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Thai Citizenship?

bangkapi
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bangkapi Advanced Member

bangkapi

Posted
Posted

With all the difficulties in visas, I'm wondering about the positives and negatives of getting Thai citizenship.

Can a person do this and have dual US/Thai citizenship?

beano2274 Ruby Member

beano2274

Posted
Posted (edited)
With all the difficulties in visas, I'm wondering about the positives and negatives of getting Thai citizenship.

Can a person do this and have dual US/Thai citizenship?

Search through here, you will find the answer.

Are you prepared to wait at least 5 years, cause that is how long it will take you.

If you told people your age they might give you more answers.

You have to get PR first, and with PR you do not need visas.

Edited by beano2274
Artisi Star Member

Artisi

Posted
Posted

Once again - the same old question - how about looking at some past posts as this subject has been discussed to death.

dbrenn Gold Member

dbrenn

Posted
Posted
With all the difficulties in visas, I'm wondering about the positives and negatives of getting Thai citizenship.

Can a person do this and have dual US/Thai citizenship?

A US citizen can acquire Thai citizenship and retain both nationalities. There are of course many advantages to having Thai citizenship - you can do everything that the locals can do, own things, work where you like with no work permit, never have to think about visas, travel on a Thai passport to neighbouring countries like Laos and Vietnam visa free, and so on. You still keep your US passport for travel elsewhere, so you have the best of both worlds.

If you are eligible for something, apply for it. the rules only get harder and one day you could find yourself on the wrong side of a regulation.

Assuming that you are male, you need PR first.

dbrenn Gold Member

dbrenn

Posted
Posted
Once again - the same old question - how about looking at some past posts as this subject has been discussed to death.

You could say the same thing about almost every question that is asked on this forum. Almost every subject in this visa section has been discussed at length, so why single this one out?

If you aren't interested in contributing to a thread that is of no interest to you, why open it and then start complaining when you find information inside that is of no interest?

beano2274 Ruby Member

beano2274

Posted
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At the top of the homepage there is a big blue box inside this box are many topic headings, if you click residency then Thai Nationality you will find the answers about citizenship. Okay for newbies it is quite difficult to navigate around.

Here I pasted it for you.

To acquire Thai nationality

Aliens who wish to apply for Thai nationality under the Nationality Act B.E. 2508 (A.D. 1965) a person does NOT need to be 40 years or have spent 10 years in Thailand.

They must be of the age of majority, be of good character, be gainfully employed, have continuously lived in Thailand for not less than FIVE years and have knowledge of the Thai language. (Section 10)

It's an advantage to be married to a Thai citizen and having children born in Thailand or having studied in a local university/college as an undergraduate.

The applicant must complete an application form and submit various required documents to the Criminal Investigation Division Group I, Subdivision 3, Police Department, Rama I Road, Bangkok.

The official fee is Baht 5,000. The processing takes 2 to 3 years.

noahvail Gold Member

noahvail

Posted
Posted

Which leads one to the next question: anyone know how many naturalized Thai citizens there are, and what the breakdown is by country?

(man, i'm gonna kick myself if the answer's already there, i should search first, but this is more fun, so i'll post first this time and search afterwards)

wasabi Gold Member

wasabi

Posted
Posted
To acquire Thai nationality

Aliens who wish to apply for Thai nationality under the Nationality Act B.E. 2508 (A.D. 1965) a person does NOT need to be 40 years or have spent 10 years in Thailand.

They must be of the age of majority, be of good character, be gainfully employed, have continuously lived in Thailand for not less than FIVE years and have knowledge of the Thai language. (Section 10)

Looks like I'm disqualified.

ubonjoe Legendary Member

ubonjoe

Posted
Posted
Which leads one to the next question: anyone know how many naturalized Thai citizens there are, and what the breakdown is by country?

(man, i'm gonna kick myself if the answer's already there, i should search first, but this is more fun, so i'll post first this time and search afterwards)

I doubt that it is a statistic that can be easily found. I am not sure that the goverment even keeps that kind of data.

bangkapi Advanced Member

bangkapi

Posted
  • Author
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I've made the decision to start a serious investigation of the benefits and drawbacks as well as the method and challenges of getting Thai citizenship. I've been here long enough and I don't plan to move back to the USA.

I would like to meet just one American who also has Thai citizenship if such a person exists. I want to take this person out to eat and pump him for procedural and anecdotal information before I decide whether or not to take the plunge.

bangkapi Advanced Member

bangkapi

Posted
  • Author
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You can try to invite William Heinecke for a pizza :)

US born national, Thai citizen since 1991.

This guy likely wouldn't have time for me. But I'd be happy to talk to him if someone has his email or a way to contact him.

Also he went through the procedure 18 years ago.

I'd hope to meet someone who went through this a bit more recently.

jayboy Ruby Member

jayboy

Posted
Posted
You can try to invite William Heinecke for a pizza :)

US born national, Thai citizen since 1991.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Heinecke

Bill's Wiki entry is a long standing joke among the cognoscenti (because of its over the top self promotion), and even Wiki headlines it as subjective without much real information.He's an interesting guy however - like most genuine entrepreneurs highly intelligent but without much if any formal education beyond high school (ISB?).By far away the most successful foreign businessman here who made the right alliances and understands how the system works.He nearly went under in the Asian crisis but is now stronger than ever.One big misaprehension is that he succeeded by bringing in Western management techniques - only partly true whatever he says in that ghost written book of his.Most observers (and I'm quoting a very high level source) believe he succeeded by playing the traditional self centred Sino-Thai business game.

dbrenn Gold Member

dbrenn

Posted
Posted
Do you have at least 5 years of uninterrupted Non-immigrant visas? Because that's what you need to start.

With three years (and some other requirements) he could go for PR - not as useful as citizenship but at least there are no more visas to worry about.

  • 1 month later...
Nordlys Gold Member

Nordlys

Posted
Posted (edited)

If you were born in Thailand during the years a mere birth on Thai soil entitled you to Thai citizenship (the way I obtained mine in 1966), can you obtain Thai citizenship now if you can prove your birth in Thailand in the 60's with the birth cirtificate issued by Thai hospital?

Bill's Wiki entry is a long standing joke among the cognoscenti (because of its over the top self promotion), and even Wiki headlines it as subjective without much real information.He's an interesting guy however - like most genuine entrepreneurs highly intelligent but without much if any formal education beyond high school (ISB?).

Met him and his wife at mini ISB reunion last month and had a nice chat with his wife. Indeed his wife said they both have no education beyond ISB. Nice folks they are.

Edited by Nordlys
Mario2008 Star Member

Mario2008

Posted
Posted
If you were born in Thailand during the years a mere birth on Thai soil entitled you to Thai citizenship (the way I obtained mine in 1966), can you obtain Thai citizenship now if you can prove your birth in Thailand in the 60's with the birth cirtificate issued by Thai hospital?
Bill's Wiki entry is a long standing joke among the cognoscenti (because of its over the top self promotion), and even Wiki headlines it as subjective without much real information.He's an interesting guy however - like most genuine entrepreneurs highly intelligent but without much if any formal education beyond high school (ISB?).

Met him and his wife at mini ISB reunion last month and had a nice chat with his wife. Indeed his wife said they both have no education beyond ISB. Nice folks they are.

It seems that way. The Thai nationality act has been ammended last year.

See here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/post-a84046-...ntil-2551..html

Arkady Ruby Member

Arkady

Posted
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Which leads one to the next question: anyone know how many naturalized Thai citizens there are, and what the breakdown is by country?

(man, i'm gonna kick myself if the answer's already there, i should search first, but this is more fun, so i'll post first this time and search afterwards)

I don't think those statistics are published but you could get an idea of the numbers from the Royal Gazette which publishes lists of those approved from time to time but without I think showing their original nationalities. I would hazard a guess it averages about 100 or less per year. From posts of people who have been to the Interior Ministry for the citizenship interviews less than 10% of the qualified candidates there are Caucasian. Most seem to be Asians from China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. I don't know what the approval rate is for those who get to the interview stage. I have heard of many people waiting for years and years but never of any one getting rejected after meeting the qualifications and being interviewed. Probably people they really don't like just get left in a filing basket somewhere. Applications for permanent residence, a pre-requisite for citizenship (except for foreign women married to Thai men), seem to be of the order of 400-500 a year and there is now a backlog going back to 2006 because of some sort of logjam that developed in the Interior Ministry.

For more information on requirements for Thai citizenship and how to apply see the Thai police's website in Thai http://61.90.151.131/ and scroll down the left hand side or visit the Special Branch headquarters at Patumwan. Many of the relevant documents are translated for you here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Applying-Tha...ip-t241513.html , the second thread on the topic started by Dbrenn, including the one that explains how applicants' point are calculated to determine if they meet the basic qualifications (you need to get at least 50 out of 100). Ultimately the decision is up to the discretion of the Interior Minister in accordance with The Nationality Act.

Other than that I agree with Dbrenn that people who are not interested in the topic needn't open the thread and complain that the topic has already been covered. There is no TV rule banning people from asking questions that may be covered somewhere in the forum. I also agree with Dbrenn's attitude to the naysayers that any one interested should apply for whatever rights they are qualified as things only get harder. Permanent residence which seemed daunting enough when I applied in the mid 90s has got a lot harder since then. The bar doesn't seem to have been raised on citizenship recently but that could change at any moment.

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