Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[NewlyMintedThai]

Have not gotten around to it. Too many hoops to jump through.

[samran]

Thankfully, I have not come across that element using my Thai passport. The only questions I've gotten were when applying for a Chinese visa.

Perhaps you should apply for an APEC card, then no more Chinese visa's.

Another advantage to Thai citizenship (unless you're already from an APEC country, of course).

A bit of a pain on the Thai passport unfortunately. You have to be working for a firm which is a member of the Thai chamber of commerce.

[WhiteCadillac]

Do you hold dual citizenships?

[Thanet]

As an aside to this thread, we need to add 'Electronic Arrival and Departure Gates' to the list of advantages of being a naturalised Thai citizen listed by the OP.

The ones at Swampy work like a charm - scan your passport, walk into the sally port, look at a camera, put your finger on a scanner and presto, a door opens and you're though immigration. They don't even stamp your passport, and the whole process only takes seconds. Contrast that with a land crossing that I recently did in Nong Khai, where a buffoon of an immigration officer was asking me all sort of stupid questions about why I naturalised as a Thai and telling me that I had to sing the national anthem to prove that I was a 'real' one. I refused, telling him that I had already done this at the Interior Ministry and that the Interior Minister, and subsequently His Majesty, had approved my application. He passed me over to his boss, who rather sheepishly let me through without further comment.

There definitely are some unfriendly elements in immigration.

Wierd one that - and you are right. None of their frigging business though I wonder if they have a problem with false passports up there. I've had the same bloke a few times at Nong Khai on the way back in. He always tells me he remembers me as I look like a foriegner (tdang dao) but with a thai PP. Always a pleasant enough chat and then I'm off.

As for the gates, they are fantastic. Except when they don't work - like last week when I was in and out of Thailand 3 times in 5 days. Had to join the line of the great unwashed on the way out. Fortunately, they took me to the front of the queue....

Not sure about false passports in Nong Khai, but in any case the computer that immigration uses flash up a picture and details of the passport holder anyway, and he could have (as has happened once in the past at Swampy) asked me for my Thai ID card as additional verification of identity, which he didn't do. In this case, he didn't even scan my passport to check anything, instead asking me lots of idiotic questions about my country of origin and how / why I had become Thai.

I've also been though NK many times with no problems. Maybe he was having a bad day, or maybe he was new on the job, or maybe he was an incompetent idiot. Still no reason to take it out on me and spoil my day with a pointless interrogation

Edited March 4, 2013 by Thanet

[house11111]

Hi to Everyone ,

I had applied for Thai citizen ship in 2009 every thing done successfully, yesterday I did call to Interior Ministry ask them how long time it take more for my Thai ID Card and they told me that I am 450 number in Que . Anyone know what is it means and how long it take for my number that on list 450 ?

Any reply will be appreciated.

[NewlyMintedThai]

So you have passed the Ministry interview and are now waiting for the Minister's signature?

[samran]

Do you hold dual citizenships?

yep.

[Dork]

Thankfully, I have not come across that element using my Thai passport. The only questions I've gotten were when applying for a Chinese visa.

Perhaps you should apply for an APEC card, then no more Chinese visa's.

Another advantage to Thai citizenship (unless you're already from an APEC country, of course).

A bit of a pain on the Thai passport unfortunately. You have to be working for a firm which is a member of the Thai chamber of commerce.

I see. Yes that probably is one hoop too many.

[samran]

Thankfully, I have not come across that element using my Thai passport. The only questions I've gotten were when applying for a Chinese visa.

Perhaps you should apply for an APEC card, then no more Chinese visa's.

Another advantage to Thai citizenship (unless you're already from an APEC country, of course).

A bit of a pain on the Thai passport unfortunately. You have to be working for a firm which is a member of the Thai chamber of commerce.

I see. Yes that probably is one hoop too many.

I am going to try one of these days, just to test how it goes. Will need to register my firm with the TCC first though, and then go from there.

[simro]

Congratulations, number 3 can be done with a Thai licence!

[house11111]

So you have passed the Ministry interview and are now waiting for the Minister's signature?

Thanks , Yes I am waiting for the ministry signature .

[NewlyMintedThai]

Yes, that's the big hurdle. Perhaps if you have any powerful friends they can nudge your file up to the top of the heap. Otherwise, it's just a waiting game.

[house11111]

Yes, that's the big hurdle. Perhaps if you have any powerful friends they can nudge your file up to the top of the heap. Otherwise, it's just a waiting game.

Thanks mate , I am not living in Bangkok so I don't really know people there .

[Arkady]

Yes, that's the big hurdle. Perhaps if you have any powerful friends they can nudge your file up to the top of the heap. Otherwise, it's just a waiting game.

Thanks mate , I am not living in Bangkok so I don't really know people there .

So how long did it take to get to the MOI interview after you applied?

After the interview you have to be approved in absentia by another board of more senior officials which is chaired by the permanent secretary. I think it only meets a couple of times a year. Then the minister needs to sign before forwarding to HMK.

I don't know what being no. 450 in the queue means. Once you have been interviewed there is theoretically no further capacity constraint. There are able to approve huge batches of displaced Thais from Trat, Ranong etc. I was once told there were about 1,000 ahead of me waiting for interview. I somewhat doubt that they operate a computerised queue and can say exactly where you are in it. It may just be a vague approximation to fob off callers with.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Arkady

[bakery2012]

Hi House 11111 Could you advice me how long do you have to wait to get the MOI Interview after your application sent to the MOI? MOI official told me that I have 480 people ahead of me. Right now they are working on the applications about 15 people per months. So it will take about 3 years to get them to look at my applications.

[Arkady]

Pictures of the latest MoI interviews last week from the ISAB's website. http://www.isab.go.th/dopa_isab/home.jsp

Edited March 18, 2013 by Arkady

[Arkady]

Hi House 11111 Could you advice me how long do you have to wait to get the MOI Interview after your application sent to the MOI? MOI official told me that I have 480 people ahead of me. Right now they are working on the applications about 15 people per months. So it will take about 3 years to get them to look at my applications.

Theoretically they hold the interviews every month but in practice they usually can't get people of the correct rank from each of the 15 government agencies on the screening committee to be available on the assigned date every month. Sometimes there may be a lull for some reason, such as during and after the 2011 floods. I think an average of 7 meetings a year would be a more accurate assessment. On the plus side I think they usually invite a few more than 15 applicants per session.

For interest I have attached the list of the agencies on the screening committee that I translated from the guidelines on Special Branch's website.

Executive Working Committee Responsible for Screening Applications for Thai Nationality.docx

Edited March 18, 2013 by Arkady

[aidenai]

Hi House 11111 Could you advice me how long do you have to wait to get the MOI Interview after your application sent to the MOI? MOI official told me that I have 480 people ahead of me. Right now they are working on the applications about 15 people per months. So it will take about 3 years to get them to look at my applications.

Theoretically they hold the interviews every month but in practice they usually can't get people of the correct rank from each of the 15 government agencies on the screening committee to be available on the assigned date every month. Sometimes there may be a lull for some reason, such as during and after the 2011 floods. I think an average of 7 meetings a year would be a more accurate assessment. On the plus side I think they usually invite a few more than 15 applicants per session.

For interest I have attached the list of the agencies on the screening committee that I translated from the guidelines on Special Branch's website.

Thanks for this update, Arkady.

[Time Traveller]

As we are nearly at the end of the year, it is time to tally up the numbers of newly minted Thais who were gazetted in 2012. According to my research there were 35 naturalisations under Section 10 and 77 women married to Thais who were granted Thai nationality under Section 9, giving a total of 112 for the year. I have excluded the many group naturalisations of formerly stateless minorities born in Thailand who also technically fall under Section 10.

The cumulative figures I have gathered since 2005 are as follows:

2005 Nat 50 W 68 Total 118

2006 Nat 10 W 232 Total 242

2007 Nat 141 W 236 Total 377

2008 Nat 163 W 44 Total 207

2009 Nat 0 W 4 Total 4

2010 Nat 7 W 145 Total 152

2011 Nat 40 W 8 Total 48

2012 Nat 35 W 77 Total 112

2005-12 Nat 446 W 814 Total 1,260

Avg p.a. Nat 55.75 W 101.75 Combined 157.5

Nice of them to also publish their home address and full name of these new citizens as well. Guess Thailand doesn't care too much about privacy.

[nontabury]

As we are nearly at the end of the year, it is time to tally up the numbers of newly minted Thais who were gazetted in 2012. According to my research there were 35 naturalisations under Section 10 and 77 women married to Thais who were granted Thai nationality under Section 9, giving a total of 112 for the year. I have excluded the many group naturalisations of formerly stateless minorities born in Thailand who also technically fall under Section 10.

The cumulative figures I have gathered since 2005 are as follows:

2005 Nat 50 W 68 Total 118

2006 Nat 10 W 232 Total 242

2007 Nat 141 W 236 Total 377

2008 Nat 163 W 44 Total 207

2009 Nat 0 W 4 Total 4

2010 Nat 7 W 145 Total 152

2011 Nat 40 W 8 Total 48

2012 Nat 35 W 77 Total 1122005-12 Nat 446 W 814 Total 1,260Avg p.a. Nat 55.75 W 101.75 Combined 157.5

Nice of them to also publish their home address and full name of these new citizens as well. Guess Thailand doesn't care too much about privacy.

---------////--------

Do these figures include Chines and other Asians?.

Anybody know of the actual numbers of Farang males who have been granted a Thai passport this year.

[Arkady]

As we are nearly at the end of the year, it is time to tally up the numbers of newly minted Thais who were gazetted in 2012. According to my research there were 35 naturalisations under Section 10 and 77 women married to Thais who were granted Thai nationality under Section 9, giving a total of 112 for the year. I have excluded the many group naturalisations of formerly stateless minorities born in Thailand who also technically fall under Section 10.

The cumulative figures I have gathered since 2005 are as follows:

2005 Nat 50 W 68 Total 118

2006 Nat 10 W 232 Total 242

2007 Nat 141 W 236 Total 377

2008 Nat 163 W 44 Total 207

2009 Nat 0 W 4 Total 4

2010 Nat 7 W 145 Total 152

2011 Nat 40 W 8 Total 48

2012 Nat 35 W 77 Total 1122005-12 Nat 446 W 814 Total 1,260Avg p.a. Nat 55.75 W 101.75 Combined 157.5

Nice of them to also publish their home address and full name of these new citizens as well. Guess Thailand doesn't care too much about privacy.

---------////--------

Do these figures include Chines and other Asians?.

Anybody know of the actual numbers of Farang males who have been granted a Thai passport this year.

Yes, these figures naturally include Asians, many of whom have Chinese names, although original nationality is for some reason only disclosed in the case of women adopting their husbands' Thai nationality which is done under a different section of the Nationality Act. The vast majority of those granted Thai nationality are Asian. The percentage of farangs, including women, becoming Thai is small, probably in the range of 5-10%. Historically a large proportion of applicants have been Chinese, Taiwanese or Indian Subcontinent businessmen who have their own businesses in Thailand and may apply for their foreign wives and/or children at the same time. Having their own businesses is a strong motivation to get citizenship and their original passports are usually no better for global travel than a Thai passport. I think that the percentage of farangs in the pipeline is probably increasing though due to the 2008 amendments that allow males with Thai wives to bypass PR. Farang males are more likely to settle down with Thai wives, certainly much more likely than Indian Subcontinentals. Also the freeze on granting PR from 2007 to 2012 is going to slow down the process of traditional applications with PR.

What are excluded from the figures are the large batches of largely stateless minorities who obtain Thai citizenship, usually several hundred a year. While the process is somewhat different, it is handled by the same section of the MoI and accounts for the vast majority of their work.

So far in 2013, there has been only one announcement in the Royal Gazette on 16 Jan of three naturalisations with the order for publication signed on 28 Dec by the current minister, Khun Jaruphong. Two of the lucky three have Chinese sounding names and the other an Indian Subcontinental sounding name. One of the Chinese is a girl under 20 years old.

What we can't find out, unfortunately, is the schedule for the minister approving applications before forwarding them to the Palace. I don't think Jaruphong has approved any so far and I think the same applies to PR applications.

[anniejing]

Hi, everyone, I've applied for Thai citizenship since end of 2008, and still waiting for the process in MOI. I applied using by relationship with Thai husband, and I hold Australian passport. One thing is I never got a letter from special branch of police to ask me to relinquish my Australian citizenship. If I really go throught the application, Thai government will ask me to give up Australian citizenship or not? I applied for the Thai ID because I just want to work here without asking for a work permit that almost most of the companies don't want to do for the employees.

house11111, your application submitted in 2009, how long you wait for get the letter from MOI for the interview?

Thanks!

[Arkady]

Hi, everyone, I've applied for Thai citizenship since end of 2008, and still waiting for the process in MOI. I applied using by relationship with Thai husband, and I hold Australian passport. One thing is I never got a letter from special branch of police to ask me to relinquish my Australian citizenship. If I really go throught the application, Thai government will ask me to give up Australian citizenship or not? I applied for the Thai ID because I just want to work here without asking for a work permit that almost most of the companies don't want to do for the employees.

house11111, your application submitted in 2009, how long you wait for get the letter from MOI for the interview?

Thanks!

The requirement to submit a declaration of intent to relinquish existing citizenship only came in with new ministerial regulations that came into force in 2010. Those applicants who had already been interviewed at the MoI by then have not been asked to submit the document retroactively. Some of those who applied prior to 2010 but had not been interviewed when the new regulation came into effect were asked retroactively to submit the declaration before being interviewed but most were not, as far as I know. There was probably a cut off date. Several applicants, including some who had never been asked for the declaration and didn't even know about the new regulation, have been asked in the interview whether they were willing to renounce existing citizenship and, even, to explain why they would be willing to give up the benefits of a Western citizenship in order to gain Thai nationality. Others have not been asked anything about this but it is as well to be prepared.

I assume you haven't been interviewed yet from your post. If so, I doubt that you will be asked for the declaration, since you applied in 2008 but without it you are more likely to be quizzed about that in the interview.

Australia has permitted dual nationality since 2004. Since you have applied under Section 9 of the Act as the wife of a Thai national, there is no way your Thai nationality could be revoked for using a foreign nationality or residing abroad for 5 years, as in the case of those who apply for naturalisation under Section 10. You can only lose Thai nationality involuntary if you have submitted false information in your application, or if you are convicted of a criminal offence, or do something that offends public morality. So you should be fine.

[Arkady]

For the interest of legal historians I attached the minutes of a meeting of the MoI's Committee for Scrutinising Draft Laws held on 24th August 2007 that is posted in the MoI's archives: www.law.moi.go.th/2550/22550082435c.doc.

Meeting of Legal Committee 24.8.07.doc

The topic is the draft of the 2008 Nationality Act that was passed into law by the junta appointed National Legislative Assembly a couple of months later. The ministry's uncharacteristic transparency in posting such minutes online is commendable.

The preamble discusses the need for fairness and equality to all to be applied to those seeking Thai nationality which, of course, must be balanced with national security concerns and the need to prevent the quintessential
characteristics of Thainess from being overrun by a large influx of Thais of foreign origin.

The significance of the 2008 Act for TV members is, of course, the amendments to Section 11 which effectively exempted men married to Thai women from the need to have PR first and from singing the two anthems. The minutes provide some interesting insights into the thinking behind the amendments. Points of particular interest arising from the minutes are:

• 
  The original bill provided a different route to nationality for males with Thai wives. It was, in fact, to amend Section 9 to allow foreign males to adopt the Thai nationality of their wives in exactly the same way that foreign women can adopt the Thai nationality of their Thai husbands. The committee argued against this route which was thought to make it too easy for foreign males with Thai wives to obtain Thai
  nationality to the extent it might cause grave national security concerns. It was proposed instead that males with Thai wives should be allowed to apply for naturalisation with the Section 11 exemptions that would make it easier and more convenient for them to apply for naturalisation.

The committee’s recommendation here was apparently accepted, since the proposed amendments to Section 9 that would have put foreign males with Thai wives on exact parity with their female counterparts were deleted. The differences in the routes to Thai nationality are that for naturalization the applicant is required to have a profession and a salary of 40,00 haht a month (with a Thai wife), whereas in the other route the Thai spouse has to demonstrate the ability to support the foreign spouse with a token income of 15,000 baht a month which can be from a sole
proprietorship. Also those who adopt the Thai nationality of their spouse cannot have it revoked for retaining an
interest in their former nationality or for residing abroad for more than 5 years (this is because that section dates back to pre-WW2 days when most countries automatically revoked the nationality of a woman who married an
alien). Another small difference is that there is no application fee for adopting the nationality of a Thai spouse. The committee’s reasons for believing that males obtaining Thai nationality through this route would represent a threat to
national security, while foreign women have been obtaining Thai nationality this way for 100 years without constituting such a threat was left unsaid although, it is supported by a ruling of the Council of State of several years earlier
which also declined to explain its rationale. Realistically though they were probably concerned by the huge inflow of male foreign retirees who now greatly outnumber expats working in Thailand. The original draft would have allowed retirees with Thai wives to qualify easily for Thai nationality after three years of marriage and the news might have even increased the inflow. That is not to mention the younger foreigners with Thai wives who live in Thailand without a legal job and may be working illegally or engaging in criminal activities.

• 
  The original bill provided for the price of certificates of naturalization to be increased by a whopping 10,000% from 1,000 baht to 100,000 baht. Moreover, a fee of 100,000 baht was also to be charged for certificates of adopting the Thai nationality of a spouse which were formerly free and wording was to be added to the Act to make it compulsory to obtain the certificate, presumably to prevent people from
  insisting that they are Thai according the law when their names are published in the Royal Gazette to avoid the massive fee. The fee for applying for restoration of Thai nationality was to be increased by 2,000% from 1,000 baht to 20,000 baht.

Certainly the drafters of the bill were keen to discourage a floodgate of applications from males married to Thai wives by upping the fees massively and the committee presumably thought this entirely appropriate because they didn’t
comment on it. However, it must have been axed by the legislature because, in the event, there was no increase in the fee for a naturalization certificate which remains 1,000 baht, while certificates of adopting the Thai nationality of a husband are still free. The fee for applying for restoration of Thai nationality was also left unchanged at 1,000 baht. The application fee for naturalization was increased from 5,000 to 10,000 baht but, 5 years later, this has yet to be
implemented. One can see some logic to increasing fees to be closer to the fees for PR and I am not entirely sure why the legislature backed down from the sharp increase. However, I presume it was because stateless persons and other types of minorities living in Thailand also have to obtain Thai nationality under the Act and it must have been thought too complicated to establish different sets of fees for them while extolling principles of fairness and equality to all. In fact the fine tuning is done in the ministerial regulations which stipulate lower salary requirements for minorities, although these are still difficult for these wretched, discriminated people to attain.

• 
  Curiously the committee recommended the repeal of Section 13 of the Act that allows a man or woman who has obtained the nationality of his or her alien spouse to renounce their Thai nationality.

The rationale provided was that the provision allowed a route for Thai males to avoid conscription by marrying a foreigner and renouncing their Thai nationality. Then they could later divorce the foreign wife when they were no longer of interest to the army and apply to recover their Thai nationality. This bizarre suggestion was not supported by any evidence of Thai males using this route to avoid conscription and was clearly not accepted by the
legislature, since Section 13 was unchanged. Apart from the apparent absurdity of young Thai men going to the trouble of finding a foreign wife and living abroad long enough to qualify for her foreign nationality, rather than just taking the conventional and more practical route of bribing the conscription board, this amendment would have
impinged on the right of Thais to obtain the nationality of a foreign spouse with a nationality that strictly prohibits dual nationality and requires evidence of renunciation beforehand or within 12 months (e.g. Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Germany Austria etc). The argument is thus based on circular logic that has been short circuited.

Conclusion

It was probably a quid pro quo that the 100,000 baht certificate fees got axed in exchange for keeping out males who are not working in Thailand but have Thai wives. The high fees of PR don’t seem to have reduced the number of applications much and there would certainly have been a tidal wave of better off retirees married to Thais applying, if the amendments to Section 9 proposed in the law had gone into law.

Personally I think that what is sorely lacking in the interests of fairness is any kind of mandatory time frame for the minister to consider applications. I believe that most applicants would happily pay a fee on approval of 100,000 baht or more, if there was a time limit of, say 3 years. Unfortunately, the time horizon is left to each minister’s discretion and, while some have, indeed, imposed a time limit in the dim and distant past, most have not bothered to do this and the time frame, left up to the bureaucrats, has been getting longer and longer.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Arkady

[Helvetica]

Has anybody here –who, like me, has recently received his/her PR– applied for Thai Nationality in the last 2-3 months?

As I understand it, we can apply now, without having to wait another 5 years, provided we have all the other prerequisites (including having been married to a Thai for more than 5 years).

When I applied for the PR back in 2007 I already planned to retire in 2013 (34 years after arriving in Thailand for work), thinking that by that time I would have both PR and Thai Nationality. The "long freeze" delayed everything, but I still would like to retire by the end of this year. Do the Posters on this Forum think that this is possible?

Would it be possible for me to apply for Citizenship now, then quit my job, sell my shares, return my Work Permit and retire, a few months after my application was recorded? Or should I keep my job until the MoI interview? Or –worst case scenario– do I really have to keep my WP and my active employment until the day I get my Thai Nationality, which would probably be in another 5 or 6 years, if not more.

[GarryP]

Has anybody here –who, like me, has recently received his/her PR– applied for Thai Nationality in the last 2-3 months? As I understand it, we can apply now, without having to wait another 5 years, provided we have all the other prerequisites (including having been married to a Thai for more than 5 years). When I applied for the PR back in 2007 I already planned to retire in 2013 (34 years after arriving in Thailand for work), thinking that by that time I would have both PR and Thai Nationality. The "long freeze" delayed everything, but I still would like to retire by the end of this year. Do the Posters on this Forum think that this is possible? Would it be possible for me to apply for Citizenship now, then quit my job, sell my shares, return my Work Permit and retire, a few months after my application was recorded? Or should I keep my job until the MoI interview? Or –worst case scenario– do I really have to keep my WP and my active employment until the day I get my Thai Nationality, which would probably be in another 5 or 6 years, if not more.

Work permit to the very end or at least until after the MOI interview.

[Arkady]

Has anybody here –who, like me, has recently received his/her PR– applied for Thai Nationality in the last 2-3 months? As I understand it, we can apply now, without having to wait another 5 years, provided we have all the other prerequisites (including having been married to a Thai for more than 5 years). When I applied for the PR back in 2007 I already planned to retire in 2013 (34 years after arriving in Thailand for work), thinking that by that time I would have both PR and Thai Nationality. The "long freeze" delayed everything, but I still would like to retire by the end of this year. Do the Posters on this Forum think that this is possible? Would it be possible for me to apply for Citizenship now, then quit my job, sell my shares, return my Work Permit and retire, a few months after my application was recorded? Or should I keep my job until the MoI interview? Or –worst case scenario– do I really have to keep my WP and my active employment until the day I get my Thai Nationality, which would probably be in another 5 or 6 years, if not more.

Work permit to the very end or at least until after the MOI interview.

The difference between applying for PR and citizenship, as far as working is concerned, is that the Immigration Act is not specific and leaves the details to the Immigration Committee, whereas the Nationality Act is very specific on this point. Section 11.3 states that applicants for naturalisation must have an occupation in Thailand and the MoI's interpretation of this is that you must be legally working in Thailand earning at least the minimum salary until the bitter end, not just at the time of application, as is the case with PR.

You will certainly be asked to bring along your current WP when you are called to interview in front of the small Committee for Nationality at the MoI. They may not bother to look at it but often they do scrutinise all personal documents and that is not a risk you want to take. In any case, you are going to have difficulty convincing them about your contribution to Thai society, if you are unemployed. Apart from that, your file may be sent back to Special Branch for re-checking of qualifications before or after the interview. This can happen, if there is a specific query about your qualifications or just because an incoming minister wants to make waves and imply criticism of his predecessor by sending files back en bloc. Special Branch can be slap dash in the way they put together applications which can result in files being sent back to them for re-checking. This process obliges you to submit your current WP, an employment letter and notarised tax receipts for the years since your original application. As things stand, you are not asked for your WP at the end of the process when you get your naturalisation certificate but you are asked for all your other personal documents and things could change.

The likelihood of being asked for your WP after your MoI interview seems low at present and you could take the risk of retiring after that. However, Special Branch's advice is to continue working in some shape or form till the end. Unfortunately, if you set up your own company to do this, it now involves having four Thai employees, even for PRs, as I have pointed out in Camerata's thread on PR.

Edited March 28, 2013 by Arkady

[Arkady]

Has anybody here –who, like me, has recently received his/her PR– applied for Thai Nationality in the last 2-3 months? As I understand it, we can apply now, without having to wait another 5 years, provided we have all the other prerequisites (including having been married to a Thai for more than 5 years). When I applied for the PR back in 2007 I already planned to retire in 2013 (34 years after arriving in Thailand for work), thinking that by that time I would have both PR and Thai Nationality. The "long freeze" delayed everything, but I still would like to retire by the end of this year. Do the Posters on this Forum think that this is possible? Would it be possible for me to apply for Citizenship now, then quit my job, sell my shares, return my Work Permit and retire, a few months after my application was recorded? Or should I keep my job until the MoI interview? Or –worst case scenario– do I really have to keep my WP and my active employment until the day I get my Thai Nationality, which would probably be in another 5 or 6 years, if not more.

Need to be married to a Thai for 3 years (1 year, if have a child together), not 5 years. In this case no need to sing.

[Helvetica]

Has anybody here –who, like me, has recently received his/her PR– applied for Thai Nationality in the last 2-3 months? As I understand it, we can apply now, without having to wait another 5 years, provided we have all the other prerequisites (including having been married to a Thai for more than 5 years). When I applied for the PR back in 2007 I already planned to retire in 2013 (34 years after arriving in Thailand for work), thinking that by that time I would have both PR and Thai Nationality. The "long freeze" delayed everything, but I still would like to retire by the end of this year. Do the Posters on this Forum think that this is possible? Would it be possible for me to apply for Citizenship now, then quit my job, sell my shares, return my Work Permit and retire, a few months after my application was recorded? Or should I keep my job until the MoI interview? Or –worst case scenario– do I really have to keep my WP and my active employment until the day I get my Thai Nationality, which would probably be in another 5 or 6 years, if not more.

Need to be married to a Thai for 3 years (1 year, if have a child together), not 5 years. In this case no need to sing.

No singing, yeah that's great! But after all consideration, I think that I'll stay with my PR and enjoy my retirement. Keeping an active –or even passive– professional life, with WP, tax, etc for another 5 or more years, is not in my plans anymore. After all I already have one of the best passports one can get, and my wife will get it too very soon. The only real advantage of having Thai Citizenship –for me– would be to fully own my property in Thailand. For the rest, the PR and a Thai drivers license should be enough.

Has anybody with a fresh PR –who thinks otherwise– applied for Citizenship recently?

[Arkady]

26 newly minted Thais were gazetted on 11th April, including 3 or 4 farang sounding names.

It's interesting that there are almost never any addresses outside Bangkok. I wonder, if this means that no one applies from outside Bangkok or whether Special Branch provincial HQs refuse to process applications or just mess them up due to inexperience. Admittedly most foreigners live and work in Bangkok.

2013 - 17.pdf