My father was a Thai citizen born in Thailand. After immigrating to the USA (and before I was born), he obtained American citizenship and possibly renounced his Thai citizenship. I say "possibly" because I don't know what is the process to lose your Thai citizenship. He said that he removed his name from his house in Thailand (possibly an amphoe record but I'm not sure).

 

Is removing his name from his house sufficient to lose Thai citizenship? And if so, would I (his son) still be able to claim citizenship? Does it matter whether he was a Thai citizen when I was born? Or only that he was a Thai citizen at some point in his life?

 

Also, does anyone recommend any good Thai lawyers in California?
 

1 minute ago, Leee said:

Is removing his name from his house sufficient to lose Thai citizenship?

No it is not. It requires a good deal of paperwork done via the Interior Ministry. I am certain he still is still has his Thai nationality.

The first step to document your Thai nationality is to obtain a Thai birth certificate at the embassy in Washington DC or one of the official consulates in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Info here: http://thaiembdc.org/thai-birth-certificate-eng/

 

Thanks for the quick reply Joe! I should have provided more detail:

 

My dad already contacted the Thai consulate in Los Angeles about helping me obtain Thai citizenship. One of the requirements is for him to provide his Thai id or passport. However, they said he had to reapply/renew his passport first because his current passport and Thai id expired many decades ago. So he applied for a new passport and was rejected because they said his name wasn't registered with his house/amphoe.

 

So I'm wondering if my dad's particular situation is more complex than what the Thai consulate typically deals with and am wondering if I would need to get an attorney (either that or contact a different Thai consulate embassy which might be more skilled in understanding legal matters).

The consular section of the embassy in Washington DC might be able to help.

The embassy requirements don't state the ID card has to be valid. It does mention that the passport must be valid but they might be able to waive that requirement.

It may in the end require your father to make a trip to here to get his house book registry, ID card and passport sorted out.

 

 

 

 

Thanks again Joe! A trip to Thailand for my father would be a challenging undertaking, but I'll contact the Thai embassy in DC to try my luck.

 

BTW, do you recommend any good Thai attorneys?

 

1 minute ago, Leee said:

BTW, do you recommend any good Thai attorneys?

I am not aware of any that could be of any help. There are probably very few of them that would have any experience in resolving the issues you have.

Your father would have had to apply to the Minister of Interior and have his name published in the Royal Gazette to have his citizenship taken away.

 

Simply have it take of the House book means he doesn’t live there any more.

 

i got my thai citizenship in my teens based on two decade old ID from my mother via the thai embassy in my home country. 

 

You should try and speak to the embassy in DC to explain the situation. Plenty of people like you - born overseas to a thai parent who own thai ID is out of date. 

 

The embassy should at least be able to then issue you with a Thai birth certificate and a first passport. 

8 hours ago, Leee said:

Also, does anyone recommend any good Thai lawyers in California?

There is at least one Thai Association in California. Their FB link is here:   https://www.facebook.com/ThaiSoCal/

 

Maybe someone there would be able to recommend a Thai lawyer with experience in Thai nationality issues.

15 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

There is at least one Thai Association in California. Their FB link is here:   https://www.facebook.com/ThaiSoCal/

 

Maybe someone there would be able to recommend a Thai lawyer with experience in Thai nationality issues.

 

Thank you Suradit!