onthemoon

When I got a new passport many years ago, I actually went to CW to have the stamps moved. They explained that it is not necessary. If I wanted to have the stamp in the new passport, I would have to apply for a new visa, but expiry was far in the future. Like you, I have travelled with two passports many times since. KBank and SCB require the passport, Bangkok Bank was happy with my pink ID and tabien baan. Maybe that's one of the cases where different branches make different decisions.

I think I read in this forum that those oaths were for applicants under marriage. My application is under business. I am patient, as I don't think there will be new oath ceremonies before the elections anyway.

After going through the trouble of travelling to CW and losing half a day, try getting your visa easily when you only know on Friday afternoon that you have to travel on the weekend. Not having the visa definitely overrides the PR approval. So, I don't agree with you. 😉

I agree with you 100%.

Correct. You don't need the immigrant visa (it's not called a re-entry permit, you are mixing this up with non-immigrant visas) if you don't need it. That is, if you are 100% sure you will never learn on a Friday afternoon that you will have to fly somewhere over the weekend because a family member or friend needs you. For me, I travel for business a lot anyway, but after retirement, I will also make sure I will always have a visa in my passport. Here is an anecdote: I was once at the airport at immigration when the officer told me the visa had expired - I had forgotten to check. I could cancel the morning flight, take a taxi to CW, get the stamp, and go back to the airport for the evening flight. Very funny, haha.

Thanks for the info!

The stamp in the passport clearly says "non-quota immigrant visa". It does not say "re-entry permit" as for the non-immigrant visa. If I don't have this visa (that's what it's called, sorry!), or it is expired upon my return, the PR is cancelled and therefore anything but permanent. And that is the point, never mind whether your English-speaking officer calls it visa or any other name. In addition, I need a stamp (endorsement) in the white PR book.

Yes, I have to renew the visa every year. People who know that they will never leave the country won't have to do that. It is only important that you have a valid visa in your passport when you return to Thailand. For those who say they don't need a visa because they never intend to leave, I say it is risky because you never know what happens. To make it clear: The law says you don't need a visa to stay if you have PR. if you ever leave the country for whatever reason, you do need a valid immigrant visa to return to the country, otherwise the PR will be cancelled upon return. Yes, I still need a WP. This is highly annoying. No, I cannot vote in local elections. No, I cannot buy land.

If you travel abroad and did not get a non-immigrant visa in advance, or if it has expired by the time you return, your PR is automatically cancelled. Therefore, it is not for life. I have to renew my visa every single year, and I need to make it multiple-entry. If single entry, I would have to get a new visa every month or so. I wish I needed to renew it only every 5 years, that would help. Or just make the "Permanent" Residency permanent, that would be the sensible solution by the government.

Got it, thanks!

Just for your info: I have just been told that I am not in this batch for the oath ceremony, I will be in the next batch. They don't know the timing yet.

I was thinking the same. My decision is to cancel a business of I get the short-notice invitation for the oath. What happens when I'm on a 12-hour flight to Europe, I wonder. I won't receive the invitation, nor can I come back in time. I do have the feeling there is some room for improvement here...

Thank you! - I just called, and I am not in the list yet. He confirmed that this round will start tomorrow, but I will have to wait for the next round.

How do you say "oath ceremony" again in Thai? I forgot and don't want to make up a word when I talk to my case officer tomorrow. Thanks.

Thanks. Will call him on Monday.

That would be great news! I have not been contacted yet, though. Who shall I ask on Monday? SB or Lumlukka?

How do you know he has decided this? Did you talk to him?

The red book has no meaning whatsoever. I was mentioning the pink ID and tabien baan that some banks are happy with instead of the passport.

The thing with the white book is that it has absolutely no meaning. It was introduced before immigration had any computers, and they needed to keep track of when the individual PR holders leave and enters the country. It made sense at the time, because the entry and exit stamps in the passport were not available anymore when you got a new passport. Today, there is a record in the immigration computer. When you change passports, it will be updated in your PR record, so all the previous entries and exits are in the file. We previously had a period of time when PR holders could use the auto-gates, and I used the all the time. No stamp, neither in the passport nor the white book. This was no problem whatsoever. When you ask the immigration officers today (even at the PR desk at CW), they will still say you'll need a stamp in the white book "in case the computer is down". Admittedly this has happened in the past: one time in the last 35 years that I have been here, to be exact. I will assume they have redundant systems in the meantime to prevent this from happening ever again. The total nonsense of the white book is one of my pet peeves. The other one is the reddish-brown police book.

Sure, when you cross borders, you need a passport. That is clear and not the issue of this discussion.

Driver's licence is informal. I use it in addition to the pink ID whenever they need my name in English. The pink ID is official and will be sufficient for all government interactions. Why some private companies like some banks don't accept is, is a contradiction in my understanding.

Allow me to add: It depends on the bank. BBL is happy with the pink ID and blue tabien baan, while Kbank and SCB insist on the passport. For the government (driver's licence, or any other occasion on which you have to ID yourself), airline check-in (for domestic flights) and hotels, the pink ID is sufficient in my experience.

Same batch. They asked for a copy of the WP, and I said I didn't bring it as they didn't say anything in advance. So, they asked me to send a copy of my WP to them by email afterwards, which I did.

Thanks for the info.

I was in that batch too, brother. I call them every couple of months and ask about the progress. Last update (in June) was "waiting for the Minister to sign". I think the current Minister of the Interior is kind of busy at the moment with other things going on. Please feel free to call DOPA Lamlukka, but I don't think they have any news either. Don't feel dejected. We just don't have the priority that other issues do. If anybody has any connections into the Ministry itself and can share what the Minister thinks in principle about naturalisation (and whether he is even aware of the pile waiting for his signature), that would be great.