Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[GabbaGabbaHey]

11 minutes ago, BaanBKK said:

Correct, application for citizenship was filed with SB on the second working day of January 2016 (I had to get some tax issues in order so my 2015 taxes were filed on the first working day of that month). From then until today it would be less than 2 years, I guess.

This means your NIA interview was around September 2016 (9 months after applying at SB), can you confirm this? Sorry to ask, but this is very useful to understand the current trend -although I know each applicant has a specific experience of the process-. Being few months after my NIA interview, it will give me -and other recent applicants- a clue of a potential waiting time to MOI interview.

[greenchair]

16 minutes ago, BaanBKK said:

Correct, application for citizenship was filed with SB on the second working day of January 2016 (I had to get some tax issues in order so my 2015 taxes were filed on the first working day of that month). From then until today it would be less than 2 years, I guess.

Congratulations 

[Arkady]

On the subject of name changing it is worth mentioning that the UK slyly introduced a regulation a couple of years ago to the effect that they will not issue a new passport to anyone that visibly has another nationality under a different name.  If you apply at the Trendy, they will ask you for a copy of the passport you used to enter the country, if they notice (not always the case, as I know someone who got away with it) that there is no entry stamp in the passport you are renewing. You might also be able to get away with not submitting another passport, if you apply in the UK (there is a one day express service) and they have no record of you having one. If you fall foul of this, you will have to change your name in one country or the other or do without a UK passport. In the latter case, you can apply for right of abode in the UK in the form of a sticker in your foreign passport for a fat fee but you have to pay again every time you get a new foreign passport.  They will not sell you the sticker any more  if you have a valid UK passport and will not renew a UK passport, if you have a valid sticker in a foreign passport.

[Arkady]

21 minutes ago, BaanBKK said:

Correct, application for citizenship was filed with SB on the second working day of January 2016 (I had to get some tax issues in order so my 2015 taxes were filed on the first working day of that month). From then until today it would be less than 2 years, I guess.

 

Wow!  Anyone reading this and still procrastinating about filing their citizenship papers should get their skates on and point them in the direction of SB.  This speed and efficiency cannot possibly last indefinitely.

[GarryP]

2 hours ago, greenchair said:

Sorry I just read that again it doesn't say to change name. 

It says to please translate your name into thai using the Thai accent to be used in evidence for you to aquire citizenship. This is because all of your paper will use thai characters for entry into the government Gazette. And your id of course will have thai characters plus your name. 

Perhaps you don't read thai well. 

สำเนียง means accent of thai language. 

Read the notice again. It does not say translate your name. It says "submitted an application to change his/her name and family name" to Thai sounding ones. It does not mean to transliterate your foreign name so it sounds Thai. That is patently ridiculous.  Also, this is a letter that you need to submit to the District Office so that they will then issue evidence of the reservation of your name, which will then be submitted to SB to form part of the application documents. Why would you need to reserve your existing name, a name that already appears in Thai on your tax ID, house registration document, driving license, marriage certificate, and the citizenship documents prepared  by SB themselves.

 

You seem to be arguing for arguments sake. And this last one seems to lack any logic whatsoever.  

 

   

 

 

[greenchair]

2 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

Wow!  Anyone reading this and still procrastinating about filing their citizenship papers should get their skates on and point them in the direction of SB.  This speed and efficiency cannot possibly last indefinitely.

Now is the golden era of citizenship. 

Can't possibly last. 

Get in now. 

[Arkady]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Read the notice again. It does not say translate your name. It says "submitted an application to change his/her name and family name" to Thai sounding ones. It does not mean to transliterate your foreign name so it sounds Thai. That is patently ridiculous.  Also, this is a letter that you need to submit to the District Office so that they will then issue evidence of the reservation of your name, which will then be submitted to SB to form part of the application documents. Why would you need to reserve your existing name, a name that already appears in Thai on your tax ID, house registration document, driving license, marriage certificate, and the citizenship documents prepared  by SB themselves.

 

You seem to be arguing for arguments sake. And this last one seems to lack any logic whatsoever.  

 

 

Absolutely correct. Also the district office, according to BORA regulations can only approve Thai names for anyone that have meaning in the Thai dictionary and surnames must be original and not already in use.

 

When I became a permanent resident I obviously already had a Thai transliteration of my name in my WP but Immigration told me that was the last chance to change the Thai spelling of my name, if I was not happy with it.  The spelling entered into my residence book at that time would also go into my alien book and tabien baan and  could not altered for as long as I used that name as a foreigner in Thailand.  It could only be changed, if I changed my name in my home country.  So there would certainly no point in asking PR's to go to their DO to ask for a new Thai spelling of something that cannot be changed.   And I received the same letter with exactly the same wording.   

 

I got my first tabien baan before they changed the law to allow Thais to have middle names.  So I am stuck with my middle names as officially part of my first name.  I asked about reassigning them to be middle names at the DO when I got my ID card but it seemed too hard. It would have been counted as a full blown name change, rather than a correction, and I am sure that they would have allowed a name change for a Thai from one foreign name to another, even though they allow you to keep your foreign name.  So I thought it best to stay as I was.    

 

[samran]

Jesus, Mary and Joseph

 

มีสำเนียงเป็นภาษาไทย simply means a ‘Thai sounding name’.

 

For <deleted>!

 

troll 1, rest of us,  nill. Putting he/she/it on ignore now. Hopefully outta here shortly. 

 

 

[red horse]

May I know the list of royal gazette


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[GabbaGabbaHey]

18 minutes ago, red horse said:

May I know the list of royal gazette

http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2560/E/284/1.PDF

[NewlyMintedThai]

55 happy people today. Well done, everyone!


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[aidenai]

Congratulations to all.

[GarryP]

6 hours ago, BaanBKK said:

I just saw the RTG, my name was published. I'm Thai. My sincere thanks to Arkady and the others on this thread who contribute such useful insight. I must say I feel truly relieved, I know I still have some things to deal with as far as the ID, but it is now official and that feels great.

Congratulations. It is a great feeling. 

[NewlyMintedThai]

Yeah thanks for that.  The misses called BKK and they said the same as you.  We need to "reserve" a name, but do not have to use it.  The thing is, the first name we chose, the guy at the government office asked what does it mean, and we said it sounds similar to my western name, then he REJECTED it, and said it needs to have meaning!  The staff there all rolled their eyes, and since I don't plan on using it, I did not put up a fight, and we just modified it, but what a thing to do.  This is not North Korea, is it?  

 

I believe that Thais are also held to the same rules when choosing names for their children or themselves. No made-up names like Shaniqua or Dweezil or Moon Unit in the Kingdom.

 

 

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[red horse]

http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2560/E/284/1.PDF

Thank you very much


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[samran]

Congrats to those who are on the list. Notice that there are a few westerners, as well as quite a few kids on the list. Best wishes on whatever comes next. 

 

Interesting titbit. Turns out one of my neighbors, a Korean lady, naturalised as Thai after her husband and was granted citizenship in the same round as my wife a couple of years back. 

 

Given Korea apparently has issues with dual nationality, they continue to extend her visa every year! 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

If I make the application on Dec 18, is there a good chance that I could get the MOI interview before March? What would be the worst case scenario - April?

Before March... 2019 perhaps, but not even guaranteed considering recent applicants had a waiting time of 15-18 months from the starting point to the MOI interview.

[greenchair]

2 hours ago, VIBE said:

Oh no....we are expecting a child and want to name her Misha, which is not a Thai name, do you think they would prevent us?  How can they stop parents from choosing names for their children?  Seems so very wrong.

Of course you can. And you don't need to choose a Thai name for your child either. 

But it does need to be translated to the correct thai script. Which might not actually sound the same as your child. For example my son name is zen but there is no z sound in thai so his translation when spoken in thai is sen. Or if your child is Victor our translation to thai sound would use ฟี for the 1st letter of v. But for the legal translation it would use วี therefore the name would read wicter. There have been many foreigners over the years trying to force the Thai to spell according to the English sound and not the official thai script required. It causes confusion and many arguments about which thai letter to use as some sound  (to us ) almost exactly the same. This is turn causes the Thai to speak incorrectly. Your name of choice is micha is easily translates to thai sound. But my name Catherine has all manner of different spellings because of the th. So for me the official translated script from the district office is the one that is excepted to do my citizenship. 

[BaanBKK]

17 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

This means your NIA interview was around September 2016 (9 months after applying at SB), can you confirm this? Sorry to ask, but this is very useful to understand the current trend -although I know each applicant has a specific experience of the process-. Being few months after my NIA interview, it will give me -and other recent applicants- a clue of a potential waiting time to MOI interview.

Yes, that is correct. 

[skippybangkok]

Yeah thanks for that.  The misses called BKK and they said the same as you.  We need to "reserve" a name, but do not have to use it.  The thing is, the first name we chose, the guy at the government office asked what does it mean, and we said it sounds similar to my western name, then he REJECTED it, and said it needs to have meaning!  The staff there all rolled their eyes, and since I don't plan on using it, I did not put up a fight, and we just modified it, but what a thing to do.  This is not North Korea, is it?  

I went to the temple and asked a monk.

He invented one which I liked - can’t remember it though


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[Arkady]

4 hours ago, VIBE said:

Oh no....we are expecting a child and want to name her Misha, which is not a Thai name, do you think they would prevent us?  How can they stop parents from choosing names for their children?  Seems so very wrong.

 

I think it makes some sense.  A friend once worked in a US consulate in Germany and had to inform American parents, usually in the US military there, that certain name spellings, e.g names spelled with an _ sign or * were not accepted by that country's computer system for registration of names. Some of them were really upset that the unique names they had painstakingly thought up for their newborns were not accepted. Others got away with unpronounceable names because the computer could accept the spellings, even though they were nonsensical and would be life-long albatrosses for their kids to bear, unless they got around to changing them. 

 

Misha is a nice name but it is not a Thai name and has no meaning in the Thai dictionary.  So it is possible but not certain that a registry official would not accept it.  You will have to ask them in your district office.  The usual way around this is to give the child the farang name as a nickname. 

[greenchair]

37 minutes ago, skippybangkok said:

 

 

I went to the temple and asked a monk.

He invented one which I liked - can’t remember it though


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I got my thai name from the monk too. 

Some kind of a flower. 

Did you get a Thai name at the district office that you could never use? 

[greenchair]

Kindly and nicely to all I would be interested to see the letter with the new thai name that is given to take back to SB. 

Does anyone have that 

[Arkady]

A disruptive and trolling post has been deleted and warning point and posting holiday issued.

[Arkady]

A nonsense post has been deleted.

[skippybangkok]

 
I think it makes some sense.  A friend once worked in a US consulate in Germany and had to inform American parents, usually in the US military there, that certain name spellings, e.g names spelled with an _ sign or * were not accepted by that country's computer system for registration of names. Some of them were really upset that the unique names they had painstakingly thought up for their newborns were not accepted. Others got away with unpronounceable names because the computer could accept the spellings, even though they were nonsensical and would be life-long albatrosses for their kids to bear, unless they got around to changing them. 
 
Misha is a nice name but it is not a Thai name and has no meaning in the Thai dictionary.  So it is possible but not certain that a registry official would not accept it.  You will have to ask them in your district office.  The usual way around this is to give the child the farang name as a nickname. 

I registered my twin sons names @ birth which were western names, and was not a problem. I am Thai now and they were at birth


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[Briggsy]

55 minutes ago, Arkady said:

 

Misha is a nice name but it is not a Thai name and has no meaning in the Thai dictionary. 

You really don't want to call her Misha, @VIBE. มิจฉา .

 

Apologies for the semi-off topic reply.

[NewlyMintedThai]

มีซ่า sounds cool and has meaning


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[Arkady]

21 hours ago, BaanBKK said:

I just saw the RTG, my name was published. I'm Thai. My sincere thanks to Arkady and the others on this thread who contribute such useful insight. I must say I feel truly relieved, I know I still have some things to deal with as far as the ID, but it is now official and that feels great.

 

You're welcome and hearty congratulations.

[samran]

1 hour ago, Arkady said:

 

I think it makes some sense.  A friend once worked in a US consulate in Germany and had to inform American parents, usually in the US military there, that certain name spellings, e.g names spelled with an _ sign or * were not accepted by that country's computer system for registration of names. Some of them were really upset that the unique names they had painstakingly thought up for their newborns were not accepted. Others got away with unpronounceable names because the computer could accept the spellings, even though they were nonsensical and would be life-long albatrosses for their kids to bear, unless they got around to changing them. 

 

Misha is a nice name but it is not a Thai name and has no meaning in the Thai dictionary.  So it is possible but not certain that a registry official would not accept it.  You will have to ask them in your district office.  The usual way around this is to give the child the farang name as a nickname. 

If it is of any help, all three of our daughters all have very very Anglo first name and surnames. All Thai citizens and never any issue registering their names.