Thailand: Plan for 'nationality clinic'

[webfact]

Plan for 'nationality clinic'
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Interior Ministry's Department of Provincial Administration will launch a trial of a "nationality clinic" between October 27-31 before officially opening it on November 3.

Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda said yesterday that he had assigned the department to solve issues relating to the nationality law, immigration law and a person's legal status.

He said the clinic would be established to provide advice and accurate information to the public and other agencies.

The clinic would be manned by experts who could answer questions and a proactive team to provide information on the field, he added.

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Plan-for-nationality-clinic-30245338.html


-- The Nation 2014-10-13

[Seastallion]

Sounds good.

It would be great if all queries are replied with written references to the appropriate regulations. All too often the interpretation or lack thereof of regulations changes from office to office, mainly because nobody can point to a regulation, just quote a supposed one.

[Seastallion]

Also, inform all immigration officers of the clinic's existence and give them a free calling number. Encourage them to call whenever there is doubt in deciding an immigrant's rights and status.

[BSJ]

What! Is this a government body charged with telling Thai people how Thai they are? Or aren't???

[Badbanker]

No one knows what this is all about, but as it has the word "provincial" is being used, it may relate to hill tribe or other upcountry people getting their nationality sorted out!

[chainarong]

A blatant waste of taxpayers money and time , what is required is a complete overhaul of the immigration and ownership act , a set of rules, set in concrete that cannot be interpreted any old way depending on the mood of the day, a proper platform for appeals, a streamlining of visa' and reporting procedures and land ownership for Foreigners, then again Thai's like to live in yesteryear that's why they are so out of step with the rest of the international community.

[recycled]

The clinic would be manned by experts - which country are they coming from?

[NongKhaiKid]

Sounds good.

It would be great if all queries are replied with written references to the appropriate regulations. All too often the interpretation or lack thereof of regulations changes from office to office, mainly because nobody can point to a regulation, just quote a supposed one.

Good point and there are so many examples of arbitrary changes in the law etc depending on where you are.

Not the best example i know but i was warned about speeding on Highway 2 between Nong Khai and Udon because I had exceed the 80 KPH limit for pickup trucks.

A week later driving Udon to Khon Kaen i was told up to 100 was ok and i was still driving the same pickup.

[soalbundy]

??????????????

[jacksam]

There is zero consistency when it comes to immigration in Thailand or the consulates.

Just back to bkk now after visit back to AU. I tried to obtain a Non imm o in Melbourne. "No this not possible"

Had to have spouse or family.

Found out I could mail my application to Brisbane and obtain non imm o.

By then I had settled for tourist visa from Melbourne.

When I pointed the Brisbane thing out to melb io. Reply....

"They do it different in Brisbane"

Sheezz

[jacksam]

There is zero consistency when it comes to immigration in Thailand or the consulates.

Just back to bkk now after visit back to AU. I tried to obtain a Non imm o in Melbourne. "No this not possible"

Had to have spouse or family.

Found out I could mail my application to Brisbane and obtain non imm o.

By then I had settled for tourist visa from Melbourne.

When I pointed the Brisbane thing out to melb io. Reply....

"They do it different in Brisbane"

Sheezz

[jaywalker]

The clinic would be manned by experts - which country are they coming from?

Planet Pluto....Oh yeah, they can't get a work permit.

Who cares? They've got plenty of folks that can do the job just as well.

[Strangebrew]

I got it if hill tribe wants to be classified Thai the correct bribe and wham instant Thai.

[scorecard]

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The clinic would be manned by experts - which country are they coming from?

Planet Pluto....Oh yeah, they can't get a work permit.

Who cares? They've got plenty of folks that can do the job just as well.

Inconsistency across offices is not confined to immigration etc., matters.

Friend of my Thai son got divorced, at the local amphur office.

He went to the office a few days earlier to get some details and was told by one officer there is no law indicating he had to give his wife any form of settlement.

On the day it was processed by another officer who refused to finalize the papers until the husband gave the wife 50,000Baht cash on the spot. The wife indicated that she didn't want the money, the amphur officer (apparently rather bombastic) insisted that by law she had to take the money.

The man did pay the 50,000 to get it completed. After all done the amphur officer tried to convenience the ex-wife to use the money for a down payment on a car. Ex-wife apparently ignored her and kept changing the subject and pushed to leave.

Outside, the now ex-wife handed the 50,000 back to ex-husband.

[razer]

A blatant waste of taxpayers money and time , what is required is a complete overhaul of the immigration and ownership act , a set of rules, set in concrete that cannot be interpreted any old way depending on the mood of the day, a proper platform for appeals, a streamlining of visa' and reporting procedures and land ownership for Foreigners, then again Thai's like to live in yesteryear that's why they are so out of step with the rest of the international community.

chainarong ... Are you saying Thailand should become foreign investor friendly? Oh my .... this is a "foreign" concept for Thailand. I think they would prefer Japanese style investment where the foreign invesors are imbedded with the elite 2%.

[Mario2008]

As Badbanker pointed out, this is most likely with regards to hill tribe people and stateless people, not regarding people staying here with a visa and extensions of stay.

[JOC]

So they opening a special "clinic" to inform non-Thais about their lack of any rights here??

I guess we knew that already!!

[Briggsy]

What is the budget for the clinic and who will control it? This is the first thought that would have popped into any Thai civil servant's head.

[SOTIRIOS]

.....how about adding some basic human rights for non-Thais......

[draftvader]

Will there be a "processing centre" opening next door any time soon?

[Mario2008]

Some off topic posts have been removed.

[Dogmatix]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The clinic would be manned by experts - which country are they coming from?

Planet Pluto....Oh yeah, they can't get a work permit.

Who cares? They've got plenty of folks that can do the job just as well.

Inconsistency across offices is not confined to immigration etc., matters.

Friend of my Thai son got divorced, at the local amphur office.

He went to the office a few days earlier to get some details and was told by one officer there is no law indicating he had to give his wife any form of settlement.

On the day it was processed by another officer who refused to finalize the papers until the husband gave the wife 50,000Baht cash on the spot. The wife indicated that she didn't want the money, the amphur officer (apparently rather bombastic) insisted that by law she had to take the money.

The man did pay the 50,000 to get it completed. After all done the amphur officer tried to convenience the ex-wife to use the money for a down payment on a car. Ex-wife apparently ignored her and kept changing the subject and pushed to leave.

Outside, the now ex-wife handed the 50,000 back to ex-husband.

Fascinating but what does this have to do with nationality?

[petercool]

Post discussing moderation and using bad language removed

[Arkady]

No one knows what this is all about, but as it has the word "provincial" is being used, it may relate to hill tribe or other upcountry people getting their nationality sorted out!

Hopefully this will be of assistance to those people and others. The Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) is the part of the Interior Ministry that the Section for Minority Groups and Thai Nationality (กลุ่มชนกลุ่มน้อยและสัญชาติ) comes under. It covers the whole country including Bangkok and handles nearly all issues to do with Thai nationality including applications from minority groups, from expats seeking naturalisation and from wives of Thai nationals applying to adopt their husbands' nationality. It also handles revocation of nationality both voluntary and involuntary, although nearly all are voluntary applications to renounce Thai nationality in order to obtain another nationality that mandates renunciation of former nationality, e.g. German, Austrian, Taiwanese, Singaporean, Malaysian etc. DOPA also handles applications for permanent residence but all other immigration issues are covered the Immigration Bureau.

Anuphong has just approved Thai nationality for 369 wives of Thai nationals, many of whom had been waiting for 5-7 years and another 272 applicants for naturalisation. Although it might seem a lot compared to developed countries approving 641 applicants in one shot is actually big news in Thailand, where the average for both categories combined has been only 160 a year for the period 2005-13. The wording of Anuphong's announcement about these approvals suggested that he wanted to introduce fairness into the process in the interests of human rights and wanted to protect applicants from the risk of extortion by government officials and other unscrupulous persons (lawyers, agents?). Looking at the list of wives approved it is notable that many are from neighbouring countries, particularly Burma, and live in lower income provinces. Many could, in fact, be migrant workers who have married Thais (many very young women come to work in Thailand) and who could not normally be expected to have any advantages or champions in the nationality application process.

To me this is starting to look like an area where the junta is going to make a positive difference. Look out for more upcoming news on permanent residence approvals.

[belg]

experts will be comming from planet URANUS

[Chao Lao Beach]

Sounds good.

It would be great if all queries are replied with written references to the appropriate regulations. All too often the interpretation or lack thereof of regulations changes from office to office, mainly because nobody can point to a regulation, just quote a supposed one.

U say it good