Immigration Directive Regarding Dual Nationality

[Arkady]

The Vanessa Mae story is odd, not least due to the weirdness of this famous violinist wanting to represent a country she has virtually nil connection with at at Olympic sport. The article didn't mention if she had trialed for the British downhill team but we can assume that she is way below their standard or we would otherwise be reading about her representing Britain. Thus it seems a little condescending to want to represent Thailand at a sport Thailand has no interest in and in which she is obviously not nearly good enough to compete at international level and has no chance of making the cut.

On the citizenship angle the article also doesn't seem to make much sense. Like thousands of other look krung in the UK she could easily have got a Thai passport at the Thai Embassy in London in 2002 or at any other time before or since, simply by taking along evidence that she has a Thai father with no question that embassy officials would have asked her to renounce her British nationality. It is possible that Thailand's sporting officials raised some objection to her Olympic bid (probably looking for a bribe from an obviously wealthy young woman) and perhaps her British nationality was given as an excuse by them when she refused to take the hint and cough up. At any rate, it is another example of garbled second hand nonsense that Thai papers are quite happy to print to fill up a space without bothering to do any verification and without caring whether it makes any sense or not.

I recall that Tiger Woods was offered Thai nationality by the government, even though he was already entitled to it but hadn't applied, without any suggestion that he would have to give up his American nationality. Tiger snubbed the government by rejecting the offer on the grounds that his US passport was good enough for him, since he had no interest in spending more time in Thailand. At the same time he snubbed a delegation that arrived at the Oriental Hotel to confer an honorary doctorate on him by not coming down from his room to see them and sending a representative to pick it up for him instead, saying that he was resting to get ready for a tournament. However, at the rate he is going maybe Tiger will eat humble pie soon and pop along to the Thai consulate in LA for a passport so he can ask to represent Thailand.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Arkady

[bangkokburning]

I have not read thru your comments, maybe this has been addressed but is worth stating.

There are a number of reasons someone can hold an add'l passport and not by a citizen of that nation. There must be a bazillion green US passports issued by DOS by now. These are resident aliens and NOT citizens. Just goes to show how totally clueless is. They really need to get staffed up with educated people. The laziness and guessing is ignorant and really tiresome. Thailand is a real embarrassment to itself.

Gotta love how the imm thread is so long and tedious and nothing definitive from the top as to clarifying and codifying the issue.

[samran]

The Vanessa Mae story is odd, not least due to the weirdness of this famous violinist wanting to represent a country she has virtually nil connection with at at Olympic sport. The article didn't mention if she had trialed for the British downhill team but we can assume that she is way below their standard or we would otherwise be reading about her representing Britain. Thus it seems a little condescending to want to represent Thailand at a sport Thailand has no interest in and in which she is obviously not nearly good enough to compete at international level and has no chance of making the cut.

I'll be telling my daughters that for the olympics (with tongue only slightly in cheek):

a) if they are really good at their sport they can represent Australia

if they aren't quite good enough for the Australian team they can qualify in the NZ team

c) and if they wanted to go for the experience, then they should represent Thailand.

Nice to have options

[electau]

Below is a recent post from another thread: Dual Citizenship? - Thailand Forum Does this reflect a change in official interpretation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or just another ignorant Thai civil servant making up the rules as they go along?

Posted 2010-06-16 16:38

"A friend of ours recently obtained Australian citizenship. She was contacted by the Thai consulate in Brisbane today and informed that the rules have changed and she now has to choose Australian or Thai citizenship, she can't keep both."

Have you more detail on the above?

The Royal Thai Consulate in Brisbane is an honorary one only. The Royal Thai Embassy is in the ACT. Was the contact by official letter?

Many Thais in Australia have dual citizenship and use their Australian passport to leave and return to Australia and their Thai passport to enter and leave Thailand. Thai passports can be renewed at the Royal Thai Consulate- General, Sydney or the RTE in the ACT.

Otherwise the Thai passports can be renewed at the MFA in Bangkok.

Australia does not notify a foreign consulate or embassy if one of their nationals obtains Australian citizenship.

Edited August 13, 2010 by electau

[lopburi3]

There must be a bazillion green US passports issued by DOS by now. These are resident aliens and NOT citizens.

Believe you are thinking of green cards (which are not and are not passports). The normal citizen US tourist passport used to be green years ago. The US passport requires citizenship.

STEP 2: Submit Evidence of U.S. Citizenship

When applying for a U.S. passport in person, evidence of U.S. citizenship must be submitted with Form DS-11. All documentation submitted as citizenship evidence will be returned to you. These documents will be delivered with your newly issued U.S. passport or in a separate mailing.

Primary Evidence of U.S. Citizenship (One of the following):

Previously issued, undamaged U.S. Passport

Certified birth certificate issued by the city, county or state*

Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth

Naturalization Certificate

Certificate of Citizenship

*A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar's signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note, some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html