Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[yankee99]

Today I went to the amphur to reserve my Thai name. Took about 45 minutes and all done. Should I memorize the name will I be asked about  it in the future? 

[GarryP]

9 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

Today I went to the amphur to reserve my Thai name. Took about 45 minutes and all done. Should I memorize the name will I be asked about  it in the future? 

I was never asked about it again but even if I was there would be no problem as I selected it myself. While no problems with first names, it was my fourth or fifth choice for a family name before I got the all clear.

 

Will remember it to my dying day. Suppachoke Buapailin. 

[Arkady]

2 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Today I went to the amphur to reserve my Thai name. Took about 45 minutes and all done. Should I memorize the name will I be asked about  it in the future? 

As Garry said, it is unlikely that any official will ask you about the name, as they realise it is an orphaned requirement that is now redundant.  But you should try to memorise it because your Thai friends will ask you what name you chose, all believing, of course, that you will have to use it, as in the past.

[GarryP]

43 minutes ago, Arkady said:

As Garry said, it is unlikely that any official will ask you about the name, as they realise it is an orphaned requirement that is now redundant.  But you should try to memorise it because your Thai friends will ask you what name you chose, all believing, of course, that you will have to use it, as in the past.

Yes, that was funny. They thew a party for me and had my Thai name written up in large letters. They understood that I had to change my name. Quite funny and embarrassing at the same time.

[yankee99]

my new name 

เมธีส

กๅรินวัณน้

 

None of the ones my wife picked were available so the lady helped and used a combination for my last name. 

 

 

[skippybangkok]

As Garry said, it is unlikely that any official will ask you about the name, as they realise it is an orphaned requirement that is now redundant.  But you should try to memorise it because your Thai friends will ask you what name you chose, all believing, of course, that you will have to use it, as in the past.

Forgot mine yonks ago


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[Johnniey]

On 2/2/2018 at 9:00 AM, SAMCHAROEN said:

Thanks Arkady. We started following up with them last year (5 years after application)and came to know that since the taxes I paid in one of the 3 years preceding the application were inadequate, my application is put on “hold”. They informed that the earlier rule was to consider the average tax paid in 3 preceding years but now the new rule was to consider each year individually.

Regarding the bank letter they have asked to address to the RTP citizenship department. Thus, my bank has prepared the letter as below:

Did they ask for the 5 years of tax receipts?

[Johnniey]

On 3/19/2018 at 4:54 PM, GarryP said:

I was never asked about it again but even if I was there would be no problem as I selected it myself. While no problems with first names, it was my fourth or fifth choice for a family name before I got the all clear.

 

Will remember it to my dying day. Suppachoke Buapailin. 

Is there an option to use your Thai name? If so, what would happen to your old name in your old passport?

[Johnniey]

After seeing your name in the Royal Gazette, is there a time period where you have to get the Thai ID card, as it seems a rather arduous process. 

[NewlyMintedThai]

Is there an option to use your Thai name? If so, what would happen to your old name in your old passport?

Yes, you can use the Thai name you chose, or a completely different one. Like any Thai person, you can easily change your given and family name at will — as long as they meet requirements.

I am using a Thai name and surname now. My original passport is unchanged. So I have two nationalities and two different legal names.


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[skippybangkok]

After seeing your name in the Royal Gazette, is there a time period where you have to get the Thai ID card, as it seems a rather arduous process. 

I think I was busy and could not do it straight away. Think it took me 2 months to go get it

Was not so hard, a few bureaucrats to deal with. Getting the Phu Yai to find time to sign was annoying , added polite pressure , all the other staff in Khet were wonderful


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[NewlyMintedThai]

Agree. If you’ve jumped all the hoops up through the Gazette announcement, you will not find the final hoop a challenge at all. You’re already in, all you need is a little patience.


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[Johnniey]

7 minutes ago, skippybangkok said:

 

 

I think I was busy and could not do it straight away. Think it took me 2 months to go get it

Was not so hard, a few bureaucrats to deal with. Getting the Phu Yai to find time to sign was annoying , added polite pressure , all the other staff in Khet were wonderful


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Who do you mean by "Poo Yai"? The Poo Yai Baan or the head if the town house?

 

[NewlyMintedThai]

He means the big guy in the district office whose sign-off is required before the drones behind the desk can change your nationality in the database and issue the ID card. Usually the district chief or a deputy, who are busy people and not always around. They will want to speak to you and make sure all is legit, as it is their head on the chopping block if they let something illegitimate slip by them.


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[Johnniey]

25 minutes ago, NewlyMintedThai said:

He means the big guy in the district office whose sign-off is required before the drones behind the desk can change your nationality in the database and issue the ID card. Usually the district chief or a deputy, who are busy people and not always around. They will want to speak to you and make sure all is legit, as it is their head on the chopping block if they let something illegitimate slip by them.


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Thanks -  when did you choose to use your Thai name? Was it when you went for your ID card?

Was your name in the Gazette Thai?

[NewlyMintedThai]

No, it was my birth name that was in the Gazette, and my first ID card and Thai passport were in my birth name as well.

 

I changed my given and family names to Thai names and got new a new ID card and passport several months later. It was not the same name that I had chosen earlier on in the application process, as by that time I’d decided I didn’t like the way it sounded.

 

It’s very easy to change your name as a Thai, and lots of people do it multiple times during the course of their lives.

[Johnniey]

Having 2 legal names seems like fun. When it comes to filing for taxes etc, could be interesting.

I could have 2 bank accounts with different names?

[NewlyMintedThai]

Sure. I have kept the bank accounts I had always had in my original name, and have opened new ones in my new name. Taxes are filed in Thailand under my legal name here, naturally, and in my birth name back home. I also have credit cards in both names.


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[Arkady]

4 minutes ago, Johnniey said:

Having 2 legal names seems like fun. When it comes to filing for taxes etc, could be interesting.

I could have 2 bank accounts with different names?

 

It's only a problem, if you have a British passport that you want to keep, as the Brits will no longer renew your British passport, if you have another name in a different passport.

[Johnniey]

4 minutes ago, Arkady said:

 

It's only a problem, if you have a British passport that you want to keep, as the Brits will no longer renew your British passport, if you have another name in a different passport.

You could have 2 for 10 years then.  I wonder how they would find out. 

[Arkady]

15 minutes ago, Johnniey said:

You could have 2 for 10 years then.  I wonder how they would find out. 

If you apply in Thailand, they want a colour photocopy of every page of any other passports you may have.  The staff are trained to look through the passport you are renew to check for Thai visa.  If they can't find one, they ask for your other passport.  You have a better chance of getting away with it, if you apply in the UK but would have to give a UK permanent address for which they might want verification.  This intrusive new regulation was only introduced a couple of years ago and has caused a lot of grief.  People have been forced to cancel holidays and many have been forced to  change their British name by deed poll which is often easier than changing their name overseas, particularly if living in the UK. Some countries, e.g. Germany and Austria prohibit name changes and Germans and Austrians in the UK have had to re-adopt German names after living under English names for decades.

[Johnniey]

6 minutes ago, Arkady said:

If you apply in Thailand, they want a colour photocopy of every page of any other passports you may have.  The staff are trained to look through the passport you are renew to check for Thai visa.  If they can't find one, they ask for your other passport.  You have a better chance of getting away with it, if you apply in the UK but would have to give a UK permanent address for which they might want verification.  This intrusive new regulation was only introduced a couple of years ago and has caused a lot of grief.  People have been forced to cancel holidays and many have been forced to  change their British name by deed poll which is often easier than changing their name overseas, particularly if living in the UK. Some countries, e.g. Germany and Austria prohibit name changes and Germans and Austrians in the UK have had to re-adopt German names after living under English names for decades.

Very useful to know, thanks!

 

[GarryP]

10 hours ago, Johnniey said:

Very useful to know, thanks!

 

I could not be bothered with the hassle of changing all my documents and accounts to a new name. Also changing my name after more than fifty years of being happy with my current one made no sense to me.  And despite now being a citizen, there is no way I could pass for a Somchai or Somsak. It would become a running joke of which I would become quickly bored. But each to their own. 

[Arkady]

7 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I could not be bothered with the hassle of changing all my documents and accounts to a new name. Also changing my name after more than fifty years of being happy with my current one made no sense to me.  And despite now being a citizen, there is no way I could pass for a Somchai or Somsak. It would become a running joke of which I would become quickly bored. But each to their own. 

 

Me too and I am glad I didn't, given the hassles over names that emerged later with HMPO.  However, I respect those like Newly Minted who have been willing to go to the trouble to assume an alternate identity.  If not a Brit, this must be fun in some ways.

[Neeranam]

On 20/03/2018 at 11:38 PM, Arkady said:

If you apply in Thailand, they want a colour photocopy of every page of any other passports you may have.  The staff are trained to look through the passport you are renew to check for Thai visa.  If they can't find one, they ask for your other passport.  You have a better chance of getting away with it, if you apply in the UK but would have to give a UK permanent address for which they might want verification.  This intrusive new regulation was only introduced a couple of years ago and has caused a lot of grief.  People have been forced to cancel holidays and many have been forced to  change their British name by deed poll which is often easier than changing their name overseas, particularly if living in the UK. Some countries, e.g. Germany and Austria prohibit name changes and Germans and Austrians in the UK have had to re-adopt German names after living under English names for decades.

You could always lose your UK passport?

[Arkady]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

You could always lose your UK passport?

You could pretend that you lost it, so they couldn't see there was no Thai visa in it.  That should give you another 10 years with two different names but the passport loss would be in your file and you would probably not get away with it again.  You would also have to lie by not admitting you had another passport.  If they were suspicious they might ask for a copy of your work permit or something else that you could not provide. 

 

 

[Arkady]

Another option open to Brits which might be of interest to those who only want to travel to teh UK and the region but not to other Western countries might be to let the UK passport expire and apply for a right of abode certificate of entitlement (COE)in the foreign passport.  That is available to British citizens who don't have a valid British passport and allows free travel to the UK. I think the different names rule applies only to applications for UK passports, so it should theoretically be possible to get a COE in a foreign passport with a different name.  If you do this and later apply for a UK passport, I think they would have a record of the COE and would ask you to cancel the COE.

[Johnniey]

On 2/1/2018 at 9:33 PM, SAMCHAROEN said:

Hi folks
I had applied for Thai citizenship since 6 years ago, but no news as yet.
Last week my wife (Thai) went to meet the officer at RTP and they basically have asked to re-submit all documents.
One of the required documents is proof of money in the bank not less than 60k.
We checked with them again to clearify wether the money should be in a savings or Fixed deposit account and the officer said it could be in either.
I would like to know your advice from your experience which would be more preferable to show as eveidence - money in savings account or in fixed deposit account?
Thanks in advance.


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When you applied 6 years ago, did you get the interviews with the NIA and MoI? 

[yankee99]

7 hours ago, Johnniey said:

When you applied 6 years ago, did you get the interviews with the NIA and MoI? 

Just put the money in a savings account that you've had for a year or more and get the letter. Then you can move the money anywhere. It doesn't say how long its been in there but it says how old the account is. Not sure if it makes a difference. Also the letter is not in retirement visa format so banks are going to resist writing it

[Arkady]

1 hour ago, yankee99 said:

Just put the money in a savings account that you've had for a year or more and get the letter. Then you can move the money anywhere. It doesn't say how long its been in there but it says how old the account is. Not sure if it makes a difference. Also the letter is not in retirement visa format so banks are going to resist writing it

Correct. My letter was rejected twice because the bank refused to listen to my instructions. The first time was because they did it in retirement visa format.  When I complained, the lady at the branch put me on the line to the idiot at HQ who had made the mistake and he still insisted that he was correct in doing a retirement visa letter addressed to Immigration for someone applying to SB for citizenship.  The second one was rejected because it was not addressed correctly to SB.  

 

This is totally a form over substance situation.  They don't care that having 60k in your account for only one day is utterly meaningless.  They only care that all the t's are crossed and i's dotted.  Actually it is just a part of the initiative and endurance testing to make sure you are fit for Thai citizenship.