Girl Friend Does Not Have An Id Card

[temarshall83]

I am seriously thinking about marrying my girlfriend who lives in Thailand, but recently she told me she does not have a National ID Card. Both her parents are dead. She has a son with her "sister's" name, also because she does not have an ID Card. Is it possible to still marry her, Even if it is not possible for her to "legally" obtain an ID card? I have been reading all the forums I can find and the outlook doesn't look good.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Tywais
Changed font for readability

[Satcommlee]

All Thai's are required by law to have an ID card.

I don't want to come across as all doom and gloom, but there may be other circumstances to this story..

If she doesn't have an ID card, or is not entitled to one then she is not going to be getting married in Thailand (unless she has foreign ID and legalised documents)

She may even be an illegal immigrant or unregistered in the country..

Maybe she is already married??? and just doesn't know how to break it.

It may help if you tell us where in Thailand this lady is from?

[David48]

Wise words from Satcommlee.

Picture yourself now on an island ...

OH, it's her issue to get an ID Card ... not yours.

Why worry about things you can't control or influence.

Edited May 18, 2012 by David48

[rod2011]

I personally would be really concerned if she does not have an ID.

The only person I came across before with no ID was an illegal immigrant from Burma.

[manarak]

OP is lucky and should leave it at that.

[bangkokrick]

If she is an illegal, why not take her back to her country of origin and marry her there. I guess it will be a neighbouring country so don't see it being a big problem. Then you can both enter Thailand legally.

[simple1]

Unless your girlfriend in an illegal in Thailand, she can go to her Amphur (Local Council) that will have a record of her parents death & then obtain her ID Card. Also if she is registered on a household card she will have an ID Card. Does she have a Thai birth certificate? It all sounds very strange as a Thai cannot do anything without an ID Card.

[Mario2008]

Op should first find out why she hasn't got any ID, before advise can be given.

If her parents are (were) Thai, so is she. If not, she might be a stateless person (who normally will have some kind of ID) or an illegal immigrant.

[temarshall83]

Wise words from Satcommlee.

Picture yourself now on an island ...

OH, it's her issue to get an ID Card ... not yours.

Why worry about things you can't control or influence.

All Thai's are required by law to have an ID card.

I don't want to come across as all doom and gloom, but there may be other circumstances to this story..

If she doesn't have an ID card, or is not entitled to one then she is not going to be getting married in Thailand (unless she has foreign ID and legalised documents)

She may even be an illegal immigrant or unregistered in the country..

Maybe she is already married??? and just doesn't know how to break it.

It may help if you tell us where in Thailand this lady is from?

She is from Chiang Rai. Her parents died when she was a child. After that she when from home to home and lived with whoever would take her in, normally she was made to work to pay for her own room and board. Never given a chance to go to school or learn anything other than how to feed herself. As far as being an illegal most likely her parents were, and after their death no one bothered to help her obtain an ID or explain to her how important it was to have one. Much less help her with money to pay for it. Now she is 26 years old and stuck in a bad situation. I am looking for constructive advice here just saying it’s her problem is the kind of thinking by other people that has gotten her in this situation in the first place. Everyone seems to ignore all the injustice in the world, I guess because it’s more convenient to their life.

[simple1]

Wise words from Satcommlee.

Picture yourself now on an island ...

OH, it's her issue to get an ID Card ... not yours.

Why worry about things you can't control or influence.

All Thai's are required by law to have an ID card.

I don't want to come across as all doom and gloom, but there may be other circumstances to this story..

If she doesn't have an ID card, or is not entitled to one then she is not going to be getting married in Thailand (unless she has foreign ID and legalised documents)

She may even be an illegal immigrant or unregistered in the country..

Maybe she is already married??? and just doesn't know how to break it.

It may help if you tell us where in Thailand this lady is from?

She is from Chiang Rai. Her parents died when she was a child. After that she when from home to home and lived with whoever would take her in, normally she was made to work to pay for her own room and board. Never given a chance to go to school or learn anything other than how to feed herself. As far as being an illegal most likely her parents were, and after their death no one bothered to help her obtain an ID or explain to her how important it was to have one. Much less help her with money to pay for it. Now she is 26 years old and stuck in a bad situation. I am looking for constructive advice here just saying it’s her problem is the kind of thinking by other people that has gotten her in this situation in the first place. Everyone seems to ignore all the injustice in the world, I guess because it’s more convenient to their life.

FYI an ID Card from the Amphur currently costs less than 100 baht. I know you don't want to hear this, but be very careful you're not being conned because it sure sounds like it.

[CiaranO]

HI OP.....is there more to this story? I googled "getting a thai ID card" and came across a post from another forum from Feb last year from a person whos GF was from Chian Rai with no ID card!!!!!!

[CiaranO]

I should expand.....in the post on the other forum from last year the post was regarding a very similar topic. The guys gf was from "chiang rai" too and had no ID card. After reading through the rest of his posts on the other forum it turns out that this girl was actually born in Myanmar and not Thailand and actually not entitled to a THai ID card. I believe in the other post he claimed she was part of the Lahu people (hill tribe). After reading both posts they sound very similar.

[NomadJoe]

Op should first find out why she hasn't got any ID, before advise can be given.

If her parents are (were) Thai, so is she. If not, she might be a stateless person (who normally will have some kind of ID) or an illegal immigrant.

Or perhaps a katoey and wanting to keep it a secret?

[temarshall83]

Thanks for the limited help. I guess what I was asking is where do I find heip for Stateless people this seems to be a problem in Thailand.

[Mario2008]

There are several NGO's you can try in Thailand. if she is from Burma, you can try the Burmuse Border Consortium or try the Hgh Comissioner for refugee Office. Just do an internet search and one of these organisations should be able to direct you in the right direction.

Wander how the sister got an ID-card and if it is Thai ID-card or stateless person ID-card.

[CiaranO]

Thanks for the limited help. I guess what I was asking is where do I find heip for Stateless people this seems to be a problem in Thailand.

The limited help is very simple to explain......you are asking a very complex question about something clearly there is a problem with in Thailand. My suggestion would be to find a good lawyer and go from there. Find someone who knows the law. Maybe you should try this from the other side and look into getting her Burmese papers etc.....maybe its easier.....I only say that because you seem to be at this a while and the Thai side of things just doesnt seem to opening any doors for you. I think maybe a different approach is warranted.

[bkk_mike]

I personally would be really concerned if she does not have an ID.

The only person I came across before with no ID was an illegal immigrant from Burma.

There's a kid in the mother-in-law's village whose parent's were drug-addicts, never registered the child's birth, and are now dead.

The kid was staying with his aunt, but as the child had no birth certificate, couldn't go to school as apparently the birth certificate or house book is required to register the child, and the birth certificate is required to put the child on the house book, etc.

I did ask my wife why they couldn't register the kid now, but she seemed to think it wasn't possible because the parents were both dead. (I was only there for a couple of day's so have no idea whether it got sorted out).

[naboo]

There are organisations in Chiang Mai that help deal with these situations. I don't know exactly where they are based, though I have seen them hanging around offering advice/handing out leaflets near the Burmese temple near Chiang Mai Stadium, (Chang Phuak). Google reference is 18.802536,98.988066 - at the end of Chang Phuak Soi 6. They were asking for money, less than 10,000B but it seemed genuine - there was a confrontation I saw between them and a Thai guy who was unhappy that these stateless people were getting Thai nationality. Other help is around, but I don't know the details. Could try empower (at) cm.ksc.co.th - they usually work with sex workers, but often they're Burmese or stateless people so would have the contacts.

Her story is very common in northern Thailand. Many stateless people here. The Thai government could do more to help them.

[bina]

there were several threads about the same thing in the visa section, maybe a year or so ago;

there are /were several types of id cards pink, yellow etc... that were given different years and for different groups ... than there was a scam where many stateless people (shan, other tribes up north) were promised to receive 'new ids' but the money got taken and then the ids' were discovered to be fake so they were revoked... non o f the OP threads ever wrote back what happend in the interim. i suspect that either their partners (the farang men) just married the women, village style and found other ways to stay and go in thailand (different visa types as opposed to mariage visa for foreigners) to be with their wives, or they gave up due to difficulties ...

thais do not like the stateless people and definately do not try to help them stay; laos et al do not want them either, so they are stuck in a no win situation.... i thin kthere are some christian missionary groups that help out also, among the hmong, lisu , shan etc(sorry , whatever the different tribes and north folk call themselves)

i can move this topic to visa section if u want, or mario can

it also seems still somewhat common that people still move betwen family members and are written up on other peoples' tabian baan's although i understand that now thailand is catching up to the beurocratic computer world and that 'borrowing' tabian baan much more difficult to do

i had a friend (thai)who although was divorced from his own wife (not amphur but village married and village divorced), was officially(amphur) married to his brother's wife to enable him to get accepted in to a manpower group for overseas (needed to prove he had a family etc). imagine what a mess for his brother when the brother's wife gave birth and had to register her child with the amphur. meanlwhile, the 'fake' husband is/was away working overseas. that was close on about 10 years ago now, in udon thani...

so not the shady, jsut a beurocratic mess.

bina

[krobert6]

Wise words from Satcommlee.

Picture yourself now on an island ...

OH, it's her issue to get an ID Card ... not yours.

Why worry about things you can't control or influence.

All Thai's are required by law to have an ID card.

I don't want to come across as all doom and gloom, but there may be other circumstances to this story..

If she doesn't have an ID card, or is not entitled to one then she is not going to be getting married in Thailand (unless she has foreign ID and legalised documents)

She may even be an illegal immigrant or unregistered in the country..

Maybe she is already married??? and just doesn't know how to break it.

It may help if you tell us where in Thailand this lady is from?

She is from Chiang Rai. Her parents died when she was a child. After that she when from home to home and lived with whoever would take her in, normally she was made to work to pay for her own room and board. Never given a chance to go to school or learn anything other than how to feed herself. As far as being an illegal most likely her parents were, and after their death no one bothered to help her obtain an ID or explain to her how important it was to have one. Much less help her with money to pay for it. Now she is 26 years old and stuck in a bad situation. I am looking for constructive advice here just saying it’s her problem is the kind of thinking by other people that has gotten her in this situation in the first place. Everyone seems to ignore all the injustice in the world, I guess because it’s more convenient to their life.

FYI an ID Card from the Amphur currently costs less than 100 baht. I know you don't want to hear this, but be very careful you're not being conned because it sure sounds like it.

My wife received 2 ID cards FREE.

One before we were married and a replacement with her new Falang married name

[simple1]

Re no charge for ID Card. Amphur's vary on what they do/do not charge for services. Amphur in Nong Prue, Chon Buri wanted a payment

[TommoPhysicist]

She could be

1) Hilltribe

2) Illegal Immigrant

3) Criminal who doesn't wish to be traced

4) Already married and doesn't want you to know (so claims no ID card)

5) Not really female

The choices are endless but you really shouldn't have started anything without seeing an ID card first.

How did you know she wasn't underage? (or a guy)

As she is 26 and in Chiang Rai, most likely explanation is she is an illegal. Be careful lots of girls working in CR as prostitutes under 'police protection'. If she is attempting a runner from her 'protector' a whole heap a grief for you.

Does she speak English or are you speaking Thai?

Edited June 9, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[Mario2008]

Off topic reply deleted