Hi,

I have seen a few conflicting or confusing or unclear things about PR and citizenship, so figured I'd ask a few questions to clarify.

To save a few questions, I am a teacher with degree & work permit in a government school, I also have income from abroad. I intend on applying for either PR or Citizenship after I have my first child (I assume having both a wife and child will be a stronger application than just a wife). My Thai is ok, but I'd brush up for the test I'm sure.

1/ How much income do you need to apply for PR or Citizenship? And does it include income from outside Thailand? (And it's less if you are married? I've seen conflicting comments regarding this)

2/ To get Thai Citizenship, do you need to revoke your orignal citizenship? (I've seen a lot of conflicting comments regarding this)

3/ For Citizenship or PR there is a requirement of 3 or 5 years of consective Non Imms, if you change from a B to an O after 2 or 3 years, will this reset your consecutive years at all?

4/ If I qualified via a Thai wife category already, but also invested money in Thailand (Not the full 10 Mil THB, but maybe 3 or 4 Mil), would this improve my application? Or is the full 10 Million required?

5/ And would I need to invest this prior to applying, or could I just invest it after I'd been accepted? (I'd hate to invest money, then find that my application had been declined.).

6/ I saw on a TV information page, that it said PR will never expire unless revoked. Will it be revoked if I went to live outside Thailand for 3 or 4 years? (Or could I live outside Thailand indefinitely, and retain PR, so long as I goto the police station every 5 years for a stamp? (Or would I need to go every 1 year to register?))

1. Aproval is based on a point system. One of the items you recieve points for is your income, within Thailand. The higher the better. if married the best incoem would be above 50,000 a month. if not marrid to a Thai, 80,000 a month or more is advisable.

2. No, but you need to sign an intention to revoke it. Further you cannot enter Thailand on your passport of your other nationality, that could lead to revoking Thai nationality.

3. There is a requiremetn to be on extensions of stay from immigration, being on a visa entry doesn't count and you must have a work permit during that time.

4. Investment in Thailand would improve your income, so it will t the least mean extra income and taxes paid, which in itself will be positive.

5. Invest before.

6. With PR you must be in Thailand at least 1 day per year. if you stay longer than 1 year outside of Thailand PR is automatically revoked.

You need to come back to Thailand before your one year renewable visa and coterminal endorsement in your residence book expire or your PR will automatically be renounced under the 1979 Immigration Act with no possibility of appeal. You need to stay in Thailand long enough to get a new endorsement and visa from Immigration. It is not a big deal if you don't renew your alien book in time at the police station. You just have to pay a small fine.

To apply for citizenship on the basis of being married to a Thai (for 3 years without child and one year with) you need an income from employment in Thailand of at least B40k a month. You also need to be on a tabien baan, show 3 years' of Thai salaries tax receipts. The 5 year requirement is for those without Thai wives who need 5 years' PR. Unlike PR there isn't a specific investment category for citizenship. They look at your salary, income tax paid and cash at bank at time of application. They will not accept evidence of investments because it is not referred to in the Act or ministerial regulations but, if you are a shareholder in the company you work for, the company will be subjected to greater srutiny. They won't care much about your bank statement as long as it is over a certain amount. The only thing that really impresses them about your financial profile is how much salaries tax your have paid. Yes, there is a points system, although that is just to get your application accepted. The points allocation has deliberately been made harder for those without PR recently to raise the bar a bit on those who only have Thai wives. Previously you got less points for PR and could get points just for having a Thai wife and kid.

4/ If I qualified via a Thai wife category already, but also invested money in Thailand (Not the full 10 Mil THB, but maybe 3 or 4 Mil), would this improve my application? Or is the full 10 Million required?

They don't still have this requirement I thought?

The ten million number is for extensions of stay and permanent residency. Not for citizenship.