Dating A Karen Guy With No Thai Citizenship

[fastfist]

Hey there,

I'm a new member so I would like to say "Hi" and give you details of my situation. Maybe someone can give me some advice.

In two weeks I've been with my man for one year and have known him for 18 months. We have tried everything to get him citizenship but to no avail. I have heard that if he had thai citizenship we could married and I could stay with him on a marriage visa. I have been home to NZ for 6 weeks but missed him to much. I love hima and want to stay with him but we can not do anything with his ID situation. We can't even legally get marry. Has anyone got any ideas on how we can stay together? I'm going into Thai Immigration to get more info on his id situation as he is in the system for citizenship but they keep saying he has to wait.

ANY IDEAS PLEASE!!!!

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Do you have a degree? You could teach and work in Thailand.

If you are old enough you could apply for a retirement visa: you have to be over 50 and have an income from abroad.

Those are pretty much the only long-term options.

[lung]

be aware

some policeman will help you for enough money

but he will cheat you ...

try it in a embassy or so...

ahhh and....

[bina]

in visa or general section were some posts from some men with thai partners from karen, han or other tribal etc areas of thailand. at any rate they were with partners w/o thai i.d. who also couldnt travel farther than udon thani or something .... try posting in general section... there was some long discussion about it once just cant remember who, and they disappeared from the forum after awhile too.

and i thought my situation was complex

first of all, there are united nations/hague/geneva whatever rules for persons without a nation or passport; getting them temporary papers for travelling out of country etc... or getting them special papers for travelling inside thailand. i understood from those old posts that there was a long list for getting thai id, filled with scams and many people have been waitng for years and paying thousands and have received nothing. maybe with the new government?

the only suggestion that someone had mentioned was to talk with the missionary organizations as they know all the rules, know the people in offices and are often willing to help (for their own missionary purposes but who cares) or try other humanitarian /human rights organizations for rules/help....

my sympathies and wish u luck. sorry i dont even remember a key word to search for the past threads, but with patience maybe someone here will remember?

bian and anon

israel

[jasreeve17]

Hey there,

I'm a new member so I would like to say "Hi" and give you details of my situation. Maybe someone can give me some advice.

In two weeks I've been with my man for one year and have known him for 18 months. We have tried everything to get him citizenship but to no avail. I have heard that if he had thai citizenship we could married and I could stay with him on a marriage visa. I have been home to NZ for 6 weeks but missed him to much. I love hima and want to stay with him but we can not do anything with his ID situation. We can't even legally get marry. Has anyone got any ideas on how we can stay together? I'm going into Thai Immigration to get more info on his id situation as he is in the system for citizenship but they keep saying he has to wait.

ANY IDEAS PLEASE!!!!

Your grammar is very Thai like for a Kiwi.

Who's the inside centre for the blues?

[bina]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=98358

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=75115&st=0

and here's the quote from that thread:

"hello,i also have a burmese girlfreind (karen) & i have just found out how much a passport & 2 month thai visa is in rangoon.

the passport is 30,000kyat (approx 900 baht)only lasts 3 years though,& ive been told its a little hard to renew,but im sure cash pointed at the burmese government should ease the difficulties.

a broker for the passport is 50,000kyat

2 month thai visa,rangoon=around 25 usd

when she goes to rangoon to apply,i think its best to keep clear of the proceedings for obvious reasons."

try pm'ing 'lannarebirth' search for him, he's in chiang mai area i think.... maybe he has some info...

sorry thats all i could find at moment but i just typed in 'karen' in the search area and for once, it worked....

good luck

bina

[ajarnmark]

Hey there,

I'm a new member so I would like to say "Hi" and give you details of my situation. Maybe someone can give me some advice.

In two weeks I've been with my man for one year and have known him for 18 months. We have tried everything to get him citizenship but to no avail. I have heard that if he had thai citizenship we could married and I could stay with him on a marriage visa. I have been home to NZ for 6 weeks but missed him to much. I love hima and want to stay with him but we can not do anything with his ID situation. We can't even legally get marry. Has anyone got any ideas on how we can stay together? I'm going into Thai Immigration to get more info on his id situation as he is in the system for citizenship but they keep saying he has to wait.

ANY IDEAS PLEASE!!!!

Your grammar is very Thai like for a Kiwi.

Who's the inside centre for the blues?

I would second you. I believe this is Thanglish IMHO.

[bina]

who cares if its thaiglish or whatever???

they need info, i gave them info...

[Sheryl]

You have 2 problems. actually. One is your BF's lack of legal status in any country, the other is your need for a long-term visa.

I'm assuming he can't safely go to Myanmar and get a passport from there. (Even if he could, he'd still have the problem of how to stay legally in Thailand.)

There are many NGOs and UN agencies working on the problem of obtaining Thai citizenship for stateless people who were born in, or have lived most of their lives in, Thailand. Get in contact with these if you haven't already. But at best it is still going to take some time.

Depending on his circumstances, another option might be seeing if he might qualify for refugee status and resettlement in your home country or another western country. It is a long shot and likely only if he can clearly show that he faces persecution for political or religious beliefs. If so then ultimately he could get permanent residency --> citizenship in a western country you could be together there or both travel back to Thailand. Obviously, not a quick process.

In terms of a visa for you these are as far as I know the only options for long-term visa given that you cannot marry him:

1) if you are 50 years or older (doesn't sound like it), retirement visa.

2) get a job which provides work permit and get a business visa or whatever they call it.

3) invest the amount required (used to be 1 million baht but may have increased) to get an investment visa. Such investment can include purchase of a condo where you live.

4)Enrol in a college here and get a student visa. If you are under 50, can't find a legal job and don't have a lot of money, that may be the way to go. There are a number of places with English language programs which accept international students. You could study Thai, or maybe teaching english as a foreign language, or whatever else interests you.

Good luck and my sympathies. I have done some work with Karen migrants and refugees and I( kn ow well their difficult circumstances.

I

[fastfist]

First of all. I'm sorry that my written english are not up to kiwi standards.

I have tried the UN and other agencies, however in my partner's situation they cannot help. He has a Provincial ID for Kanchanaburi but I have found a volunteer position in Chonburi. He can't legally come and stay with me. I will look into getting my TEFL certification and english teaching work but I'm unsure to Kanchanaburi will have a lot of teaching opportunities.

I'm not old enough to get a retirement visa.

Thank you to those that offered advice.

[Sheryl]

Kanchanburi won't, it's true. Bangkok area would (also has some college enrollment opportunities which would get you a student visa) and it's not that far a commute, you could travel up there on weekends.

You're in a tough situation. All the best.

[Ijustwannateach]

Had a brief but sad friendship with a guy from Myanmar in Bangkok. He was working illegally- not a happy existence. He was paid even less than the Thais and had to cough up a 1000B bribe to the cops every time they caught him out somewhere. You really don't want to be in a situation where he has to live like that, both for your mental health and his.