moonman

When you get your new passport, you can still keep the old one with all the visas in it. The embassy will just stamp it with "canceled" but the visas will still be valid.

My kids had to show Thai house registration (Tabien Baan) and certified translations of birth certificates when starting Thai school. We got the passports and b/c translations at the Thai embassy in country of birth (Sweden). You probably have to do the same.

I don't think that Thai authorities in Bangkok can certify an Italian birth certificate. To do that, you need access to Italian authorities.

You might want to talk to the Italian embassy in Bangkok about the b/c translation.

Don't worry about it. Buriram is perfectly safe. Actually it's my favorite place for riding motor cycles (I keep two or three at the GF's house). Much safer than Bangkok or Pattaya.

I would start with checking the cables. Did the maid stretch or bend a cable? I have seen some awful home made cables for sale in Pantip. These days I make them myself or buy factory made.

It's instantaneous countrywide.

I think Mr Goofy is not too big on listening to advice

I happily listen to advice, after all that's why I'm posting here.

I just want to be sure that the person giving advice understands the situation.

When you start every post with "since she entered on her Swedish PP..." and I had already said that it wasn't so, then I cannot take your advice seriously.

We'll try to talk to Immigration in Khon Kaen next week. Then we'll see if we need to visit the Big Mango.

Thanks everybody who bothered to comment, even those of you with poor reading comprehension.

That sounds like a classic good idea ...provided she doesn't want to use the Swedish passport around Asia again. It will be in overstay in HER name 

Dear Dr.,

Do you actually know dual citizenship legislation?

Do you know for a fact that a dual citizen needs a visa in Thailand, and would be in overstay without a visa?

Lots of people on this thread are saying otherwise. No visa is necessary. Just show the right passport at the right place and she should be fine (not fined).

Goofy's suggestion is exactly what we were told at the Surin border. We are just a little reluctant to burn government property, but we might try it behind the house.

She arrived on a FOREIGN PASSPORT as an ALIEN.

She did show her Thai passport at Don Muang. But they told her that she couldn't change nationality in flight, and she would have to show the same passport that she had left Sweden on.

I know this is BS and I would have complained if I had been there, but I wasn't.

She's just an uneducated rice farmer. She's not used to deal with authorities. If a police officer tells her what to do, then she will never argue with him. Even if she had known for a fact that the law was on her side, she wouldn't even dream of saying so. Thai's don't think like us. They don't understand the concept of "see you in court".

You were told to go to Immigration and sort it out. But your incredible fear of spending 1900 baht is a stopper.

Told by whom?

It's not the money. It's the principle of paying for the privilege of staying in your own country.

Would you gladly pay what amounts to two weeks salary every year for the right to stay in your country?

And it's the hassle of going all the way to Bangkok for a piece of paper, 14 hours on the bus. She's pregnant and would rather stay home.

And it's the lack of respect Suan Phlu shows Thai women. They tell her that she has to fill in the forms in English, even though they know she doesn't write English. They laugh at her when she fails, hinting that she has no business traveling on a Farang passport if she doesn't handle Farang language.

I believe that Immigration is the wrong authority to deal with here. They are totally clueless when it comes to Thai citizens. They seem to have no authority to even look at a Thai passport, let alone stamp one.

The only thing that could possibly come out of Suan Phlu is that they charge their fee, telling her to come back next year to pay again. She would be doing that for the rest of her life, possibly 50 years more. A 1900 baht fee times 50 is quite a bit money, and she would also need to keep her Swedish passport current even if she would never go to Sweden again.

She should EXIT Thailand on her Swedish passport (as that is what she entered on).

Well, no.

She entered LOS on her Thai ID card. The border guards in Surin refused to stamp her Thai passport, but they had no problem letting her enter without passport.

As I said, she doesn't have a Swedish visa. So if she tried to exit on Swedish PP they will probably treat her as an illegal alien.

The Thai passport seems better for exit, as she couldn't possibly be an illegal alien if she's Thai citizen. But we don't know what will happen when they see that she already has an exit card in the passport.

Will they give her two exit cards?

Will they remove the old exit card and give her a new one?

Will they make a fuss, telling her to go visit the passport office, missing her flight?

The whole purpose of the exercise is to avoid a 1900 baht Swedish visa extension. So any solution that costs more in flight tickets or lawyers fees is out of the question.

The US would have to prove that your funds are in compensation for work.

No, actually they don't. In tax cases, the burden of proof is on you, not on the government.

Your examples would be more interesting if your employer was in a tax haven, instead of Italy and Nevada. If it was up to you to choose where to pay tax, then you should obviously pick the cheapest place.

I am currently in Thailand on a tourist visa. Here's a quote from the departure card that is stapled to my passport:

"ALIEN ENTERING THAILAND AND HAVING INCOME OR ALIEN STAYING OVER NINETY DAYS IN THAILAND WITHOUT INCOME MUST POSSESS A TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE FROM THE REVENUE DEPARTMENT BEFORE LEAVING THAILAND. IF NOT, WILL NOT BE PERMITED TO LEAVE."

And yes, I know that this is not currently enforced. But that doesn't make it legal.

Why don't you go ask the IRS in the US.

Ask the IRS if you can sit in your US home, working for an offshore software company, getting paid in an offshore account, and not pay US taxes.

Work is work. Taxes are taxes. But you knew that, didn't you?

If you believe those people telling you that you don't need a work permit to stay legal, then I have a bridge for sale...

Now, if you want advice on how to break the law, then you should say so.

We were at Suan Phlu two months ago, and they wanted 1900 baht for a visa extension. They treated her as a foreigner, with no regard to her Thai passport.

Are you saying that she really has to pay to live in her own country? That her Thai citizenship has been revoked?

Sweden does allow dual citizenship, except for countries in the European Union (like Holland).

Why would she care if she's Swedish or Dutch? She can live and work everywhere either way. Well, except in national security jobs.

My girlfriend (never legally married in either country, just cohabiting) came to Sweden in 1997 on her Thai passport. She stayed three years and received a Swedish passport, which she used on several visists to Thailand.

Now we want to live in Thailand, but she's still here on a tourist visa in her Swedish passport. This visa costs 1900 baht to extend for one year (special extention for "previous Thai's") at Suan Phlu.

I thought that as a dual citizen she shouldn't need any visa to stay in her own country, so I brought her along on a visa run to Cambodia. She got her Swedish visa stamped out when exiting Thailand.

On the way back through Thai immigration, we ran into difficulties. The immigration officer refused to stamp her Thai passport, that hadn't been used since 1997 (just extended at embassy in Sweden, so still valid).

So now she's in Thailand, without a visa in her Swedish passport, and with exit stamps and an "exit card" still stapled in her Thai passport.

What should she do? The immigration officer suggested that she "lose" her Thai passport and apply for a new one. But she doesn't like the thought of lying to the police. They might still have records of her leaving in 1997, never to return. They might question her on how she entered the country, and if she's still legally Thai.

Apparently, the rules have changed since 1997, creating this mess.

For GSM / GPRS you need to stay close to shore, and then you might as well step off the boat and visit an Internet cafe with a real connection. GSM is too slow and too expensive. And inmarsat is even worse.

Ok, that was quite different from what I thought (you living in US, she in TH).

The Swedish embassy has both Swedes fluent in Thai and native Thai's on staff, so language shouldn't be a problem.

Each country in EU (Schengen) makes its own rules, and each embassy has a lot of power in the visa process. It would help if she holds a good job, car, immovable property. Anything that shows her intention of returning to Thailand. You will be suspected of acting as her pimp, so any proof that you're a good guy will also help.

I still think it would be easier for you guys to travel the world if you started in America. Just going there long enough for her to pick up a US passport. 180 days/year during three years, or something like that? That's what it took my wife in Sweden anyway.

Just adding to goofy's reply. She should apply at the Swedish embassy in her country of residence, not necessarily citizenship. Is she a resident of USA? If so, it will be much easier. Thai girls who already live in another rich country are not suspected of going to Sweden to "work".

If she still lives in Thailand and you are serious about her, then you should work on her moving to your country first. Vacations second.

It is almost impossible to vacation with a Thai girl residing in Thailand. She will be suspected of "working" everywhere she goes. In embassies as well as border crossings.

I got my AUA ED visa in Singapore two years ago. Don't know if they have changed the requirements since then. Perhaps you could ask around in school where current students did it.

Yes, it's been done before. Hundreds of times. Just ask the embassy in Stockholm for the procedure. It will take about a month.

If you are legally married or the mother is a Swedish citizen, then the child will become Swedish at birth. Then you can get a Swedish passport immediately. Either an emergency passport in a few minutes, or a real one in a couple of days.

If the mother is neither a Swedish citizen or resident, then you'll probably have to pay for the hospital. It would be much cheaper in Thailand.

The child can indeed enter Thailand on Swedish passport and register at the Amphur. But you will need a BC from the embassy in Stockholm, so you'll have to go there anyway and you might as well apply for a passport when you're there. Especially if your Thai home is not in a city that issues passports (Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Hat Jai).

I use www.callserve.com with no problem. But I think VoIP is illegal, at least if you charge others to use it.