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GabbaGabbaHey

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    Camerata's Guide To The Permanent Residence Process

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    Hello guys,

    I've been away for a while (having Thai ID since 2020) but I would need some information for a friend, so I'll be happy to catch up on the information regarding PR. I see some Guru names that I remember well in the page... Arkady, Scorecard... still there, congrats, mates ! I hope you're all fine. 

    Can someone remind me or confirm that PR door still open in the last months of the year, that male foreigners married to Thai wife can apply on the basis of marriage after just one year of marriage (or three?) assuming they already have the 3-year WP and tax submission? and how long the process takes in the recent years (It took me 4 years in 2008-2012), is it 6-12 months as I could read recently somewhere? Finally is there any big change in the process or requirements worth knowing in the recent years?

    Thank you in advance!

    Partial withdraw from provident fund when turning 55 and not resigning?

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    Hello,

    Anyone knows if when we turn 55 but DO NOT resign (continuing to work and to contribute through a company registered provident fund), we are able to start withdrawing partial amounts from this provident fund -with all tax benefits-, or not ? It's unclear to me if this is only possible in the context of quitting a job/retiring and stopping contributions.

    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Badger18 said:

    mm but it doesn't sound much like you ever do have any intention of renouncing citizenship, you just say you do in order to get your Thai citizenship.

    Nope. Once you become Thai you cannot use your former nationality within the kingdom (which is the place we live), so from that point onwards immigration-wise you can't go to your foreign embassy seeking for help or protection anymore. If this is not a renouncement of former citizenship, tell us what it is.

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    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted · Edited by GabbaGabbaHey

    18 hours ago, GarryP said:

    In the case of those who have not paid in for at least 180 months, they will not be entitled to a monthly pension and must take the lump sum anyway. I understand that if they time it right they can get the lump sum and then continue with voluntary contributions for healthcare coverage. Otherwise, they can pay voluntary contributions and the money stays in until they stop paying. At which point they will get the lump sum. 

     

    For those who have paid in excess of 180 months (15 years), they will receive a pension of 20% of the average monthly salary (which is capped at 15,000) for the last 60 months plus 1.5% of the average salary (still capped at 15K) multiplied by the number of years exceeding those 180 months for which contributions continued to be paid. 

     

    The SSO pension benefit was introduced in December 1998 and I was in the system then so I met the 180 months in December 2013. I will retire at the end of December 2022 which will mean I have another 9 years on top of that. So my pension will be Baht 15,000 x (20% + (9 x 1.5%)) = 15,000 x 33.5% = Baht 5,025. 

     

    It's surprising how they came with a social system in which you may contribute for let's say total 300K during 30 years and could expect 1.8M (6 times higher than what you paid) if you remain heathy person for 25 more years... unless the calculation was a 1998 projection of low life expectancy statistics for Thai men? 

    I know this is not the topic of the forum, but since we're talking about it, do you know if one can get the retirement punsion from SSO and still maintain an activity, like some own business or get income by private/declared activity? I'd be happy to 'retire young' to get my 6K/month and at the same time continue to work on my own and generate extra income. Would this conflict?

    • Like 2

    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Arkady said:

    I still have my uncancelled WP as a souvenir.  I saw absolutely no point in cancelling it as WPs simply expire, if not renewed, and there is no way it can cause you any hassle, if you just leave it.

    I had funny experience when I my company lawyer requested all documents to renew my WP last year, to which I answered that was no longer needed since I got Thai nationality, I imagine they were not happy I did the citizenship process on my own and the company would not have to pay them fees anymore, consequently they replied a kind of scary negative letter (for the company) saying that I should have cancelled my WP on the day I got my Thai ID card and by not doing that me and the company were exposed to kind of fine and unnamed problems in the future. Of course we  know all you could face is a fine of a couple thousand bahts in the case your WP was not cancelled and you would apply for a new one while this one was not expired. But in my case, having Thai ID and since I was one month before expiry of my WP it means this was totally irrelevant and just the answer of some unhappy lawer that would no longer get money handling me as foreigner.

    The only justification I find rather ok for cancelling WP (although not really important) is that, as I understood, they will clear your name as foreigner from the WP database. 

     

    2 hours ago, Arkady said:

    (...) if you are changing jobs and getting a new WP, you are entitled to ask to retain the cancelled WP for your records. (...)

    Keep in mind there is no more physical booklet, it is currently e-WP in your mobile phone app. I did print screenshots of my WP and provided them with signature whenever I was asked for it, which made officers happy. It's also good to capture screenshots for memory and just in case, you know what I mean.

     

    • Like 1

    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    12 hours ago, Neeranam said:

    Interesting, he expects to get it by the end of this year. 

    Or could it be some confusion in the wordings where doing the application meant different thing for journalists? Obviously special merit to Thailand has a high potential to speed up signatures as compared to standard Joe applicants but I doubt they would bypass necessary investigations. Let's see, it will be an interesting timeline to follow.

    • Like 2

    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    7 hours ago, Smokegreynblues said:

    Deterring the single male, and making it a niche thing to posses. While nothing is there for a woman. If this isn't sexism, I don't know what is.

    I don't want to go into details because the point of this forum is to help citizenship applicants and not discuss the laws of Thailand. I will just mention that beside some differences in the process (yes there are some), foreign women are also requested to either be married to a Thai national either hold PR, this is the same base requirement as to foreign men.

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    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted · Edited by GabbaGabbaHey

    My many thanks to dbrenn as well as to Arkady, GaryP, Ubonjoe and several other people who have helped answer my questions when I started in 2017. Without this forum and knowledge I would probably never have understood that there is no level such as very good/good/average pass on the points, there is just that you either pass or not. As I had PR with less than 5 years and I was married, I already met above the 50 points, there was no point for me to wait more time for more points... then I took action and saved 1-2 years and was lucky to complete everything before companies started to be really hit with Covid... getting citizenship in 2020 was perfect time for me.  Also, without solid help like we can get here, I would probably not have been keen to endertake the full process myself without any external help (you'll quickly know more than any lawyer by doing yourself and it's a fun path! Thai people always try to help you).

    I have since then tried my best to provide fact based answers to some questions that were posted in this forum, and always enjoyed to help someone achieve what I was helped to achieve too. At the very benning after reading the forum from A to Z in 2017, I even "knew everything" (the little details like salary statement has to be exactly annual income divided by 12 and others) when I entered SB Office for the first time and thought that providing things they didn't even requested day one (like my first entry stamp to Thailand) would make good impression and help me to get it faster... nada... this was a mistake. Hence my advice to people who consider to read everything from this forum like I did... go to SB and just pretend you know nothing, just provide what they request when they request it as more and more requests will be added on the way, this is part of the process to test your ability to keep calm in every situation. I think one day I'll post the 10 very funny things that happened to me during my process, I'm sure we all face these moments in a way or another.

    Also thank you to the dozen of people which whom I interacted in private message along these years, we had true sharing exchange and it was done in a friendly and cooperative way. Cheers to all of you who know who they are!

    And yes, it's good to see new applicants take over and maintain this forum active with such good spirit. A reason why I'm still here regularly ????

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    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted · Edited by GabbaGabbaHey

    1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

    What are the consequences of using our old passports in Thailand, for example registering for a Covid vaccine?

    (I understand this question means consequences for those who already got Thai nationality)

     

    I would'nt personnally do that, as for any action which involves registering in a Thai database that could potentially come into official hands. I know the risk is perhaps low if what you refer is the possibility to fall into the case of losing Thai nationality, but as for myself I plan to apply this as a golden rule: in Thailand I'm Thai and I will not use my foreign passport for any reason whatsoever. This is just my own personal view on the topic, of course.
    I was recently been asked for it for changing some insurance number from foreigner to Thai but I denied and explained "sorry my foreign passport is no longer legal in Thailand, if you need copy of my passport I have Thai passport" which cut the discussion and this was accepted as valid case.

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    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

    These days, I'd say 5-8 years.

    3 year WP and tax receipts+ 2-4 years application process. 

    This is true for a man who has a Thai wife, at least one child and married for more than one year, otherwise married for more than 3 years.

     

    For a man who has no Thai wife, going through PR is mandatory route and will take 13+ years (5 to get PR + 5 of PR + 3 of citizenship process) which is roughly 8 years min from the year you get PR. 

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    Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted · Edited by GabbaGabbaHey

    1 hour ago, heiri007 said:

    Question for citizens who got their ID: What's the process after we receive the naturalization document? Someone told me each district handles the issuance of ID differently. Some don't trust the naturalization doc and request other written confirmation from somewhere, which might take a long time. Shouldn't there be data in a central system for them to verify and check on the spot?

    This was my experience in September last year:

     

    The day I got the certificate at SB I signed two papers, paid the 500 THB fee, got the certificate with certified documents, 3 are certified copies of the RG, I made few photos with the boss and the officer in charge who congratulated me, total took 30 minutes. Then I went to my district with my wife and the registration guy asked to see key documents to prepare for the "ID day": he kept one certified copy of the RG and asked for photocopies so we went outside to prepare these: marriage cert, kids birth certificate, tabian baan, my pink ID (I had PR), passport, PR books, WP copy (screenshot of the e-WP actually), and of course the Thai citizenship certificate. He explained that two witnesses would be needed on "ID issuance day", my wife being one and her sister the other person (he said they had to be relatives, he said Thai children older than 25 would be accepted as witnesses), and he agreed to book the day one week later and requested that we come in very early morning. The pictures they asked for were 1.5 x 2 inch, so different size from those done for SB.

     

    ID issuance day. I arrived to the district at 8:30. Since we had appointment no need for a queue ticket. Then there was a bunch of successive informal interviews and chats with the registrar, the senior officer and few people who enter data into the system, so you need to basically go through reviewing the forms before you sign and having details like your parents and siblings name transliterated and entered too (I thought SB or MOI would have passed the whole stuff but no, it's a different office, and sadly I forgot my special document with all information at home, so we had to Google for some translation of my brother firstname into Thai language), then my family witnesses also had little interview and some signatures to provide, all this moving slowly from one desk to another because the registration was split into several parts.. until I got to the finger print and the photo shooting steps and the last one was ID issuance. I already had my name in blue tabian baan before from PR (which only got strikedthrough on my original nationality with "ไทย" being added manually and registrar signature beside) but it seems this did not speed up anything. Or perhaps people without blue book could expect an extra hour for that? I hane no idea. I finally got my ID at 11:30am. Total time 3 hours.

     

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