TheChiefJustice

When was the last time you'd heard about someone contracting syphallis?

Or infecting someone?

More Thai Idiocy.

CS

One imagines that those with Syphilis do not go about advertising the fact. There are about 40,000 cases per year in the USA. More in other more populated parts of the world.

Samran is absolutely correct.

If you are a male it does not matter whether you are married to a Thai female or not - you still need PR first. There are numerous threads about the qualifications for Thai citizenship. Just do a quick search and you'll find all the anwers you are looking for.

If you are a male or a woman who is not married to a Thai man then you need PR before you are able to apply for citizenship. Foreign women married to Thai men do not need PR before applying for citizenship.

Thai people often use mun when talking to one close friend about a another.

I used to have these problems until I switched to Apple.

The fee is THB 5,000.

My application was submitted to the Special Branch in May 2007 and I had my formal Interior Ministry interview in July 2008. I have just been told by one of my informants in the Interior Ministry that the Interior Minister has now signed my application - although I have not received any independent verification of this. I am hoping to receive my Thai citizenship sometime during 2009. Fingers crossed!

The SET and banks will be open. This is only for civil servants. Private companies need to make their own decisions based on whether they consider it appropriate to close for an extra two days.

The current battle is over. The leaders of the reds are now on stage at Government House telling their supporters to go home. The Government has done a wonderful job. But this is far from over, believe me.

This is so very sad. Poor innocent vendors protecting their livelihoods from these wicked and horrific thugs. My thoughts go out to the families of the murdered man and those injured.

I spoke to a Thai in the 7/11 who supported the red shirts and blamed the Army for this escalation and the Government's inability to control the situation.

I would say that if he felt that way, it is safe to say most Thais also feel that way.

Thank you. I needed a good laugh today.

This will all fizzle out by Thursday.

I think fizzle is the wrong word, from everything I'm seeing on TV.

Yes, perhaps fizzle is a little inappropriate in the circumstances. I think the government will have this demonstration/riot under control by Thursday. I simply cannot see how the red shirts can prevail over the army.

My prayers are with all involved. Let's hope casualties are kept to a minimum.

This will all fizzle out by Thursday.

I have just seen the very disturbing images of the red shirts visciously attacking the government cars and their occupants. I never thought I would say this, but the army needs to move in and end this tonight, hopefully with minimal casualties.

well, I personally think it's worth it. I adore Thailand, despite all the drama.

Latest events will probably not help in speeding up approval of your application, though. Jai yen yen. It'll come through at some stage.

I see an item on pantip.com (8:44PM) from the Deputy PM saying that according to his sources Thaksin is in Dubai and not in Thailand, as earlier rumoured.

When did you actually apply?

What kind of questions did they ask and did they test reading and writing skills?

Did you see most of the other candidates? If so, of the majority of candidates who were not farangs did they mainly look Chinese and Indian (consistent with the profile of PR applications) or did it look like there were a lot of hill tribe people and former Indochinese refugees too? How about male female mix?

I applied with the Special Branch in May 2007 and had my interview with the Interior Ministry in July 2008. I have heard nothing since the day of my interview, although I now have a few people making discrete enquiries on my behalf. On the day of the interview, all of the interviewees were herded into an outer meeting room with about 7 rows of long tables. All in all there were about 100 applicants and I was able to see all of them. Of the non-farangs, I would say that the majority were from Taiwan, mainland China, India, and other Asian countries, including Japan and Korea. Although I could not really tell, I did not get the impression that any of these people were hilltribe people. There were very few females, certainly not more than 10%.

Each person was required to register by producing the Interior Ministry letter asking to come for the interview. We were each then asked to write down our names (in Thai) and our mobile numbers. Each person was then given a ticket with a number on it. There were three different color tickets, which I thought was interesting. Further questioning led me to understand that blue cards meant those who had applied less than 2 years ago, green between 2 and 4 years ago, and white for 4 or more years. Apparently, the fact that I was asked to come in for an interview within just a little over one year since the date of my application was considered very quick. Evidently, some people had been waiting for their interview for a very long time.

As people were called, we were ushered into a smaller inner meeting room with two desks in the middle and an L shaped sofa at the back. We were called in 6 or so at a time. Each table had 4 interviewers. When we entered the room we were aksed to stand against the wall and our photo was taken. You then sat on the sofa and waited to be called up to one of the tables. Obviously, we were able to see the other people being interviewed. When it was my turn, I went and sat down and was asked to introduce myself. At no time was an English spoken. In fact, I did not speak a word of English from the start of the process at the Special Branch. We chatted a bit about my job and how I liked living in Thailand. It was all very informal. I was then asked to sing the National Anthem and, after that, the Royal Anthem. I had brought the words with me just in case and I asked if I could set them out on the desk and refer to them in the event that my nerves got the better of me. They had no problem with that. Once my singing was done, one of the interviewers asked me if I understood the meaning of the words in the Royal Anthem. I said that I did, which was a bit of a fib. She then proceeded to ask me the meaning of one particular line. Of course, the language is ราชาศัพท์ which is not my forte. I gave it a go but she wasn't too impressed by my interpretation and said that I should go home and study the meaning of each line of this very important song. I thanked her for her kind advice and promised that I would go home forthwith and do just that. They then asked me about my studying law at university here and we chatted about that for a while. That was basically it. Not questions about why I wanted to get Thai citizenship etc. They told me that I would need to wait for the Minister to make a decision. I thanked them for their time and then left. I have not heard a peep since.

At no time during the Minisrty Interview were my writing and reading skills tested. Also, I did not see anyone else asked to write or read anything. The Special Branch interview, on the other hand, tested both writing and reading skills. A 10 question multiple choice test was given. Basic stuff about Thailand, the name of the current Interior Minister (tricky, given frequent changes) etc. I was also asked to write on a piece of paper ฉันรักประเทศไทย. When I wrote it, the examiner was startled at what she perceived to be beautiful penmanship. She rushed out of the room to show her equally impressed colleagues. Such was her reaction that I wondered whether she was taking the piss. Perhaps not. The Special Branch interview was also recorded on video. I was asked to introduce myself and explian why I wanted Thai citizenship. I knew exactly what to say due to the fact that the people from the National Intelligence Agency who visited me at my office told me what I should say if someone ever asked me this question. IN any event, after the video, the 10 multiple choice questions and the beautiful penmanship, I was told that I scored a perfect 10 on the language component.

When I applied I had been in Thailand for 10 years on continuous Non-Imm B visas and I had had my PR for a little over 3 years. The thing that proved my residence in Thailand was from my unbroken Non-Imm B visas. Also, they went through my passport with a fine tooth comb and counted every single stamp in and out to make sure that after all was said and done I had been in Thailand for at least 5 years before applying and that I had not let any of my visas lapse at any time, thereby breaking the chain of residence.

As Dbrenn has said, one must produce all of the documents listed on the checklist. Your application will not be accepted by the Special Branch unless this is the case.

According to the flow chart on the Special Branch website, this committee is in fact the group of people at the Interior Ministry that applicants appear before to be interviewed and perform the national and royal anthems.

When I went for my interview last year, I was interview by a group of four people. All of them were very friendly. On the day of my interview, there were about 100 applicants. Out of that number, 3 (including me) were farangs.

The best way to communicate with the officials is to get a cell phone number and regularly call to follow up. They then stary calling you immediately they are aware of any news. It could be that they were doing the person who had a days notice a favour by making up the numbers at the last minute.

Dbrenn, I have been thinking about contacting the Interior Ministry to find out the status of my application but I do not want to be seen as a "pest". Did you contact the Interior Ministry people directly or was it your Special Branch contacts with whom you were liaising during the long wait?

I'm afraid there is neither rhyme nor reason involved in the process. I received the Ministry of Interior letter on July 7th. The interview was the next day at 9am. I was very lucky I check my mail every day - otherwise I would have missed the interview.

Complete silence since July 8, 2008.

Applied Special Branch - May 2007

Papers Submitted by Special Branch to Interior Ministry - August 2007

Interior Ministry Interview - July 2008

Approval - Pending

When I did my citizenship interview last July there was no microphone for the singing part of the interview. I was simply asked to sing both songs in front of the four members of the interview panel. Other people awaiting their interviews were also present in the room but luckily were sitting behind me so I could not see their faces as I hit one wrong key after the next!

Also, for your wife, the best reason for wanting to be Thai is that you want all of the rights afforded to Thai persons - such as land ownership, the right to vote, the right to work without restriction, etc. I was once interviewed by the Thai equivalent of the FBI. They asked me why I wanted citizenship when I already had PR and, therefore, the right to remain indefinitely. I gave what I thought was a good answer - this is my home, wanted to feel secure, loved the HRH The King, etc. THey said that this was a poor answer and that when I interview with the MOI I should say that I want all the same rights as those given to a Thai.

Hi Samran,

The file that you attached is issued by the Special Branch as a "guide" to applicants for citizenship. It is not the Interior Ministry regulation. What you have attached may be the current "guide" that is distributed but paragraph 4 does not reflect the new interior ministry rule which came into effect in April/May 2007. PR is a prerequisite. Holding PR for 5 years is not. What you need is to have PR and 5 years of continuous visas. It does not help that the Special Branch talk about residency letters from the embassy etc., none of which are relevant.

I will not be posting again on citizenship as I feel that with all the different views being posted the matter is now as unclear as ever.

I do not plan on attending classes. My day job simply does not allow for that - hence Ramkhamhaeng.

I went to complete the enrolement this morning and I seemed to have caused a bit of a frenzy at the Law Faculty. They were saying that I needed to take a written Thai examination before my application would be accepted. It was all rather amusing. I questioned them about this requirement and told them that I had passed the Bor 6 exam a few years ago. I showed them the Bor 6 certificate and they went off to chat to someone else. Finally, they decided that I did not need to sit a Thai exam before accepting my enrolement.

I have the course materials for Thai 101 as well. It looks very difficult. I suppose even if I am unable to pass, it is a good experience and is sure to push me to the next level. I have felt for a number of years that my Thai has not been improving and that I needed something to push me along to the next level. Doing a law degree will certainly do the trick.

I will keep you all updated on my progress.

Cheers,

CJ