Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[echrist]

13 hours ago, onthemoon said:

In which province was this?

Bangkok

[saakura]

Hi friends, i am qualified both by way of PR and marriage to a Thai citizen. Can speak and read very well, no problems in singing the anthems. So, is there any advantage of one over the other (Marraige Vs PR)? 

 

Regarding submission of Thai translations of my educational qualifications. Do these have to be from Thai Govt certified translators? Would photocopies of certified translations from 5yrs ago suffice (the originals were submitted during PR application)?

[GabbaGabbaHey]

4 hours ago, saakura said:

Hi friends, i am qualified both by way of PR and marriage to a Thai citizen. Can speak and read very well, no problems in singing the anthems. So, is there any advantage of one over the other (Marraige Vs PR)? 

Hi Saakura, I think the advantage of PR is to not be affected should anything happen to your marriage during the 3-4 years of the application process (including in case of critical health issues). If you don't expect anything like this there's no difference to me. From what I understand PR-married applicants who go for PR route are also exempted from singing the anthem at MOI interview.

[Neeranam]

18 hours ago, saakura said:

Regarding submission of Thai translations of my educational qualifications. Do these have to be from Thai Govt certified translators? Would photocopies of certified translations from 5yrs ago suffice (the originals were submitted during PR application)?

There is no such thing as "certified translators" in Thailand. You could even translate them yourself before taking them to MoFA for verification. To be safe, I'd take the translation to a shop and ask them for a stamp and to copy the old translation and also to take them to the MoFA to save you the wasted time. The fee is small.

[Neeranam]

There should be people called for the oath soon, unless the Wuhan Virus is slowing things down.

[yankee99]

7 hours ago, Neeranam said:

There is no such thing as "certified translators" in Thailand. You could even translate them yourself before taking them to MoFA for verification. To be safe, I'd take the translation to a shop and ask them for a stamp and to copy the old translation and also to take them to the MoFA to save you the wasted time. The fee is small.

None of my education documents or any others needed to be certified by the mofa. Local business stamps were sufficient for special branch

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

None of my education documents or any others needed to be certified by the mofa. Local business stamps were sufficient for special branch

That's right I forgot, educational docs don't need translated. I got mine done as I have a Post graduate Diploma which I made sure was translated to "Master's degree" in Thai, so got extra points.

[saakura]

28 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

That's right I forgot, educational docs don't need translated. I got mine done as I have a Post graduate Diploma which I made sure was translated to "Master's degree" in Thai, so got extra points.

Thank you for the valuable advise, i will get my Master's degree translated because from my old PR application,  i only hzve a translated copy of my Bachelor's degree in Engineering.

[Neeranam]

20 minutes ago, saakura said:

Thank you for the valuable advise, i will get my Master's degree translated because from my old PR application,  i only hzve a translated copy of my Bachelor's degree in Engineering.

It was worth it for me as they said I was on 48 points and I would have to sing the songs. Luckily, the Master's degree got me over the 50 needed.

[khongaeng]

23 hours ago, Neeranam said:

There should be people called for the oath soon, unless the Wuhan Virus is slowing things down.

I really hope Covid-19 doesn’t affect this process. It has already disrupted everything else.

[GabbaGabbaHey]

On 3/10/2020 at 7:22 PM, khongaeng said:

I really hope Covid-19 doesn’t affect this process. It has already disrupted everything else.

I think we'll have an indication when MOI interview has happened or not in March.

[david143]

2 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

I think we'll have an indication when MOI interview has happened or not in March.

It will around 22 March to 27 March i will update here as usual.

[cmsally]

Another batch announced of 44 people , on 12 March. All seem to be female. This time to my great shock I was on that list !

[david143]

1 hour ago, cmsally said:

Another batch announced of 44 people , on 12 March. All seem to be female. This time to my great shock I was on that list !

lovely and Congrag .

[cmsally]

Time scale - just under 2 years from when I received the official letter saying I had passed last interview. Interview was January 2018, paperwork submitted (by CM to BKK)  just before Songkran if I remember correctly, and then official letter to say I had passed (from BKK) received either April or May. So basically sitting waiting for about 22 months.

[GabbaGabbaHey]

3 hours ago, cmsally said:

Time scale - just under 2 years from when I received the official letter saying I had passed last interview. Interview was January 2018, paperwork submitted (by CM to BKK)  just before Songkran if I remember correctly, and then official letter to say I had passed (from BKK) received either April or May. So basically sitting waiting for about 22 months.

Congratulations!

 

For male applicants however the average in the past years is around 3 full years (with some reported exceptions in both fast and slow timelines): in short it's 1 year for SB document preparation until your file is sent to MOI, 1 year for MOI process until you get called for the interview, and from that point one more year for final steps like getting approval, oath, publication to RG.

[Neeranam]

On 3/14/2020 at 7:11 AM, cmsally said:

Another batch announced of 44 people , on 12 March. All seem to be female. This time to my great shock I was on that list !

Congratulations!! 

[cmsally]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Congratulations!! 

I bet they are going to love me when I turn up to do ID card in a Hazmat suit!!

[david143]

i think they will not call us for Oath , and let our names release in RG , straight and post us Certificates.

????

[yankee99]

9 minutes ago, david143 said:

i think they will not call us for Oath , and let our names release in RG , straight and post us Certificates.

????

this would be a nice surprise 

[cmsally]

The female contingent (me) do not have to do an oath. We wait for a letter from BKK and then take that along with house reg/passport etc off to the relevant offices to do blue house reg. / ID card/cancel visa etc.

Not great timing hence the Hazmat suit "joke". By next week it might not be a joke!

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, david143 said:

i think they will not call us for Oath , and let our names release in RG , straight and post us Certificates.

????

Stranger things have happened. Let's have some equal rights for men! Discrimination is forbidden in the Constitution ???? 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

16 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Stranger things have happened. Let's have some equal rights for men! Discrimination is forbidden in the Constitution ???? 

I remember it's been explained by gurus in this forum this should rather be seen as an advantage in favor of Thai males and their foreign spouse rather than a discrimination against foreign male applicants. To what we could say: 'Let's have equal rights for (Thai) women!' ????

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

I remember it's been explained by gurus in this forum this should rather be seen as an advantage in favor of Thai males and their foreign spouse rather than a discrimination against foreign male applicants. To what we could say: 'Let's have equal rights for (Thai) women!' ????

Good point. I was just explaining what a glass ceiling was to someone last night, in regards to the challenges women face in business here. 

[Neeranam]

On 3/12/2020 at 3:54 PM, david143 said:

It will around 22 March to 27 March i will update here as usual.

Does anyone know if the MOI and SB are continuing as normal, or are they working from home?

[saakura]

7 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Does anyone know if the MOI and SB are continuing as normal, or are they working from home?

I was at the SB on friday and asked them the same question. And they told me that at the time of my asking, they would be at work in their office next week.

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, saakura said:

I was at the SB on friday and asked them the same question. And they told me that at the time of my asking, they would be at work in their office next week.

That's good news, thanks! 

 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

Has anyone reading this been called for the oath in February or March this year?

[saakura]

8 hours ago, Neeranam said:

That's good news, thanks! 

 

But you better call them to confirm again, because the situation has changed dramatically over the last 2 days. Most offices will be implementing work-from-home starting tomorrow.

[david143]

17 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

Has anyone reading this been called for the oath in February or March this year?

not yet.