Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[yankee99]

39 minutes ago, echrist said:

the letter of renunciation that you have stamped and return to sb is not one of the letters your drop off at the embassy. do as you please...im a thai citizen, just sayin'.

Agreed i dont remember leaving any envelopes anywhere. All were returned by me to SB 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

2 hours ago, echrist said:

the letter of renunciation that you have stamped and return to sb is not one of the letters your drop off at the embassy. do as you please...im a thai citizen, just sayin'.

I think we understand each case is different and may vary in time -for instance some people get their letters in just few weeks while it took several months for my officer to issue mine-. I can just say that in my case although the letter to the embassy (in 2017) contained no template for renunciation of citizenship, it was clearly asking for it. These letters were handed back to me, so here is the extract:

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by GabbaGabbaHey

[Badb0y]

Haven't read this topic quite a while because waited to have 3yr work permit.

Next month I'm going to have the 3yr non immigrant visa with the same company, monthly salary was more then 80k and due to my company was hit hard due to Covid-19 I don't think if a mentioned 2nd wave will come my company will survive (or me) so I need to action fast because I need to have the work permit at the time of the application.

Based on this article I'd go with the 1st option.

 

Couple of question came up in my mind when read many articles on the internet.

1.

Is there anywhere written correctly what is the steps for the application? I read that they opened the application around October and limit to 100 people/country. I guess from my small country not many people will apply, but where I can apply? Is there a website or some guide what I need to do in the next month to let the ball rolling?

 

2.

It's quite a shame but my Thai is still terrible, still have to sing the national anthem and talk in Thai during the interview? If yes is there any panel questions that I can prepare and practice? Could my girlfriend (or maybe that time my wife) come with me and help?

 

3.

I remember if don't have wife, the costs is 200k, if I have, 100k. Is this still applicable? What if I have an adopted baby from my wife? Also is it a problem if the marriage cert is like 2-3 months old (fresh) when apply?

 

4.

The limitation of the permanent residency is only you can't have land compared to the citizenship as I remember, but how about business? Can I establish a massage/fitness/restaurant or all business with PR visa?

 

5.

My country let me to have dual citizenship, as I remember for that if you married and have a baby, you just need 1 year and you can apply for it without this much costs. I scare a bit about covid affect so not sure I can wait 1 year ????

Would be curious the proper steps of this also.

Furthermore if I have this visa for 5 years, can apply for citizenship correct?

 

Hope guys you can help.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Badb0y

[yankee99]

21 minutes ago, Badb0y said:

Haven't read this topic quite a while because waited to have 3yr work permit.

Next month I'm going to have the 3yr non immigrant visa with the same company, monthly salary was more then 80k and due to my company was hit hard due to Covid-19 I don't think if a mentioned 2nd wave will come my company will survive (or me) so I need to action fast because I need to have the work permit at the time of the application.

Based on this article I'd go with the 1st option.

 

Couple of question came up in my mind when read many articles on the internet.

1.

Is there anywhere written correctly what is the steps for the application? I read that they opened the application around October and limit to 100 people/country. I guess from my small country not many people will apply, but where I can apply? Is there a website or some guide what I need to do in the next month to let the ball rolling?

 

2.

It's quite a shame but my Thai is still terrible, still have to sing the national anthem and talk in Thai during the interview? If yes is there any panel questions that I can prepare and practice? Could my girlfriend (or maybe that time my wife) come with me and help?

 

3.

I remember if don't have wife, the costs is 200k, if I have, 100k. Is this still applicable? What if I have an adopted baby from my wife? Also is it a problem if the marriage cert is like 2-3 months old (fresh) when apply?

 

4.

The limitation of the permanent residency is only you can't have land compared to the citizenship as I remember, but how about business? Can I establish a massage/fitness/restaurant or all business with PR visa?

 

5.

My country let me to have dual citizenship, as I remember for that if you married and have a baby, you just need 1 year and you can apply for it without this much costs. I scare a bit about covid affect so not sure I can wait 1 year ????

Would be curious the proper steps of this also.

Furthermore if I have this visa for 5 years, can apply for citizenship correct?

 

Hope guys you can help.

 

Thanks in advance.

I can only speak for #5

You will need 3 years of tax returns meeting the minimum income and be married a year with a child. 

[Badb0y]

56 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

I can only speak for #5

You will need 3 years of tax returns meeting the minimum income and be married a year with a child. 

Do you need to have persistent work permit at the time of the application when apply for citizenship or just need to show that you had in the past?

[yankee99]

7 minutes ago, Badb0y said:

Do you need to have persistent work permit at the time of the application when apply for citizenship or just need to show that you had in the past?

yes your work permit needs to be current when you apply. I think the only time i needed it after the application was at the NIA interview. I don't know if they'll ask for it later or check its validity 

[Badb0y]

19 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

yes your work permit needs to be current when you apply. I think the only time i needed it after the application was at the NIA interview. I don't know if they'll ask for it later or check its validity 

You might can help me with citizenship questions here if you don't mind.

[Badb0y]

Sorry, I mix matched 2 topics with my question ???? This is the question that I wanted to put here:

Next month I'm going to have the 3yr non immigrant visa with the same company, monthly salary was more then 80k and due to my company was hit hard due to Covid-19 I don't think if a mentioned 2nd wave will come my company will survive (or me) so I need to action fast.

Based on this article couple of questions came to my mind.

 

1.

Do I need to have a work permit at the time of the application or is it enough to have historical tax receipts?

 

2.

Is it possible to go with the wife and she can help with the Thai or they need conversational Thai?

 

3.

Such a shame after 3 years my Thai still terrible, if I fail the Thai test but I can reach the 50 points can I get the visa?

 

4.

If I calculate the points, I have 38 points with Age, Education and profession Criteria so I need additional 12 at least. Personality let's say they can give 5 point, if I'm lucky I can get these questions, I might get 5-8 points, and I heard some donation before, but I'm not sure about how many point and what is the steps to get point of it? When I have to donate and where, how much?

 

5.

I can learn to introduce myself, talk about my history a bit and why I want to apply for a citizenship, would that be enough?

Is there any special panel questions that I might get from the officer during the Thai interview so I can prepare.

 

6.

Can I apply if I married less than 1 year ago, however we live together more than 2 years? Also if I adopt a baby, does it count as my child in the application?

 

7. Tabien baan I assume is out of scope from my point of view because I just rented in the last 3 years.

 

Hope guys you can help.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Badb0y

[GabbaGabbaHey]

26 minutes ago, Badb0y said:

Sorry, I mix matched 2 topics with my question ???? This is the question that I wanted to put here:

Next month I'm going to have the 3yr non immigrant visa with the same company, monthly salary was more then 80k and due to my company was hit hard due to Covid-19 I don't think if a mentioned 2nd wave will come my company will survive (or me) so I need to action fast.

Based on this article couple of questions came to my mind.

 

1. Do I need to have a work permit at the time of the application or is it enough to have historical tax receipts?

2. Is it possible to go with the wife and she can help with the Thai or they need conversational Thai?

3. Such a shame after 3 years my Thai still terrible, if I fail the Thai test but I can reach the 50 points can I get the visa?

4. If I calculate the points, I have 38 points with Age, Education and profession Criteria so I need additional 12 at least. Personality let's say they can give 5 point, if I'm lucky I can get these questions, I might get 5-8 points, and I heard some donation before, but I'm not sure about how many point and what is the steps to get point of it? When I have to donate and where, how much?

5. I can learn to introduce myself, talk about my history a bit and why I want to apply for a citizenship, would that be enough?

Is there any special panel questions that I might get from the officer during the Thai interview so I can prepare.

6. Can I apply if I married less than 1 year ago, however we live together more than 2 years? Also if I adopt a baby, does it count as my child in the application?

7. Tabien baan I assume is out of scope from my point of view because I just rented in the last 3 years.

Hope guys you can help.

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

 

if you really mean "I need to action fast" and you're in a hurry, then I'm afraid the citizenship process is not for you because it's 3+ years process during which it's recommended to be in continuous employment with work permit. Few hints though:

 

1. You need present WP and valid for the coming 1-2 years I'd say. It's true that WP is usually not asked after the NIA interview which happens about few months after the application started however during the internal screening process I'm confident SB or MOI have to send requests to the various administrations and check or re-check the validity of your WP

2. Yes some applicants got nationality with a very basic knowledge of Thai language, but doing so you would not qualify for getting points on the basis of language level

3. Yes, all you need is 50 points minimum regardless of which category they come from

4. Donations must have been done ahead of the application (like one year ago or more, maybe within 6 months could work but would probably raise suspicion) they are part of the requirement but do not give points

5. I think so if you can reach the minimum 50 points

6. Unfortunately this seems a showstopper to me. It's one year of marriage required if you have a child together, otherwise 3 years of marriage.

 

 

[Neeranam]

15 hours ago, Badb0y said:

Is there anywhere written correctly what is the steps for the application?

https://www.bora.dopa.go.th/nationclinic/NewHTML/Section10.htm

[Alex19]

Hello everyone,

 

I finally recently got the PR, my next step is to apply for citizenship.

 

Have anyone tried to apply under PR holding it for less than 5 years ?

 

Briefly I think could reach the 50 points easily :
30 Years old, Master degree, ~100K/month, more than 3 years in the same company, can easily sing both anthems.
I have 10K charity donation with certificate from 3 years ago.

 

Let me know !

Thanks

[GabbaGabbaHey]

1 hour ago, Alex19 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I finally recently got the PR, my next step is to apply for citizenship.

 

Have anyone tried to apply under PR holding it for less than 5 years ?

 

Briefly I think could reach the 50 points easily :
30 Years old, Master degree, ~100K/month, more than 3 years in the same company, can easily sing both anthems.
I have 10K charity donation with certificate from 3 years ago.

 

Let me know !

Thanks

Applying under 5 years PR is only possible if you are married (Thai wife) and then the conditions are 1 year marriage minimum if you have kids together otherwise three years.

Edited June 9, 2020 by GabbaGabbaHey

[smutcakes]

9 hours ago, Alex19 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I finally recently got the PR, my next step is to apply for citizenship.

 

Have anyone tried to apply under PR holding it for less than 5 years ?

 

Briefly I think could reach the 50 points easily :
30 Years old, Master degree, ~100K/month, more than 3 years in the same company, can easily sing both anthems.
I have 10K charity donation with certificate from 3 years ago.

 

Let me know !

Thanks

You have been working quickly to get PR by 30 years old, unless you were schooled here originally.

[Arkady]

Re retention of WP during the application process. It's often not asked for after the NIA interview but bear in mind that they can ask for all documents when you register for the MoI interview. When I went for mine they did this for others but didn't want to see mine, as they had recently seen them, as described below.  Also any of the delegates on the interview committee can ask to see your documents or any other information. In my case I was asked to bring my current and previous WPs to the MoI before my interview as they wanted to check them because SB had cocked up by not including a copy of the previous one in my file. The head of the nationality section told me, after confirming that all was in order, that she was happy that was the case or she would have had to disqualify me, if my WPs didn't check out.

 

The other thing can happen on rare occasions is that you can be asked to redo a lot of the application, if there is a discrepancy. In my case, again due to a stupid mistake by SB, I had to to resubmit copies of all documents, salary letter, bank statement etc, two and a half years after my original applcation.  Without a current WP, that would have been the end of the story.  During the Thaksin era all the pending citizenship applications were sent back from the MoI to SB to have everything rechecked and resubmitted, delaying the process by about three years.

 

So it's worth keeping a valid WP throughout the process, if you can because you never know.

 

 

[Arkady]

14 hours ago, Alex19 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I finally recently got the PR, my next step is to apply for citizenship.

 

Have anyone tried to apply under PR holding it for less than 5 years ?

 

Briefly I think could reach the 50 points easily :
30 Years old, Master degree, ~100K/month, more than 3 years in the same company, can easily sing both anthems.
I have 10K charity donation with certificate from 3 years ago.

 

Let me know !

Thanks

 

It has been done in the past because the Act is not specific that 5 years' resience in the Kingdom means residence with PR.  But it is not known to have been permitted since the mid 90s and the current regime is definitely not allowing this interpretation.  A friend recently tried to apply with less than 5 years PR by using connections and eventually hit a brick wall. Things change.  You can always try.

[Arkady]

On 6/9/2020 at 9:00 AM, Badb0y said:

Sorry, I mix matched 2 topics with my question ???? This is the question that I wanted to put here:

Next month I'm going to have the 3yr non immigrant visa with the same company, monthly salary was more then 80k and due to my company was hit hard due to Covid-19 I don't think if a mentioned 2nd wave will come my company will survive (or me) so I need to action fast.

Based on this article couple of questions came to my mind.

 

1.

Do I need to have a work permit at the time of the application or is it enough to have historical tax receipts?

 

2.

Is it possible to go with the wife and she can help with the Thai or they need conversational Thai?

 

3.

Such a shame after 3 years my Thai still terrible, if I fail the Thai test but I can reach the 50 points can I get the visa?

 

4.

If I calculate the points, I have 38 points with Age, Education and profession Criteria so I need additional 12 at least. Personality let's say they can give 5 point, if I'm lucky I can get these questions, I might get 5-8 points, and I heard some donation before, but I'm not sure about how many point and what is the steps to get point of it? When I have to donate and where, how much?

 

5.

I can learn to introduce myself, talk about my history a bit and why I want to apply for a citizenship, would that be enough?

Is there any special panel questions that I might get from the officer during the Thai interview so I can prepare.

 

6.

Can I apply if I married less than 1 year ago, however we live together more than 2 years? Also if I adopt a baby, does it count as my child in the application?

 

7. Tabien baan I assume is out of scope from my point of view because I just rented in the last 3 years.

 

Hope guys you can help.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

If you can't speak much Thai, you will probably get very few points for knowledge of the Thai language and maybe zero. However, you can still score some points for the Knowledge of Thailand test, as you are allowed to have your Thai wife help you with the multiple choice answers. 

 

The donations are required but you don't get any points for them.

 

You can get on a yellow tabien baan using a friend or relative's address but will get no points for it, unless it is the blue tabien baan you get for being a PR.  Actually you must submit a yellow tabien baan in order to apply.

 

You need to have a WP at least until the NIA interview a few months after your application.  You are supposed to maintain one thoughout the process though and could get caught out, if you don't have one in some circumstances.  See separate post.

[david143]

any updates for Oath Ceremony ????

 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

I just see a new announcement of 39 naturalized women in RG website today... the batch for men usually coming right after by only few weeks, can't wait for it!

[khongaeng]

32 minutes ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

I just see a new announcement of 39 naturalized women in RG website today... the batch for men usually coming right after by only few weeks, can't wait for it!

What's your technique for searching for the latest updates? Is there special text that is the title of each announcement about nationality?

[david143]

very simple

http://www.mratchakitcha.soc.go.th/index.html

สัญชาติไทย

[Smokegreynblues]

On 6/10/2020 at 11:57 AM, Arkady said:

Re retention of WP during the application process. It's often not asked for after the NIA interview but bear in mind that they can ask for all documents when you register for the MoI interview. When I went for mine they did this for others but didn't want to see mine, as they had recently seen them, as described below.  Also any of the delegates on the interview committee can ask to see your documents or any other information. In my case I was asked to bring my current and previous WPs to the MoI before my interview as they wanted to check them because SB had cocked up by not including a copy of the previous one in my file. The head of the nationality section told me, after confirming that all was in order, that she was happy that was the case or she would have had to disqualify me, if my WPs didn't check out.

 

The other thing can happen on rare occasions is that you can be asked to redo a lot of the application, if there is a discrepancy. In my case, again due to a stupid mistake by SB, I had to to resubmit copies of all documents, salary letter, bank statement etc, two and a half years after my original applcation.  Without a current WP, that would have been the end of the story.  During the Thaksin era all the pending citizenship applications were sent back from the MoI to SB to have everything rechecked and resubmitted, delaying the process by about three years.

 

So it's worth keeping a valid WP throughout the process, if you can because you never know.

 

 

Well how do you produce the old WP if the Labour in BKK insists on taking back the old WPs as part of the process to issue new ones, My old WP with 3 years of exp was taken away, when I got the new one. Assuming I get another 3 years on the new one, will the MOI etc, would want to see my old WP as well? Also there seems to be no way that I can get a copy/physical copy of my old expired WP

[saakura]

1 hour ago, Smokegreynblues said:

Well how do you produce the old WP if the Labour in BKK insists on taking back the old WPs as part of the process to issue new ones, My old WP with 3 years of exp was taken away, when I got the new one. Assuming I get another 3 years on the new one, will the MOI etc, would want to see my old WP as well? Also there seems to be no way that I can get a copy/physical copy of my old expired WP

I also had the same experience. My old WP had extension stamps for 20yrs when it was taken away without prior warning when i went to extend the permission 3yrs ago. Luckily i had kept several good photocopies from cover to cover as it was a definite requirement to submit at SB. I was told to apply at the labour dept and get a certification that the copy is authentic.

[BKKBike09]

FWIW I called DOPA last week to ask if there was any news on when my interview might happen (file was sent to DOPA start of Dec 2018). They said it "should be this year" and that Covid had slowed things down. They did make a point of also asking whether my WP was still valid, whether I'd changed jobs and whether Mrs BKKBike and I were still married.

[david143]

45 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:

FWIW I called DOPA last week to ask if there was any news on when my interview might happen (file was sent to DOPA start of Dec 2018). They said it "should be this year" and that Covid had slowed things down. They did make a point of also asking whether my WP was still valid, whether I'd changed jobs and whether Mrs BKKBike and I were still married.

Are u waiting for MOI interview ?

[BKKBike09]

5 hours ago, david143 said:

Are u waiting for MOI interview ?

Yes.

[david143]

15 hours ago, BKKBike09 said:

Yes.

Ok brother
btw today i call MOI for check on my status , Still waiting from King office to sign.

 

[saakura]

Just googled to find out that DOPA is the Department of Provincial Administration. What role do they play in the citizenship application process? I thought it was SB--NIA--MOI and then wait wait wait.

[khongaeng]

1 hour ago, david143 said:

Ok brother
btw today i call MOI for check on my status , Still waiting from King office to sign.

 

When I called MOI a few months back they explained that once the King's signature is obtained, the application goes directly to SB for oath, meaning that MOI will not know when the signature has happened, but that the SB will be calling people when ready to give the oath.  I interpreted this to mean that I don't need to call MOI anymore because it is essentially out of their hands...

[david143]

1 hour ago, khongaeng said:

When I called MOI a few months back they explained that once the King's signature is obtained, the application goes directly to SB for oath, meaning that MOI will not know when the signature has happened, but that the SB will be calling people when ready to give the oath.  I interpreted this to mean that I don't need to call MOI anymore because it is essentially out of their hands...

point to be noted,

so it means i need to follow up with Santi baan.

Thanks brother

[GabbaGabbaHey]

23 hours ago, khongaeng said:

When I called MOI a few months back they explained that once the King's signature is obtained, the application goes directly to SB for oath, meaning that MOI will not know when the signature has happened, but that the SB will be calling people when ready to give the oath.  I interpreted this to mean that I don't need to call MOI anymore because it is essentially out of their hands...

I still recommend to call MOI regularly 6+ months after you had the interview to know if your application is ok and has been sent to the palace for signature. In my case, the last time I called them they could confirm that all batches before mine had already been countersigned by the King and I was thus on the next batch. This can avoid the situation reported by some applicants in this forum where they waited for long time until they called MOI and discovered there was a problem in their application that had not been proactively communicated to them.