TheChiefJustice

I have just enrolled to do a law degree at Ramkhamhaeng University. My first subject, which begins this month, is ประวัติศาสตร์กฎหมายไทยและระบบกฎหมายหลัก I have obtained the materials for this subject and it is certainly going to be a wonderful challenge.

Has anyone else enrolled to study law at any of the local universities? I would be most interested to hear from others who may have had a experience.

Warm regards,

CJ

As long as you do not have a Thai ID card or your name registered in a ทะเบียนบ้าน you will not be called up.

This topic has been done to death. Do a search and read the posts. If you are a foreign MALE, you DO need to have PR before you can apply for citizenship. You DO NOT have to have held it for 5 years before applying BUT you do need to prove that you have had not less than 5 years of UNINTERRUPTED non-immigrant visas before you can lodge your application. If after reading the posts you are still unsure, go down to the Special Branch in Bangkok.

For a foreign male, marriage to a Thai national is irrelevant vis-a-vis your citizenship application.

I am more bothered about the Interior Ministry which seems to be a lot more opaque.

Absolutely correct. The process with the Special Branch is very transparent. After your application goes to the MOI, the black hole commences. There are no rules as to how long it will take, what the procedures are etc. People find out from the experiences of others - all of which may be different.

Thanks, Samran. The rules you posted are, in fact, the old rules. Did you specifically ask them about the 5 years on PR requirement? That rule did change. I have seen the resolution of the relevant MOI meeting that changed it. I know they still hand out the old rules sometimes becuase they have not yet been bothered to print out the new rules. My suspicion is that this is the case - unless, of course, you confirm that you specifically ASKED them about the 5 year PR requirement and they actuallt told you that it is still required. Very interested to hear your reply.

Actually, I was talking about citizenship, not PR. However, irrespective of whether you are talking PR or citizenship, the number of Westerners obtaining PR/citizenship is less than the number of Chinese persons. This is because the number of Westerners applying for PR or citizenship is less. There are many people on this forum who have successfully applied for and obtained PR. There are also several Westerners who have gone the extra step and applied for and obtained citizenship.

My point in all of this is that it happens and, in the case of citizenship, its happening is not just a "theoretical possibility".

I must also apologise for responding in this thread. I do hope that this is not seen by the moderators as hijacking the OP's thread. That was certainly not my intention and if I have offended anyone please accept my sincerest apologies.

After PR citizenship is a theoretical possibility but almost never happens unless there are special circumstances (lifetime of helping Thailand and such).

This is not correct. It happens more than you think. There are procedures and requirements to follow. If you follow them correctly, citizenship is possible.

I received my Thai citizenship recently. I am, needless to say, very pleased.

Yes its my intention to apply for the Thai Citizenship but

I read on this forum that I would need to have 3 continuous years of Non O visa then I can

apply for citizenship, seems like a long time to not be able to work....

I dont understand how it would work if say I applied for a work permit so I can work for

my husband then how can I apply for citizenship when I'm on the work permit visa? Any thoughts?

The two are not mutually exclusive. If you have a work permit you can still apply for citizenship. Once your citizenship comes through (but not before such time), you will be required to surrender your work permit and your visa will be cancelled.

I am not sure that the advice that you need to have 3 years on a Non O visa before you can apply for citizenship is correct. Let me check the Thai regulations and get back to you on that. Best thing for you to do is to talk to the kind police at the Police Special Branch in Bangkok. Where are you located?

Strictly speaking, yes, you need a work permit. Practically, however, I would not worry about it. You are entitled to apply for Thai citizenship being married to a Thai man. If you are so inclined, and your country of origin accepts dual nationalities, you may wish to consider doing that. Then you will never have to worry about things like this.

Matt - you no longer need to have PR for 5 years before you apply for citizenship. As long as you have been here for 5 years on consecutive non-imm visas before you apply (counting the time you've had PR) AND you have PR (irrespective of how long) then you can apply. The rules changed in May. Go down to the Police Headquarters (Special Branch) and ask for the application forms.

More information on the change here - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;#entry1505297

Have you tried to have a serious conversation with a Thai person where you ask questions, ask follow up questions, and try to reach a conclusion? You cannot do this in Thailand unless you are talking to a totally Westernized Thai.

What an absolute load of rubbish. How very dare you. Cleary, your experience with Thai people is limited in the extreme. I am completely horrified by your completely careless and condescending generalisations about Thai people.

My advice to anyone suffering from anxiety - assuming you have ruled out other causes of your symptoms - is that the physical sensations you are experiencing, although they may be frightening, cannot harm you. They are merely sensations created by your body. Ignore them. They mean nothing. No matter how bad they feel, they are only sensations. They will pass. You need to stop looking for cures on the internet. Leave google alone, it will only make you worse by focusing your energy on the anxiety and giving it more power over you. Stop talking to people about your anxiety. You need to focus on other, more productive things. By carrying on with your daily activities and ignoring your anxiety, your brain and your body will respond by resetting the anxiety levels that are currently set at a higher than normal level. If you drink coffee, stop for a while. Don't take medication for anxiety. Don't drink alcohol. Stop eating rubbish and start eating proper food. Drink lots of water and exercise.

The above is my personal view only. I am not a doctor.

I am now on the second volume of สี่แผ่นดิน by the prolific ม.ร.ว. คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช. I recall watching the television series a number of years ago and enjoyed it so much that I was inspired to read the novel. I find anything written by ปราโมช to be a wonderful reading experience.

Maestro is absolutely correct.

Results have come from home. Was a little concerned after my dad had a heart attack, so I got myself a reliable brand blood pressure monitor. So far have only been further worried. At the hospital my readings are normally 140/80 but they keep telling me that's normal. At home the readings have always been 140-150/70-90. I don't feel bad, my chest is tight sometimes if I really push myself but in general no problems. Also worried about an article i read about enlarged hearts!!!! At the risk of sounding like a hypocondriac do you think is a problem?

For home readings, these readings are a bit high. I would advise you see a cardiologist to find out if you have high blood pressure. They may advise a 24 hour monitor to get a better idea of your BP readings over a longer period. Certainly does not hurt to check.

It is 3 years of tax returns for the business category, not 2. I assume the same for the humanitarian category, but cannot be certain.

I was under the impression that anything over 120/80 was considered high these days.

Am 32 don't smoke, don't drink, eat fresh food, no coffee, no sugary drinks, no fatty meat, lots of veg and my bp is still 140-150 / 70. Seems sometimes it doesn't matter what you do!! Oh and I get plenty of excercise. Even tried fasting, heard that just drinking water for a week can clear your system up and get your blood pressure down. It didn't! Am worried as history of heart trouble in the family and dad just had a heart attack, despite the fact that he too lives a reletively healthy lifestyle, very similar to mine!

Where do you get your BP numbers from? Are these home readings or are they taken at the hospital. My BP was always quite high when taken at the hospital so I was asked to see a cardiologist. He told me to monitor my BP at home for one month, at various times of the day, and them come back to him with the results, as well as the BP monitor I used (he recommended a good one for me). At home, my readings ranged from 90/55 to 130/75 or so, with an average of around 115/70. Stressful days did show higher readings, but nothing as high as the readings I was getting at the hospital. When I went back to the cardiologist after one month, he looks at the results and then asked me to show him how I had been taking my BP with the BP monitor over the last month. I took a reading exactly as I had done every day for the last month and it came up at 160/90. He then took the reading with his own instrument, confirmed that the reading from my BP monitor was accurate and then told me I had nothing to be concerned about. In future, he advised me that there is no need for me to have my BP taken when coming to the hospital for any normal check ups etc.

So, that is why I am wondering whether your reading was taken at home or at the hospital.

Dbrenn, you are absolutely correct. The 5 years with PR requirement was introduced by the previous government. So, this is not so much a change as a reversion back to the way things were before Dr. Thaksin's government.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

But this seems to say that If I have 5 years continuous stay on the same B visa and apply for PR I can then immediately convert to citizenship.

Assuming I reach all the other criteria.

Cheers

The rule is that you must have PR AND you must have lived continuously in Thailand on non-immigrant visas before you are able to make an application for Thai citizenship.

The old rules worked like so - apply for PR, obtain PR, hold PR for 5 years, apply for Thai citizenship.

The new regulation works like this - apply for PR, obtain PR, make an application for citizenship if (when) you have lived continuously in Thailand on non-immigrant visas for a period of 5 years (including any period you hold PR). There is no need to hold PR for 5 years.

Basically, the change is to shorten the time a foreign male can apply for citizenship, probably down from almost 10 years (3 years to apply for PR, approximately 18 months waiting for it, and then 5 years holding PR before you can apply for citizenship = 9.5 years) to approximately 5 years if you do everything in order as soon as eligible - getting PR after 3 years, waiting another 2 years before you can apply for citizenship = 5 years).

Quite right. You really ought to refer to your mother in-law as แม่ or คุณแม่ and your father in-law as พ่อ or คุณพ่อ.

Well, irrespective of your views, younghusband, the Interior Ministry regulations have been amended as I have indicated. The amendment significantly reduces the amount of time a foreign male would otherwise need to wait before making an application for citizenship. As such, the amendment is one of substance in favor of the applicant.

So rule four on this information that I got from them late last year is no longer applicable...

Correct, Samran. That information in clause 4 is no longer applicable. Also, the discussions on the Nationality Act have nothing to do with the regulations relating to the acquisition of citizenship. The Nationality Act is the framework only - it is the regulations promulgated by the Interior Ministry which are more relevant to us as these serve to implement the Act. The only change to those regulations in late May 2007 at an Interior Ministry meeting was to do away with the requirement that an applicant must hold PR for 5 years before making an application. The applicant still needs to have PR, but the as long as you are able to satsify the 5 continuous years on proper visas, theoretically you could apply on the day after you obtain your PR. I have been informed by the Special Branch that this change means that the law has now returned to the way that it was once drafted.

I understand from my contacts at the Special Branch that a number of persons have already applied for citizenship under the new rules. My suggestion for anyone interested is to go down to the Special Branch and discuss it with them.

You may contact the Special Branch of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok for further information. The telephone number is 02 252-1714 หรือ 02 252-2708.

For those of you who may be interested in applying for Thai citizenship, the previous requirement that a male applicant must have PR for 5 years before applying has been abolished. The new requirement is that the applicant must have PR and must have been in Thailand continuously for not less than 5 years under a non-immigrant visa category before applying for citizenship. The change means that anyone with PR, irrespective of how long you have had it, can apply for citizenship if they have been here on proper visas for not less than 5 years and meet the other qualifications for citizenship. Other threads on this board list the various qualifications.

This obviously applies to foreign men only. Foreign women do not need PR before making an application for Thai citizenship.