khongaeng

Anyone have any news about an interview session in October?

11 hours ago, bkk_bwana said:

I had to miss the MOI interview because of travel. They just put me into the next month's interview.  Nothing complicated.

Thank you, this comment is extremely helpful.  When you asked them to be put in the next month's interview schedule, did they tell you the date of the next interviews.  Or did you have to wait until the typical 2-3 days before the interview date for another call.

Also when you asked for a slot a month later, did they give you a hard time, or were they happy to accommodate.  My travel schedule is crazy and I will probably have to do the same thing as you.

Last week when applying for a visa, I came across a situation where having Thai citizenship might cause some problems when applying for a visa to another country at the respective embassy in Thailand, and I am curious if any of you Thai citizens have encountered this issue and found work arounds.  

The situation is this: Applying for a visa when more favorable terms (length of visa or price) are available to passport holders of your original nationality.  However, applying for the visa at the embassy as a foreigner requires you to submit copies of your Thai visa and work permit.  These documents, of course, would not exist if you were a Thai citizen.  

Have you just gone through the visa application process as a Thai, or did you somehow use a combination of your Thai ID card with your foreign passport to convince the embassy to allow you to use your foreign passport.  

On 8/2/2019 at 11:14 AM, david143 said:

on 30 July 2019
30 กรกฎาคม 2562

Meeting held for Interview for Nationality.

 

FYI

Are the meetings always held on a Tuesday?

4 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

I saw in an earlier post that the requirement to submit an affidavit that the applicant intends to renounce their former nationality is no longer listed on the Special Branch website. Does anyone know if that means it is officially no longer required? Also (assuming it's OK to ask) was anyone here who has acquired Thai nationality actually forced to give up their former nationality?

For latest requirements, unfortunately like all other Thai government offices, it is best to go to talk to them directly, at SB.

It was definitely required when I applied 2 years ago, and one of my friends who applied before the policy came into place, but somehow his application was lost in the process and later recovered, was told that he would need to get this affidavit if he wanted to continue with his application last year.  

The wording is that you "intend" to renounce your citizenship.  Intentions change, and as of yet, no one here has reported that they were somehow forced to actually renounce their citizenship.  Some have said that once you obtain Thai citizenship, a letter is sent from SB to your embassy, but I'm not sure if that has been independently verified.  Depending on your embassy, such letter probably goes in the circular filing cabinet.  In all 327 pages, I don't recall anyone every saying that they actually gave up their previous nationality.

By the way, I posted some affidavits on October 13, 2017 that my friend used at the American Embassy.  Not sure if they will work for you, but they did for him:

1 hour ago, onthemoon said:

I am getting my documents together and have a question about the letter from the bank:

1.) Does it have to be in a certain format? Technically, I could just print out the statement as it shows how much money is in the account but I don't know whether they'll accept that.

2.) Does it have to be a savings account or can I show my LTF?

3.) I use BBL. If I have to get an actual letter, can I go to any branch or does it have to be the branch where I have the account?

Thanks in advance to the experts. 

I'm not certain if there are specific requirements, but I will tell you what I did that worked:

1. Get a letter that certifies the balance in your bank account.  I actually brought them a statement and they didn't care about it.  The official letter the bank will give you for immigration is exactly the same thing.  I don't believe that they will allow you to put a special name in the TO: area of the letter, but in my case SB didn't care

2. Not sure, I only gave them details about my savings account

3. Finally BBL changed their policy and for the past 3 years you can get a letter certifying your ownership of an account and the balance at ANY Bangkok Bank branch.

I wish I were young enough to be in a Science Olympiad, then maybe I could get "Fast Track" citizenship.  According to the article I meet all the other requirements ????

<link removed>

Too bad the government won't just accept the UN agreement from 1961 and "fast track" all of its stateless citizens born and raised here, but in any case I'm glad that they did the right thing with this young girl.  

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Its also useful every 6 years to renew your drivers license, proof of address. Saves a trip to immigration.

 

I agree, it's pretty useless, as is the non-Thai ID card. 

Strangely enough when I went to renew my drivers license earlier this year, I prepared all my documents and was given two options, use my yellow book and pink ID card and only get a 2 year license or use my passport and WP and renew for 5 years. 

Thinking this was strange I asked politely and was told sharply that’s just how it is. I of course opted for the 5 year renewal, but left unsure of what the difference is all about. 

Strangely they don’t require one of those rubber stamp doctors certifications anymore. Again I have no idea if it is policy, but where I went it was not required. 

I can can confirm that the pink card can be used for domestic air travel, but so can a Thai drivers license...

I'm not sure about others experience, but the longer I live in Thailand, the more I see how pointless the yellow book is, including the accompanying pink Non-Thai National ID card.  Even if you have it, you still have to do 90-day reporting (showing that even immigration officials consider residence and house registration completely different things) and every place official documentation is required (banks, government agencies, insurance companies, mobile and internet service providers), they don't care about the yellow book and expect to see the Passport and Work Permit.  Even nowadays, the pink ID card rarely gets me into most places at the Thai price, and if I do get the Thai price, it usually only because I am polite and negotiate with the ticket person in Thai.

I think the only thing the yellow book is good for is in checking one of the boxes of requirements for applying for Thai citizenship.  

Fortunately once you have the yellow book from anywhere in the country, it is very easy to transfer to someone else's house registration in Bangkok, and your name does not clutter their blue book either.  Your name does not show up in their blue book (unless you are a permanent resident).  If someone does not have a yellow book yet, I recommend applying at your local office wherever you and your Thai spouse reside, it is much easier that way.  Then you can move your registration to a friend or relatives or house in Bangkok.  Time commitment on their part will be tops 1 hour based on my experience.  

13 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

Oh, not true, I'm a man! 

Sorry for my mistake ????  glad to hear that your application has moved along so smoothly. You give us other males hope!

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

8 months is excellent, did you know someone's at the MOI?

 

From what I gather, there are two of us here waiting for 11 months from the time our applications were sent to MOI, and two waiting for 9 months.

 

An earlier poster said he waited 24 months!

 

 

MrPatrickThai avatar says that she is Female.  If this is true (I haven't had a chance to look back through her posts) and she is a woman that applied based on her husband, then 8 months is probably quite normal.  Women naturalizing due to Thai husbands have a more dependable (and shorter) timeline, based on the few posts from others in this thread.  

I myself am male and am one of the ones waiting 12 months for the MOI interview since the paperwork was sent.  It has been 20 months since my application was signed at SB and 18 months since NIA interview.  

I'm excited for those 86 that were published in the RG and hope to see that with the "new" government all the moving parts of this process continue to operate normally and we avoid the blackhole that many on this thread experienced between the early 2000s and 2014

On 4/5/2019 at 9:59 AM, yankee99 said:

No immigration officer ever came to my house in 8 years of marriage extensions. They do ask for some pictures of the front and some inside the house when renewing, Fwiw i have printed the same pictures for the last 5 years

That’s lucky. The first time I applied for extension in a Province in central Thailand, they visited my house but only stayed in the front room area. The first time I applied in Province neighboring Bangkok, they insisted on touring the house and taking another picture of me and my wife on our marital bed. I was furious and said a snide remark and received a tongue lashing from the immigration paper pusher that came to my house. Fortunately for all extensions after the first extension in a new office only has required the mountain of paperwork. 

18 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Thanks khongaeng.

The reason I want to change is that I desperately want to leave my job. I have a new job waiting for me. However, the local immigration say I'd have to leave the country for a new visa based on work, which would mean a gap in the visa/WP. 

The way around this, I hope, would be changing to an extension based on marriage. Then again, they might say no to this. Maybe the one for having kid is easier?

I'm actually not sure how the process works.  I entered Thailand on a temporary marriage visa many years ago, extended that visa a number of times, and then a few years back I transitioned to a visa based on working at a BOI company.  After that I went back to a visa based on marriage.  During this who process, I not once had to leave the country to start a new visa.  I'm not sure if there are special privileges provided to BOI companies other than the 1-stop place where you can do your work permit and visa at the same place and time, but to me it appears that there is a way to extend visas or change visa type without leaving the country.  When I left the BOI company, my visa was cancelled but immigration at BOI 1 stop stamped 7 days in my passport before I had to leave the country.  In those 7 days I extended my Non-O visa based on marriage and have had no problems since.  I also have a work permit separately from my new company.  When I transitioned, on paper my old WP had not yet expired when I got my new WP, but in reality there was a gap of 6 months or so of employment.  In any case, when I filed my application the SB officer gave me no problems about my visa or my WP. 

I would talk to the visa person at your current company and make sure that when they cancel your visa at immigration that they give you the 7-day grace period stamped in your passport that you can use to go and extend your visa based on marriage.  This is what I did, it worked well, and I had no problems with my application.  When you get the visa based on marriage the first time, be ready for some Immigration officers to show up at your house unannounced and take pictures of you with your wife all around your house including on your marital bed, as well as getting one of your neighbors to "witness" that you actually live there together with your wife...

23 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I'm planning to change my visa extension to one based on marriage.

Do you think this would affect my application in any way?

During my 3 year period before applying based on marriage, I had a visa through the BOI company I was working for and then a transition to visa through my wife.  This caused me no issues when applying.  Then after applying, and 2 years ago when I renewed my visa I found out another type of visa through having Thai children (which is essentially the same as visa through wife, but with a requirement to have 400,000 baht parked in a bank account for 1 month instead of 3 for the marriage visa).  I gave my officer a call and asked him if I could change my visa from visa based on Marriage to visa based on Thai children, he said it wouldn't be an issue.  He only asked why I wanted to change, because the stipulation is if you are divorced (or possibly separated) from your wife during your application process, your application is rejected.  I ended up not changing my visa type, but from everything I gather based on my experience, you only need to maintain continuity of your visa to be eligible, regardless of visa type.  If you are extending your visa in Thailand, no matter the type, your application is fine.  If you leave the country to apply for another visa and come back in to the country, your continuity is broken and your application is void.  

4 hours ago, Medinitas said:

Thank you very much for your answer.

 

What do you mean "you'll have to be in a friend's blue book"? Could a Thai person add a foreigner in his/her own blue book and that means being registered in the place where he/she is registered?

As a foreigner, you will never show up in a Blue Book, definitely not for a house that a Thai owns, and even if you own the condo yourself.    Your name will always be separate in a Yellow book.  I have moved my name multiple times to different addresses and different Provinces.  It is a very painless process, but it is different from a Thai with blue book.  Thais only have to go to the office at their destination, with the owner of the house at the destination, to pull their registration to the new house.  A foreigner in a yellow book must first report their moving at their origin office, then the owner of the house at the destination needs to go with the old yellow book and any paperwork given at the origin office to the destination office and register the foreigner in their house.  A foreigner (in my experience) does not need to be present at any of these registration changes, only the owner of the house at origin and destination.  In my experience, this process also doesn't take long (certainly not a whole day like most other processes), but just be aware of the extra step for foreigners. 

I also vote that it is infinitely easier to have a house registration in Bangkok, even if you live outside of Bangkok.  Applying with the Special Branch in Bangkok is straightforward, and though will take patience and waiting, will get you to the goal in the end.  Even in Chiangmai, others have reported that the process is more convoluted requiring addition interviews and approvals.

On 2/23/2019 at 2:06 PM, Neeranam said:

Did you get a letter saying it was sent to the MOI?

I didn't, but the SB told me on the phone that it was sent last March. My NIA was last January.

 

No, everyone I have talked to lately said they never received a letter. confirmation was given only by talking to SB directly. I received confirmation via LINE after I asked the officer that processed my application

5 hours ago, Neeranam said:

When was your NIA interview?

 

Mine was last January and still waiting for MOI. However, I think 1.5 years is about average wait.

NIA i think was September or October 2017. My file was sent to MOI in March or April last year. I know I have no right to complain.  Most have waited far longer than I have at that this point.  

On 2/19/2019 at 2:09 PM, Neeranam said:

They never got a photo of my bedroom. 

No pictures required at SB at Bangkok. I even asked if they wanted to see them (I brought a bunch just in case). They wouldn’t even look at them. 

Immigration is another story. They get a coy picture of me and my wife sitting on our bed updated annually. The whole process is ridiculous and I now have it down to a science that still kills 3 days of preparing paperwork, driving to the office and waiting a least half a day to submit and pick up my visa (on two separate days, of course). Citizenship can’t come soon enough for me... I just wish I could get an MOI interview. 

I'm glad my embassy will still gladly affix their big rubber stamp on a document stating that I like to wear pink polka dot speedo swimming suits in the bathtub.  I have heard other horror stories from British friends about difficulties in everything ranging from getting access to pensions, healthcare, passports and so on.  If normal cool and composed Arkady gets worked up about it, it must be truly as bad as they say ????

I had no idea that the Swiss and Australian embassies will give a special visa for dual nationals.  This is great news for me and my friend if we ever get Thai citizenship.  

It seems as though things have slowed down again at SB and MOI recently with so few updates from others.  I am now almost 20 months since my application was finalized (7 months since being sent to MOI), and still no call from MOI.

1 hour ago, qualtrough said:

Awful quiet here lately! Hoping no news is good news.

For me no news means frustrating waiting with nothing to update. It has been a long time since someone reported that they got called for their MOI interview. I would love to hear if anyone has been interviewed at all this year. My hope still remains that somehow I’m able to clear the MOI hurdle before a next years elections. 

12 hours ago, SWW said:

My case is horribly complicated, but I was called to the MoI interview about two years after my application was sent by SB.

 

However, I may still not be able to take the interview because of reasons (the ‘complicated’ bit).

Thanks for the update. I would take your place in the interview queue ?  I hope it all works out for you

15 hours ago, qualtrough said:

It's been just 3 weeks since my NIA interview, but I am wondering if you or anyone else can provide advice on follow-up, such as how long I should wait before contacting my NIA guy,  what to specifically ask, etc. I don't want to annoy him, but on the other hand I want to be sure there are any problems or my file hasn't been misplaced, that kind of thing. If anyone has advice on how their interim NIA-MOI period experience went I would appreciate it.

 

One more thing: what is the cover letter known as in written Thai?

Arkady's advice is spot on.  I called just about every month between NIA interview and MOI submission to find out if anything was missing or anything else was needed.  It did not seem to help or hinder my application in any way.  For me it was 6-7 months between NIA interview and submission to MOI.  Others have reported as little as a 1-2 months.  The reason why is a mystery to me.  I suppose that it is Luck of the draw for when the big important SB guy is in the office for his monthly meeting to review the candidates for submission to MOI.  I had a string a months in-between when my application was ready, but I think there was no meeting.

On 7/22/2018 at 2:36 PM, Neeranam said:

How long since your NIA interview?

Have you received a letter saying the MOI now has your application, if so when did you get it?

Thanks.

Just for an indication of the variance in the process, I signed my application with fingerprinting over 14 months ago,  NIA Interview over 10 months ago, Application sent to MOI (no letter) approximately 4 months ago.  No call yet from MOI.  

If anyone has the submission letter from April - May 2018 timeframe, I would also appreciate it (via PM).  Thanks in advance.

7 hours ago, sathuluv said:

Thanks Arkady. Great piece of info. Will ask my Missus to check with the SB Officer and find if it still provided. Yes, after reading yours and few others the nightmare to update my identity to all banks will be a challenge especially the Thai banks. As the UOB and AMEX I might have some level to escalate and get sorted fingers crossed ?
Will keep you all posted.

I was just planning on keeping my old bank accounts in my previous nationality. It makes it much easier to transfer money out of Thailand if you have already set up a “salary transfer account” with your bank. From what I understand Thais have a big problem transferring money out of Thailand unless it is for some very specific reasons and a pile of supporting documents. I have never had a problem transferring large amounts out as a foreigner. 

Does anyone know if it is somehow illegal to maintain your account in your old nationality especially if you maintain your old passport?

I will be able to weigh in later on this topic when / if I pass my MOI interview.

Technically I was without a work permit for 4 months between jobs during my 3 year qualification window.  

I even told SB about this situation, and the officer said that it was only important that I was continuously employed and paying the minimum taxes (which I was).  My application was approved by SB and earlier this year was sent to MOI.  

On paper in the WP, it looks like a had continuity (even an overlap) in my WP because I had just renewed my work permit in my first job before resigned from the job and I got a new WP permit from my second job before the previously one expired (even though it was technically not valid anymore).  The interesting thing about the WP is that when it is no longer valid because you have left the company, there is nothing stamped in it saying such.  The only thing that would indicate a break or change in employment is what is stamped in your passport, because you will have to immediately turn around and apply for continuity of stay as others have said.  

So actually since I entered Thailand a number of years ago, my Non-O Visa has been continuously renewed, but transitioned from me and my wife applying, to my work applying, and now back to me and my wife applying.  

I will be sweating bullets like Arkady when I finally make it to my MOI interview, because of this grey area, and I hope it doesn't force me to re-apply later.  I will let everyone know how it turns out for me.