs.

The reporting indicates they are Thai citizens and the mother was the real mother - the mother is the one who went public.

Its also reported that The children, aged 17 and 15 (boy and girl think), usually travel to Thailand during school holidays to visit her and other family members - so they 'theoretically' have a travel history within the Immigration records.

Thats the alarming thing about this story - if there's a difficult immigration officer how can parenting be actually 'proven' if they decide to 'contest' your claims.

Perhaps there is key missing information - or this was an immigration officer being very very awkward.

Well, I’m not defending immigration or saying they are right. I’m simply putting forward what I consider to be plausible reasons why they might have taken the action that they did.

My personal opinion is that this is an innocent case of kids travelling to see their mother after living abroad with their father for a long time. But, based on what’s reported, I can also see some potential issues with their documentation.

We also have to bear in mind that we have only really heard the mother’s side of the story. AFAIK immigration haven’t listed out bullet points of why they reached the decision they did.

I doubt that this is a single IO being difficult. I would have thought it got referred to staff in a side booth while the issues were discussed. I assume the mother had to be found from wherever she was waiting, and brought for questioning,

birth certificates and expired passports brought from home and shown to immigration. Not stuff that’s done while kids are waiting in line.

If you don’t mind, I won’t respond to your e mail point by point. I don’t really have specific answers other than what I previously speculated as possible reasons for the decision by immigration.