Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[GabbaGabbaHey]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

What are the consequences of using our old passports in Thailand, for example registering for a Covid vaccine?

(I understand this question means consequences for those who already got Thai nationality)

 

I would'nt personnally do that, as for any action which involves registering in a Thai database that could potentially come into official hands. I know the risk is perhaps low if what you refer is the possibility to fall into the case of losing Thai nationality, but as for myself I plan to apply this as a golden rule: in Thailand I'm Thai and I will not use my foreign passport for any reason whatsoever. This is just my own personal view on the topic, of course.
I was recently been asked for it for changing some insurance number from foreigner to Thai but I denied and explained "sorry my foreign passport is no longer legal in Thailand, if you need copy of my passport I have Thai passport" which cut the discussion and this was accepted as valid case.

Edited August 9, 2021 by GabbaGabbaHey

[yankee99]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

What are the consequences of using our old passports in Thailand, for example registering for a Covid vaccine?

I believe i uploaded my visa with my passport when I registered 

[GabbaGabbaHey]

9 minutes ago, yankee99 said:

I believe i uploaded my visa with my passport when I registered 

But you still didn't get the Thai ID, right? I guess Neeranam is asking this question for those who already got Thai nationality.

[Arkady]

39 minutes ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

(I understand this question means consequences for those who already got Thai nationality)

 

I would'nt personnally do that, as for any action which involves registering in a Thai database that could potentially come into official hands. I know the risk is perhaps low if what you refer is the possibility to fall into the case of losing Thai nationality, but as for myself I plan to apply this as a golden rule: in Thailand I'm Thai and I will not use my foreign passport for any reason whatsoever. This is just my own personal view on the topic, of course.
I was recently been asked for it for changing some insurance number from foreigner to Thai but I denied and explained "sorry my foreign passport is no longer legal in Thailand, if you need copy of my passport I have Thai passport" which cut the discussion and this was accepted as valid case.

I was asked for my foreign passport at Siam Commercial Bank when they were pretending for a while it wasn't possible to re-register my nationality as Thai.  I told them I no longer had a valid foreign passport.  Actually the truth is that I no longer have a valid Thai passport. It expired and I don't want to travel anywhere overseas while not yet fully vaccinated and it is such a hassle to go anywhere. Luckily I have no compelling reasons to travel at the moment but now I see here that 10 year Thai passports have arrived, I might get around to renewing one of these days.  A 5 year passport is a real PITA, particularly as many countries requires at least 6 months left in it which makes it a 4.5 year passport.  I didn't want to renew and have it sitting unused for half of its useful life waiting for the pandemic to blow over.

[Neeranam]

52 minutes ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

(I understand this question means consequences for those who already got Thai nationality)

 

I would'nt personnally do that, as for any action which involves registering in a Thai database that could potentially come into official hands. I know the risk is perhaps low if what you refer is the possibility to fall into the case of losing Thai nationality, but as for myself I plan to apply this as a golden rule: in Thailand I'm Thai and I will not use my foreign passport for any reason whatsoever. This is just my own personal view on the topic, of course.
I was recently been asked for it for changing some insurance number from foreigner to Thai but I denied and explained "sorry my foreign passport is no longer legal in Thailand, if you need copy of my passport I have Thai passport" which cut the discussion and this was accepted as valid case.

Probably wise. I don't think I'll risk it. 

I could get the vaccine in Bangkok, as a Thai, as my ID card still has a Bangkok address. I assume they won't ask for my house book, which is in Khon Kaen. 

 

[Arkady]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

What are the consequences of using our old passports in Thailand, for example registering for a Covid vaccine?

I think it is probably in the very low risk but not nil risk category.  The Intervac registration is MoFA.   I also wondered if they might ask to see the visa.  Luckily I had no need to try, as I am a month away from AZ jab no. 2 and have also booked Moderna as a booster in the private hospitals' lottery caper. If my number comes up, I hope that getting a Moderna booster 2-3 months after 2nd AZ would work and not be harmful.  More research needed on this but I suspect a lot of the people who win the lottery will be in the same situation.  It's hard to imagine Thais who could afford to book Moderna and possibly need connections to be selected not being fully vaccinated by the time it arrives in country, which makes it all the more ridiculous.  But if someone forgoes a shot of Moderna, it will not go to someone needy.  I can see that Thais with the wherewithall to get Moderna boosters this year will also want the Moderna variants booster next year.

[Neeranam]

Strange . I tried registering on one app. just now but says my ID is not right. I wonder if this is because it starts with an 8.

 

[david143]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Strange . I tried registering on one app. just now but says my ID is not right. I wonder if this is because it starts with an 8.

 

This APP Paotang is for those who already have Paotang Account.
if you are eligble for 50X50 / Rao Chana /  Scheme APP , you can register Easily for Vaccine if not then use Morphrom APP OR LINE Account

 

[onthemoon]

5 hours ago, khongaeng said:

I got my Thai ID card one day, applied for my passport the next, and applied for ABTC a few days later when I received my passport in the mail.  With COVID-19 some countries are not approving the visas at all (it seems) and others take much longer than the advertised 1-2 months, but within 4 months, I already had 17 out of 19 countries in the scheme approving my application, so I paid an extra 1000 baht to get a "temporary" card that is valid for the 17 countries I am already approved for.  I suspect sometime later next year, I will finally get the "real" ABTC card, but since it is only valid for as long as your passport is and only up to 5 years, and since Thai passports are still only valid for 5 years, I decided that I should apply for ABTC as soon as I got my passport to maximize the time I can use the card before having to renew.  Everything worked without at hitch.  I set up my own company to check the boxes for applying for citizenship, and now that I have citizenship, it now qualifies me to apply for ABTC.  The timing just happened to work out perfectly since the company has to be "on the books" for at least 3 years before anyone at that company can qualify to apply for an ABTC card.  

 

Application for the card is incredibly easy, if your company meets the requirements.  It requires about the same level of effort as renewing a Non-O visa every year, except for the fact that you go through the process entirely online! The card is worth it for me since now I can travel visa free to countries like China and Russia where my previous passport required me to go through the hassle of applying and paying for visas, this, in addition to the benefit of going through the diplomatic lanes in the airports in Asia (even including the US, Mexico, and Canada!) is worth its weight in gold.  Flying into South America and going through the diplomatic lane as a Thai was a cool experience last week.  Not looking forward to quarantine in Thailand when I return... 

Thanks a lot. I am quite sure my company meets the requirements. I thought I would have to have three years of "many" visas to relevant countries in my passport before being able to apply. 

 

What you say is good news! 

[ChrisKC]

Whatever his reasons, the OP has given an excellent summary of the hoops necessary to jump through in order to achieve what he set out to do.

 

For me, that is a success story and well worth relating to anyone else with similar ambitions, that may either inspire or leave some of us being happy as we are.

[sinthavee]

3 hours ago, ChrisKC said:

Whatever his reasons, the OP has given an excellent summary of the hoops necessary to jump through in order to achieve what he set out to do.

 

For me, that is a success story and well worth relating to anyone else with similar ambitions, that may either inspire or leave some of us being happy as we are.

Many people have got benefited from the OP(Dbrenn 18th May,2007& last seen in the forum in 2017) & his work was ably continued/continuing,  by many of our seniors, which has immensely helped & eased the path (procedures, duration, milestones, issues etc) of getting Thai citizenship.

I am personally indebted to them for the knowledge/experience they shared in this forum. Thanks to each one of them.

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, sinthavee said:

(Dbrenn 18th May,2007& last seen in the forum in 2017)

I think you looked at the wrong profile.

Hover your mouse over his name at the top of this page.

[sinthavee]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

I think you looked at the wrong profile.

Hover your mouse over his name at the top of this page.

Hi Ubonjoe,

I had seen the right profile. Dbrenn started this thread on 18 May, 2007 & as per the information from the top of this page, he was last seen in this forum in Apr 2017.

[david143]

we will keep his thread go on

[ubonjoe]

12 minutes ago, sinthavee said:

Hi Ubonjoe,

I had seen the right profile. Dbrenn started this thread on 18 May, 2007 & as per the information from the top of this page, he was last seen in this forum in Apr 2017.

That is April 17th this year. It would show previous years if it was not done in 2021.

[sinthavee]

24 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

That is April 17th this year. It would show previous years if it was not done in 2021.

Thank you Ubonjoe; Now I understand what I perceived wrongly.(took Apr  17 as Apr 2017.

[Arkady]

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That is April 17th this year. It would show previous years if it was not done in 2021.

Glad to see Dbrenn was in the forum a few months ago. We all owe a debt of gratitude to him for starting this long running thread. It was this thread that motivated me to start getting my act together to apply. I wasn't sure that citizenship was really in my grasp until I read it and found out that fairly ordinary people can get it, if they have the qualifications, follow the guidelines and just persevere. Then after getting into the process, it was a great source of support and comradeship.  I exchanged quite a few PMs with Dbrenn when he was still active in this thread and he was great guy to chat with. You guys are all doing a great job of keeping the thread going and maintaining the Dbrenn spirit.

[GabbaGabbaHey]

My many thanks to dbrenn as well as to Arkady, GaryP, Ubonjoe and several other people who have helped answer my questions when I started in 2017. Without this forum and knowledge I would probably never have understood that there is no level such as very good/good/average pass on the points, there is just that you either pass or not. As I had PR with less than 5 years and I was married, I already met above the 50 points, there was no point for me to wait more time for more points... then I took action and saved 1-2 years and was lucky to complete everything before companies started to be really hit with Covid... getting citizenship in 2020 was perfect time for me.  Also, without solid help like we can get here, I would probably not have been keen to endertake the full process myself without any external help (you'll quickly know more than any lawyer by doing yourself and it's a fun path! Thai people always try to help you).

I have since then tried my best to provide fact based answers to some questions that were posted in this forum, and always enjoyed to help someone achieve what I was helped to achieve too. At the very benning after reading the forum from A to Z in 2017, I even "knew everything" (the little details like salary statement has to be exactly annual income divided by 12 and others) when I entered SB Office for the first time and thought that providing things they didn't even requested day one (like my first entry stamp to Thailand) would make good impression and help me to get it faster... nada... this was a mistake. Hence my advice to people who consider to read everything from this forum like I did... go to SB and just pretend you know nothing, just provide what they request when they request it as more and more requests will be added on the way, this is part of the process to test your ability to keep calm in every situation. I think one day I'll post the 10 very funny things that happened to me during my process, I'm sure we all face these moments in a way or another.

Also thank you to the dozen of people which whom I interacted in private message along these years, we had true sharing exchange and it was done in a friendly and cooperative way. Cheers to all of you who know who they are!

And yes, it's good to see new applicants take over and maintain this forum active with such good spirit. A reason why I'm still here regularly ????

Edited August 10, 2021 by GabbaGabbaHey

[khongaeng]

On 8/9/2021 at 1:41 AM, david143 said:

5 years 1000THB
10 Years 1500THB
I will apply straight 10 Years 

I guess this is typical.  They announced in 2019 that they would make 10 year passports available.  When I applied for my passport earlier this year, there were only 5 year passports available.

I used to run out of space in my old passport every 3 years due to Thai stamps, and since I won't be getting those anymore, a 10 year passport will definitely be a benefit.

 

On 8/8/2021 at 11:44 PM, heiri007 said:

So ABTC only issued for company reps, not privat "biz traveler"?

That is correct.  In Thailand you must be a director or above representative for your company and your company has to be registered with one of the "federations" like the trade federation or manufacturing federation.  It is not expensive to join (a few thousand baht if I remember correctly), and was easy enough that I did all the paperwork myself for my own company, but you do have to jump through some hoops for your business to qualify.  The funny thing is that each country has different qualifications to get the card.  In Australia, you have to be a director in a million plus dollar company, while in the US you just pay $70 and they give you the card without any effort or paperwork.  In Singapore it is also easy to apply, I have heard, and in Hong Kong you don't even have to have citizenship, only PR.  

In the end, I calculated that the hassle of applying for a visa to many of the countries that are part of the scheme more than justified the relatively minimal (Less than 10,000 baht) cost altogether for membership / application fee / etc.
 

[onthemoon]

5 hours ago, khongaeng said:

That is correct.  In Thailand you must be a director or above representative for your company and your company has to be registered with one of the "federations" like the trade federation or manufacturing federation.  

Allow me a question: I heard that membership in the Thai Chamber of Commerce also counts. Is that correct? My company is member in TCC as well as a number of foreign chambers.

[khongaeng]

4 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

Allow me a question: I heard that membership in the Thai Chamber of Commerce also counts. Is that correct? My company is member in TCC as well as a number of foreign chambers.

That’s correct.  The Thai Chamber of Commerce is one of them, you are lucky because I think there are only 4 that qualify .  I got all of my information from https://abtc-jsccib.org/login-page.html When I applied.  You will need to check with whoever manages the membership for the Thai Chamber of Commerce at your company, because I think there might be a limit on the number of ABTC cards that can be sponsored by a company.  Since I am the only person from my company with an ABTC card, I never ran into any issues.  Since 10 year passports are now a thing, If I could start from the beginning again, I would make sure to have a 10 year passport first.  You may want to consider getting a 10 year passport before you start your application process because the ABTC card will be tied directly to your passport number.

[Arkady]

10 hours ago, khongaeng said:

I guess this is typical.  They announced in 2019 that they would make 10 year passports available.  When I applied for my passport earlier this year, there were only 5 year passports available.

I used to run out of space in my old passport every 3 years due to Thai stamps, and since I won't be getting those anymore, a 10 year passport will definitely be a benefit.

 

I seem to remember there was some kind of fuss about the tender for producing the new style passports. They changed specs and put it out for tender again after the deadline for the original tender had closed which delayed the whole project by about 18 months.  A company that had competed in the original tender complained bitterly.  It may have been connected to the scandal over the Immigration project for biometrics that Big Joke made a fuss over, as Thai passports obviously had to be compliant with that.

[qualtrough]

I too would like to thank Dbrenn. I could have started this process at the same time he did, or thereabouts, but the person handling my annual visa/wp application said it was very difficult and just wasn't interested in pursuing it on my behalf. Stupid me. It wasn't until I saw this thread that I realized that wasn't true. I think the real reason she wasn't interested was because she would lose money once I obtained citizenship and no longer needed her services. Doh!

[stament]

New to this post, so many replies to look through. I've looked through quite a large number but not all of them as that would take ages.

 

I do have a couple of questions that I'd like help on please. Firstly, has the requirements changed since those listed by the OP on page 1? If so please could someone share the link to the latest requirements or advise which of the 220 pages it's on  ????????

 

Secondly, the original poster says once granted citizenship you can do any job a Thai can, is this true?

 

Thirdly, I read a post saying it is necessary to get PR first but then read another post which inferred it wasn't necessary. Grateful if someone could clarify please.

 

Many thanks

 

 

[yankee99]

53 minutes ago, stament said:

New to this post, so many replies to look through. I've looked through quite a large number but not all of them as that would take ages.

 

I do have a couple of questions that I'd like help on please. Firstly, has the requirements changed since those listed by the OP on page 1? If so please could someone share the link to the latest requirements or advise which of the 220 pages it's on  ????????

 

Secondly, the original poster says once granted citizenship you can do any job a Thai can, is this true?

 

Thirdly, I read a post saying it is necessary to get PR first but then read another post which inferred it wasn't necessary. Grateful if someone could clarify please.

 

Many thanks

 

 

The short answer is to apply 

Married 3 years / 1 year with a child

 

3 years certified tax returns with work permit 

 

50 of 100 points 

 

without these its a non starter 

 

yes you can do any jobs a thai can except some political stuff if i remember correctly 

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, stament said:

Firstly, has the requirements changed since those listed by the OP on page 1? If so please could someone share the link to the latest requirements or advise which of the 220 pages it's on

Many things have changed since this topic was started and that includes a new nationality act. Best to read the posts in it from last page to the first one.

Here is the a list of requirements. Guidelines and documents required for application for Thai citizenship by naturalization77.51 kB · 336 downloads  

 

1 hour ago, stament said:

Thirdly, I read a post saying it is necessary to get PR first but then read another post which inferred it wasn't necessary. Grateful if someone could clarify please.

Unless married to a Thai you have to have permanent residency for 5 years to apply for Thai nationality.

[stament]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Many things have changed since this topic was started and that includes a new nationality act. Best to read the posts in it from last page to the first one.

Here is the a list of requirements. Guidelines and documents required for application for Thai citizenship by naturalization77.51 kB · 336 downloads  

 

Unless married to a Thai you have to have permanent residency for 5 years to apply for Thai nationality.

Will do many thanks.

 

Re your last comment do people who are married to a Thai need to have 5 years permanent residency before applying for Thai nationality besides the obvious time required to cover the 3 year's tax returns?

 

Many thanks

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, stament said:

Re your last comment do people who are married to a Thai need to have 5 years permanent residency before applying for Thai nationality besides the obvious time required to cover the 3 year's tax returns?

No

If married to a Thai only 3 years is required and there is no requirement to have PR.

[stament]

6 hours ago, yankee99 said:

The short answer is to apply 

Married 3 years / 1 year with a child

 

3 years certified tax returns with work permit 

 

50 of 100 points 

 

without these its a non starter 

 

yes you can do any jobs a thai can except some political stuff if i remember correctly 

Many thanks.  Where is the 100 points referenced in detail please?

 

[stament]

On 8/8/2021 at 9:21 AM, Neeranam said:

These days, I'd say 5-8 years.

3 year WP and tax receipts+ 2-4 years application process. 

8 years, WHOA there was me thinking 4.5 years for a married man who has obtained 3 years of tax receipts.  Why is the application process so lengthy?