Michael S

So what card will I get for a Half Thai? I wasn't born thailand so do we foreign born get our own unique ID card? That would be pretty cool.

That sounds cool to have a special and unique ID card, but in practice this would rather be an annoyance. Believe it or not, but I even had trouble to identify myself as Thai with my Thai passport (except at the airport of course). I don't want to know what a card that looks different from all others would do. No issue with the Thai ID card though.

If you want to feel unique, take comfort that you will be on of the few citizens whose ID card starts with a 5.

Learning something new.

Digit 0: sounds like an asylum seeker, displaced person or stateless? (not quite sure which term is right).

(so definitely not a Thai citizen)

Very cool, I have never seen a white ID card before! It says on top of the card that it is an "ID card for an individual who doesn't have a registered status". (Or something like that.) So this may in fact apply to all the three suggestions. As you already mentioned, he is definitely not a Thai citizen considering the "citizen" word (ประชาชน) part is left on the top of the the ID card, whereas it appears on the Thai citizen card.

I'm no economist, but considering the recently imposed negative interest rates in Europe, this is surely of interest (excuse the pun) to short term investors.

Or am I wrong?

Yes, it is actually more beneficial to the short term investors as you receive 2% interest with little risk. However for the country this means that the money will just lay around (in their bank account) instead of being invested (which would help the economy).

I'm sure if you ask any Thai who hold more than Thai citizenship they would know what I'm talking about. The law is there for decades, not something new.

As said, I had personal experience on this and just want to warn that it could back fire in the future. It's not worth doing easy thing now but would have to untie the knots later.

I am "any Thai who hold more than Thai citizenship" (sic) and I don't know what you are talking about. The Thai embassy in my country clearly knows I have another citizenship. I even showed them my other passport as proof of identification for my first Thai passport. You have probably been misinformed, as many people (including some Thai officials) believe that you can't hold dual citizenship.

if it is legal for her to enter on a Swedish passport then she should do it and apply for Thai passport while here and when she gets it she might be able to just go to immigration to cancel the visa on her swedish passport now that she has the Thai one, probably without border run, which sounds like a stupid idea for a Thai citizen

I mention if legal because not all countries will let you enter with a visa on a foreign passport if you have a local one, ie Australia mentions that if you are a dual citizen, it is illegal to request a visa on another passport to enter australia, however they will happily welcome you on an expired passport and we know as we did it. The only issue was to persuade the staff at Suvarnabumi to let us board without valid passport.

Terrible advice. Like everyone who gave similar advice, yours is really, really bad.

A Thai citizen should enter Thailand and leave Thailand on his/her Thai passport. Period. There is NO reason at all for the girl of the OP to do anything else.

As usual, the person giving straight, legal, document-backed advice is ubonjoe. The OP would actually be UNwise not to follow it.

.

Agreed. A lot of terrible advice here (beside Ubonjoe's advice). But entering on an expired Thai passport isn't the best advice either (in her case). I would recommend against entering on the Thai passport, even if possible. If you can't renew it for any reason, she will be stuck in Thailand until she gets a new passport. You can try getting a new Thai passport for her while in Thailand if you want. But she will have to leave the country anyway if she wants to switch passports. There is no such things as "canceling a visa" (unless things have changed recently). My Thai aunt entered on a foreign passport and was told by the immigration she had to leave en re-enter on her Thai passport if she wanted to switch them.

She should enter on her Swedish passport and get a 1 year extention of stay based on Thai nationality. Her passport should be enough to prove her citizenship. Although I don't know if her two different surnames will be a problem. Do either that or leave the country and get another 30 days, 15 if she enters by land. I think the latter is much less bureaucratic.

Speaking of airlines, I wonder if airlines will start denying passengers from boarding and whether they will be more or less strict than the Thai immigration.

Sorry to hijack this thread. What about the extention. Is the extention still "multiple entry", i.e. it allows you to leave and re-enter the country just as before or do you need to get a re-entry permit each time?

Yes, thank you! She is the head of the house and she already agreed to it! Thank you for your help again.

Wow, thank you very much for your fast replies (as always)! I am really happy now that I can finally get my Thai ID card, because the embassy told me I had to go with my mother. (But to be fair, we didn't specifically ask.)

In my own experience to use the "village chief", and bring him, will take you a LONG way....

Glegolo

Well, I am not sure about how well my aunt or mother knows the village chief. But with all the donations from both my aunt and my mother to the village buddhist wat (a small fortune even by western standards) I think he will help if we ask very him nicely. I will keep that in mind if all things fail.

Hello all,

I have been reading a lot about how to get a Thai ID card. I already have a Thai birth certificate and I have been able to get a Thai passport at a Thai embassy before. But as you all know, getting a Thai passport without the ID card doesn't get you anywhere in Thailand. (Sometimes they still make me pay the farang price. Although this is the least of my worries.)

I understand that it is straightforward to get a Thai ID card with a birth certificate once I get on a tambien baan. All I have to do is show up at the amphoe with my mother. At least this is what they told me at the embassy. The problem is that both my mother and I live in Europe and we rarely go to Thailand together.

My question is, would it be possible to do this with my Thai aunt who now lives in Thailand? She knows me very well as she came to Europe with my mother before I was born. She agreed to testify that I am a Thai citizen and to temporaily put me on her tambien baan until both my mother and I are in Thailand again. Then I would move to my mother's tambien baan. At least that's the plan.

I am in my mid-twenties and it seems that I will be stuying for another few years. So I am not too worried about military service. I speak Thai at intermediate level only (but still better than most foreigners) and I can also read and write a bit Thai. However I look absolutely white and most all people are surprised that I am in fact 50% Thai.

So in short: Is it possible to get a Thai ID if I show up with my aunt at the amphoe in Thailand, provided I have all the necessary documents?

Thank you all in advance for your help and your expertise.

Not sure if the TM6 is even required of Thai if they use the automated gates for entry. If an issue just ask for supervisor and explain you had to depart on another passport. They do not like the other passport word so avoid unless required - but no law against it.

The women standing near the automated gate always takes my filled out TM6 card. But if the passport is expired, I doubt she will be able to use the automated gate anyway.

Hi Dave,

Have you considered taking private lessons? I think this might be the best solution until you feel confident enough to take group classes.

I signed up for the Thammasat Basic Thai course, but if there aren't enough people to attend, I will probably be taking the AAA 60-hour intensive class in August. If you want I can tell you how hard the classes will be as I am myself a beginner. And as far as I understand, AAA also offers a free observational class.

I applied for the next 6-week-course which starts on July, 22nd 2013. But I was wondering if anybody has this course before. I could only find a single, very short review on the web.

Does anybody know how often these courses get cancelled? Because I haven't received a confirmation yet and the course is going to start soon. I already gave them a call.

If anybody is interested in joining the program:

http://www.tu.ac.th/news/scholarships/2003/10/29.inter.basicth.htm

The information there is still up-to-date, except for the dates and the tuition fee which has gone up to THB 5500 per course.

Any kind of information is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

So if a - say - British national were to overstay in Brunei, would he get the same treatment or it this just for "undeveloped" countries like Thailand?

Dear MacWalen,

I was thinking about visiting Bangkok this summer, while stuying some Thai at a school. I have visited the Walen School website before, because it was mentioned here somewhere. To be honest, I quite liked what I read there. (Even though I am looking for something more intensive.)

But now that I read some of your replies, I find most of your replies a bit condascending. Plus many replies sound as if they came from a car seller or one of these people trying to sell me a suit, even though I cleary said I am not interested. See these replies:

Walen ALS (accelerated learning system) is much faster than communicative methods. We can certainly teach faster, no doubt about that.

It is a comprehensive ALS 120 lesson course which includes theory and practice lessons. After this course you will teach faster and also students will learn faster. It is a life long benefit. Some people here do not know what they are talking about or are belittling me, or try to be overly academic. What we teach works very very well and is worth the money. If someone has a budget to open a school they may even be able to start their own business. I am very confident in our ALS course. Perhaps the best investment you will ever make if you want to make teaching your career. You will be learning from one of the best paid teachers in Thailand. If you get good at ALS you will make very good money.

Thanks both samran and Mario! I don't really need a bank account nor do I want to work in Thailand in the near future. I will give it a try next time I go to Thailand. Hopefully I won't have to sleep on the streets of Bangkok.

What a ridiculous statement. I am not Thai yet I only use my local driver's license for check-in at hotels in ALL cases no matter whether they ask for a passport at the beginning or not. All hotels care about is registering their guests with some kind of ID; they won't look at the details and in many cases won't be able to decifer the details anyway (especially in the case of foreign passports that of course won't feature any Thai).

You are making a big deal out of nothing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Thanks both samran and Mario! I don't really need a bank account nor do I want to work in Thailand in the near future. I will give it a try next time I go to Thailand. Hopefully I won't have to sleep on the streets of Bangkok.

Thanks samran! I am not actually worried about bank accounts as I don't really need one (yet).

But what about hotels as Mario mentioned? Will I get in trouble if I don't have a Thai ID number? I never thought that this could be an issue.

Thank for your replies guys! I am looking forward to getting my first stamps in my Thai passport!

I suspect that if you want to register in a hotel or such, want to open a bankaccount etc you will have problems as you don't have a Thai ID-number. That number should be on your passport.

When you register at a household registration you can also apply for a Thai ID-card and will get the number with the household registration. If under 30 you will need to register for the draft.

Well, that's a bummer! I knew that a household registration was necessary when opening a bank acccount or renewing a Thai passport in Thailand. But I didn't know that the hotels might give me some trouble, too. Does anyone have experience with this? I suspect that hotels don't like it either if I show them my EU passport with no Thai entry stamps in it.

As I am under 30 years, I decided to wait so that I can avoid the draft like samran. I might as well not return to Thailand until then.

Hello all,

Stupid and easy question: Do Thai citizens who enter or leave Thailand with ther Thai passport also get stamps in their Thai passport?

I am asking, because I am a Thai/EU citizen and I never used my Thai passport so far. I need the stamp as proof that I stayed in Thailand for x amount of time and I figured a stamp would be the easiest solution. Since I will be staying longer than 30 days, I will be using my Thai passport.

Also, will there be any issue if I don't have a Thai ID/household registry yet? The field "Personal No." is still empty in my Thai passport.

I have been searching on this forum and google for an answer, but I couldn't find an anything. Thanks for your help!

Best

Michael

Just a quick update in case anybody is in a similar situation. I wrote an e-mail to Chula. As expected, I didn't not receive any reply from them. (Even though the e-mail was redirected to 3 different people.) Well, I guess I will just enter with my Thai passport as suggested.

I have never been to the North, but many times in the Isaan region. I found that I get a lot more attention in the Isaan region, than say Bangkok or any tourist region. I like to believe it is because farangs are much rarer to find there, although this may have changed in recent years.

OK I'll bite. But from a different perspective. I live in Isaan in Sisaket to be exact, which has historically been one of the poorer provinces. When I first came to Thailand I would probably have agreed with your friends generalisation whilst I lived in Bangkok. But having lived here for some years and seen the province change so radically I think the free and easy spirit that Isaan women have for years been famous for will change quite soon. Venturing out to a free and easy lifestyle out of economic necessity is now not so mandatory. Now with better education and opportunities the destinations are changing.

I met an Aussie a few years ago when I was in Sisaket. Do you happen to be Ray?

I hope the toilets doors are locked while they pass above the veggies.......

I dare say your imagination's above the average

Thanks but this came to mind after talking to a friend that is in railroad maintenance ! As you know the "stuff " goes directly down on the track...except in the First class rail car.

It is probably forbidden to use the toilets just as it is forbidden to use the toilets when the train is at a train station. But then again, I remember I had to use the toilets urgently and nothing stopped me from peeing in the train station. (Besides the smell.)

Link to vid?

Not a pro photographer as I do not make any money, but an avid photographer. Here are my thoughts:

A polariser might help, but probably not so much. The UV filter as suggested here is useless on a digital SLR. At best you will have a slight decrease in quality. All digital SLRs have an UV filter just on top of the sensor.

Besides getting there early in the morning, another tip would be to go wide angle/nearer to the subject to reduce the heat haze effect.

I hope that helps a bit.