Thai Citizenship

[Thaiboxer]

I guess that's what it takes...plain old persistence. I'm looking at the possibility of getting PR since I will have lived here on the same visa for three years this coming fall. Some have said you need to have worked for three years and paid taxes...others say it has nothing to do with work status and only to do with the fact that you've stayed for three years without breaking the visa. Personal experiences vary so widely it's hard to decide exactly what needs to be done to get PR. Supposedly there is an interview/written test in Thai but then again some have said it's very basic and one guy even had the officer administer the written part orally since he couldn't read Thai!

Perhaps the best advice I've seen on here thus far is to simply head down to Immigration, meet with somebody in charge, and present your case to them. The officer in question can then tell you whether or not you should bother trying to apply at that time. Being that I have never met a foreigner with permanent residence, I would probably take this route.

Edited March 16, 2005 by Thaiboxer

[p_brownstone]

Permanent Residence and Thai Citizenship are two different things.

Patrick

[Vit42]

For more than just my opinion on the topic, visit the link below from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC.

Click on the link To Acquire Thai Nationality and read at the bottom (question 4). The application forms can be located on the first page in pdf, but you may have to be able to read thai to fill them out! Although this is from the consulate pov, i imagine it's the same process in country.

http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/con_info/

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Permanent Residence and Thai Citizenship are two different things.

Patrick

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very much different indeed

[PvtDick]

For more than just my opinion on the topic, visit the link below from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC.

Click on the link To Acquire Thai Nationality and read at the bottom (question 4). The application forms can be located on the first page in pdf, but you may have to be able to read thai to fill them out! Although this is from the consulate pov, i imagine it's the same process in country.

http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/con_info/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you can't read Thai, you're not eligible for Thai citizenship.

[sabaijai]

I know six male farangs with Thai citizenship: two journalists (one Scottish, one American), two business owners (one American, one Australian), a lecturer at Chulalongkorn U (American), and one (British) who was adopted by his father-in-law (which made his Thai wife his step-sister).

TV.com says five years on PR, not 10 years, is a prerequisite for citizenship. A prominent immigration attorney in Bangkok told me three years on PR was the legal minimum, but that 5 years was the de facto min (he also said that for PR immigration prefers 5 rather than 3 years). I'm sure it all depends on circumstances.

[PvtDick]

I have been told by Special Branch that the rule is five years continuous residence in Thailand, based on your name appearing on household registration. You must be on household registration to have PR, but can register yourself before PR is attained.

So, my understanding is that if you register yourself on a household registration on arrival, satisfy the requirements for and obtain PR after three years, then wait another two years, you can apply for citizenship (assuming you meet the other requirements such as language, etc.).

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I have been told by Special Branch that the rule is five years continuous residence in Thailand, based on your name appearing on household registration.  You must be on household registration to have PR, but can register yourself before PR is attained.

So, my understanding is that if you register yourself on a household registration on arrival, satisfy the requirements for and obtain PR after three years, then wait another two years, you can apply for citizenship (assuming you meet the other requirements such as language, etc.).

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You can get on a house registration with ease ? Only ways without PR are owning a condo or having BOI investment privileges as I understand it

[PvtDick]

Don't know about the "ease" part. I do own a condo, so that's how I got mine before I attained PR.

[Khutan]

I have been told by Special Branch that the rule is five years continuous residence in Thailand, based on your name appearing on household registration.  You must be on household registration to have PR, but can register yourself before PR is attained.

So, my understanding is that if you register yourself on a household registration on arrival, satisfy the requirements for and obtain PR after three years, then wait another two years, you can apply for citizenship (assuming you meet the other requirements such as language, etc.).

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You can get on a house registration with ease ? Only ways without PR are owning a condo or having BOI investment privileges as I understand it

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly my question Dr Pat. I was at the Ampour about a month ago, and they are friendly and sympathetic, they know I paid for the land and the house, there response was not possible and can't think of a way to do it, gifts, no gifts nothing.

So this argument is almost seems like an etherial Catch-22, you can't get your name in the book until you have PR, but you can't get PR until your name is in the book.

[sabaijai]

I have been told by Special Branch that the rule is five years continuous residence in Thailand, based on your name appearing on household registration.  You must be on household registration to have PR, but can register yourself before PR is attained.

So, my understanding is that if you register yourself on a household registration on arrival, satisfy the requirements for and obtain PR after three years, then wait another two years, you can apply for citizenship (assuming you meet the other requirements such as language, etc.).

In other words they credit the qualifying years for PR against the residence requirement for citizenship? That's encouraging, if true.

[PvtDick]

Yes...as long as you are registered on a household registration. That is my understanding.

[sabaijai]

Yes...as long as you are registered on a household registration.  That is my understanding.

I've got the yellow 'foreigner' house registration, as a result of buying a condo 3 yrs ago.

[frumau]

So about three years to get a PR. Then 3 to 5 years to apply for Citizenship if you have been on a house registration during your PR period? Is that the same as when my Thai wife and I sign up for the ownership of a house together?

Bye the bye. My wife says that they only give citizenship to just a few people each year. Anybody heard about that too?

[camerata]

I know two farang guys with Thai citizenship and one on the way to getting it. One guy owns companies and has a Thai wife and teenage kids. My guess is he went for citizenship because he publishes magazines and you need to be a Thai citizen to be editor of a publication here. I think the main reason farangs go for citizenship is so that they can own land in their own name.

just curious... but can you name the publication? I'd be interested in knowing what it is.

Not really, because that would mean identifying the person I'm talking about. He publishes several trade magazines which are all delivered by mail and supported by advertising revenue alone. So you'd never see them on a newsstand. I'd never heard of them before I met him, but he seems to have carved out a nice little niche for himself.

[camerata]

I guess that's what it takes...plain old persistence. I'm looking at the possibility of getting PR since I will have lived here on the same visa for three years this coming fall. Some have said you need to have worked for three years and paid taxes...others say it has nothing to do with work status and only to do with the fact that you've stayed for three years without breaking the visa. Personal experiences vary so widely it's hard to decide exactly what needs to be done to get PR. Supposedly there is an interview/written test in Thai but then again some have said it's very basic and one guy even had the officer administer the written part orally since he couldn't read Thai!

The test is 10 questions written down with multiple choice answers. If you don't read Thai the officer will read the questions and answers for you and you just circle the correct answer.

For PR in the Business category, you'll need three year's worth of tax returns, receipts and supporting company documents.

[Phil Conners]

I was in a meeting with the boss of Immigration in Pattaya, a police colonel, arranged by the Pattaya City Expats Club about half a year ago and his words were in short:

1) You can apply for a PR after 3 years uninterrupted visa. You don't even have to have been here the full 3 years, you can apply as soon as you have the 3rd year extension.

2) You can apply for Thai Citizenship after 3 years PR.

3) There is a quota of 100 PR and TC per nationality per year.

4) "Don't believe what you read in the papers or hear in the bars. Believe what you hear from me today".

[frumau]

Cristal clear Madsere! Thanx!

[EVO]

Call me daft, but im wondering why you would denounce the citizenship of your country of birth and want Thai citizenship in such a hurry, Unless you are like SNK who have been here for 16 years with your Thai husband, then i would think it rediculous.

Im 27 years old, and yes, i have been living in this great country for 3 years now, but i would never give up my (British) passport for a Thai one. I love Thailand as my adopted home, but my passport gives me much greater privaleges tan a Thai passport ever could.

If i had been here for over ten years, and really felt nothing for my home country, and thought that being a citizen of Thailand would offer me more then maybe THEN i would go for it, but right now as far as i see it citizenship doesnt really offer me anything. There are ways around any laws here, just the same as there are in every other country in the world it just takes some patience and diligence.

I hope i havent offended people with my comments. Just my twopenneth worth.

[EVO]

P.S. reading the awful spelling and grammar above you would never thing i was a natvie speaker!!!

[Vit42]

EVO, you don't need to denounce one citizenship to obtain another. You only denouce when you no longer want to be a citizen. Therefore, if you apply and get citizenship, as long as you don't denounce your prior citizenship, then you don't automatically lose it. Of course a country has the option of dropping you as a citizen if they don't like your behavior. It's like getting a credit card .

[samran]

Call me daft........

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OK then, you are daft!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Call me daft........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK then, you are daft!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[~G~]

EVO, you don't need to denounce one citizenship to obtain another. You only denouce when you no longer want to be a citizen. Therefore, if you apply and get citizenship, as long as you don't denounce your prior citizenship, then you don't automatically lose it. Of course a country has the option of dropping you as a citizen if they don't like your behavior. It's like getting a credit card .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you not required to denounce prior citizenship in order to get Thai citizenship? As far as I know, some countries allow their citizens to have foreign citizenship, others do not. What is the policy in Thailand?

[sabaijai]

EVO, you don't need to denounce one citizenship to obtain another. You only denouce when you no longer want to be a citizen. Therefore, if you apply and get citizenship, as long as you don't denounce your prior citizenship, then you don't automatically lose it. Of course a country has the option of dropping you as a citizen if they don't like your behavior. It's like getting a credit card .

Are you not required to denounce prior citizenship in order to get Thai citizenship? As far as I know, some countries allow their citizens to have foreign citizenship, others do not. What is the policy in Thailand?

Thailand allows dual citizenship. So do most other countries. Not to do so would be to risk losing taxpayers.

[rainman]

So many Thais i know would die to get a foreign citizenship. Why would you want to give up yours (if your country doesn't allow dual, that is) to get Thai citizenship?

[PvtDick]

Different people want different things. For someone who wants to live the rest of their lives in Thailand -- especially if they want to own their home or business outright -- there are a lot of advantages to being a citizen.

[rainman]

That's correct, but for people without the ability of dual citizenship it would probably have more negative effects than advantages. You would most likely lose the right to pension or other support from your home country.

[PvtDick]

Depends on each individual's case. In mine, as an American with no social security benefits coming (I've never paid in), I have nothing to look forward to from the US government in terms of pension or support. I do, however, have to look forward to paying US taxes every year as long as I'm a US citizen.

In any case, I suspect that for many people, the advantage of being free from Thai work permit hassles, and being able to own one's company, land, and home outright, might outweigh any potential disadvantages.

[Ken]

Depends on each individual's case.  In mine, as an American with no social security benefits coming (I've never paid in), I have nothing to look forward to from the US government in terms of pension or support.  I do, however, have to look forward to paying US taxes every year as long as I'm a US citizen.

In any case, I suspect that for many people, the advantage of being free from Thai work permit hassles, and being able to own one's company, land, and home outright, might outweigh any potential disadvantages.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And as an American you are allowed "dual citizenship".

"Losing U.S. Citizenship"

"A person who is automatically granted another citizenship (i.e.. through birth or marriage) does not risk losing U.S. citizenship. However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship. Intent can be shown by the person's statements or conduct."

Ref: US Department of State (DOS) website:US DOS