Tiger Woods Keen To Give Back To Thailand

[klikster]

He scoffed at Thailand when offered honorary citizenship. When interviewed he actually said, "Why would I want Thai citizenship? "

I recall reading that once upon a time before Tiger became internationally famous, he wanted to play for / represent Thailand in a golf event. Thailand wasn't interested then. But after his fame, they decide to offer him citizenship

Stay in America, you're no longer welcome...

And you speak for all Thailand?

[Hitch22]

Give the guy a break.He fuc_ked around, so what ?

99% of Thai men I know do the same, quite openly , and nobody gives a dam_n.

[naiharn]

I believe every country makes you renounce other citizenship when becoming a citizen of that country. So, I am not really sure how this applies to holding dual citizenship as related to holding a passport. Below is the first part of the oath when becoming a citizen of the USA ...

Not true. Australia (and probably many other countries) does not make you renounce another citizenship before becoming a citizen. New Zealand allows dual citizenship. Same with the UK "if a British national acquires another nationality, they will not automatically lose British nationality. Similarly, a person does not need to give up any other nationality when they become British." (from wikipedia)

[cyberia]

if you don't plan to live in Thailand why in the world would want a thai passport??

say if you are a Singaporean would you change that to become a thai national? 

[supaprik]

Tiger gives back?

Oh please, One of greatest sportsmen of all time just image repairing at the moment, i would say come take the money and put it all into american junior golf where it would actually go where it is supposed to, i agree with tiger..WHO NEEDS THAI CITIZENSHIP? Just come here take what you can from the racist bastards and PISS OFF.

[Arkady]

The offer of "honorary" Thai citizenship was made to Tiger in the 90s at the same time as he was given an honorary doctorate by a Thai university. He was so disinterested in all of this adulation by Thais that he refused the Thai citizenship and told the university to come to the Oriental Hotel to give him the doctorate as he didn't feel like attending the ceremony at the university. In the event when the rector and Thai dignatories arrived at the hotel, Tiger was too fatigued to receive them and sent his assistant down to the lobby to pick up the degree certificate on his behalf LOL. Maybe he just dislikes the ingrained Thai discrimination against black people (and even dark skinned Thais) which is only lifted when they see an opportunity to claim a black celebrity as their own. Who knows? Anyway, I seem to remember that the significance of the citizenship offer was not so much in the citizenship itself (Tiger was technically already a Thai citizen under the 1992 Nationality Act) but that they wanted to give him a diplomatic Thai passport and make him a roving ambassador for Thai sport. Tiger pragmatically said that he didn't need a Thai passport because his American one was much better for travelling and he didn't feel any cultural affinity to Thailand, couldn't speak the language and had no plans to spend time there other than very occasional short visits. He was practically wiped out by heat exhaustion on the golf course on that visit and probably couldn't get out of the country fast enough.

If Tiger changes his mind, he won't be required to make the declaration of intent to renounce his American nationality because he is already a Thai citizen and only needs to go to the Thai consulate in LA to get a Thai passport and can then get a Thai ID card by getting on some one's tabien baan in Thailand. The declaration is only required by those applying for Thai citizenship by naturalization and has only been required since 2010, probably because the Interior Ministry didn't like the provisions in the 2008 Nationality Act that made it impossible for them to demand that foreign males married to Thais should have permanent residence (the applications for which have been stalled by the ministry since 2006) before applying for citizenship. Of course it can be easily justified on grounds of "national security".

For the poster who is puzzled over the implication for dual nationality of the American oath of allegiance for dual citizens, do so more research. The Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that dual citizenship was not illegal or incompatible with the oath. The US State Dept gives the stock answer that they recommend against dual nationality due to complications it may cause but in practice the US Foreign Service pragmatically recruits a number of dual nationals as diplomats for their language capabilities without requiring renunciation of their other nationality, if it is a state friendly to the US, although they have to indicate willingness to renounce if required.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Arkady

[jcbangkok]

@JCBankok I did not misunderstand you. We are both talking about two kinds of citizenship. One type is for immigrants and yes they are required to take an oath to abide by the laws of the country etc. What I was talking about is citizenship by decent. You require one parent to be Australian citizen and show birth certificate from abroad and proof and I.D. of parent. No swearing in ceromony ect. also you keep your other citizenship. My son owns 2 passports Aussie and Thai and Thailand is aware of this as his aussie one produced as I.D for his Thai one.

I was assuming that the type of citizenship being offered to Tiger WOODS would be that of by decent as his mother is Thai.

Thanks for the clarification. It makes sense since you are talking about the right given to people be a citizen of a country (location born, parents ...) and I was not thinking along those terms. I am just wondering how folks who immigrate to another country and take the oath of that country can have 2 passports. I worked with a number of Iranian folks back in the early 90,s that immigrated to the US but still had both Iranian and US passports. I never asked them if they were dual citizens ... maybe they just never turned in their Iranian passports. Bottom line, I just don't get how you get around having to renounce other/past allegiances but yet still remain a citizen of another country that by simply being a citizen requires your allegiance.

[jcbangkok]

I believe every country makes you renounce other citizenship when becoming a citizen of that country. So, I am not really sure how this applies to holding dual citizenship as related to holding a passport. Below is the first part of the oath when becoming a citizen of the USA ...

Not true. Australia (and probably many other countries) does not make you renounce another citizenship before becoming a citizen. New Zealand allows dual citizenship. Same with the UK "if a British national acquires another nationality, they will not automatically lose British nationality. Similarly, a person does not need to give up any other nationality when they become British." (from wikipedia)

My mistake. It looks like they changed the oath in the 90's and removed renouncing with a simple pledge to swear allegiance to Australia.

[jcbangkok]

Looks like I found the answer to my question ....

Do Foreign Citizenship Oaths Strip you of Previous Citizenships?

In general, no, although some countries (such as the US but not Canada or Australia) have verbal oaths that state that all former citizenships are relinquished, there are few (if any) modern cases in which this has happened to dual citizens. Most citizenship oaths are historical and have little legal power. In general, most countries that allow dual citizenship require very specific acts for you to relinquish your citizenship, and routine verbal oaths delivered in a foreign country are rarely considered valid.

But back to Tiger ... his reasoning to decline the Thai offer was about avoiding income tax issues.