Thai Permanet Residence Due To Humanitarian Reasons

[Om85]

Hi, every one!, until now I have read some posts of members of this forum that got PR in the category of business( earning more than 80,000 b/month) but I have never read or heard about any member getting hi/her PR because of being married to a Thai woman, or because of having a Thai child and earning 30,000b/ month or less( in the case that the applicant is married to a Thai he can apply if the sallary of both-husband and wife- combined is 30,000 b or more), my question is : is there some one that got his/her PR in that case recently?

Thank you for your time

[Mario2008]

Not seen any reports about that one, but that 30,000 would be an absolute minimum to apply.

The process is greatly set up to determine if one is an asset to Thai society, with an emphasis on work and income. Having the minimum is not advisable, especially if it partly earned by your spouse. (Certainly for applying based on work is having more than the minium income requirement advisable).

Best is to head down to immigraiton and have a talk with them about your chances.

[Dork]

I guess that you are referring to applying under what is generally called the "family" category rather than business/employment. If that is the case then yes, a large percentage of applicants apply this way, including myself.

I have never heard the 30K figure mentioned though. I have always understood that the (possibly unofficial) minimums are 50K if you are married to a Thai and 80K if you are not. However I recall that when I applied, my wife's income was relevant because she had to supply tax records and I remember the immigration officer questioning her about that.

In fact the year I applied I could have qualified under either business or family and even the investment category which I thought would have been my best option. However my lawyer at that time advised me to apply under family. His reasoning was something to the effect that if you do qualify under family, it is a "slam dunk" whereas under investment there may be a lot more questions asked. I really don't know whether he was right or not but I did finally get PR.

As Mario suggests, go and talk to immigration. They are more approachable than you might think. BTW, you don't need to use a lawyer as I did - waste of money and quite possibly less effective.

[Om85]

I guess that you are referring to applying under what is generally called the "family" category rather than business/employment. If that is the case then yes, a large percentage of applicants apply this way, including myself.

I have never heard the 30K figure mentioned though. I have always understood that the (possibly unofficial) minimums are 50K if you are married to a Thai and 80K if you are not. However I recall that when I applied, my wife's income was relevant because she had to supply tax records and I remember the immigration officer questioning her about that.

In fact the year I applied I could have qualified under either business or family and even the investment category which I thought would have been my best option. However my lawyer at that time advised me to apply under family. His reasoning was something to the effect that if you do qualify under family, it is a "slam dunk" whereas under investment there may be a lot more questions asked. I really don't know whether he was right or not but I did finally get PR.

As Mario suggests, go and talk to immigration. They are more approachable than you might think. BTW, you don't need to use a lawyer as I did - waste of money and quite possibly less effective.

I already went chengwattana, and they told that yes, I can apply, they even told me that if my wife earns 30,000 and I don't work I can apply too, but I was looking for some feedback from members of this forum, since my salary is only 32,000 and I am considering what my real chances are , cuz I think that one thing is that you can apply and another completely different thing is to be successful.

[TommoPhysicist]

It only started in 2008, and can take five years.

That might be the reason nobody has it yet.

BUT

Why apply for PR, when you can apply directly for citizenship under these rules, and citizenship costs a lot less.

[beano2274]

What documentation would be required for this? Also what requirements to speak Thai are there for such an application?

[Om85]

It only started in 2008, and can take five years.

That might be the reason nobody has it yet.

BUT

Why apply for PR, when you can apply directly for citizenship under these rules, and citizenship costs a lot less.

Cuz for citizenship the minimum sallary must be 40,000, I still don't earn that much

[Om85]

What documentation would be required for this? Also what requirements to speak Thai are there for such an application?

The other requirements are the same and you must to be able to speak Thai .

[TommoPhysicist]

What documentation would be required for this? Also what requirements to speak Thai are there for such an application?

The other requirements are the same and you must to be able to speak Thai .

You need to get enough points ....... speaking Thai gains you points.

But again why do you want PR and not citizenship?

[beano2274]

Hi Tommo,

What is the main difference in requirements, I get over the amount stated for PR and also Citizenship. But my Thai is absolutely cr*p.

[TommoPhysicist]

Requirements for PR and Citizenship are exactly the same (if married)

Except if married, no requirement to speak any Thai at all, you just need the points.

But

Citizenship only costs 5kbht, PR costs 200kbht

[Om85]

What documentation would be required for this? Also what requirements to speak Thai are there for such an application?

The other requirements are the same and you must to be able to speak Thai .

You need to get enough points ....... speaking Thai gains you points.

But again why do you want PR and not citizenship?

Well, I speak Thai well enough, I also can write and read it, but the main obtacle for me is the sallary, of course I would like to have the citizenship, cuz I want to live here the rest of my life, but I need to have an income of more than 40,000, I have a copy of the panflet in which they explain how they give you points and in my case, I am very young(26) withought the points of the sallary I couldn't not get the 55 points necessary to be taken under consideration, but hell yes, I would like to be Thai, I love this country, it culture, it food, it people, and of course I love chang beer too

[Om85]

Hi Tommo,

What is the main difference in requirements, I get over the amount stated for PR and also Citizenship. But my Thai is absolutely cr*p.

Knowledge of Thai(speaking, listening,writing) will get you only 15 points

[ubonjoe]

The documents required for PR and citizenship are not the same.

Requirements for PR and having Thai wife are here: http://www.immigrati..._th_sponser_en.

The latest PR rules are dated December 2003 (nationalization act was changed in 2008).

Rules: http://www.immigrati...n_notice en.pdf

[Mario2008]

Hi Tommo,

What is the main difference in requirements, I get over the amount stated for PR and also Citizenship. But my Thai is absolutely cr*p.

Knowledge of Thai(speaking, listening,writing) will get you only 15 points

True, but conversations etc with you will be held in Thai. So with no Thai, you will give a poor impression and will be hard to pass the hurdles.

[Mario2008]

The documents required for PR and citizenship are not the same.

Requirements for PR and having Thai wife are here: http://www.immigrati..._th_sponser_en.

The latest PR rules are dated December 2003 (nationalization act was changed in 2008).

Rules: http://www.immigrati...n_notice en.pdf

I can't follow your first link, gives a 404.

But interested people can follwo this link which gives more details and forms for PR: http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=residence

[ubonjoe]

_{Maybe a glitch when pasted it in:} http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/doc/residence/residence_th_sponser_en.pdf

[Mario2008]

_{Maybe a glitch when pasted it in:} http://www.immigrati..._sponser_en.pdf

That one is working.

[Backwoods]

But if I take citizenship, I lose my benefit and Social security from US, I don't believe that is same case for permanent resident, anyone know?

[Arkady]

Hi Tommo,

What is the main difference in requirements, I get over the amount stated for PR and also Citizenship. But my Thai is absolutely cr*p.

Knowledge of Thai(speaking, listening,writing) will get you only 15 points

True, but conversations etc with you will be held in Thai. So with no Thai, you will give a poor impression and will be hard to pass the hurdles.

Total fluency and a perfect accent are certainly not required but nowadays you do need to pass a panel interview in Thai with senior bureaucrats for both PR and citizenship and be able to understand and answer questions like what do feel is your contribution to Thai society. If your Thai is really cr*p, start working on it seriously, if you want to apply.

[lopburi3]

But if I take citizenship, I lose my benefit and Social security from US, I don't believe that is same case for permanent resident, anyone know?

Why would you lose anything from the US? If you are saying you are a US citizen becoming Thai will not change that at all AFAIK. The only issue would be you still being libel for US tax and if Thailand required you provide proof of renouncing your previous citizenship.

[Arkady]

It only started in 2008, and can take five years.

That might be the reason nobody has it yet.

BUT

Why apply for PR, when you can apply directly for citizenship under these rules, and citizenship costs a lot less.

I don't know much about the "family" category but I can tell you that it was already in existence when I applied under the business category in the mid 90s. This is not surprising since there has been no change to the Immigration Act that governs PR since it was promulgated in 1979. As the documentation relating to work permit, tax receipts etc required for the family category are virtually identical to the business category, I would assume that there is not much difference in the way these applicants are considered, i.e. the higher the salary and the more tax paid the better, and I would assume that most successful applicants under the family category could also have qualified under the business category.

Anyway the best thing for the OP to do is, as others have suggested, to go along to CW and ask about your chances in detail. If you want to consider applying for citizenship in future when you are earning over Bt 40k, I have attached the current points system - you need at least 50 points. If you qualify for PR now, there is nothing, other than the cost, to stop you applying for that to see how it goes. If it takes for ever with no end in sight and you later find you have a high enough salary to apply for citizenship, you can withdraw the PR application and apply for citizenship instead. Of course, if you do get PR, you can immediately apply for citizenship as the spouse of a Thai national or after 5 years, if not.

Points Allocation 2010 EN.doc

[HAL9000]

Hmm... looks like I could muster up about 51 points if my Thai continues to progress at the current rate.

My main concern about citizenship is conflicting loyalties in case Thailand ever required something I didn't want to do.