Thai Residency Applications Being Approved

[Jaykiss]

PR in thailand is of not much use anyway

[Arkady]

...and be relieved of 190,000 Baht to be granted this Thai version of a "green card".

Does it really cost over $6,000 to apply for citizenship? Yikes.

---

I am here: http://maps.google.c...0749,100.547350

Not citizenship ...... PR is the right to live in the country forever.

Citizenship is a lot cheaper. But harder for men to get.

Since the passing of the 2008 Nationality Act amendments it is not much harder for male applicants married to Thais to apply for Thai nationality than it is for female applicants married to Thais. The only difference now is that male applicants have to have a job and a three year tax record, whereas in the case of females married to Thais their husbands have to the show the employment and tax records. For male and female applicants without Thai spouses, there is no difference in the qualifications for Thai nationality. They need to have permanent residence first, show employment and tax records, be able to pass a simple Thai language test and be able to sing the National and Royal Anthems without a script. Those with Thai spouses don't need to sing and theoretically don't have to pass the Thai test but do have to take it and be interviewed in Thai.

[Arkady]

PR in thailand is of not much use anyway

On what basis do you say PR is no use in Thailand? Do you have it and have found it useless?

I have had it since 1996 when I paid B52,000 for it in total and have found it extremely useful.

[Markaew]

This is a cash cow for them. I have notice they are loosening up across the board with other immigration items if you have the money to pay extra. Before, even with the additional cash, you couldn't get traction with immigration.

[Arkady]

Just out of curiosity, if you're granted residency, are you then able to buy land/a house?

No, you remain an alien as far as the Land Code is concerned, although any foreigner can buy and own the structure of a house but not the land it stands on for what that's worth. Permanent residents can however buy a condo without having show the funds were transferred from overseas or earned from employment in Thailand. That can save some bureaucratic hassle.

[Markaew]

PR in thailand is of not much use anyway

On what basis do you say PR is no use in Thailand? Do you have it and have found it useless?

I have had it since 1996 when I paid B52,000 for it in total and have found it extremely useful.

A PR could get you a job in an embassy if you wanted it. You must have residency to work for a foreign embassy here. In Thai baht, pretty decent money.

[Arkady]

Perhaps they want to clear the backlog before increasing the fees. People would be discouraged from applying at a new rate, if there were no signs of progress.

The backlog now represents a lot of money in government fees to leave lying on the table uncollected for no apparent reason. It is interesting to see that they now have to call applicants to check that they have not died or left Thailand in the interim and are still interested in splurging the money.

It seems fairly obvious that the reason for the backlog is that corruption has worsened considerably in Thailand and now no one is willing to sign off on something of value at all any more without getting paid. PR is difficult to ask tea money for, since the official fees have been increased to high level, which makes applicants reluctant to pay more, and many government agencies sit on the Committee for Permanent Residence which makes it difficult to agree on, collect and divide up tea money. The ideal structure for graft is where there is an official government fee that is left for years at a peppercorn level.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Arkady

[LUSHGOAT]

Its sexual discrimination a woman can get citizenship but its harder for a man. I love Thailand and I must say invested allot of money there but I think the laws concerning Farangs are very unjust and light years behind. My wife can come to my country and is treated to the best my immigration but in Thailand we are treated with contempt WHY

[Arkady]

PR in thailand is of not much use anyway

On what basis do you say PR is no use in Thailand? Do you have it and have found it useless?

I have had it since 1996 when I paid B52,000 for it in total and have found it extremely useful.

A PR could get you a job in an embassy if you wanted it. You must have residency to work for a foreign embassy here. In Thai baht, pretty decent money.

Why do you need PR to work at an embassy? Embassies and multi-national agencies are privileged in being able to hire unlimited foreign staff without work permits. How would they be able to have any foreign staff if they were limited to the small pool of PRs?

[Arkady]

Its sexual discrimination a woman can get citizenship but its harder for a man. I love Thailand and I must say invested allot of money there but I think the laws concerning Farangs are very unjust and light years behind. My wife can come to my country and is treated to the best my immigration but in Thailand we are treated with contempt WHY

This is not true. Please read the Thai Nationality Act with amendments up to 2008 and the many posts and threads on TV on this topic before polluting the web board with mindless rants.

[rfukata]

PR for 190,000 Baht (50% if married to Thai) or Non-Immigrant "O" Visa for 800,000 Baht (50% if married to Thai).

With the "O" visa the money still belongs to you, isn’t it?

What are the pros and cons?

(other than the annual renewals of the "O" visa?

I have to agree with you.

[inquisitive]

A few comments here:

I, too, received "the letter" back in early January asking if I was still interested . The letter stated that it had to be handed in in person. I then called, and was told that they really, really were starting to work on the old applications again, and that they were hoping to be caught up by August. I took the trip to the office and handed in my signed letter, taking all of about ten minutes total time inside the building. Before I left, though, I asked a different officer about how long she thought it would take before aporival was rceived and she gave me the same answer that I had already received on the phone. I haven't heard anything since, but have no reason to believe that they are still working and that they will probably take longer than they predicted, even if only because everything else always does.

As to having a stamp in the passport that indicates one is assured of approval, my understanding is that would be a slight overstatement. Generally if they bring you through the process to the point where your passport gets the "pending" stamp, then the folks that handled your application are fairly confident that you'll get approved, but it is not a decision that it is up to them. My understanding is that the application must still be passed by a small commmittee still higher up before it is finally signed.

Good luck to all.

[Markaew]

PR in thailand is of not much use anyway

On what basis do you say PR is no use in Thailand? Do you have it and have found it useless?

I have had it since 1996 when I paid B52,000 for it in total and have found it extremely useful.

A PR could get you a job in an embassy if you wanted it. You must have residency to work for a foreign embassy here. In Thai baht, pretty decent money.

Why do you need PR to work at an embassy? Embassies and multi-national agencies are privileged in being able to hire unlimited foreign staff without work permits. How would they be able to have any foreign staff if they were limited to the small pool of PRs?

Not true. I checked into it. Thailand doesn't allow foreign embassies to issue visas and work permits and Thailand will not issue a work permit for an embassy according to the US Embassy. They are not limited to PRs. They have to hire Thai nationals. That is the whole point. Thailand does this so only Thais and PRs can work in the embassies.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Markaew

[nosatisfaction]

...and be relieved of 190,000 Baht to be granted this Thai version of a "green card".

Does it really cost over $6,000 to apply for citizenship? Yikes.

if you are not married to a Thai, if you are it's 93000Thb

[mike123ca]

Its sexual discrimination a woman can get citizenship but its harder for a man. I love Thailand and I must say invested allot of money there but I think the laws concerning Farangs are very unjust and light years behind. My wife can come to my country and is treated to the best my immigration but in Thailand we are treated with contempt WHY

This is not true. Please read the Thai Nationality Act with amendments up to 2008 and the many posts and threads on TV on this topic before polluting the web board with mindless rants.

When applying for the O-visa Extension of stay Based on marriage. For a foreign woman, all she needs is her Thai husbands signature.

My Thai wife signature is not as strong as a Thai man, I still need to show money in bank or earned income.

Let's be honest, there is definitively sexual discrimination when foreign men and women make visa applications.

[Markaew]

Its sexual discrimination a woman can get citizenship but its harder for a man. I love Thailand and I must say invested allot of money there but I think the laws concerning Farangs are very unjust and light years behind. My wife can come to my country and is treated to the best my immigration but in Thailand we are treated with contempt WHY

This is not true. Please read the Thai Nationality Act with amendments up to 2008 and the many posts and threads on TV on this topic before polluting the web board with mindless rants.

I completely agree with you LushGoat. But TiT.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Markaew

[nosatisfaction]

...and be relieved of 190,000 Baht to be granted this Thai version of a "green card".

Green cards are of no use in Thailand.

Back on topic has any one received a permanent residency card recently?

My brother also received his "letter" just recently, like the OP. Apparently, all the applications have been gathering dust for years and are now being re-opened for consideration. He has not yet received the book yet though.

Thank you for being the only person to even remotely stay on the original topic. Will this be the only response to the original poster's question?

Who else has had a response on their old or new PR application?

not yet received letter but got application in 2009 and currently still under investigation, married to a Thai citizen since 05/2000

[Markaew]

Its sexual discrimination a woman can get citizenship but its harder for a man. I love Thailand and I must say invested allot of money there but I think the laws concerning Farangs are very unjust and light years behind. My wife can come to my country and is treated to the best my immigration but in Thailand we are treated with contempt WHY

This is not true. Please read the Thai Nationality Act with amendments up to 2008 and the many posts and threads on TV on this topic before polluting the web board with mindless rants.

When applying for the O-visa Extension of stay Based on marriage. For a foreign woman, all she needs is her Thai husbands signature.

My Thai wife signature is not as strong as a Thai man, I still need to show money in bank or earned income.

Let's be honest, there is definitively sexual discrimination when foreign men and women make visa applications.

If I can be honest a bit further and add to your statement.

Thailand has been created, then evolved, and the finally product you have now is from a Thai-guy's perspective. The Thai-guy can have his cake and eat it too. If you are a Thai-guy you would want a white boy with the same advantages as you. I think not.

[Khutan]

not yet received letter but got application in 2009 and currently still under investigation, married to a Thai citizen since 05/2000

is that under investigation or under consideration ?

[TommoPhysicist]

you guys use some agency to apply for this ? if yes can recommend me one ?

or have a good source how to begin at this ?

I would like to apply this year for this status of permanent resident after being here for 3 years on a work permit...

I am married with a Thai Wife ... so i would get the discount rate

There is no longer any benefit for a married man to apply for PR.

If you are married to a Thai, and fulfill the requirements for PR, then you can immediately apply for citizenship.

(Citizenship is a lot cheaper than PR)

Edited May 8, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[manarak]

The funny thing about residing in this country without the PR, is that for a country like let's say Italy, they oblige their citizens to put their residence as "Thailand" if you stay here for more than 6 months in a year, then Thailand will refuse you as a resident, in fact leaving you as a sort of apolide or lets say "stray" individual...

Which is a good thing, because from that moment on, you don't have to pay taxes anymore

[jerrysteve]

As far as residency, The juice isn't worth the Squeeze. There are much better places than Thailand. Brazil is Great!

[Arkady]

Not true. I checked into it. Thailand doesn't allow foreign embassies to issue visas and work permits and Thailand will not issue a work permit for an embassy according to the US Embassy. They are not limited to PRs. They have to hire Thai nationals. That is the whole point. Thailand does this so only Thais and PRs can work in the embassies.

Of course foreign embassies can't issue Thai work permits. Why would they want to? Their foreign staff, even including their personal servants, are exempt from the requirement to have work permits according to the Working of Aliens Act 2008 which you should read before making ridiculous statements on the subject of work permits. See Section 4 of the Act here:

"Section 4. This Act shall not apply to the performance of specific

duties by the alien in the Kingdom in the following capacities:

(1) as a member of a diplomatic mission;

(2) as a member of a consular mission;

(3) as a representative of member countries and official of the United

Nations and specialised institutions;"

That the Act does not apply to those categories of foreign workers means that they don't require work permits. Get it?

[bigbamboo]

Basically the advantages are you can live in the LOS without visa renewals, buy a condo without having to pay the full amount up front with cash from abroad and it is easier to get a work permit, allegedly.

You can also apply to become a Thai citizen in the distant future, assuming the rules don't change in the interim, but the exam is tougher than getting a degree from a Thai university and your chances of success extremely limited.

[Glock3am]

Not true. I checked into it. Thailand doesn't allow foreign embassies to issue visas and work permits and Thailand will not issue a work permit for an embassy according to the US Embassy. They are not limited to PRs. They have to hire Thai nationals. That is the whole point. Thailand does this so only Thais and PRs can work in the embassies.

I believe you are misinformed as the Australian embassy for one regularly advertises for expat (and Thai national) positions. See: http://www.thailand....ok/Career1.html

In fact they have one available at the moment: http://www.thailand....acancy_LED.html

Edited May 8, 2012 by Glock3am

[DoctorD]

My husband (applied PR 2006) and I (applied 2007) have both received letters and reported to Immigration as instructed. We were told that they were processing applications in order of filing, so my husband would hear first.

Someone stated that fear of being accused of corruption was the reason for the huge backlog in applications. I respectfully suggest that the continued political upheaval since 2006 has far more to do with the issue. My understanding (based on the information received from Immigration when we applied) is that the final committee that approves PR requests includes everyone, from every conceivable ministry and organization - from the Interior Ministry to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Given the governmental musical chairs over the past six years, I suspect it's been hard to convene this council of honchos.

One more thing: recently we went to the police station to inquire about Thai citizenship. We'd heard from a friend (married to a Thai) that the requirements had been eased. However, we were told quite firmly that one had to have PR for five years before applying for citizenship. Of course, it might be different for a farang-farang married couple than for our friend.

(The officer whom we talked to joked that my husband should marry a Thai. We figured that might have been our Thai language exam!)

[Arkady]

you guys use some agency to apply for this ? if yes can recommend me one ?

or have a good source how to begin at this ?

I would like to apply this year for this status of permanent resident after being here for 3 years on a work permit...

I am married with a Thai Wife ... so i would get the discount rate

There is no longer any benefit for a married man to apply for PR.

If you are married to a Thai, and fulfill the requirements for PR, then you can immediately apply for citizenship.

(Citizenship is a lot cheaper than PR)

This is true. In fact the requirements for Thai citizenshp for a male applicant with a Thai wife are less than those for PR. The minimum salary required is B40,000 per month vs B80,000 for PR. You need to have been in a job in Thailand continuously for three years which is the same for both. The Thai language requirements are effectively about the same, i.e. very easy for anyone not brain dead. The documentation required for citizenship is less and much less complicated than for PR. For example most documentation, such as company documents, can be notarized by the company signatory only (not the auditor) and educational credentials don't need to be notarized by your embassy. You don't need to get a criminal record clearance from your home country and you don't need to submit those silly pictures of yourself lying on the matrimonial bed with your Thai wife and they are unlikely to come to snoop around your house. In short the requirements for nationality are similar to what the requirements for PR were in 90s until they got anal about it under the first Thaksin government and jacked up all Immigration fees sharply. The application fee for Thai citizenship is B10,000 plus I think a further B1,500 for the naturalization certificate when you get it. That's all. Applications can be submitted any working day in the year, not just at the end of December. The waiting time is also long (from 18 months to 10 years plus or never) but the waiting time for PR is also indeterminate.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Arkady

[crazykopite]

... PR is the right to live in the country forever...

...forever, provided you never forget to obtain a re-entry permit before you travel abroad and never forget to report to the local police station for a stamp in your resident book every five years or so (don't know what the interval is nowadays)

As a Permanent Resident, you also have the privilege of paying a higher fee for the re-entry permit than foreigners on an annual extension. I believe one's age is one of the factors to be considered when pondering whether buying PR is good value for money.

My thoughts on the age factor is do I want to make 90 day reports and go through the annual extension process for the rest of my life (I plan on staying here until they take me to the temple for cremation). The time might come when I wouldn't be able to (or feel like it) show up for the annual extensions or make the annual trek to the consulate for the income document.

I have been on a retirement visa for 6 years and I dream that one day somebody in Government will come up with the idea that once you have 5 years of continous extension of stay stamps in your passport that you would be given a 5 year extension of stay for a fee of 10,000 baht and reporting could be done via computer, that way the government would be getting money up front and I would know that I only have to apply once every 5 years but sadly this will never happen or if it does I would most probably have been sent up the chimmney by a few years because everything takes so long !!!!!!

[TommoPhysicist]

One more thing: recently we went to the police station to inquire about Thai citizenship. We'd heard from a friend (married to a Thai) that the requirements had been eased. However, we were told quite firmly that one had to have PR for five years before applying for citizenship. Of course, it might be different for a farang-farang married couple than for our friend.

And I can absolutely assure you that in 2009 (or was it 2008) the rules were changed so that a married (to a Thai) person could apply for citizenship immediately on humanitarian grounds. PR was no longer needed.

Edited May 8, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[surayu]

Thailand has been created, then evolved, and the finally product you have now is from a Thai-guy's perspective. The Thai-guy can have his cake and eat it too. If you are a Thai-guy you would want a white boy with the same advantages as you. I think not.

...what a logic we have here! so, we should deny basic rights based on the skin color, yes? ...and even if someone agree with this, then obviously you also have to considere the thai females as something inferior by not taking into the account that every limitation you put on her foreigner husband will inevitably cause some problem in her life too, what other rules should we add on top of these 2 perls of yours???