Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[MrPatrickThai]

Can one vote as soon as they get an ID card?

[GarryP]

15 minutes ago, MrPatrickThai said:

Can one vote as soon as they get an ID card?

It is my understanding that you must hold citizenship for 5 years before you are eligible to vote. 

[Arkady]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

For the oath ceremony, you just repeat after an SB officer so I would not worry too much.

You get to choose between Buddhist, Christian and Muslim oaths. Sorry, if you are Hindu, Jewish, atheistic, agnostic, humanist etc. Nothing for you but I suggest taking the Buddhist oath, as being the least intrusive, since it is more of a belief set than a religion. The language is pretty incomprehensible anyway, unless you have an excellent knowledge of religious Thai. So you don't know exactly what you are committing to, except that you already know it is general loyalty to monarchy and state and pledging to be a good citizen. If bungle a passage or miss some part out, the officer will get you to repeat it until you get it right. So listen carefully.

 

Anyway it is an enjoyable part of the process because it indicates you are nearly done and the SB officers are in celebratory mood with copious photographs taken for their record and your Facebook page.

[Arkady]

41 minutes ago, GarryP said:

It is my understanding that you must hold citizenship for 5 years before you are eligible to vote. 

That is in the constitution.

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, Rugon said:

I'm aware that Thais do this, however I worry that that the SB/MOI/NIA think I am doing it just to get the citizenship. Did the police come to inspect, check your residence in Chiang Mai or Bangkok? 

The local police came to my house upcountry where I live.

The SB police advised me to do it from Bangkok, as did Arkady. However the main SB guy(upstairs)said he didn't really approve of it.

[dbrenn]

3 hours ago, Arkady said:

That is in the constitution.

But the funny thing was that my name was on the electoral register immediately and I received my voting papers. Not that voting makes much difference, but it was a surprise nonetheless. 

[Rugon]

I've been assigned a date for my NIA interview. That was quick! 

 

Is there any tips anyone has on how to prepare for this. The Language is not a problem. 

[GrimmJow]

On 12/26/2018 at 11:04 PM, Arkady said:

Germany is not exactly liberal in this respect. I was born there to non-German parents in the days when most countries gave citizenship to all born there. But not Germany. Germans applying for another nationality need to obtain approval from the German Foreign Ministry to keep their German nationality before they apply or it will be revoked, if they are found out. They need to have a good reason, e.g. need to own land or company, and need to prove they retain lasting ties with Germany. I am not sure what the rules are for half Germans. I know a German with a Singaporean wife and half half children who have managed to conceal their German nationalities from Singapore and vice versa but it sounds like a walking a tight rope, as they might lose either or both one day.

If you are born to one Thai parent and one German parent you have both citizenships. Germany does allow in this case without getting the approval (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung) from the German Foreign Ministry. As long as you don't actively apply, you don't need the approval.

 

In case of a half-child, you just register the birth at the Thai consulate in Germany where you obtain a certificate of birth which states the child's nationality as Thai, this is perfectly fine without causing any issues because it was not applied for but merely registered.

 

Concealing a second nationality (in this case) is 'just' an administrative offence in German law and can be fined but will not cause any serious trouble.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by GrimmJow

[Arkady]

2 hours ago, Rugon said:

I've been assigned a date for my NIA interview. That was quick! 

 

Is there any tips anyone has on how to prepare for this. The Language is not a problem. 

Take all documents you can think of with you: passport, WP, tabien baan, alien book, residence book (the latter two, only if PR), driving licence, copies of educational certificates, salary letter copy etc; same again for spouse and kids, if any. Prepare to answer again all the same questions asked by SB. If you have a copy of the application form SB filled in for you, bring it along.  Don't assume that they will have all the documents that should be in your file in front of them - I am not sure exactly what SB sends them anyway.

 

The conversation is normally along the lines of your status in Thailand, job, family, why you want to be Thai etc. If you are applying on the basis of a Thai spouse, expect plenty of questions to verify it is a real marriage including possible scrutiny of spouse's documents. Someone recently, I think it was Neeraman, entered into a lengthy conversation about gardening with them but I don't think that is compulsory.

 

I have never heard of anyone getting a hard time from the NIA. They seem to be a friendly bunch but they have recently uncovered some marriages (apparently all Asian applicants) that they thought were marriages of convenience and blocked those applicants.  So they do do their job.  If all it above board in your application, you have nothing to fear.

[Neeranam]

7 hours ago, Arkady said:

Someone recently, I think it was Neeraman, entered into a lengthy conversation about gardening with them but I don't think that is compulsory.

Yes, that was I.

The man who met us outside the palace(forget its name), and ushered us into the waiting room I thought was just a guard, but he was a policeman and husband of one of the interviewers.

The waiting room was full and he invited us into his little room. He is a keen gardener and was fascinated at some of our gardening tips and stories from Isarn.

Because of our conversation, we only got interviewed by one person(his wife) whereas others seemed to get two interviewers.

To Rugon, if you have kids, make sure you get a letter from their school, saying they attend, and also their birth certificates.

I didn't take my kids as it would have been a waste of money and nice for wife and I to get time to ourselves.

The first question is "what is your name and date of birth?"

Surprisingly, the guy at the next table asked if he could tell them in English. They said "no".

When asked why I came here, I said I wanted to learn about Buddhism, and went to Ajarn Buddadassa Bikku's famous temple down south in between the full moon parties in koh pa ngan, and fell in love with the country. The woman turned out to be a religious person so followed that topic for a while, despite me not being Buddhist and talking about Hinduism and previous births. This is a topic I can talk fluently about, I suggest you steer the conversation to one you can talk about best. All very light hearted fun, don't take it seriously.

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Neeranam

[sathuluv]

On 1/3/2019 at 4:14 PM, dbrenn said:

But the funny thing was that my name was on the electoral register immediately and I received my voting papers. Not that voting makes much difference, but it was a surprise nonetheless. 

Where can get/see/access the electoral register?

[dbrenn]

7 hours ago, sathuluv said:

Where can get/see/access the electoral register?

I'm not sure, but there was an election a few months after I got my citizenship. They sent me a letter with details of my polling station, telling me to go there and vote. I went to the polling station along with the wife, and our names were crossed off a list when our ballot papers were given to us.

[Arkady]

If the election is delayed for a few more months, I will be eligible to vote. Technically it should be 5 years from publication in the RG, since that is when you become Thai, although I suspect they are more likely to take it from the date of first ID card and change of nationality in tabien baan. In Dbren’s case they apparently made a mistake in adding him to the electoral register prematurely. This seems to imply that they could also add new citizens to the register late or not at all. I also wonder how one can check once we have done our time.

 

I am keen to exercise my legal and civic duty by voting. However, I can't say I am inspired by any of the parties and characters now jockeying for position in the next round, whenever that might be.

[dbrenn]

3 hours ago, Arkady said:

I am keen to exercise my legal and civic duty by voting. However, I can't say I am inspired by any of the parties and characters now jockeying for position in the next round, whenever that might be.

Agreed. Aside from the novelty value of being told to go and vote, the act of voting doesn't seem to have much effect on our everyday lives, in Thailand or anywhere else these days.

 

Nice that they put me on the list though.

[Arkady]

17 minutes ago, dbrenn said:

Agreed. Aside from the novelty value of being told to go and vote, the act of voting doesn't seem to have much effect on our everyday lives, in Thailand or anywhere else these days.

 

Nice that they put me on the list though.

Voting seems to have an effect elsewhere but mainly negative these days, viz Trump, Brexit, Duterte and now Trump of the Tropics in Brazil who wants to convert what remains of the Amazon forest to hard cash.

 

BTW did you actually vote in that election before your 5 years were up?

[qualtrough]

Just wanted to add that my NIA process was painless, and that everyone from the guard on up was extremely friendly. My wife and I were interviewed by a man and a woman, the conversation frequently veered off into talk about kids in general, schools, etc. Very friendly. They did ask why I had not applied earlier, and I told them that was a question I asked myself. Our particular interview was all in Thai.

[dbrenn]

14 minutes ago, Arkady said:

Voting seems to have an effect elsewhere but mainly negative these days, viz Trump, Brexit, Duterte and now Trump of the Tropics in Brazil who wants to convert what remains of the Amazon forest to hard cash.

 

BTW did you actually vote in that election before your 5 years were up?

I went through the motions (although passing motions would be a more apt description).

 

Failing to vote carries an (albeit unenforced) penalty in Thailand. At least you don't get a $60 fine like the one I got a while back for failing to vote in Australia. 

Edited January 8, 2019 by dbrenn

[yankee99]

5 minutes ago, VIBE said:

Twice the police came to verify my residence in Chiangmai.  The first was a 5 min chat in our condo, the second was a 30min rather formal chat in the condo lobby...:(

I'd be surprised if sb bkk worries about residency. They are the ones who suggested i move my book to bkk. 

[red horse]

Hello everyone any updates for R G


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Rugon]

On 1/7/2019 at 12:43 PM, Arkady said:

Take all documents you can think of with you: passport, WP, tabien baan, alien book, residence book (the latter two, only if PR), driving licence, copies of educational certificates, salary letter copy etc; same again for spouse and kids, if any. Prepare to answer again all the same questions asked by SB. If you have a copy of the application form SB filled in for you, bring it along.  Don't assume that they will have all the documents that should be in your file in front of them - I am not sure exactly what SB sends them anyway.

 

The conversation is normally along the lines of your status in Thailand, job, family, why you want to be Thai etc. If you are applying on the basis of a Thai spouse, expect plenty of questions to verify it is a real marriage including possible scrutiny of spouse's documents. Someone recently, I think it was Neeraman, entered into a lengthy conversation about gardening with them but I don't think that is compulsory.

 

I have never heard of anyone getting a hard time from the NIA. They seem to be a friendly bunch but they have recently uncovered some marriages (apparently all Asian applicants) that they thought were marriages of convenience and blocked those applicants.  So they do do their job.  If all it above board in your application, you have nothing to fear.

Great advice, thank you!

[Rugon]

On 1/7/2019 at 8:19 PM, Neeranam said:

Yes, that was I.

The man who met us outside the palace(forget its name), and ushered us into the waiting room I thought was just a guard, but he was a policeman and husband of one of the interviewers.

The waiting room was full and he invited us into his little room. He is a keen gardener and was fascinated at some of our gardening tips and stories from Isarn.

Because of our conversation, we only got interviewed by one person(his wife) whereas others seemed to get two interviewers.

To Rugon, if you have kids, make sure you get a letter from their school, saying they attend, and also their birth certificates.

I didn't take my kids as it would have been a waste of money and nice for wife and I to get time to ourselves.

The first question is "what is your name and date of birth?"

Surprisingly, the guy at the next table asked if he could tell them in English. They said "no".

When asked why I came here, I said I wanted to learn about Buddhism, and went to Ajarn Buddadassa Bikku's famous temple down south in between the full moon parties in koh pa ngan, and fell in love with the country. The woman turned out to be a religious person so followed that topic for a while, despite me not being Buddhist and talking about Hinduism and previous births. This is a topic I can talk fluently about, I suggest you steer the conversation to one you can talk about best. All very light hearted fun, don't take it seriously.

 

Good advice, thanks. I'll try to get them talking about investing(or motorbikes), something I can talk easily about in Thai.

[Rugon]

15 hours ago, yankee99 said:

I'd be surprised if sb bkk worries about residency. They are the ones who suggested i move my book to bkk. 

They are probably worried that the MOI will send the application back to them, thus losing face.

[Big Guns]

By the way for all of the interviews dont worry too much if you can't speak much Thai. I can't even string a sentence together & I've had Thai citizenship for over a year now. If you're applying on the basis of marriage to a Thai you don't need to speak Thai & if you have enough points already then don't get stressed about it

[muimatt]

20 minutes ago, Big Guns said:

By the way for all of the interviews dont worry too much if you can't speak much Thai. I can't even string a sentence together & I've had Thai citizenship for over a year now. If you're applying on the basis of marriage to a Thai you don't need to speak Thai & if you have enough points already then don't get stressed about it

Really? I was told by the SB that I had to improve on my written and conversational Thai before I apply.

[yankee99]

38 minutes ago, muimatt said:

Really? I was told by the SB that I had to improve on my written and conversational Thai before I apply.

Sounds like you need the language to accumulate the 50 points? 

[GarryP]

14 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

Sounds like you need the language to accumulate the 50 points? 

Yes. At first I could not work it out, but your theory makes sense. When I applied, I was on the border of the points cut off so needed as many points as I could get from Thai language. Luckily, I am fluent in spoken Thai.  

[Big Guns]

I think I gained a lot of points having a degree, masters degree, teacher in same international school for long time & being in my 40's. I just wanted to reassure people that fluency isn't needed. My main tips would be to always wear a suit & tie & be polite & respectful & understand that your wife can translate for you

[muimatt]

1 hour ago, yankee99 said:

Sounds like you need the language to accumulate the 50 points? 

Yes you are correct, I need at least 8 points from language. 

[yankee99]

4 minutes ago, muimatt said:

Yes you are correct, I need at least 8 points from language. 

My advice for what is worth SB bkk can be very helpful and let them guide you (let your wife do all the talking {thai}). I ended up with 60+ points when they calculated them. I calculated 51 myself but after the SB interview upstairs he said he was cutting my points and i still had over 60 

[Rugon]

22 hours ago, Big Guns said:

By the way for all of the interviews dont worry too much if you can't speak much Thai. I can't even string a sentence together & I've had Thai citizenship for over a year now. If you're applying on the basis of marriage to a Thai you don't need to speak Thai & if you have enough points already then don't get stressed about it

Can I ask why you haven't learned Thai, especially knowing you were applying for citizenship?

I think I would be very embarrassed telling people I was Thai but couldn't speak Thai, especially  teaching school.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Rugon