Originally Posted by
ChalkyDee
Has anyone here gone through this process?
It would be nice to hear some experience. I have all the documents ready and just waiting to submit them at special branch. I live outside Bangkok, which makes it a little more complicated.
I am in the process of applying myself. I am only a couple of steps ahead of you. I am also applying as married to a Thai but I also could qualify as having held permanent residence for the appropriate time.
Together with my wife, I visited the Special Branch on Rama 1 in late November 2016 and told them that I wanted to apply for Thai citizenship. We were invited to sit at a particular desk. From that point on the policeman at that desk became my point of contact for the rest of the application process. He asked us a handful of questions to be sure that I would qualify. He then gave us a sheet of paper with the list of documents required and we were told to call him when all of the documents were collected and ready to submit. The gentleman that was assigned to us for the citizenship application wrote his name and mobile number at the bottom of the sheet of paper and told us to call him if we needed any clarifications on anything and also to call ahead to make an appointment anytime we wanted to visit.
We submitted the documents in early December 2016. They were checked by our guy and confirmed that everything was correct. We were told that in a few days they would call us and let us know when our next meeting at special branch would be.
Got the call and was told to be at the Special Branch the following Wednesday at 13:30. We arrived early and the people who were supposed to be there at 13:00 hadn’t turned up so they were bumped down the line and we got their spot. Our guy went through the documentation and told us that I had 78 points out of the possible 100. This didn’t include my education as my highest education was a completed apprenticeship in NZ and they didn’t know how to translate a NZ apprenticeship into the equivalent Thai education level. I was finger printed and then told to meet with the policeman in the corner office. We had a quick chat with him and then was told to wait outside for a few minutes. Was then told to go up to the 4th floor and meet the head of Special Branch and have a chat with him. (this part didn’t go very well for me.)
We were taken up to the 4th floor by our guy and introduced to the head gentleman. We were asked a handful of questions; explain why I didn’t get points for my education, why do I want to get citizenship, why are we married, why don’t we have children, if we don’t have children why did we get married. I must admit I wasn’t expecting to get interviewed that day so hadn’t mentally prepared myself, but also the questions about why were married but didn’t have kids flustered me a little and I didn’t answer the questions very well. I was told that in future I need to participate in the conversations more and I need to improve my Thai speaking ability. An interesting part of the conversation was that he said that up until recently the process would take 4 – 6 years to complete, but now it would only take about a year. We he saw the expression on my face he said maybe a bit longer but for sure not more than two years. Went back downstairs and was told by our guy that everything was looking good and that in about 3 weeks I should get a call to meet with the next lot of police to have an interview where they would ask a lot more questions. Apparently, this interview will be at a McDonalds. I asked what sort of questions they would ask. It was suggested that I study up on a few things such as the citizen application process, the colours of the Thai flag, have a general idea of Thailand and the cities and provinces and the meaning of certain songs.
At the end of the meeting our guy gave us six envelopes that we had to deliver to various places around Bangkok.
Two envelopes to the Immigration department at Cheang Wattana building B to verify my residence certificate (white book) and verify my alien ID book (red/brown book) (Only if you have permanent residence)
One letter to the Ampur wherever you were married to verify your marriage certificate.
One letter to the Ampur where your residence is registered to change your name. You need to select your first name and last name. You need to prepare at least three surnames to be submitted to the Ampur.
Once you have submitted the above letters, they will be sent by the each of the above Thai government authorities back to the Police Special Branch by postal mail.
Two envelopes to the embassy, one to verify that the passport is legitimate and one to acknowledge that you will intend to rescind your citizenship. Both of these letters will need to be taken to the translation office in Cheang Wattana Building A consular section. Normally the embassy is asked to send the documents back to the Police Special Branch by postal mail, however in my case the NZ embassy did the letters while I waited which meant that I could take them directly to the translation office. If the letters are sent back to the Police Special Branch you will have to collect them and take them to the translation office.
If you are organised and all of the places you need to submit the letters are in Bangkok, all of this can be done in one day, two at the most.
When you take the documents to be translated at the Cheang Wattana Building A consular section make sure you show them how your name is spelt in Thai. It must match all of the other documents submitted. Also, make sure that all Thai documents use the same spelling and spacing for your name. This is important as the document will be rejected and will have to be corrected.
This is where I am at know. I am waiting for the phone call to make the appointment to go to McDonalds.
Feel free to ask any questions, I can't say I know everything about the process but happy to answer anything that I can.