Advice Wanted On Thai Citizenship For A Thai

[KidneyWiper]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

Edited May 8, 2009 by KidneyWiper

[hml367]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

Where to you get the impression that they could only have dual citizenship until age 18? Just curious because a few years ago in my research I did not find that to be the case.

And much to anyone's chagrin, an attorney versed in Thai citizenship laws would seem to be your best source. Getting a fair deal is the gamble.

MSPain

[Mario2008]

Moved to visa section.

[Mario2008]

A Thai person can hold dual nationality under Thai law.

In this case your son probably entered on his foreign passport and not on his Thai passport. When he leaves Thailand on his foreign passport and re-enters on his Thai passport he will be treaded as any other Thai national. Some immigration officails are reluctend to allow this when a person doesn't speak Thai. You just have to persists, as they cannot deny entry to a Thai person.

[ubonjoe]

Since you son is already here, I suggest that you take him on a border run and leave using his UK passport to get the departure stamp and then re-enter as a Thai. They may give you a bit of a run around but they cannot deny entry to him since he is a Thai citizen.

Is your son entered in your or somebodies house book? This would help if you have problems within the country.

If he is 15 or older he should have a Thai ID card also.

[sinewave]

im pretty sure you have it backwards on the passports...leave on a thai passport and make sure the name on the ticket is spelled the same as on the passport....when they look and see you don't have a visa for england, then show them the british passport....when entering the UK show the uk passport.

basicly you use the thai passport when dealing with thai immigration both coming and going.

as long as his thai id card has the same thai spelling as on the passprt there shouldn't be any problems.

[lopburi3]

Nobody is talking about travel to the UK. This is a local matter to change his status on entry to Thai. Child entered on UK passport and must exit on the same passport. On return child needs to enter using Thai passport (but there is no card in it so Immigration may object). At airport it should be easily resolved by appeal to higher level officer. At a border crossing it might be more problematic. I strongly suspect child is under 15 and does not have an ID card so copy of home register with him listed might help change officers mind.

[ubonjoe]

(but there is no card in it so Immigration may object).

Lop

What do you mean by this? ID card?

[lopburi3]

Thai get the arrival card on departure and present the arrival portion when they return. Leaving on foreign passport child will not have that on return.

[KidneyWiper]

Nobody is talking about travel to the UK. This is a local matter to change his status on entry to Thai. Child entered on UK passport and must exit on the same passport. On return child needs to enter using Thai passport (but there is no card in it so Immigration may object). At airport it should be easily resolved by appeal to higher level officer. At a border crossing it might be more problematic. I strongly suspect child is under 15 and does not have an ID card so copy of home register with him listed might help change officers mind.

Hi, you got it in one, he's actually 9. Thanks.

[KidneyWiper]

Where to you get the impression that they could only have dual citizenship until age 18? Just curious because a few years ago in my research I did not find that to be the case.

And much to anyone's chagrin, an attorney versed in Thai citizenship laws would seem to be your best source. Getting a fair deal is the gamble.

MSPain

Hi, regading dual citizenship until the age of 18, it was hearsay, nothing official.

[samran]

Where to you get the impression that they could only have dual citizenship until age 18? Just curious because a few years ago in my research I did not find that to be the case.

And much to anyone's chagrin, an attorney versed in Thai citizenship laws would seem to be your best source. Getting a fair deal is the gamble.

MSPain

Hi, regading dual citizenship until the age of 18, it was hearsay, nothing official.

Anyone who mentions '18' has never read the actual law. No version of the Thai nationality act has ever mentioned the age of 18 as any key decision point.

the law states simply that between that for one year after the childs 20th birthday they may choose to renounce Thai citizenship, if they desire. There is no complusion to do so under current regulations (unlike previous versions of the law), so if no decision is made, then there is no problem and the child may keep both.

As others have said, you child should exit Thailand on his Brit passport, and re-enter on the Thai passport. Best to do this in place like BKK, where the officers know the rules. It is done all the time. My sister, for instance, recently returned on a 'blank' thai passport for the first time since the 1980's (she has dual Thai-OZ citizenship). She was stamped in no problems.

If you get any hassel from a junior immigration officer politely INSIST that you speak to their superior. As a Thai citizen, your child has ever right to enter Thailand without restriction.

[KidneyWiper]

Where to you get the impression that they could only have dual citizenship until age 18? Just curious because a few years ago in my research I did not find that to be the case.

And much to anyone's chagrin, an attorney versed in Thai citizenship laws would seem to be your best source. Getting a fair deal is the gamble.

MSPain

Hi, regading dual citizenship until the age of 18, it was hearsay, nothing official.

Anyone who mentions '18' has never read the actual law. No version of the Thai nationality act has ever mentioned the age of 18 as any key decision point.

the law states simply that between that for one year after the childs 20th birthday they may choose to renounce Thai citizenship, if they desire. There is no complusion to do so under current regulations (unlike previous versions of the law), so if no decision is made, then there is no problem and the child may keep both.

As others have said, you child should exit Thailand on his Brit passport, and re-enter on the Thai passport. Best to do this in place like BKK, where the officers know the rules. It is done all the time. My sister, for instance, recently returned on a 'blank' thai passport for the first time since the 1980's (she has dual Thai-OZ citizenship). She was stamped in no problems.

If you get any hassel from a junior immigration officer politely INSIST that you speak to their superior. As a Thai citizen, your child has ever right to enter Thailand without restriction.

Thanks.

[momosan]

I had the same problem when I re-entered Thailand. Came in on my Oz passport since at the time my Thai passport had expired and I didn't want to renew it in Oz. So I came in on a tourist visa, then went to immigration to have that extended to a one year. When that visa was almost up I decided to make myself officially 'Thai' by just going to the Burmese/Thai border at Mae Sai. Got my Aussie passport stamped out and walked back in just showing my ID card and that lil' bit of paper you need to fill out before leaving. But basically if it's a little bit hectic with lots of people queuing pushing/shoving up you could just try getting the passport stamped out and just walk back through all the throng of people and hopefully not get notcied or something similar

But yea, if you go for the airport route, stick your ground on getting back into Thailand on the Thai passport even if it's 'clean'. They can't refuse entry

Edited May 8, 2009 by momosan

[ubonjoe]

A little bit of information for you. Next time your Thai passport is expired don't worry about it because you can use an expired passport to enter the country.

[momosan]

A little bit of information for you. Next time your Thai passport is expired don't worry about it because you can use an expired passport to enter the country.

Good to know, might have been worth a try knowing this even though the passport in question had been expired for about 16 years

[ubonjoe]

I replied to a post where the passport was somthing like 20 years old and they entered the country with it.

[bruceeverett]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

Here is an excellent Law Firm:

www.isaanlawyers.com

Sebastian H. Brousseau, LLB. BSc.

Terdpong Fuangfoovongrath

They handle many kinds of work.

My experience with them was last year (2008).

My wife (Thai) left Thailand when she was about 17. She married and moved to the US where she raised a family over a 35 year period. She had not renewed here Thai ID card in all this time, or her passport. Her ex-husband kept telling her that the papers he got so they could be married were false. This intimidated her about trying to get them updated. After divorcing him she married me. I am an optimist and believed we could get it done. We drove to Los Angles and tried to get her a Thai Passport, man was she afraid. She still had her birth certificate and it and it really didn’t take a day to do it. Getting the ID card was going to take a while, as we had to be in Thailand. We tried when we were on vacation there but there were too many obstacles, She doesn’t speak Thai as much as she use to, so there was a language barrier for both of us. I swore on our next trip we would make it our number one priority. While back home I got on the net and did a search for a Thai lawyer and found Sebastian H. Brousseau of www.isaanlawyers.com. I had found a positive reference to this lawyer on ThaiVisa.net. We discussed our situation over a few months on net using Google Talk and emails. In July 08 all the arrangements were in place and we traveled to Bangkok to meet a representative of the office, Mr. Got, a young Thai lawyer. He fully understood our case and spoke good English. We went to Government House and got my wife’s name out of the central file, they said she would have to go to Korat Ampur. They next day we headed out in a rental car and my trusty Garmin Nuvi GPS with Thai chip. I was surprised as how easy it was to drive out our Bnagkok with the GPS. We arrived in Korat and met Mr. Got, who had traveled there the night before by train. We went to the Korat Ampur, some paper work was done, but they said we had to go to Ampur in Non Sung, my wife’s original village. This was a two hour drive so we planned to go the next day. On the way to Non Sung I asked Mr. Got if it was possible that after we got the ID card if we could possibly see if we could find my wife’s parents. She had not had contact with them for over 30 years and didn’t know if they were alive or not. He said yes, we can look into that. When we got to the Ampur the person looked up my wife’s file and said her name was still in her mother’s house, and she would have to bring her mother or a relative to vouch that my wife was who she said she was. The Ampur office gave us directions and we were off to find this house in the country. My wife was very nervous as she didn’t know any living relatives.

We arrived at the house, it was locked, this didn’t’ look good. Mr. Got talked to some of the neighbors and found that Samlee, my wife’s mother was babysitting down the street. Mr. Got went to find her, Samlee almost had a heart attack when she was told that her daughter was here. A reunion of mother and daughter, after over 30 years, each not knowing if the other was still alive. After hugs and kisses we all went, with a uncle, to the Ampur to finally get the ID Card. There is more to this story but that is for another time and place.

All I can say is this is one heck of a Law Office.

Oh, you were wondering how much all of this cost?

Would you believe less than $150 US? Unbelievable but true.

[chinthai]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

your son have 2 passports now.

I think the Thai passport is issued in Bangkok - so your son must go out from Thailand with this Thai-Passport, not with british passport.

If he go out with Thai-Passport - he can come back with Thai passport too.

My son is now 21 years old and have all two passports - he must not give up one.

The procedure for use two passports is following:

you stay in Thailand with Thai-Passport, you want go outside to England.

Go to Check in Counter show your Thai-passport and also the british passport. Go to immigration and show only the thai-passport. Entry UK show your british passport.

Come back show in UK your british passport and entry to Thailand show there your Thai passport.

OK?

[lopburi3]

He is here on a UK passport entry so must exit using that passport to complete the loop. After he enters using his Thai passport the method you outline works - but not until he uses his UK passport for an exit.

[ubonjoe]

I think the Thai passport is issued in Bangkok - so your son must go out from Thailand with this Thai-Passport, not with british passport.

His son entered the country on the UK passport so he must use it to leave the country to have a departure stamp put in it.

[chinthai]

A Thai person can hold dual nationality under Thai law.

In this case your son probably entered on his foreign passport and not on his Thai passport. When he leaves Thailand on his foreign passport and re-enters on his Thai passport he will be treaded as any other Thai national. Some immigration officails are reluctend to allow this when a person doesn't speak Thai. You just have to persists, as they cannot deny entry to a Thai person.

they can deny to entry Thailand.

My wife have two passports (German/Thai) - before we go to Thailand for ever - she use only German passport.

5 years ago, we come to Thailand and she show her thai passport to entry Thailand. The immigration don´t allow this, becouse the thai-passport was issued in BKK and she never go out and don´t have stamp inside.

My son show passport (issued in Frankfurt/Germany) - he can entry THailand without problems.

So she must entry with her German Passport.

After this I go to Immigration and want change the status from my wife. Was not possible.

So we go to Mesai (Burma) - then she go out from Thailand with German passport and come back with her ID-Card.

Now it si possible to use all two passports :-)

Maybe this procedure change now with the new e-passport.

[samran]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

Here is an excellent Law Firm:

www.isaanlawyers.com

Sebastian H. Brousseau, LLB. BSc.

Terdpong Fuangfoovongrath

They handle many kinds of work.

My experience with them was last year (2008).

My wife (Thai) left Thailand when she was about 17. She married and moved to the US where she raised a family over a 35 year period. She had not renewed here Thai ID card in all this time, or her passport. Her ex-husband kept telling her that the papers he got so they could be married were false. This intimidated her about trying to get them updated. After divorcing him she married me. I am an optimist and believed we could get it done. We drove to Los Angles and tried to get her a Thai Passport, man was she afraid. She still had her birth certificate and it and it really didn’t take a day to do it. Getting the ID card was going to take a while, as we had to be in Thailand. We tried when we were on vacation there but there were too many obstacles, She doesn’t speak Thai as much as she use to, so there was a language barrier for both of us. I swore on our next trip we would make it our number one priority. While back home I got on the net and did a search for a Thai lawyer and found Sebastian H. Brousseau of www.isaanlawyers.com. I had found a positive reference to this lawyer on ThaiVisa.net. We discussed our situation over a few months on net using Google Talk and emails. In July 08 all the arrangements were in place and we traveled to Bangkok to meet a representative of the office, Mr. Got, a young Thai lawyer. He fully understood our case and spoke good English. We went to Government House and got my wife’s name out of the central file, they said she would have to go to Korat Ampur. They next day we headed out in a rental car and my trusty Garmin Nuvi GPS with Thai chip. I was surprised as how easy it was to drive out our Bnagkok with the GPS. We arrived in Korat and met Mr. Got, who had traveled there the night before by train. We went to the Korat Ampur, some paper work was done, but they said we had to go to Ampur in Non Sung, my wife’s original village. This was a two hour drive so we planned to go the next day. On the way to Non Sung I asked Mr. Got if it was possible that after we got the ID card if we could possibly see if we could find my wife’s parents. She had not had contact with them for over 30 years and didn’t know if they were alive or not. He said yes, we can look into that. When we got to the Ampur the person looked up my wife’s file and said her name was still in her mother’s house, and she would have to bring her mother or a relative to vouch that my wife was who she said she was. The Ampur office gave us directions and we were off to find this house in the country. My wife was very nervous as she didn’t know any living relatives.

We arrived at the house, it was locked, this didn’t’ look good. Mr. Got talked to some of the neighbors and found that Samlee, my wife’s mother was babysitting down the street. Mr. Got went to find her, Samlee almost had a heart attack when she was told that her daughter was here. A reunion of mother and daughter, after over 30 years, each not knowing if the other was still alive. After hugs and kisses we all went, with a uncle, to the Ampur to finally get the ID Card. There is more to this story but that is for another time and place.

All I can say is this is one heck of a Law Office.

Oh, you were wondering how much all of this cost?

Would you believe less than $150 US? Unbelievable but true.

My mother went through the same process, having live in australia for 40 years. Had to go to the central registry, who transferred her name to her brothers region. The name was put on the tabieen baan and the ID followed. IT took a couple of trips as my mothers name had been 'stolen' and used as a fake ID by someone else. Fortunately numerous people were able to vouch for identity (she also had her old ID cards from the 1970's) which made sure she got her Thai ID back.

She now regularly does the 'passport swap' when travelling between Thailand and Australia.

[samran]

A Thai person can hold dual nationality under Thai law.

In this case your son probably entered on his foreign passport and not on his Thai passport. When he leaves Thailand on his foreign passport and re-enters on his Thai passport he will be treaded as any other Thai national. Some immigration officails are reluctend to allow this when a person doesn't speak Thai. You just have to persists, as they cannot deny entry to a Thai person.

they can deny to entry Thailand.

My wife have two passports (German/Thai) - before we go to Thailand for ever - she use only German passport.

5 years ago, we come to Thailand and she show her thai passport to entry Thailand. The immigration don´t allow this, becouse the thai-passport was issued in BKK and she never go out and don´t have stamp inside.

My son show passport (issued in Frankfurt/Germany) - he can entry THailand without problems.

So she must entry with her German Passport.

After this I go to Immigration and want change the status from my wife. Was not possible.

So we go to Mesai (Burma) - then she go out from Thailand with German passport and come back with her ID-Card.

Now it si possible to use all two passports :-)

Maybe this procedure change now with the new e-passport.

good to hear that it worked out. My family are all dual/tri nationals, so I understand how this can confuse the immigration officers!!!

My advice is to politely INSIST that you be let in on your Thai passport. After all, they are all issue in Thailand these days (though previously they weren't).

The first time I entered Thailand on my Thai passport, I had a similar problem, and asked to speak to the superior, who stamped me in.

Another time I came with a newly issued passport issued in Canberra, and I was asked to show my old expired one, which they stamped me in on.

For others, they don't encounter this problem. My mother handed immigration both her Thai and Australian passports and asked which one she should be stamped in on. The immigration officer took her Thai passport and stamped her in no problems.

My sister entered Thailand on a 'blank' thai passport at Christmas which she got through the Thai embassy in London, the first time she has used a Thai passport since the 1980's. She had no problems.

[a99az]

im pretty sure you have it backwards on the passports...leave on a thai passport and make sure the name on the ticket is spelled the same as on the passport....when they look and see you don't have a visa for england, then show them the british passport....when entering the UK show the uk passport.

basicly you use the thai passport when dealing with thai immigration both coming and going.

as long as his thai id card has the same thai spelling as on the passprt there shouldn't be any problems.

I would agree with this post fully and rember when in Thailand he should show only Thai ID / Passport and never any other to be safe. This is what we do so far no problem.

[ubonjoe]

im pretty sure you have it backwards on the passports...leave on a thai passport and make sure the name on the ticket is spelled the same as on the passport....when they look and see you don't have a visa for england, then show them the british passport....when entering the UK show the uk passport.

basicly you use the thai passport when dealing with thai immigration both coming and going.

as long as his thai id card has the same thai spelling as on the passprt there shouldn't be any problems.

I would agree with this post fully and rember when in Thailand he should show only Thai ID / Passport and never any other to be safe. This is what we do so far no problem.

The OP's son entered the country on his UK passport so he must use it to leave the country to have a departure stamp put in it.

In normal circumstances the post is correct but in this case it is not.

[thaisail]

I'm looking for advice on an unusal circumstance, unfortunately I'm presently getting conflicting advice from Thai officials. My son was born in Thailand, he has a Thai and also a British passport, and, I assumed Thai citizenship. We have moved to different locations around the World for work and in all cases used his British passport for residency visas. Since returning to Thailand permanently we have found that he's treated as a foreign national, whereas he has to register with immigration quarterly, and then have his right to remain in Thailand endorsed annually. I was previously under the impression that Thais could have dual citizenship up until the age of 18, after which they would have to decide on taking only one citizenship. I would like to know how he can now be recognised as a Thai citizen and use his Thia passport to exit and enter Thailand. As a further example, we were advised to use his British passport to leave Thailand and re-enter Thailand using his Thai passport, unfortunately this did not work and re-entry into Thailand using his Thai passport was not allowed.

My daughter is born in Phuket and we got her a US passport about a month after she was born in 2007. We sailed our sailboat from Phuket to Langkawi, Malaysia two times now and each time using my daughter's US passport. Each time she enters Thailand, she gets a 28 day visa but since she is born in Thailand, the immigration officer in Phuket just ignores this overstay but continues to stamp her in and out of Thailand. I know that she needs a Thai passport and we are in Bangkok right now to do this tomorrow. I think that the rule for all dual citizens is that you should leave and enter Thailand with your Thai passport and then use the British passport to enter and leave the UK. Under US law, it is not allowed to enter the US with any other passport if you are a US citizen. There is $500 fine for this.

[Arkady]

And much to anyone's chagrin, an attorney versed in Thai citizenship laws would seem to be your best source.

MSPain

Having consulted some Thai lawyers on the subject and seen advertisements for citizenship services from other Thai law firms who seem to believe they need to arrange appointments with the Immigration Bureau for applicants for naturalization, I didn't believe such a thing existed. But Bruceeverett's post here about Isaan Lawyers suggest that they have actually bothered to find out the system works and can make things happen for their clients. That makes a refreshing change from having to coach the type of unqualified lawyer's assistant supplied by many law firms in Bangkok and then hold his hand at government offices to ensure he doesn't mess up one's case by, for example, spelling one's name wrong in Thai.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Arkady