Thai Citizenship for UK Man Married to Thai Woman

[danielcondo]

Hi there,

 

I am currently in the process of applying for Thai citizenship, i have been living in Thailand on and off for almost 14 years and went to University there as well, Did my bachelors and Part of my Masters from there and have degrees issued from a University in Bangkok,  I also have a baby who is an infant at the moment with my wife, been working legally in Thailand for over 5 years, been paying Taxes, salary over the required amount. At present i have already completed the process at the Police HQ and now the file will be sent to the interior ministry. 

 

My questions are basically in regards to a few points that answers vary on depending on who you ask.

 

1. Dual Citizenship : This is a very confusing point since i know a lot of naturalized Thai's who have not given up their previous citizenship, most of these cases varied, some got it through naturalization after being married to a Thai, some got it after getting a residency permit and then completing all the formalities and some have it being half Thai and Half foreign ( born abroad as well as born in Thailand ) . Now that being said if you ask an official they will always say it is not allowed and you are asked to renounce your Previous citizenship if you get your Thai, they even make you ask your embassy for an affidavit stating that you will renounce your citizenship, now in my case my county does not have any issues with Dual Nationality however they are aware that the Thai government officially does not allow it, so when i made the affidavit it just stated that my country has no objection to me applying for Thai citizenship however i was informed by my embassy that the Thai government does not allow it, the interior ministry usually sends out a letter to the embassy asking to verify if the person applying will renounce their citizenship usually in such cases the embassy doesn't respond or just simply states that the person came and made an affidavit thats all, however so far in my case the officials at the Thai side didn't make any issues with it when i provided the original and translation in Thai, any feed back in regards to this ? other stories or experiences ? 

 

2. Thai Language - In my case my Thai language skills are not at the level they need to be, however i can manage on a daily basis, getting Thai citizenship is another story as they require you to be able to speak on a professional level, in my case i have managed to pass the First part but i was told that the interior ministry will be much more harder and i need to improve my Thai in order to pass that part, now from a lot of information and articles i have been reading,  i read that if a foreign spouse married with a Thai and has a child together the language proficiency is not a really strongly enforced point, as long as you are able to answer basic questions and sing the national anthem, they can not fail you on the basis of the fact that you can not speak Thai fluently. However in the cases of Naturalized thai's who got citizenship through residence and who do not have a thai spouse or links to Thailand they expect you to speak Thai fluently, in a way they are more biased towards them. Is this true ? any feedback or experience regarding this would be appreciated. 

 

I have been given a timeframe of around 2 years because they said i met alot of points which add to my case such as Studied in Thailand in university, have a Thai wife for a few years and also have a baby,  proper tax documents, a lot of history of charity work in Thailand, etc.. my only concerns are the above two points.

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated. 

 

P.s my main purpose of getting Thai citizenship is because we will most likely live here forever, i love this country like my own and because i would like to own my house in my own name, i know about all the loopholes and ways to get around that but i prefer keeping it legal and doing it the right way.

 

Danson, 

[ubonjoe]

I suggest you have a look at this topic for Thai nationality info and post your questions there.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Story-Thai-Citizenship-Applicatio-t121353.html

[DeeMak9]

Why not improving your language skills meanwhile? The more boxes you tick, the greater your chances.

[Orton Rd]

You will have an interview in front of about 30 people in Thai, you will have to sing the Thai anthem and kings song, good luck!

[ubonjoe]

Since the OP has posted his questions in the topic I posted a link to the discussion can continue there.

This topic