Dual Nationality - New Rules? Visas Etc

[topchilla]

Hi I am a bit confused on all the visa talk as most seem to be, my situation is a little different. I am in the UK married to a Thai national who is living here with me and wil get her British passport soon, we are about to have our first child in the UK. We plan to setup a home in Thailand aswell as te UK with the view of eventually moving there to live and I would also work out there. I am not interested in justgetting a work permit year by year or tricking the system with holiday visas etc.

Can I get dual nationality as I wil be married to a Thai National and have a child with her, how does it work? she will be able to live in UK indefinately so how does it work the other way around if I want to live over there?

Edited September 13, 2006 by topchilla

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Hi I am a bit confused on all the visa talk as most seem to be, my situation is a little different. I am in the UK married to a Thai national who is living here with me and wil get her British passport soon, we are about to have our first child in the UK. We plan to setup a home in Thailand aswell as te UK with the view of eventually moving there to live and I would also work out there. I am not interested in justgetting a work permit year by year or tricking the system with holiday visas etc.

Can I get dual nationality as I wil be married to a Thai National and have a child with her, how does it work? she will be able to live in UK indefinately so how does it work the other way around if I want to live over there?

It would be great if marrying a Thai and have Thai children was a gateway to getting a Thai passport - but the Thai government don't want that. It can be a reason, but you have to fulfile a bunch of other criteria first.

You have to to stay for a set amount of time on the year by year visas - I think for a passport is 10 years.

It's easier to get into Thailand than the UK - but once you are past the initial entry it is way easier to live in the UK.

[lopburi3]

If you want to live in Thailand you will have to obtain visa entry and if you want to stay you will have to extend that based on supporting your Thai wife or some other reason such as employment. There is no free lunch. The goal posts for citizenship are very high indeed. Even obtaining residence status is beyond likelihood for many who are married.

[jackr]

You'd need three consecutive years of extension of stays on support of your wife, followed by residency, followed by something like 10 years of residency to gain citizenship. Real pain. Great thing is, she can buy land, houses, cars, you name it, no probs in the UK. Try doing all that in Muang Thai in one fell swoop.

[topchilla]

You'd need three consecutive years of extension of stays on support of your wife, followed by residency, followed by something like 10 years of residency to gain citizenship. Real pain. Great thing is, she can buy land, houses, cars, you name it, no probs in the UK. Try doing all that in Muang Thai in one fell swoop.

HI seems difficult and a lot harderthan getting into uk the other wya around. what about our Kid though I want to see that they get the best opportunities both ways surely having a Thai mother would allow them to hold Thai nationality also even if they are born in the UK. would it just be a matter of registering the birth over in Thailand to her familys book?

[samran]

You'd need three consecutive years of extension of stays on support of your wife, followed by residency, followed by something like 10 years of residency to gain citizenship. Real pain. Great thing is, she can buy land, houses, cars, you name it, no probs in the UK. Try doing all that in Muang Thai in one fell swoop.

HI seems difficult and a lot harderthan getting into uk the other wya around. what about our Kid though I want to see that they get the best opportunities both ways surely having a Thai mother would allow them to hold Thai nationality also even if they are born in the UK. would it just be a matter of registering the birth over in Thailand to her familys book?

Nope, if your child is born in the UK, to get Thai nationality, you'll have to register the baby in with the royal Thai embassy, at which point, a Thai birth certificate for children born outside the kingdom will be issued. From that point onwards, your child will be Thai. If you are going back to Thailand, then apply for a Thai PP then and there, so your child can enter Thailand on that passport.

Once in Thailand, then you go put the name down on the house book (tabieen Baan).