Thai Wife Becomes Us Citizen Today

[donx]

Today my Thai wife becomes a US citizen. She will be attending the oath ceremony 11 months after her naturalization interview. We started the process with a fiancee visa in May of 1999. The long road from that visa to marriage to conditional permanent residence status to removal of the conditional status to US citizenship has taken nearly seven years!

Good luck to those of you in the process. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[PaulPerth]

Congratualtions Donx.

My wife has just arrived in Australia on temporary residents visa. She doesn't intend to take Oz citizenship just maintain permanent residency, because I want to buy property and build in Thailand and eventually retire there. It's a lot easier to do that if she still has her Thai citizenship.

Great news for you, have a great life together

Paul

[lopburi3]

Congratualtions Donx.

My wife has just arrived in Australia on temporary residents visa. She doesn't intend to take Oz citizenship just maintain permanent residency, because I want to buy property and build in Thailand and eventually retire there. It's a lot easier to do that if she still has her Thai citizenship.

Great news for you, have a great life together

Paul

Not sure I follow you. Oz allows dual citizenship so why would it be a problem? Thailand will not remove her citizenship because she gains Oz citizenship. Although Thailand may not recognize dual citizenship it takes no actions to prevent it.

[samran]

I can confirm that Paul. I have both thai and Aussie, and am on the property market here in Thailand.

[PaulPerth]

Although Thailand may not recognize dual citizenship it takes no actions to prevent it.

Lopburi and Samran, thanks! We didn't realise this. We have had conflicting views about this but Samran, you are living proof! Has it presented any confusing situations? Which passport do you usually travel with to and from Oz?

Paul

[donx]

Paul, dual citizenship is not a problem when traveling. I have two children that have both Thai and US passports. The authorities know there are people with dual citizenship. For example, when returning from Thailand I had to show both US and Thai passports. I showed the Thai passports because the entry/exit form was attached to it and I showed the US passports to prove that the children were allowed to enter the US since the Thai passports are void of US visas.

We too plan on retiring in Thailand. This website has convinced me that there are only benefits for my wife obtaining dual citizenship. The only potential drawback to dual citizenship may be for my son since he will be obligated to serve in the Thai army when he reaches adulthood. Perhaps samran has some suggestions for us regarding this situation.

My wife completed the oath ceremony and now she has her certificate of naturalization. The last step will be applying for her US passport.

[samran]

Paul - here is how it works.

In and out of OZ, always use the Aussie PP.

In and out of Thailand, use the Thai one.

When departing Thailand for Australia (or any western country), always show the airline check-in people both passports. It tells them that you have the right (via the Aussie passport) to enter Australia without need of a visa.

When travelling in Asia, I tend to use only my Thai PP, as there are some benefits of being an ASEAN national in not needing visa's. Travelling to Europe, US and Japan, I tend to use the Aussie one to gain visa free access.

As for military service, I have posted here many times on this, try doing a search, and if that hasn't helped, PM me.

[PaulPerth]

Guys, again thank you so much. I will research the Thai military service for my step son (he is 9 just now).

My wife and son will definately take out the dual citizenship. One more question Samran, now that I am married to a Thai citizen, can I apply for Thai citizenship?

[vinny]

can I apply for Thai citizenship?

See To acquire Thai nationality and also Thailand’s Nationality Act B.E. 2508 as amended by Acts B.E. 2535 No. 2 and 3 (1992)

[samran]

can I apply for Thai citizenship?

See To acquire Thai nationality and also Thailand’s Nationality Act B.E. 2508 as amended by Acts B.E. 2535 No. 2 and 3 (1992)

In otherwords, it ain't as easy or straight forward as in OZ. Also, there isn't any automatic entitlement based on marriage, especially if you are a foreign male married to a Thai female.

Firstly you must be resident in thailand to start the ball rolling on the citizenship stakes. This involves at least 3 years as a taxpayer in Thailand and being able to speak and read passable Thai. Then is a lengthy process to get PR at the end of 3 years. Many do go forward with the application, but most farangs stop at this point.

A few do go on to applying for Thai nationailty, and I guess some do get it, but they aren't as common.

[donx]

After searching the forum for military service as you suggested, I now understand why during our last visit to Thailand, my wife changed her mind about applying for Thai ID cards for our children which would have involved registering them on her family's main tabien baan. Since I don't expect us to return to Thailand full time until I retire, we'll just wait to register my son until he is over 30 years of age.

I would also like to thank everyone on Thai Visa for all the great information I have received in the past. I always recommend all my friends married to Thai ladies to check out this excellent website. So many of our friends are afraid of having their wives obtain US citizenship for fear of not being able to purchase land in the future. What is worse is that the people at the Thai embassy in Washington D.C. have specifically warned some of our Thai friends that if they become US citizens, they won't be able to buy land in Thailand.

[Mr Red]

My wife has been a US citizen for decades now, and just within the last couple years renewed her Thai ID card (clerks had a good time renewing one 25 years old), and obtained a Thai passport. She is quite legal to own property and the only hangup seems to be having the guts to enter/exit LOS on her Thai pp and enter/exit US on her US pp. We are nervous about having a tiff with the authorities in the US if her US pp has no stamps in it. Perhaps one day she will try it.

Problem comes when you enter LOS on a US pp, you have to observe the same visa rules as a US citizen, regardless of her Thai citizenship. If we return for a long stay (perhaps living there), we had considered transiting through someplace like Singapore and entering LOS on the Thai pp from there -- perhaps exiting the same way.

Bit of a hassle, but bottom line -- never skip renewing the Thai ID card. Good luck.

[lopburi3]

Mr. Red

There is absolutely no problem at US Immigration using unmarked US Passport. The US law requires you to use your US passport for entry/exit to the US so you are doing exactly what the law requires. Many countries do not even mark passports anymore so not having stamps is common. Having another passport and using it for travel outside the US is fully legal. There is no problem.

For entry to Thailand with an unmarked Thai passport has resulted in a few initial "can't do" but in every case I have seen that has been quickly overturned at a higher level. The use of the US passport to enter/exit Thailand gives you normal protections (Embassy will have to be notified if you are arrested and such) but you are subject to normal visa requirements. But even then the extension of visa stay for a Thai citizen to one year is an easy process if you want to take the trouble to visit immigration. But at the present time you are not doing anything wrong in using your Thai passport here so there is no need to hide your actions. As long as you are not "in your face" about having multi passports there should not be any problems.