On Monday, my daughter went to renew her Thai passport, something she has previously done having received her first Thai passport when she was sixteen.

The passport office refused to renew her passport and told her that her Thai ID was no longer valid. They told her that they had cancelled both and that she should never have been issued a passport (and subsequent renewal) as her Thai ID stated that it was for temporary use only. She has been using the ID for more than 10 years and no-one has ever questioned it before.

The passport office told her to go to the main registration office in Khon Kaen and get a new ID and they would then issue her a new passport. The house registration for my daughter shows her as living in a village about 80 kms from Khon Kaen city and the people at the registration office in Khon Kaen called the local office who confirmed that they knew my daughter and her mother by name and could vouch for her being a Thai national.

My daughter was then told to go to the local office and they would provide the new ID. So, apart from a 160km round trip, no problem right? Wrong, when she got to the local office they refused to do anything to correct the problem. They agreed that she was entitled to a Thai ID but wouldn't do anything about it until she found out who, in the main government office, was responsible for issuing the wrong ID type in the first place.

The next morning she went back to the Khon Kaen office and after several hours of being given the run around she eventually got to speak to the senior officer there and he pulled her records up on the computer and obtained the name of the person responsible for issuing the wrong type of ID. Lo and behold, it just happened to be the person who had been giving her the run around for the last few hours.

They then called the local office on her behalf and gave them the details of the person responsible, agreed it was a mistake and, at the end of the phone conversation, my daughter was told to return to the local office where a new ID would be issued.

So off she went back to the village office were she was told that only the head of the department could authorise the new ID and that he was on holiday until Friday.

Why on earth didn't they tell her that on the phone?

So, as of this moment, my daughter is technically here illegally due to a clerical error. More importantly, her land, business and her son have all been registered using her old invalid, temporary Thai ID and will all have to be re-registered using the new ID once this initial mess has been sorted out.

Your daughter is not here illegally. She is Thai whether she has a valid ID card or not.

Not sure how the error had gone on for so long. Somebody should of noticed it long ago. Years ago they issued a temporary ID card until the permanent one was issued.

Anything she has been done should not have to be redone since they were done based upon her Thai ID number that never changes. Her ID number is also shown on her house book registry.

She is not illegally in the country since she is Thai from birth.

Not sure how the error had gone on for so long. Somebody should of noticed it long ago. Years ago they issued a temporary ID card until the permanent one was issued.

Anything she has been done should not have to be redone since they were done based upon her Thai ID number that never changes. Her ID number is also shown on her house book registry.

She is not illegally in the country since she is Thai from birth.

The illegal alien title was done tongue-in-cheek.

I think you may be wrong about her not having to re-do her paperwork as I believe that she will be given a different Thai ID number rather than have the status of her current one changed.

The reason I say this is because they told her that temporary ID cards start with the number 7 so if this is true then they will at least have to change the first digit if not the whole number.

Hopefully we will find out for sure on Friday.

Not sure how the error had gone on for so long. Somebody should of noticed it long ago. Years ago they issued a temporary ID card until the permanent one was issued.

Anything she has been done should not have to be redone since they were done based upon her Thai ID number that never changes. Her ID number is also shown on her house book registry.

She is not illegally in the country since she is Thai from birth.

The illegal alien title was done tongue-in-cheek.

I think you may be wrong about her not having to re-do her paperwork as I believe that she will be given a different Thai ID number rather than have the status of her current one changed.

The reason I say this is because they told her that temporary ID cards start with the number 7 so if this is true then they will at least have to change the first digit if not the whole number.

Hopefully we will find out for sure on Friday.

The 7 does not mean it was a temporary ID number. It means she is a child of a person who entered the country unlawfully. See the following image. Not sure how she ended up with such a prefix.

Not sure how the error had gone on for so long. Somebody should of noticed it long ago. Years ago they issued a temporary ID card until the permanent one was issued.

Anything she has been done should not have to be redone since they were done based upon her Thai ID number that never changes. Her ID number is also shown on her house book registry.

She is not illegally in the country since she is Thai from birth.

The illegal alien title was done tongue-in-cheek.

I think you may be wrong about her not having to re-do her paperwork as I believe that she will be given a different Thai ID number rather than have the status of her current one changed.

The reason I say this is because they told her that temporary ID cards start with the number 7 so if this is true then they will at least have to change the first digit if not the whole number.

Hopefully we will find out for sure on Friday.

The 7 does not mean it was a temporary ID number. It means she is a child of a person who entered the country unlawfully. See the following image. Not sure how she ended up with such a prefix.

Thanks for posting that image.

Category 6 isn't just those who entered unlawfully, it also includes "those who entered lawfully with intent to stay in the country on temporary basis" which I would assume is me. I can't remember that far back as to whether I had a tourist visa or just got stamped in on arrival using my UK passport.

As for her ID being temporary, it actually states that on her ID.

I asked my wife how come she had never noticed that and was told "nobody ever bothers to read their ID, they just look to make sure the name is correct".

The ID card could be temporary but I have never heard of a temporary ID number. There is a big difference between them.

The number 6 would normally not be for you it would be for your wife which of course makes no sense.

Was your daughter born here? If yes her birth certificate would have her ID number on it.

It seems a big mistake was made.

The ID card could be temporary but I have never heard of a temporary ID number. There is a big difference between them.

The number 6 would normally not be for you it would be for your wife which of course makes no sense.

Was your daughter born here? If yes her birth certificate would have her ID number on it.

It seems a big mistake was made.

Yes, my daughter was born here and has a Thai birth certificate. I can't check what's on her birth certificate at the moment as she is at the local office with all her paperwork and has been since 10a.m. She came around at lunch time when the officials went for their lunch and says they have confirmed that she'll be given a completely new number.

The daughter just walked through the door with her new Thai ID, entirely new number, starting with a 5.

In answer to your question Joe, the number on her birth certificate matched her old Thai ID.

The information I gave about her old Thai ID stating it was a temporary ID was duff info, it was some print-out they gave her that showed her ID details and had "temporary ID" printed across the top. What can I say, I was repeating what she had wrongly told me. Best bit of that is that my wife obviously still hasn't got around to reading what was printed on my daughters ID or I'd be getting an earful now.

So armed with a completely new ID number all she has to do now is get a new passport, change her land ownership documents, change the registration on her two cars, change her house registration and change her business ownership documents.

The good news is that she wont have to change the ID number on her son's birth certificate because they told her at the office this morning that it's "impossible" to do that.