echrist

11 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

Yes, the oath taking is at SB and individual appointment so you meet only few officers there, you just have to repeat what the officer says for 2-3 minutes and it takes only 10 minutes in total. In my case it took 2 hours because I forgot to bring the 2x2.5 inch pictures with blue background (minimum 2 pics, better bring 4) and I had to go to print some in a shop outside.

 

Also, make sure you are wearing a suit and tie in the pics. I brought pics in which I was without a tie, so I had to run out and retake the pics after taking the oath. 

22 hours ago, yankee99 said:

I doubt his application would move without intention to renounce notarized by his embassy 

the letter of renunciation that you have stamped and return to sb is not one of the letters your drop off at the embassy. do as you please...im a thai citizen, just sayin'.

21 hours ago, saakura said:

I also had to sign my name in Thai about 15 times on various forms the case handler had prepared for me. I was then given 3 sealed envelopes with government emblems. Two of them i had to go and deliver at my home embassy (understood that one of them was to do with "intention of giving my nationality" but not sure about the second sealed envelope.). The third sealed envelope i had to deliver to the district office where our marriage was registered (understand that this is for cross checking that the marriage is genuine). 

My NIA was at McDonald's. one could choose not to deliver anything to the embassy. there isnt any follow up by sb on such matters.

In my case, old passport was requested to see place of birth. My house reg does not list my country of birth, but list the nationalities of my parents which I simply told them (no proof needed). In my Thai passport, country of birth is written in English not Thai. 

3 hours ago, khongaeng said:

I know the idea of being a Jason Bourne with lots of different identities is an interesting thought, but it is quite impractical when traveling in the real world. 

 

If you stay in Thailand and do not travel, then no problem.  If you fly out of Thailand and back into Thailand on the same passport (your Thai passport), then you would also have no problems.  However, if you travel to a country where you will need to use your other passport such as the UK, you would encounter a situation like this:

1. Ticket in UK name: Check-in counter in Thailand will want to see your UK passport, if they check to find the Thai visa, the will not find it, at which point you will hand them your Thai passport, but the names won't match.  I competent person will just say "this is obviously the same person but with a different name in each country" and let you go through.  An incompetent person will probably run it up the org chart, at a minimum wasting your time, and possibly causing issues with your dual citizenship especially in Thailand since you are technically supposed to give up your old citizenship.  If you pass check-in, then Thai immigration might have issues since your Passport number will not match any ticket in the system.  This may cause you issues at the automatic gates, and definitely will cause you problems if you have to go to an immigration desk because the automated systems are down.  Supposing you are able to make it through immigration, you will then have the problem again if you use a passport that you did not check in with at the gate as they scan your passport.  Others I travel with regularly have two passports, and this has caused them a 10 minute delay before they can explain to the counter agents what the issue is and show them the two passports.  

2. Ticket in Thai name: Still issue at check-in because they will definitely want to see your UK visa, at which point you will hand them your UK passport with a different name.  This will cause the same potential issues as the previous scenario. One benefit is you will not have any issues with immigration in Thailand, but in the UK again your name will not match the ticket if they check both Ticket and passport.

 

I have traveled in out of the country with dual Thai nationals many times, and they never have any issues if the names in their passports match and they use the Thai passport with Thai immigration and their other passport whenever they arrive in a different country.  

 

I personally do not think the hassle (and possible risk) is worth maintaining two identities.

 

On a side note, when traveling with dual nationals to different countries that use facial recognition (like US, China) or fingerprinting (many others including Thailand) I have seen the question be asked by immigration officials before if the person has a second nationality because the biometrics match a different person.  I have never seen someone stopped or forbidden entry for this after providing a simple explanation that they are a dual national, but I do think it is interesting as more and more countries are keeping biometric data when flying through.  Probably best to keep track of which countries you travel to with which passports.

One could fly to a neighbouring country on the Thai passport, then fly out on the other passport from that country. Quite inconvenient, but an option if one were so inclined to maintain to separate identities. 

whatever happened to Putting gold leaf on the back of the Buddha?

On 4/6/2020 at 12:03 AM, khongaeng said:

Does anyone know if the Oath is typically done individually or is it normally done with a group of people, meaning do they do one Oath per day or do they schedule a few people at different times (or the same time) on the same day?  I'm curious from the perspective of those who are waiting to take the oath, and whether the disrupted working schedule of the SB will be impacted.  If Oaths are done one per day normally, then hopefully Covid-19 will not disrupt this process continuing normally.  

when i did mine, i didnt see any other candidates waiting before or after i had finished, but i was probably only there for a total of 20 minutes. 

13 hours ago, onthemoon said:

In which province was this?

Bangkok

One's citizenship belongs to the country, not the person. That being said, I use 3, one Thai, and wouldn't give any of them up unless I was forced to choose.  

8 hours ago, david143 said:

wait 1 year ,

give or take month ? i don't understand

It's a figure of speech, which means about  1 year....could have been 11 months or 13 months. 

4 hours ago, david143 said:

now we are waiting OATH brother echrist just for my info after MOI interview how long they call for Oath.

it was around 1 year, give or take a month. 

4 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Thanks! For clarity, do you do the Oath then after the publication in the gazzette, go back to SB to get certificate?

I read a good website on the process that that said after the oath you get the naturalization cert.

 

yes, they called me back about 2 weeks later to pick up the cert. 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Thanks for the reply Gary. I thought you might know due to your very sad experience.

My wife is not the house owner where my yellow book is, so I suppose she doesn't need to be there anymore.

 

 

She won't need to go with you for the oath or to pick up your certificate of citizenship. Wife was needed at the Khet when being transfered to blue book, even though neither one of use were the homeowner of the blue book and my wife is still in the blue book of her family home. The homeowner has to be there, as well. I think different Khets have different rules, so it's possible your wife won't have to be there. 

probably better off hiding out in plain sight, like in BKK where foreigners don't draw much attention. 

12 hours ago, david143 said:

Brothers

what is next we have to do , MOI interview is passed by 2 months now .

all you have to do is be patient if you have passed the MOI. Could be nearly a year, but only a few minor hoops to jump through. 

9 hours ago, khongaeng said:

The first time my child entered Thailand on his newly obtained Thai Passport from overseas, he was questioned at immigration.  Since it is expected that you have an exit stamp already in your passport when you "come back to Thailand" this raises questions.  This was in the years before the electronic gates.  Another child who obtained a Thai passport while in Thailand after entering Thailand on a foreign passport and then "overstaying" was able to get through immigration at the airport with minimal hassle. Of course this child had Thai nationality through birth through their parent, so I'm not sure if it is different treatment than a naturalized Thai.

 

I do like the idea of just exiting Thailand on your foreign passport and then re-entering using your Thai passport, instead of going through the trouble of cancelling your visa at immigration.  I asked immigration at the overstay fine counter at Suvarnabhumi last time I was there, and they seemed to not be 100% confident in what should be done, but said that I had to go to immigration at Chaengwattana to cancel my visa before flying.  It would be great if someone who has experience in doing this could chime in.

 

When the day comes that I finally have a Thai passport, I think that I will do it this way and use the e-gates.  If I am questioned, I will say, "sorry I didn't know I had to cancel my visa first and exit Thailand as a Thai, and my paperwork to cancel my previous nationality has not been finalized yet" which is true in my case because in my case renouncing citizenship is not a simple one stop at my embassy.  

If I am not mistaken, I recall someone on this forum canceled his visa by exiting the country and re-entering on his Thai passport. 

On 1/10/2020 at 1:30 PM, bkk_bwana said:

A quick note on the wind down / tiei up the ends of the process after receiving the Naturalisation Certificate and stamped copies of the royal gazette announcement from the Police HQ.

 

Went to the Khet - told to come back in a couple of weeks at a specific time with all documents and a witness (Thai, not necessarily resident in the Khet).  Note that every Khet/Amphur will handle this differently.  It looks like they have to file a full report to bring you into the system.  A friend of mine was told to bring two witnesses, but this was a different Khet.

 

ID Card - Appointment at Khet - presented Tabien Baan (blue one - I've had PR for some years), Naturalisation Certificate and copies of passport, surrendered the Pink Card, and announcement from the Royal Gazette. Filing the report and writing the file in the computer took half the time, then we had to wait for the department head to sign off the report, plus lunchtime etc.  Usual story. There was never any question of name change even though I had reserved a Thai name with them earlier.  Four hours later, we walked out of the Khet with my ID card and a modified Tabien Baan. No charges and your first ID card is free!  They even did the photocopying free of charge which was unusual.

 

Passport Office - ID Card, Tabien Baan and "foreign" passport to prove place of birth.  15 minutes.  1,000 Baht. Came back two days later to collect it.  Very smooth and efficient.

 

Immigration Department - One copy of the Royal Gazette announcement and my white book.  Nothing else to do or sign.  I was asked if I had a Thai passport yet and was told never to use my 'foreign' passport either to leave or enter the country.  Three minutes.

 

Local Police Station - Surrendered my Alien Registration Book and gave them a copy of the Royal Gazette announcement.  Nothing to sign or pay.  Two minutes!

 

Work Permit (it had expired after the announcement - just turned it in.  Nothing else to do.

 

Social Security - these guys wanted a copy of EVERYTHING; luckily I had copies available.  I was already in the system with an ID number anyway.  I suggest that you do this BEFORE handing back documents as they seem to be still back in the 1980s and who knows what individual offices might want to see.

 

Bank - Confusion, but it got sorted.  One bank wanted to see the original passport that I used to open the account!  I told them that I handed it back years ago.  Two internal telephone calls later and everything was done.  

 

I guess I should do AIS for Internet and 'phone.  Water and electricity are in my wife's name.

 

One thing that I am now finalising is changing the details in my/our wills to reflect the new nationality.

 

It has been an interesting journey.  Five years and a lot of patience.

 

That's it.

I was at immigration for 5 hours to cancel my visa (i never had PR). they require you to queue up with all the poor guys renewing their visas ???? also seem not so aware of the process of canceling a visa. treated me a bit as if i was asking permission to extend the visa.  good for you that surrendering PR was more efficient. if i had to do it over again, i would have left the country on a short weekend trip and returned on my thai passport. 

5 hours ago, Neeranam said:

When do you decide if you want to use a new, Thai name, or keep your original name? 

 

The only thing that might keep me from choosing a Thai name is that, in 8 years when I try to renew my UK passport, there will probably be a problem, ie they don't gives me one, as I have another one with a different name. 

I wonder if I chose the Thai name, if I could change it back to my original name after 8 years. 

Obviously, traveling to the UK, I wouldn't need a visa, just an old passport.

 

One thing that might make me choose a Thai name would be that I might use my UK passport by mistake at a bank or somewhere, which I believe is an offence that could cause Thai citizenship to be revoked.

 

You can never use your UK passport in Thailand if you are a Thai citizen, is this right?

 

Maybe I am thinking too much.

You would change it at the Khet when you are getting your ID. You can change your name at the Khet any time if you like. Thai folk do it all the time. 

4 hours ago, djayz said:

I can second what samran has weitten. When we got our son's passport, it really was that straight forward. 

i had to complete a written application...maybe cause it was my first passport. anyway, not really important. by chance, does anyone know if the current passports will no longer be valid after the new ones are introduced? 

will do current thai passports no longer be valid once the knew ones are introduced? I would think not, but considering that they are planning to open temporary offices to accommodate the influx of passports applications, sort of implies so. 

16 hours ago, onthemoon said:

Thanks. Talking about signing, I have no wife. Can I sign in Latin characters (as I will keep using my original name), or do I have to sign in Thai? I had to sign quite a number of documents in Thai already.

 

About singing, so it is random whether or not you have to sing the anthems? Or would I have to sing for sure?

I believe you will have to sing both anthems if you are not married to a Thai citizen. Perhaps those getting citizenship based on investment do not, but I am not sure about that. 

18 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Wow, illegal migrants get an ID card starting with 6!

this must apply to other forms of id, such as the pink cards or id cards for migrant workers.