BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network) - An Australian same-sex couple has been permitted to leave Thailand with a surrogate baby after background checks by Thai immigration authorities, reports said on Sunday.

The couple had sought assistance from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok on Friday after they had been denied departure.

Four Australian and American couples were prevented from leaving the kingdom with children born from Thai surrogate mothers on Thursday.

The crackdown followed the case of an Australian couple - one of whom is a convicted child sex offender - who left a male twin surrogate baby with Down's syndrome in Thailand, bringing only his sister back to Australia.