Camerata's Guide To The Permanent Residence Process

[Arkady]

5 hours ago, sas_cars said:

suspicion plus if possible, milking of foreigners as much as possible. lol.

The worst that ever happened to me with Immigration was that I was forced to pay around B40k in tax when I applied for my first NON-B to get a WP.  They saw from my passport that I had made a number of trips to Thailand, about one a month for a few days each for about a year, as I was in HK and could hop over, and they accused me of working illegally in Thailand and made an arbitrary assessment of what they thought my salary might be and charged me tax on it on the spot. The calculation was made in about 5 minutes on the back of an envelope.  When I objected that I had not been in Thailand for 180 days in the tax year and that I had paid tax on my overseas salary and the UK and Thailand had a double tax treaty, they just said made some threatening comments about how I could go and argue the case with the Revenue Dept, if I might end up criminally prosecuted by the Labour Ministry for working without WP, and have to pay anyway without getting the NON-B and WP.  I did get a receipt but in retrospect I thought it was a scam, as I am sure they have no authority to make arbitrary assessments of tax on behalf of the Revenue Dept and collect it too.  Plus they had absolutely no evidence other than my visits to Thailand.  I wanted to take it up with a lawyer but my office manager advised paying and moving on, as we were setting up an office and hiring staff and didn't need this type of hassle.  Luckily I had a receipt, even though it was probably bogus as far as the Revenue Dept was concerned and my boss was sympathetic and allowed me to claim it as an expense from the company.  B40K was a lot of money in those days at 25 to the $.

 

I was shaken by that experience of gangster type extortion in plain sight in the Immigration office at Soi Suan Plu and it made me for ever wary of them.  I guess they knew I was new to Thailand and thought it worth a try that could easily be denied as a misunderstanding, if I complained, or that my signed acknowledgement was tantamount to a confession of working with WP or something that would get me into trouble, if I did complain.

 

Sadly I hear some stories that suggest things have not been improving under the current government.   

[Michael Hare]

20 hours ago, Arkady said:

Having been through both processes, my opinion is that, apart from the higher cost, citizenship is a much easier and more friendly process than PR.  As time goes by the PR process seems to get harder and nastier at a more rapid rate than citizenship, even though the latter also gets harder and, indeed, adopts some of the innovations introduced into the PR process, albeit at a slower rate.  Although both processes are under the Interior Ministry which makes the ultimate decisions, the big difference is that Immigration handles applications for PR and Special Branch handles applications for citizenship.  At Special Branch in Bangkok the two citizenship sections (there is a separate one just to handle applications from foreign women with Thai husbands) are an oddity unrelated to Special Branch's normal duties and officers enjoy a posting there as light relief.  They like interacting with foreign applicants and generally seem to want you to get through.  The PR sections at Immigration are also plum postings, due to the relatively light work load, but dealing with foreigners is no novelty for Immigration officers and the culture there promotes suspicion of foreigners.

 

One particular issue with PR is that by law applications can only open at a certain time after a cabinet resolution confirms the quota of 100 per nationality and 50 stateless persons which never changes.  That means the window for applications can open any time from June to late December and you need to have all you documents ready in advance, if it opens late because the cut off is usually the year end.  The year I applied the window opened from 15 to 31 December and I only just had enough time to do it all before getting on a plane.  Citizenship applications can be submitted any working day of the year. 

I have had PR for 20 years and at times I have considered citizenship. What puts me off is that I doubt that I could process citizenship in Ubon Ratchathani. I did my PR at Soi Suan Plu and even though it was easy, just the going backwards and forwards to Bangkok was tiring. If the whole process of getting citizenship could be done in Ubon, I would jump at it. I am getting tired of getting Work Permits every two years with PR. 

[DrJoy]

If your Home country does not have an Embassy in Thailand then what is the way around? Does anybody know about it?

[DrJoy]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:52 AM, Michael Hare said:

I have had PR for 20 years and at times I have considered citizenship. What puts me off is that I doubt that I could process citizenship in Ubon Ratchathani. I did my PR at Soi Suan Plu and even though it was easy, just the going backwards and forwards to Bangkok was tiring. If the whole process of getting citizenship could be done in Ubon, I would jump at it. I am getting tired of getting Work Permits every two years with PR. 

I am Non-PR, Non BOI company. I work for an ordinary company and still get 2 year work permit.

[Arkady]

1 hour ago, DrJoy said:

If your Home country does not have an Embassy in Thailand then what is the way around? Does anybody know about it?

You asking about PR or citizenship?  For citizenship I believe there are provisions to get docs that you need from your embassy from your Foreign Ministry or other competent ministry back home, if no embassy in Bangkok. However, I don't know how this would work in practice. For PR I am not sure what you need from embassies these days but I guess the same would apply.

[Arkady]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:52 AM, Michael Hare said:

I have had PR for 20 years and at times I have considered citizenship. What puts me off is that I doubt that I could process citizenship in Ubon Ratchathani. I did my PR at Soi Suan Plu and even though it was easy, just the going backwards and forwards to Bangkok was tiring. If the whole process of getting citizenship could be done in Ubon, I would jump at it. I am getting tired of getting Work Permits every two years with PR. 

I think you are probably right that Special Branch in Ubon would be unable or unwilling to process your application. I don't recall seeing Ubon addresses in the lists of new citizens but nothing to lose by asking them though.  Applying in Bangkok would certainly require a number of trips, some at short notice.

[DrJoy]

13 minutes ago, Arkady said:

You asking about PR or citizenship?  For citizenship I believe there are provisions to get docs that you need from your embassy from your Foreign Ministry or other competent ministry back home, if no embassy in Bangkok. However, I don't know how this would work in practice. For PR I am not sure what you need from embassies these days but I guess the same would apply.

PR. PR applications need certification from the embassy, translation and then certification from Thai MFA. My friend is from St Vincent. Will the Thai MFA certify a document which is coming from St Vincent? I highly doubt

[onthemoon]

3 hours ago, DrJoy said:

If your Home country does not have an Embassy in Thailand then what is the way around? Does anybody know about it?

For which document? In general, this is true:

If your home country is a EU country, any EU embassy in Thailand will represent them.

If your home country is a member of the Andean Community, you can go to the embassy of another member country. I think each country not having an embassy appoints a certain country's embassy but I am not sure about it.

If your home country is another one, it is possible that they have a similar agreement with other countries and you can use their embassy, but in some cases, an embassy of your home country in a near-by country will also be in charge of Thailand and you have to contact your embassy in that country.

So, the answer to you question depends on your home country and the document needed. 

Have you checked the website of your home country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs? There might be a hint which embassy to contact when in Thailand. 

[onthemoon]

1 hour ago, DrJoy said:

PR. PR applications need certification from the embassy, translation and then certification from Thai MFA. My friend is from St Vincent. Will the Thai MFA certify a document which is coming from St Vincent? I highly doubt

If I remember correctly, the translation must be certified by the embassy along with a copy of the original. (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.) In that case, the Thai MoFA will trust the embassy's stamp, regardless of the nationality of the translator.

[ubonjoe]

On 8/12/2021 at 3:29 PM, onthemoon said:

If I remember correctly, the translation must be certified by the embassy along with a copy of the original. (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.) In that case, the Thai MoFA will trust the embassy's stamp, regardless of the nationality of the translator.

I am not aware any embassy certifying a translation. The Department of Consular Affairs' certifies translations. Any translation service can do the translation.

Some embassies will certify and/or will legalize a document.

[Kalorymetr]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

I am not aware any embassy certifying a translation. The Department of Consular certifies translations. Any translation service can do the translation.

Some embassies will certify and/or will legalize a document.

Polish Embassy will translate a document or certify the translation for you. Translation costs 5000b per document and certification only 1200, so it is well worth it. 

Edited August 12, 2021 by Kalorymetr

[Neeranam]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:52 AM, Michael Hare said:

I have had PR for 20 years and at times I have considered citizenship. What puts me off is that I doubt that I could process citizenship in Ubon Ratchathani. I did my PR at Soi Suan Plu and even though it was easy, just the going backwards and forwards to Bangkok was tiring. If the whole process of getting citizenship could be done in Ubon, I would jump at it. I am getting tired of getting Work Permits every two years with PR. 

I live in Khon Kaen and got citizenship last year. I tried the SB here but they were useless, so I just said I lived in Bangkok, moving my housebook to a friend's there. 

[onthemoon]

On 8/12/2021 at 7:42 PM, ubonjoe said:

I am not aware any embassy certifying a translation. The Department of Consular Affairs certifies translations. Any translation service can do the translation.

Some embassies will certify and/or will legalize a document.

If I recall correctly, the embassy put a stamp on the translation. They basically confirmed that the translator is an officially licenced translator, implying that the translation is assumed to be correct.

Otherwise, how can the MoFA be sure that the translation is correct? They would have to translate everything again and compare their translation with that of the commercial translator.

[ubonjoe]

27 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

If I recall correctly, the embassy put a stamp on the translation. They basically confirmed that the translator is an officially licenced translator, implying that the translation is assumed to be correct.

Otherwise, how can the MoFA be sure that the translation is correct? They would have to translate everything again and compare their translation with that of the commercial translator.

I not even sure that a certification of a translation done by embassy here in Thailand would be accepted for a PR application. The Department of Consular Affairs (DCA) of the MFA have staff qualified to certify translations. They do not do translations. The translation is done by by a translation service and then submitted to them for certification.

Info can be found here in Thai on the DCA website. https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/page/cate-6441-รับรองนิติกรณ์เอกสาร?menu=5d68c88b15e39c160c008184

[scorecard]

57 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

If I recall correctly, the embassy put a stamp on the translation. They basically confirmed that the translator is an officially licenced translator, implying that the translation is assumed to be correct.

Otherwise, how can the MoFA be sure that the translation is correct? They would have to translate everything again and compare their translation with that of the commercial translator.

23+ years ago I got Thai PR. 

 

At that time, applicants had to get all English language documents stamped at their embassy. 

 

The Australian embassy (and many other embassies) added a stamp 'Seen at Australian Embassy'), but not checked or read.

 

In fact the stamp was meaningless. But it was accepted without hesitation by the Thai Imm. PR team. 

 

The fee for every stamp was about AUD$25-, had to be paid in cash.

 

   

[onthemoon]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

23+ years ago I got Thai PR. 

 

At that time, applicants had to get all English language documents stamped at their embassy. 

 

The Australian embassy (and many other embassies) added a stamp 'Seen at Australian Embassy'), but not checked or read.

 

In fact the stamp was meaningless. But it was accepted without hesitation by the Thai Imm. PR team. 

 

The fee for every stamp was about AUD$25-, had to be paid in cash.

 

   

That's also possible in my case: I don't remember exactly whether they confirmed that the translator is licenced or whether it was only a "seen at..." stamp. 

[Arkady]

In Thailand embassies can legalise documents from their countries but translations, which seem OK if accompanied by a stamp showing name and contact details of translator,  have to be certified by MoFA.  The translation checkers at MoFA are of variable quality and often overlook copious errors in translation while insisting on changes that are incorrect.  But one of the things they have there is a database of signatures of all the consul officials at foreign embassies who are authorised to sign. In addition to certifying translations, they also legalise the signature of the consular official of anything legalised by an embassy.  One of their favorite corrections is in the Thai spellings of names of consular officials working at foreign embassies.  Translators will just have a shot at transliterating foreign names into Thai or at writing the names of Thai consular signatories that are printed in English on the English documents and, if challenged, will claim they are familiar with the Thai spelling for this or that consular official, even if they are not.  This is not good enough for MoFA because they have the correct Thai spellings on record and will reject any translation that doesn't comply with what they have on record.  So always ask for the Thai spellings of the names of consular officials of anything you need translated and notarised by MoFA. 

 

Many embassies have drastically reduced their legalisation activities.  The British embassy used to legalise anything that came out of the UK or olonies like BVI on a walk-in basis but now has a very short list of things it will legalise, such as passport copies. If you try to go there to legalise something not on their list, they will not give you an appointment. Some things like birth certificates now have to be apostiled in the UK instead.

 

I applied for PR in the late 90s and wasn't asked to get anything certified by my embassy or MoFA. Degree certificates were accepted in English without legalisation by embassy but foreign languages other than English had to be translated. All copies were certified as true and correct by myself.  No home country police clearance was required.  There was no Thai language requirement or panel interview, just two separate interviews by Immigration officers asking exactly the same questions.  We were informally guaranteed to get PR before they opened for the next year's batch and this was honoured. We applied in December and were approved in three batches, in June, September and December of the following year.

[marquess]

My question is  what do I need to get notorised by the British embassy and do I need to get translations done before notorisation? Apart from degree certificate and the  UK police record check, is there anything else that would need to be translated? Thanks in advance.

[SteveB2]

Apart from a translation, my degree certificate, UK ACPO background check and divorce certificate all needed an 'Apostille' attached to them. I hired a legal firm in the UK to carry out this onerous legal task for me.

 

Word of advice:- insist on having a member of your UK legal team hand carry any important documents to the Thai Embassy in London for any necessary admin processing and stamps - They informed me that while queing to get in the Thai embassy, there was one guy from Thailand in the que who had sufferred the Thai Embassy(UK) loose his original degree certificate and other important documents 3 times before he eventually bit the bullet and travelled all the way to the UK so as to handle the Thai Embassy visits himself...

[scorecard]

On 8/16/2021 at 10:56 PM, Arkady said:

In Thailand embassies can legalise documents from their countries but translations, which seem OK if accompanied by a stamp showing name and contact details of translator,  have to be certified by MoFA.  The translation checkers at MoFA are of variable quality and often overlook copious errors in translation while insisting on changes that are incorrect.  But one of the things they have there is a database of signatures of all the consul officials at foreign embassies who are authorised to sign. In addition to certifying translations, they also legalise the signature of the consular official of anything legalised by an embassy.  One of their favorite corrections is in the Thai spellings of names of consular officials working at foreign embassies.  Translators will just have a shot at transliterating foreign names into Thai or at writing the names of Thai consular signatories that are printed in English on the English documents and, if challenged, will claim they are familiar with the Thai spelling for this or that consular official, even if they are not.  This is not good enough for MoFA because they have the correct Thai spellings on record and will reject any translation that doesn't comply with what they have on record.  So always ask for the Thai spellings of the names of consular officials of anything you need translated and notarised by MoFA. 

 

Many embassies have drastically reduced their legalisation activities.  The British embassy used to legalise anything that came out of the UK or olonies like BVI on a walk-in basis but now has a very short list of things it will legalise, such as passport copies. If you try to go there to legalise something not on their list, they will not give you an appointment. Some things like birth certificates now have to be apostiled in the UK instead.

 

I applied for PR in the late 90s and wasn't asked to get anything certified by my embassy or MoFA. Degree certificates were accepted in English without legalisation by embassy but foreign languages other than English had to be translated. All copies were certified as true and correct by myself.  No home country police clearance was required.  There was no Thai language requirement or panel interview, just two separate interviews by Immigration officers asking exactly the same questions.  We were informally guaranteed to get PR before they opened for the next year's batch and this was honoured. We applied in December and were approved in three batches, in June, September and December of the following year.

I applied in 1198/1999 (not sure which).

 

- My degrees, long-term investment documents (mutual funds), police clearance had to be submitted in Thai and in English.

- After my English documents were translated to Thai, I took both sets of documents to my embassy where they were all stamped 'SEEN AT xxxxxxx EMBASSY', a date was written under the stamp then a signature of an embassy consular employee, my understand is that any consular employee (from the home country) could sign.

- On my first visit to Soi Suan Phlu with my agent, the agent spoke to a person at the counter and a more senior officer was called to the counter. The senior officer asked if we had free time for an interview there and then. I indicated 'YES'. At this point no documents at all had been submitted.

- The senior officer took my agent and myself to another wing of the Soi Suan Phlu buildings and he unlocked an interview room, not a small room, with a big desk and chairs.

- When we were walking to the interview room the office spoke to me many times in perfect English. Thai language wasn't used in the interview. My agent also spoke perfect English.

- We sat down, a maid brought some coffee and cold water. 

- The officer said 'the first step is for me to accept all your documents and check each document. probably about 1 hour and I'll ask you questions as needed to ensure I fully understand your documents.

- First check completed the officer started a general/comprehensive interview about my job, my past history, my academic studies and all with emphasis on what I believed I was contributing to Thailand and several times he asked if I was training/sharing my knowledge, skills, experience with my Thai colleagues. I recall he also politely mentioned 'please make sure you speak to your Thai work staff in English to ensure their English skills develop'.

- The officer was very pleasant, good 2 way discussion/conversation, clearly well travelled, he listened well to my answers and followed up as needed. I felt no intimidation whatever. Several times he stopped and asked 'do you have any questions for me at this stage.' 

- He also asked about my family in Thailand, where they lived, what language we spoke at home, what sports my son played. When I mentioned 'my son plays rugby' he gave a big smile and shared that he had played rugby in New Zealand when he was at school/university and he loved to watch rugby but unfortunately it's not shown very often on Thai TV.

- He then indicated that the interview was complete, but he did ask again 'do you have any more questions for me'. Then he said 'I need about 10 or 15 minutes to talk to my superior, and I'm going to recommend you to receive the Certificate of Residence, I'll be back quickly'. And he politely asked if we could wait, I answered YES.

- He scooped up all the documents in distinct groups then make them look neat and put big clips on the 3 or 4 piles of docs.

- He disappeared then reappeared less than 10 minutes later. With a big smile he shook my hand and said 'I can confirm you are now on the recommended list for this year for your country'.

- My agent politely asked 'what are the next steps?' The officer responded:

• 'There are no more interviews.'
• 'Your documents and my accepted recommendation will go to a very senior Immigration committee later this year, that committee meets once a year. The committee have never rejected any recommendations. The only difficulty can be if the maximum number of foreigners for your country has been exceeded, but if that happens, and it's never happened, that person will automatically head the list or recommendations for that country for the next year.  But your submission and interview has been very early for this year and I can tell you that you're number 1 on the list for your country for this year.' He called someone then gave us the planned date for the senior meeting. 
• 'Quickly after the senior committee meeting (normally finished well inside one day) you will get a registered letter advising that your application has been approved and details of what you must do next'. He also mentioned if you get worried about receiving that letter come back to the main counter and ask for me and I'll follow up for you.
• The officer also mentioned that the committee was made up of several very senior Immigration officers and several military Generals. He asked me 'are you aware of General Prem, he was the PM for many years now retired'.
• I indicated YES, when my letter arrived it was signed by General Prem. 

 

 

[Arkady]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

I applied in 1198/1999 (not sure which).

 

- My degrees, long-term investment documents (mutual funds), police clearance had to be submitted in Thai and in English.

- After my English documents were translated to Thai, I took both sets of documents to my embassy where they were all stamped 'SEEN AT xxxxxxx EMBASSY', a date was written under the stamp then a signature of an embassy consular employee, my understand is that any consular employee (from the home country) could sign.

- On my first visit to Soi Suan Phlu with my agent, the agent spoke to a person at the counter and a more senior officer was called to the counter. The senior officer asked if we had free time for an interview there and then. I indicated 'YES'. At this point no documents at all had been submitted.

- The senior officer took my agent and myself to another wing of the Soi Suan Phlu buildings and he unlocked an interview room, not a small room, with a big desk and chairs.

- When we were walking to the interview room the office spoke to me many times in perfect English. Thai language wasn't used in the interview. My agent also spoke perfect English.

- We sat down, a maid brought some coffee and cold water. 

- The officer said 'the first step is for me to accept all your documents and check each document. probably about 1 hour and I'll ask you questions as needed to ensure I fully understand your documents.

- First check completed the officer started a general/comprehensive interview about my job, my past history, my academic studies and all with emphasis on what I believed I was contributing to Thailand and several times he asked if I was training/sharing my knowledge, skills, experience with my Thai colleagues. I recall he also politely mentioned 'please make sure you speak to your Thai work staff in English to ensure their English skills develop'.

- The officer was very pleasant, good 2 way discussion/conversation, clearly well travelled, he listened well to my answers and followed up as needed. I felt no intimidation whatever. Several times he stopped and asked 'do you have any questions for me at this stage.' 

- He also asked about my family in Thailand, where they lived, what language we spoke at home, what sports my son played. When I mentioned 'my son plays rugby' he gave a big smile and shared that he had played rugby in New Zealand when he was at school/university and he loved to watch rugby but unfortunately it's not shown very often on Thai TV.

- He then indicated that the interview was complete, but he did ask again 'do you have any more questions for me'. Then he said 'I need about 10 or 15 minutes to talk to my superior, and I'm going to recommend you to receive the Certificate of Residence, I'll be back quickly'. And he politely asked if we could wait, I answered YES.

- He scooped up all the documents in distinct groups then make them look neat and put big clips on the 3 or 4 piles of docs.

- He disappeared then reappeared less than 10 minutes later. With a big smile he shook my hand and said 'I can confirm you are now on the recommended list for this year for your country'.

- My agent politely asked 'what are the next steps?' The officer responded:

• 'There are no more interviews.'
• 'Your documents and my accepted recommendation will go to a very senior Immigration committee later this year, that committee meets once a year. The committee have never rejected any recommendations. The only difficulty can be if the maximum number of foreigners for your country has been exceeded, but if that happens, and it's never happened, that person will automatically head the list or recommendations for that country for the next year.  But your submission and interview has been very early for this year and I can tell you that you're number 1 on the list for your country for this year.' He called someone then gave us the planned date for the senior meeting. 
• 'Quickly after the senior committee meeting (normally finished well inside one day) you will get a registered letter advising that your application has been approved and details of what you must do next'. He also mentioned if you get worried about receiving that letter come back to the main counter and ask for me and I'll follow up for you.
• The officer also mentioned that the committee was made up of several very senior Immigration officers and several military Generals. He asked me 'are you aware of General Prem, he was the PM for many years now retired'.
• I indicated YES, when my letter arrived it was signed by General Prem. 

You must have applied in the 80s, if your letter was signed by Prem. He did serve as PM and Interior Minister simultaneously then but quit politics completely in 1988.  Chatichai Choonhaven succeeded him as PM in that year.

 

My two interviews for PR in 1997 were all in Thai and the second one was not particularly friendly. The interview took place in a room with the TV blaring a soap opera in the corner and another applicant being interviewed 3 feet away from me and other cops chatting noisily in the background.  The interviewer was clearly looking to pick holes in my application and looking for excuses to reject me. I had to get an introduction to a Pol Maj Gen at Immigration who was friendly with the parents of one of my staff and he vouched for me so I could  leapfrog over the gatekeeper who was only a captain. A friend who told me he had paid something was called to the second interview and just showed the name card of the appropriate pol gen and was told he had passed without having to answer any questions.  He got his PR in June having applied in December the previous year.  I had to wait till December.  

 

Requirements for translation and notarisation of docs and police clearances seem to have varied over the years for both PR and citizenship, depending on who was in charge at the time. But now both processes seem to have gravitated to maximum strictness in these areas.  Notwithstanding curved balls that came my way in both processes I have to say I was lucky in having to do only a bare minimum of translation and notarisation for both but, of course, at the time we all thought the requirements were a real pain.

[Arkady]

On 7/3/2021 at 11:43 AM, scorecard said:

 

I understand all of that; 

Yes there has been an ongoing discussion for years whether Certificate of Residence holders should/should not need a work permit, my personal opinion (repeat just my personal opinion) is that they should not need a work permit but perhaps ther

Your points taken/accepted. 

 

With all respect I submitted a message prompted by a post specific to the final date to return under the Covid 19 situation.

 

No further comment.   

 

When WPs were introduced in the early 70s anyone who had PR at the time and was in a job was exempted from the need to have a WP for life, as long as he remained in the same profession. That was in the transitory provisions of the original Working of Aliens Act. It would have made more sense if they had just exempted  PRs without exception.

[Arkady]

14 hours ago, SteveB2 said:

Apart from a translation, my degree certificate, UK ACPO background check and divorce certificate all needed an 'Apostille' attached to them. I hired a legal firm in the UK to carry out this onerous legal task for me.

 

Word of advice:- insist on having a member of your UK legal team hand carry any important documents to the Thai Embassy in London for any necessary admin processing and stamps - They informed me that while queing to get in the Thai embassy, there was one guy from Thailand in the que who had sufferred the Thai Embassy(UK) loose his original degree certificate and other important documents 3 times before he eventually bit the bullet and travelled all the way to the UK so as to handle the Thai Embassy visits himself...

Good advice re Thai Embassy in London. There have been many reports of them losing documents sent to them for legalisation.  It seems that they are totally lackadaisical and couldn't care less. 

 

I was once asked for an apostile of my passport for a business deal in Germany. They said it must be an apostile, not legalisation by the embassy.  I enquired at the British Embassy by email and two weeks later a real British consular officer called me to say he had never heard of apostiles but had done some research and found out they could only be done in the UK.  So I went to the German Embassy without an appointment where they happily did an apostile of my British passport and witnessed my signature on the agreement. 

[jonclark]

Does anyone know when PR opens this year - The immigrationwebsite has not been updated and still says 2016? 

 

I assume all the docs are the same as previous years.

 

Thanks

[marquess]

14 hours ago, SteveB2 said:

Apart from a translation, my degree certificate, UK ACPO background check and divorce certificate all needed an 'Apostille' attached to them. I hired a legal firm in the UK to carry out this onerous legal task for me.

 

Word of advice:- insist on having a member of your UK legal team hand carry any important documents to the Thai Embassy in London for any necessary admin processing and stamps - They informed me that while queing to get in the Thai embassy, there was one guy from Thailand in the que who had sufferred the Thai Embassy(UK) loose his original degree certificate and other important documents 3 times before he eventually bit the bullet and travelled all the way to the UK so as to handle the Thai Embassy visits himself...

I have contacted a firm in the UK to do the apostillisation and the Thai Embassy thing. It was a firm recommended to me by a friend who went through the process last year. He paid a legal firm in Thailand to handle everything for him except that.  Does anyone know where I should go for the translation of the policed clearance and degree cert? Also any idea of costs? Thanks in advance! 

[cocoonclub]

Some questions regarding the PR documents:

 

Degrees:

• Do I need my original degrees here to get them translated and the translation certified or would a copy do? I have them in my home country and didn't and don't really wanna have them here where they may get lost... do I need to ask my parents to Fedex them here?

 

Criminal background check:

• I am getting this sent from the Ministry of Justice in my home country. Where/How do I then translate and certify it here in Thailand?
• Is there any additional police background check I need to do? I read somewhere here that people need to go to the special branch police center?

 

Translations and certifications:

• How do I translate and certify any other documents? I only ever did that once for my driver license which was pretty easy: I went to a translator that's authorized by my embassy. Took his translation to the embassy. Embassy certified it. Land Transport Department accepted it. Would that be the same process here?

 

Tabien baan:

• Is my landlord needed in the whole process? I recall I read somewhere that the landlord needs to get me into a house registration but I've never met him and I doubt he would do that. Would it be easier to move in with my gf?

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by cocoonclub

[marquess]

You need the originals, sad to say that since the changeover of this site, responses are not quite what they once were.  

[Arkady]

On 10/5/2021 at 11:17 PM, cocoonclub said:

Tabien baan:

 

• Is my landlord needed in the whole process? I recall I read somewhere that the landlord needs to get me into a house registration but I've never met him and I doubt he would do that. Would it be easier to move in with my gf?

 

I can't help with the other questions because I didn't need to do them for PR in simpler days.  I don't think you need a yellow tabien baan (or pink ID card) to apply for PR  but I assume you should submit them, if you have them.  However, once you have PR it is an important legal requirement that you get on a blue tabien baan.  You are right in that most landlords will refuse to put tenants on their tabien baan.  It is a hassle for them and they probably don't want to make a tenant the householder, which every tabien baan needs to have.  I managed to do it with much cajoling of the landlord but he refused to give me even a copy of the blue book.  So I had to go the district office to get certified one page print outs of my entry which are only valid for three months. 

 

So, if you can get a tabien baan without having to bother your landlord, that would be preferable. It doesn't matter that you don't live at that address but you need to be able get hold of any official mail that might be sent to you there, even though this is quite rare.  If you intend to apply for citizenship later one, you will do better with a tabien baan in Bangkok which allows application at the specialised Special Branch nationality department.

[marquess]

Can anyone who has done this before, recommend a translation service or give some advice on which ones to use? Thanks

[onthemoon]

12 hours ago, Arkady said:

I can't help with the other questions because I didn't need to do them for PR in simpler days.  I don't think you need a yellow tabien baan (or pink ID card) to apply for PR  but I assume you should submit them, if you have them.  However, once you have PR it is an important legal requirement that you get on a blue tabien baan.  You are right in that most landlords will refuse to put tenants on their tabien baan.  It is a hassle for them and they probably don't want to make a tenant the householder, which every tabien baan needs to have.  I managed to do it with much cajoling of the landlord but he refused to give me even a copy of the blue book.  So I had to go the district office to get certified one page print outs of my entry which are only valid for three months. 

 

So, if you can get a tabien baan without having to bother your landlord, that would be preferable. It doesn't matter that you don't live at that address but you need to be able get hold of any official mail that might be sent to you there, even though this is quite rare.  If you intend to apply for citizenship later one, you will do better with a tabien baan in Bangkok which allows application at the specialised Special Branch nationality department.

FWIW I didn't have a tabien been when I applied for PR. Instead, I asked my embassy to issue a Certificate of Residence, which was a letter confirming that I am registered at this address.