Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[GarryP]

 

2 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

I may be wrong -GarryP assumes differently on this topic- but I still think there's a cumulative evaluation where you need to score each step in order to get points for the next one and eventually get 15/15 pts. This is what happened to me. Speaking/understanding gives 8 pts, then singing the anthems adds 2 pts, followed by reading 2 pts and writing 3 pts. Meaning, my assumption is ithat f you don't sing at SB you couldn't score any points for reading/writing.

 

It would be interesting to have facts on this point. Anybody here was able to score points for reading/writing without singing at SB recently?

 

The above is exactly how it applied to me. I could not get points for reading and writing because I did not sing the royal and national anthems. However, I understood that since then it had changed such that you could now get points for reading and writing even if you do not sing the anthems. I may be wrong on this change. 

 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

I got full points last December.

I never sang the songs, due to being married.

However, before I got my degrees translated and certified, they said I could sing for some extra points.

Also, I never had to write anything, that was tested.

The point system is not as clear as one would think.

I'd advise qualtrough to take his wife to offer them something, unless he knows the correct procedure to do this. Actually, even if he does, it's always better coming from a Thai.

If married, not singing the anthems is optional. However, if you do not sing them you lose out on those points. It was not a deal breaker for me so I did not sing them (actually I had no intention of doing so anyway). Obviously, if I needed those extra couple of points, there would have been no option but to sing them.

 

On the points system in operation when I applied, the anthems fell under Thai language skills and as such, if you did not sing them at SB it was not possible to get maximum points for Thai language ability. To my knowledge this has not changed. 

[yankee99]

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I got full points last December.

I never sang the songs, due to being married.

However, before I got my degrees translated and certified, they said I could sing for some extra points.

Also, I never had to write anything, that was tested.

The point system is not as clear as one would think.

I'd advise qualtrough to take his wife to offer them something, unless he knows the correct procedure to do this. Actually, even if he does, it's always better coming from a Thai.

I have to agree about bringing his wife. I let my wife speak 95% of the time and only spoke when absolutely necessary. I got something like 68 points downstairs then upstairs the big boss took some away but said i passed and i ended with 63 with only 3 points for education . My advice is wait until January and max your salary out. 

 

Relationship with your SB contact is vital and i dont believe i could possibly have the connection without my wife. SB holds all the cards and can make or break your application. 

Edited April 17, 2018 by yankee99

[qualtrough]

On 4/16/2018 at 12:04 PM, GabbaGabbaHey said:

Salary (15/25), Education (15/15), Age (4/10), Residence (0/20) = Total 34/70

Remains: Language (?/15), Culture (?/10), Personality (?/5)

Thanks. He told me I had 43 points, and needed 7 more from the 10 point language. Was very clear about that. Having said that, he has gotten mixed up about several other things so who knows?

[qualtrough]

9 hours ago, yankee99 said:

I have to agree about bringing his wife. I let my wife speak 95% of the time and only spoke when absolutely necessary. I got something like 68 points downstairs then upstairs the big boss took some away but said i passed and i ended with 63 with only 3 points for education . My advice is wait until January and max your salary out. 

 

Relationship with your SB contact is vital and i dont believe i could possibly have the connection without my wife. SB holds all the cards and can make or break your application. 

I am not sure I follow. I don't have any problem communicating/understanding in Thai at all so she would not be any help as far as that is concerned. My relationship with the SB appears to be quite good. Maybe I am wrong, but wouldn't it be more impressive to have someone who handled the process by themselves in Thai rather than someone who let their wife handle everything?

 

If I don't get the points I will upgrade the salary, definitely.

[GabbaGabbaHey]

41 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

Thanks. He told me I had 43 points, and needed 7 more from the 10 point language. Was very clear about that. Having said that, he has gotten mixed up about several other things so who knows?

Did you do the MCQ about Thai culture/knowledge?

Edited April 17, 2018 by GabbaGabbaHey

[qualtrough]

14 minutes ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

Did you do the MCQ about Thai culture/knowledge?

MCQ? I don't think so, but I am not sure what that means. All required documents from the checklist have been been submitted and accepted, but I needed to get the most recent ภ.ง.ด. 50 and update my salary letter. It was then that he asked me to make an appointment to take the Thai test, after telling me I had 43 points and needed to get 7 out of 10 on the Thai test to get over the hump. I made an appointment for the following week, but had to cancel it as the ภ.ง.ด. 50 is going to take another week or so.

[GabbaGabbaHey]

10 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

MCQ? I don't think so, but I am not sure what that means. All required documents from the checklist have been been submitted and accepted, but I needed to get the most recent ภ.ง.ด. 50 and update my salary letter. It was then that he asked me to make an appointment to take the Thai test, after telling me I had 43 points and needed to get 7 out of 10 on the Thai test to get over the hump. I made an appointment for the following week, but had to cancel it as the ภ.ง.ด. 50 is going to take another week or so.

Ok, the Thai test is the knowledge test to me. So you probably got the 43 points out of everything, including personality and Thai language test, but excluding this MCQ knowledge test (10 points) where you need to get 7.

[yankee99]

The knowledge test is multiple choice where you should be familiar with the Government, geography, citizenship process and more. 

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, qualtrough said:

MCQ? I don't think so, but I am not sure what that means. 

That's a multiple choice test with 10 questions.

[onthemoon]

1 hour ago, yankee99 said:

The knowledge test is multiple choice where you should be familiar with the Government, geography, citizenship process and more. 

Is there any guideline what to prepare? I recently read here that they ask the age at which Thai citizens get their ID... Easy to find out, but I would not have thought that this would be asked.

[qualtrough]

36 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

Is there any guideline what to prepare? I recently read here that they ask the age at which Thai citizens get their ID... Easy to find out, but I would not have thought that this would be asked.

I would be interested in this too. Colors of flag and meaning, ok. Thai ID, ok. Wonder what some of the others are?

[qualtrough]

2 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

Ok, the Thai test is the knowledge test to me. So you probably got the 43 points out of everything, including personality and Thai language test, but excluding this MCQ knowledge test (10 points) where you need to get 7.

Thanks. It appears there are multiple ideas about the point system that are not all in agreement. No mention was made about Thai language when I was making my application or in any of my dealings, no testing, etc. I asked him about the scoring system but he got cagey and said they were not supposed to disclose that. In any case I need to brush up on the MCQ Thai knowledge part.

[GarryP]

18 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

Thanks. It appears there are multiple ideas about the point system that are not all in agreement. No mention was made about Thai language when I was making my application or in any of my dealings, no testing, etc. I asked him about the scoring system but he got cagey and said they were not supposed to disclose that. In any case I need to brush up on the MCQ Thai knowledge part.

When I did it the questions were all written in Thai language. 

[greenchair]

1 hour ago, onthemoon said:

Is there any guideline what to prepare? I recently read here that they ask the age at which Thai citizens get their ID... Easy to find out, but I would not have thought that this would be asked.

Relax. 

[CheP78]

Hi All

 

Hope i have chose the right topic for this question!

I have a Thai father living in Bangkok divorced from my English mother who lives here. I was born here before 1992 and i use my fathers Thai name also on my UK birth cert.

I do not have a Thai birth cert but want to know the simplest way of obtaining one so i can then apply for Thai ID card and Passport. The Embassy in London have not been very helpful at all.

If anyone has any idea from experience or even know how please share. I plan on going to Thailand in the next few weeks and would be happy to spend the duration of my stay sorting it out there if necessary.

My UK birth cert and parents divorce papers have already been verified by Britsh Foreign Office.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, yankee99 said:

The knowledge test is multiple choice where you should be familiar with the Government, geography, citizenship process and more. 

How many consonants and videos are there in Thai.

 

Who has the power to grant citizenship- minister of interior.

 

What time are Thai government offices open?

 

When is mothers day?

 

What should a Thai did when hearing the national anthem - stand up straight.

 

What do the colors of the Thai flag represent? ชาติ, ศาสนา, พระมหากษัตริย์

 

[onthemoon]

8 hours ago, Neeranam said:

How many consonants and videos are there in Thai.

 

Who has the power to grant citizenship- minister of interior.

 

What time are Thai government offices open?

 

When is mothers day?

 

What should a Thai did when hearing the national anthem - stand up straight.

 

What do the colors of the Thai flag represent? ชาติ, ศาสนา, พระมหากษัตริย์

 

Pretty easy, thanks. Especially if this is multiple choice.  (Except I really don't know about the videos... scnr)

[onthemoon]

9 hours ago, CheP78 said:

Hi All

 

Hope i have chose the right topic for this question!

I have a Thai father living in Bangkok divorced from my English mother who lives here. I was born here before 1992 and i use my fathers Thai name also on my UK birth cert.

I do not have a Thai birth cert but want to know the simplest way of obtaining one so i can then apply for Thai ID card and Passport. The Embassy in London have not been very helpful at all.

If anyone has any idea from experience or even know how please share. I plan on going to Thailand in the next few weeks and would be happy to spend the duration of my stay sorting it out there if necessary.

My UK birth cert and parents divorce papers have already been verified by Britsh Foreign Office.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

This is not the right topic, this is for people who want to apply for Thai citizenship. You already have Thai citizenship, you just need to prove it to the authorities in order to get the ID card and passport. I suggest you open a new topic for this, because anybody in the same situation will certainly not be following this thread and won't see your posting here.

[qualtrough]

19 hours ago, GarryP said:

When I did it the questions were all written in Thai language. 

That won't be a  problem for me. I just want to know the kinds of questions that will be asked. I see that some have been posted here.

[qualtrough]

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

How many consonants and videos are there in Thai.

 

Who has the power to grant citizenship- minister of interior.

 

What time are Thai government offices open?

 

When is mothers day?

 

What should a Thai did when hearing the national anthem - stand up straight.

 

What do the colors of the Thai flag represent? ชาติ, ศาสนา, พระมหากษัตริย์

 

Well what time are offices open?  44 consonants, but how many vowels??

[GarryP]

7 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

That won't be a  problem for me. I just want to know the kinds of questions that will be asked. I see that some have been posted here.

It wasn't a problem for me either. But what is interesting is that despite reading and answering the questions and getting full marks in the process, I still did not earn any points for being able to read Thai as I did not sing the anthems. Weird. 

 

How many provinces are there in Thailand?

What is the age of majority? 

[qualtrough]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

It wasn't a problem for me either. But what is interesting is that despite reading and answering the questions and getting full marks in the process, I still did not earn any points for being able to read Thai as I did not sing the anthems. Weird. 

 

How many provinces are there in Thailand?

What is the age of majority? 

I see. Strange. 77 provinces. ID card 7. Age of Majority ?

[GarryP]

51 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

I see. Strange. 77 provinces. ID card 7. Age of Majority ?

Age of majority: 20.

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, qualtrough said:

Well what time are offices open?  44 consonants, but how many vowels??

8.30 - 4.30

 

I don't think they will ask vowels but 32.

[yankee99]

Just got the call for NIA meeting Sunday morning. They asked me to bring  my divorce papers from my home country.  

 

They want us to come to the NIA building not McDonalds like others in the past.

[qualtrough]

19 hours ago, Neeranam said:

8.30 - 4.30

 

I don't think they will ask vowels but 32.

Thanks. I asked my college attending daughter about the age of majority and was told 18! Confirmed elsewhere that it is indeed 20.

[qualtrough]

3 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Just got the call for NIA meeting Sunday morning. They asked me to bring  my divorce papers from my home country.  

 

They want us to come to the NIA building not McDonalds like others in the past.

Sorry, what is NIA again? When I google it I just get a National Innovation Office สำนักงานนวัตกรรมแห่งชาติ

[yankee99]

7 minutes ago, qualtrough said:

Sorry, what is NIA again? When I google it I just get a National Innovation Office สำนักงานนวัตกรรมแห่งชาติ

https://www.nia.go.th/niaweb58/default_en.asp

[Arkady]

I had another "Thai mai phor" experience at a Land Office in a provincial capital in Isaan yesterday.  The head or second head of registrations didn't want to transfer land into a "foreigner's" name.   So she demanded originals of all documents and her eyes lit up when I said I didn't have the original of my naturalisation certificate, which like most people I keep safely at home. She tried to order me to register the land in my wife's name.  Eventually after much argument from myself demanding my rights as a Thai under the constitution and from my wife, she allowed the transfer after forcing me to sign a ridiculous note scrawled in her illegible hand writing which neither my wife nor my mother-in-law could read, let alone me.  I took a picture of it feeling like a Burmese being forced to sign something to stop a beating in a police station and the jist of it that she had to read out to us seemed to be that I had only presented a copy of the naturalisation certificates, having made the mistake of leaving the original at home in Bangkok, and that I promise that I am a bona fide naturalised Thai citizen and have not yet had my citizenship revoked.   I asked why she thought the latter clause was necessary and she said that we foreigners can easily have our citizenship revoked for doing something wrong.  I told her that according to the RG this was extremely rare and the last people to have their citizenship revoked successfully sued the Interior Minister in the Administrative Court and got their citizenship restored by order of the court (after 16 years which I didn't mention).  All the time she keep referring to me as a "tang dao" and I corrected her each time saying I was a Thai.

 

Later on I was joking with one of her subordinates who was very helpful and said that most of the forged ID cards were held by Chinese and suggested they would catch more people if they investigated those who came into the office with Chinese faces, rather than white faces, having noted that her boss seemed to have one of those herself.  I told the boss that the naturalisation certificate was actually the easiest of all the documents to forge, as it was just thrown together by the police in a few minutes while I waited.  I said it was odd that she should put so much faith in that, rather than a smart card ID which she could check online with DOPA who would surely tell her online or over the phone if the owner's citizenship had been cancelled.  She replied that there was an order from the Interior Ministry telling them to check all original documents, including naturalisation certificates. This may or may not be true but few land officers bother to check all original documents, except ID cards,  and I doubt very much they specified naturalisation certificate which she had probably never heard of until she saw the copy of mine.  Anyway she had just lied to the seller telling him that sale or redemption (khai faak) can only be registered if for 2 years or more when the Land Code only specifies that it should be no longer than 10 years.  This lie had already been accepted by the seller by the time I arrived, so I didn't have the opportunity to do battle with her over that but government official who lies about the main law under which they operate to people they believe are ignorant and can easily be cowed by officialdom has no credibility in my book. Why bother to read regulations when you can just make up your own and lord it over the peasants under your jurisdiction?

 

Finally when it was all done she turned friendly and engaged my wife in conversation about cosmetics taking her LINE ID to try and sell her some direct sales line she was selling.

 

I know one should keep one's cool in these situations but we have fought hard to get Thai citizenship and often been made to made many years because of corrupt officials deliberately dragging their heels.  So I will defend my rights as a Thai tooth and nail.  I resent being referred to as a foreigner by civil servants who are paid from my tax money just because of the colour of my skin. 

 

The whole thing was the more strange because I just completed a land purchase in a small office of the same province a month earlier and the head of registrations accepted all photocopies apart from my ID card without question and couldn't have been nicer.  He chatted with me outside when I bumped into him having a smoking break and offered some advice a road project alongside my land which the former owner had blocked as she didn't want to have 2 ngarn cut off her land.

 

This is only the second time anyone has asked me for a copy of my naturalisation certificate.  The other case was oddly at Bangkok Bank in order to change the nationality of my account to Thai which provides no advantage whatsoever apart from convenience to the holder. 

 

I wonder what they ask for from wives of Thai men who get citizenship under Section 9, since they don't get a naturalilsation certificate.  I guess they have to get hold of an original copy of the RG volume their name appeared in or maybe they are just told it is their husband's role to own land and have an account at Bangkok Bank.

 

[Neeranam]

Good for you. Standing up for your rights.

I'd be tempted to report her. The land office is the most corrupt of all government departments, maybe she was looking for Extra cash.

At immigration yesterday, I told them that I had applied for citizenship and they laughed, asking if I was a good singer. I told them I didn't need to sing it as the law had changed. None of them accepted this, saying I still had to do it.

It's racism pure and simple.Stay calm, I felt like hitting a guy when choosing a Thai name, who was ridiculing me.

I have Thai friends of Indian origin who get harassed and discriminated against often, even though they were born Thai.

Coming into Thailand, I asked the air hostess if I had to fill in the card, as it says for non residents, actually wrongly translated from the Thai.

Hopefully next time I'll not have to do this.