My wife was born and raised in Thailand. She married a USAF Ssgt in 1972 and came to the US with him. She has since divorced and married me and became a US citizen. Now as we are reaching retirement we are considering doing so in Thailand. I am over 55 and she is older than me. The problem is she no longer has a Thai ID card. She still has her family registration papers or whatever they are called. Is she still a Thai citizen and will she be able to get another ID card?

Edited January 5, 200917 yr by sloopysman

My wife was born and raised in Thailand. She married a USAF Ssgt in 1972 and came to the US with him. She has since divorced and married me and became a US citizen. Now as we are reaching retirement we are considering doing so in Thailand. I am over 55 and she is older than me. The problem is she no longer has a Thai ID card. She still has her family registration papers or whatever they are called. Is she still a Thai citizen and will she be able to get another ID card? Also, is she still a Thai citizen or has she given that up by becoming a US citizen?

She can have Dual Nationality. She can get her ID Card again, also a Thai Passport would make things easier for her.

Contact a Thai Embassy in USA.

http://www.thaiembdc.org/

The house registration is one of the most important papers in Thailand I suppose she also still has her birthcertificate?

She never looses her Thai Nationality if she wants to go back to Thailand to live the best thing is to arrange her papers in the States through the embassy. She could also travel to Thailand on her American passport and do the paperwork in Thailand but then she will have to leave Thailand again and re-enter on her Thai passport.

She could also get a yearly extension and stay on her American passport but then she needs to go to immigration every 3 months to extend her visa.

I think t would take about one month to arrange a new Thai passport for her in the Thai embassy this would be the simplest way

Thanks for the rapid and curteous responses. I have heard from several people including other Thais that have became American citizens that once you become naturalized in the US you give up Thai citizenship. We are going back in February for a visit of course she will be traveling on an American passport. Would it be any benefit for her to try to get her ID card while there? She has an old expired Thai passport, will that be of any use? I guess after she gets her paperwork in order and we decide to move to Thailand I will be able to tag along on a yearly visa.

Edited January 5, 200917 yr by sloopysman

She can enter Thailand on an expired passport with no problem. She could leave the US showing her US passport and enter Thailand with her Thai passport without a problem.

While she is here she can get an ID and a new passport.

Plus it would be a good idea if you registered your marriage here.

Source of Passort info IATA website: http://www.timaticweb.com/cgi-bin/tim_webs...ubuser=DELTAB2C

Once again, thanks to all who responded. We are now in Thailand and mostly as a result of your assistance she has both her Thai ID card and passport. It took quite a bit of driving around but it was worth it. First we went to the court in Lop Buri where she wants to establish residence but since so many years had passed and she was no longer in the system they gave us a form which we had to take to Rayong where her last home of record was. Many peoples record from the same time period was destroyed but luckily hers was archived. We were told it would take about a month to get her back in the system but a little palm greasing goes a long way and we had our form back that afternoon. We went back to Lop Buri the following day and within an hour we had her ID card. The next day we went to bangkok and applied for her passport and got that 3 days later. Kap kuhn krap

Thanks for letting us know.

A bit of effort but well worh it.

Glad we could help you.

Congratulations.