I am married to a Thai citezen in the U.S.A. who has two boys (ages 14 and 16) who have dual citezenship (U.S. and Thai). My wife says they need to register for the draft in Thailand and is planning to take them there next year in order to do so. Is it necessary to have them physicaly register in Thailand or can they do it here in the United States at the embassy? They are not trying to avoid the draft but I am just wondering if they can register without going to Thailand. If they do have to go to Thailand can they do it before their 17th birthday?

Thanks for any help.

residing outside of Thailand is a valid reason not to register for the draft. This is within the regulations and not wrong in any way.

If the kids ever come back to Thailand to live then they will need to register for draft once they come back to the country. If over 30 yrs old when they finally return, they will still need to register, but will not be drafted.

If the kids live in the US, I really can not see any upside to bringing them back to Thailand just for the sole purpose of registering for the draft...

P.S. You may also want to contact Samran... As per earlier posts I have seen from him, he is Thai / Australian and went through the whole process of registering for the draft once he moved back to Thailand. From his posts, I believe he came back after he was over 30 and did not face any problems...PM him, I am sure he would be willing to give you the low down...

Edited November 29, 200916 yr by CWMcMurray

residing outside of Thailand is a valid reason not to register for the draft. This is within the regulations and not wrong in any way.

If the kids ever come back to Thailand to live then they will need to register for draft once they come back to the country. If over 30 yrs old when they finally return, they will still need to register, but will not be drafted.

If the kids live in the US, I really can not see any upside to bringing them back to Thailand just for the sole purpose of registering for the draft...

P.S. You may also want to contact Samran... As per earlier posts I have seen from him, he is Thai / Australian and went through the whole process of registering for the draft once he moved back to Thailand. From his posts, I believe he came back after he was over 30 and did not face any problems...PM him, I am sure he would be willing to give you the low down...

Interesting post. Not that it matters but I was under the impression that both Thai and USA citizens could only hold one passport. Not dual citizenship. I know UK is different in this respect.

CwMcMurray is correct, as long as they are out of the country with no permanent residence there, they are fine. See this post that I put together a few weeks back

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=3157358

Interesting post. Not that it matters but I was under the impression that both Thai and USA citizens could only hold one passport. Not dual citizenship. I know UK is different in this respect.

Thai law has nothing against people being born with Thai citizenship and another one holding them both.

Edited November 30, 200916 yr by samran

"Thai law has nothing against people being born with Thai citizenship and another one holding them both."

The US allows dual citizenship, as well.