GabbaGabbaHey

Hi all, I was wondering what would be the impact if after the application has been sent to MOI, while waiting for the interview (which can take 6-12 months or more), you change your job -let's assume with continuity-. It seems weird that during the interview you'd mention a different company/job than the one they have in the application. Hence my question: after the application has been completed by SB, while waiting for the MOI interview do we have to keep SB informed of any change regarding work place/position to input the change into the process? Has anyone faced this situation? 

On 10/31/2017 at 3:14 PM, MrPatrickThai said:

Can anyone tell me the best way to get to the MOFA from central Bangkok?

The Consular office for document legalization, right?  One economic way is to use BTS until Mo Chit, take exit 3, walk 200 meters to the north and ask the minivans parked there which one is going to the Government office (Consular office is very near on the main road). they charge only 25 bahts including air con and express way. On the way back you can do the same, cross the footbridge in front of the Consular Office and wait for those minivans with "BTS/MRT" on it. 

38 minutes ago, khongaeng said:

SB paperwork submitted - 0

SB call back for interview, singing, finger printing + 2 weeks

NIA interview + 1 month (actually mine was later because I had to reschedule, but it could have happened as early as 1 month after)

Now I am waiting to find out if my paperwork is ready to submit to MOI. (It has been over 120 days since I submitted paperwork to SB)

A precision for this bullet

• SB and NIA interview (3-9 months)

I set the starting point when the applicant decides to apply, which means the range counts the several weeks/months to gather required documents. For me it has been 6 months from this point to the NIA interview. How about for yourself? 

18 minutes ago, MrPatrickThai said:

How much does the MOFA charge for stamping such a document?

Are there translation places at the MOFA? Could they do it in 1 hour or so, or would you recommend getting them done before going there?

Do I have to hang around Bangkok for 3 /4 days to receive them or can they post them to me?

I was also getting UK passports renewed for my kids today and forgot to get the house book translated. Took one shop at Trendy 1 hour for this simple task! 

 

-  I paid 200 baht per each stamp

- There are translation companies located there and they seem to have fast service (what they told me when I was approached) however I haven't used any of them so I can't say much more. 

- You can specify to receive the stamped documents by Post in the application form. See details http://www.consular.go.th/main/contents/files/services-20161031-183439-280102.png

3 hours ago, thunder18 said:

May I ask you when was your interview @MOI ?

Choosan answered this question on June 2: "I had my interview at MOI (Lumluka DOPA) end May last year."

52 minutes ago, MrPatrickThai said:

 I think I have enough points, being married to a Thai, been here 22 years etc.  [...]  I thought I could get 15 points for living in Thailand for over 20 years.

Be aware that the points for presence in Thailand require some time spent under PR mostly (10 years of PR=20pts, 7 years of PR=15pts, 5 years of PR=10pts, without PR I don't remember maybe you can get 5pts for some criteria but I forgot which - yellow tabian perhaps). Although I have been living in Thailand for 18 years, I scored zero for the presence because I was just 4.x years under PR when I applied. 

From the whole discussion, one can read successful applicants have been waiting from 18 months to 11 years. More recently, it seems to be down to 3-4 years for the lucky ones.

3 hours ago, qualtrough said:

This is to get a yellow tabian baan and pink ID card, which are on the SB checklist.

I don't think Pink ID card is on the list of requirements. I remember I showed it at SB on my first visit but they didn't ask for any copy.

3 hours ago, qualtrough said:

I have read through this thread and others and am hopelessly confused about the doc translation/certification requirements. I hope some kind person can provide me with the most recent information:

Since the application process is personalized, that some of us had various experiences and that requirements on this matter seem to have evolved over the years, I think the most efficient and cost saving way, if you live around Bangkok, is to gather all originals and raw documents -without photocopy, translation, certification- and go to meet the officers at SB. They'll go through the list with you, and can tell you exactly what level is required for each item (including guidelines regarding the translation aspect).

In my case they had to attend. I'm not sure for others. You should ask and let us know.

The two Thai people that will certify your personality and assets (by signing the application with you). They hare required to fill a form and provide some basic information too (ID, house registration, job, salary).

4 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

He says there is a waiting list but will try to make an appointment for October. I can't understand how there is a waiting list. I thought anyone can walk in and apply.

From what I experienced, anyone can walk in with his prepared documents and have an officer assigned to start checking your documents. However and unless you have the perfect application, from that first contact to the completion of your application there will be some weeks -if not months- as you'll be required minor changes or additions, until an appointment will be made to schedule you into one of the SB interview days (these are perhaps the days when the 5 officers and the two bosses must be present, and I guess they are scheduled regularly). This has been my own experience, I applied in April, visited SB on several occasions to bring documents and amendments, and I got my SB interview with my spouse and witnesses in September. Now I must admit I didn't push and just waited for it knowing it would come one day. Others may have a different experience. But if there are slots for the interviews, it makes sense to have a waiting list assuming dozens of new applicants come in each month.

1 hour ago, qualtrough said:

๋ีJust dug up Arkady's post on that. He says just need to show 80,000 on the day of the letter and be sure to put down the SB address. I got the address below from the brochure they handed me, so that's what I will use unless otherwise corrected.

That's what I have on my letter "เรียน +  this address", except they truncated a bit of line 3 to fit in the space.

1 hour ago, qualtrough said:

1. For the 80,000 baht deposit requirement, I assume some kind of long term deposit is required. Is that correct? Any advice on that front?

I don't think so. I just went to my bank headquarter in Bangkok with my saving book, they have a desk for certification letters, it took about 20 minutes to issue the letter. Just make sure you ask them to issue (in Thai) "at the attention of + Special Branch address". There's a post from Arkady that gives more details on this.

1 hour ago, khongaeng said:

As a side note, none of the above-mentioned documents needed to be certified by the MOI.  I'm not sure if the policy has somehow changed in the past 4 months, but they did not require any documents.  My only MOI certified document is my marriage license from overseas, but I did that years ago to get registered in a Thabian Ban and get a marriage visa.  I'm not sure if that would have been required from my nationality application.

On my side, nobody asked for document legalization, but based on my assumptions that most of the process is about documents verification I found more confidence in building a solid application with official seals on key documents. I did these steps on my own interpretation of what could be ideally expected:

Translation certified by embassy plus embassy signature certified by Dpt of Consular affairs:
- Marriage record / Education degree / Letter of intent / No conviction record

Certified true copy by embassy plus embassy signature certified by Dpt of Consular affairs
- Passport main page

I know it's no guarantee this will speed up my application ("more is less" sometimes), but at least I feel better as -I think- I'm giving myself the maximum chances I can before the final steps where I'll have no control. At the end of the day, I think it's important for you to feel comfortable with the process and what documents you're providing. 
 

20 minutes ago, khongaeng said:

GabbaGabbaHey, do you know if the 120 day waiting period is set in stone, or at least somewhat closely followed currently?  Because that would be great news.  My 120 days should be up in the next few weeks.  When I called SB a couple of weeks ago, they made it sound like it would be months before my application is sent to Mahadthai (MOI).

 

No, the board just says "around 120 days". During that time I plan to keep regular contact with SB asking what is missing, because I feel once you reach 120 days and your file is complete, it should't take that long to be sent to MOI (in theory).

8 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

Thanks for the info.

So you got all the original docs back after you applied in the first place?

I wonder if my Tabien Baan not being the same as my wife's will cause a problem.

No, but to clarify, you never give any original document (like passeport, alien book, work permit, tabian ban, university degree...) you may show them but you always keep them. However you should keep a copy of any ad hoc document passed to SB (company salary letter, Thai name registration, letter introducing yourself, degree...).  

8 hours ago, khongaeng said:

GabbaGabbaHey, it looks like we are at approximately the same stage of the process.  I interviewed with the NIA a few weeks ago after initially submitting my application in June.  I called SB recently and was told that they still have not received my documents back from all of the other government agencies yet.  I would be curious to hear back from you when you get your appointment to MOI (I will also post) to add a more recent data point.  Some of the people posting earlier in this thread said they had multiple year waiting between NIA interview and MOI.  I hope that our wait is only multiple months :-)

 

For other's reference my experience at NIA was a a simple review of my history.  I brought all of my original documents.  They wanted to see as many forms of ID that I had (PR (I didn't have because applying with Thai wife), Thai Driver's license, Passport, Marriage license, tax return (copy), salary letter from company, marriage license, birth certificates for children, name change (copy), thabian ban for me and family, and wife Thai ID card).  My wife also had to come along.  We met in the cafeteria of the Ministry of Education (not air conditioned).  Apparently their offices at SB are under construction until middle of 2018.  The interviewer just asked my wife and I to review our history together, etc.  The same type of questions that have been asked by SB when application was submitted.  Not stressful at all.  They only meet with people on Wednesdays, and seem to complete 1 person every 20 minutes.  There were 3 interviewers interview with 3 different applicants at the time.  

- If you submitted in June, I think you're more advanced than me in the "120 days investigation phase" and your file should be sent to MOI earlier than me. I just submitted early September, I don't expect it to be sent before end of January 2018 (but I'd welcome any surprise). Anyway, I plan to visit SB regularly to track which information is missing.

- "I hope that our wait is only multiple months " -Me too.

- NIA: I just had the interview and the same experience as you describe, same place, friendly and relaxed, although some documents you mention were not asked to me due to the lack of time. It took 45 minutes in total and there were people queuing after. My recommendation to anyone regarding this interview: don't forget things like your wife passport, bring a copy of the company letter with the salary, bring a copy of your Thai name registration, a copy of your history letter may help as well (it saved time when they asked the spelling of my birthplace, university....) which means, and this is a recommendation I'd give to any applicant, make sure you keep a copy of any document or certificate you provide to SB (especially the Thai translations), because it might be asked to you during later stages.

Indeed this is not part of the list of requirements. Perhaps this is added for people applying on the basis of marriage? It would make sense to me, since PR holders already did it on their side, but this is just my assumption (and btw I have PR less than 5 years, so... it's my second time).

1 hour ago, onthemoon said:

 

Thanks for the sample text, but I thought it would have to be in Thai?

What I did was 1) have my embassy issue it in my original language 2) translate it in Thai by a translator that is accredited by my embassy 3) Bring to my embassy to bundle both and certify the thai translator 4) Bring to Chaeng Wattana to have the Dpt of Consular Affairs certify the signature from my embassy... 

45 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

My first entry to Thailand was in 1987 as a backpacker - I don't think I have that passport any more! Are you sure this is required?

 

I can write a book about me and Thailand. Is there a size limit?

 

Yeah, different spelling here too. How long did it take to change the spelling? And in fact, in my case, the spelling in the WP is correct, the one in the PR would need the amendment. But I believe it would be easier to change the WP.

- First entry: nothing much you can do except wait to see if they ask for it. Perhaps they'll ask the most recent entry you can find?

- Letter to present yourself: I personally did one page two sides. 8 paragraphs, 5-10 lines each.

- Amending WP is much easier. There's only one form to fill, and they just add an indication on one page. 1-2 days max I'd say, but I used my company's lawyer so it took longer.

The naturalization section at SB is very friendly and extremely helpful, they'll tell you exactly what is needed. IMO the best for new applicants is to go there the first time with all originals you have and not even need to copy anything, they'll go through the list of requirement one by one so that you can know what is missing and bring it back on the subsequent visits. Because clearly nobody can submit a complete set of documents right from the beginning, there will be additions and there will be corrections requested. Iteration and patience work the best here. Some examples of documents which are not part of the original list, that I had to provide -and it doesn't mean everyone will have to provide them-:
- Copy of the passport containing my first entry to Thailand
- Certificate of criminal status in my country of origin
- Letter describing myself (background, how I met my wife, why I came to Thailand, past jobs in Thailand, relatives...)
Regarding my document corrections:
- My salary letter missed a clear sentence of the average monthly salary (which must be 1/12 of the total annual income).
- My name in WP and PR were written differently in Thai. I had to request a change in WP.

Take this as informational only, it's just to give you an idea of the details that are needed, because for sure SB and the applicant share the same goal which is to succeed in the application. 

And if you want to really prepare the letter of intention from the beginning, the best is to go to your embassy and ask them which document they provided for the previous applicant to Thai citizenship. On my side I lost time producing a draft letter and I found they already had a template there.

31 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

I am beginning the application process and have a question about the need for a letter of intention to renounce your current citizenship once you receive Thai citizenship. This is item #17 on the SB handout. I am trying to find out if this is a form letter that I can fill out and my embassy can endorse or certify, or something I create and sign. Someone on another thread said that Arkady had talked about that and perhaps provided an example, but when I search I couldn't find it. Can anyone shed any light on this requirement?

From my recent experience, this letter should not be needed from the very beginning. The reason is that as you advance in the process you'll receive letters addressed to various places, including the one asking for the letter of intention to your embassy. At that time only you should collect it. Of course you can do it earlier, but as in my case, it means the letter doesn't contain any reference number from SB request. My recommendation: collect everything else but leave this before SB will ask you, and... go to meet SB officers as soon as possible. I probably lost many months trying to compile a perfect application, only to discover SB will "send you home with a pile of homework" to quote Arkady's words from earlier posts. 

23 hours ago, Big Guns said:

 

Prepare to introduce yourself and cover how long you have been in Thailand, what you do for a living and why you want to be a Thai national. Remember that your wife can translate for you and you don't really have to be able to speak very much Thai. Dress smartly and remember that if you create a positive impression you can't really fail. Be prepared for what at first sight is quite an intimidating setting with you and your partner facing a 'u shaped' table setting of about 20 or so officials with microphones asking you questions. The duration of mine was only 5 or 10 minutes and if I knew what I have just written then I would have been a lot calmer.

Hi Big Guns, as spotted by Arkady, in this post were you describing the MOI interview or the NIA interview? Since I'm attending the NIA interview shortly I'm interested to know things like how many people are there? what is the format of the interview (introduce yourself and then answer questions I presume).  How long does it take?