Thai Residency/citizenship As Wife Of Thai Husband?

[glibb]

I am a British woman married to a Thai man, and have been told by many people that being a foreigner with a Thai husband it's very easy to get Thai residency and even citizenship - much easier than for the husband of a Thai woman.... though have never met anyone who's actually done this or knows the exact laws. I previously lived in Thailand on a marriage visa for several years, and know it's far easier for foreign women than men to get that........... does this also apply to residency and citizenship? Can i apply for residency (or citizenship) on the basis of being a dependent of my husband? Does anyone know the process to go through to get either, and how long it takes etc?

[jingjingna]

I think, if you have been married for three years you can apply for Citizenship and skip the residency thing altogether. I don't know if your local immigration office will be aware of the rules, it might be best for you to get the info from Immigration at Suan Plu in Bangkok.

All the best and keep us posted on yor progress.

[Mario2008]

More information about residency can be found here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Camerata-s-G...ide-t74654.html

For a foreign woman married to a Thai national it is indeed much easier.

[samran]

check out this:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=1968769

and more generally the entire thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=1310919

[Arkady]

See the threads referred to above for details but the answer would be, since you are a Brit and can hold dual nationality, you should apply for nationality as a woman wishing to adopt her Thai husband's nationality under Section 9 of the Nationality Act and not bother with PR. The latter used to be a quicker easier and cheaper process but now is tougher than nationality in terms of the documentation required and seems to be taking over two years. The fees are also significantly higher than for nationality. The process is likely to take about three years but at least you will get something more valuable out of it and pay less than for PR. For a women married to a Thai PR only makes sense, if you are, say, German, Singaporean, Malaysian or some other nationality that you would have to give up to become Thai.