GabbaGabbaHey

Is there anybody in this thread who obtained PR in the past few years, who can tell how long it took for the whole process?

How long does the average PR process takes at the moment?

Hello guys, I've been away for a while (having Thai ID since 2020) but I would need some information for a friend, so I'll be happy to catch up on the information regarding PR. I see some Guru names that I remember well in the page... Arkady, Scorecard... still there, congrats, mates ! I hope you're all fine. Can someone remind me or confirm that PR door still open in the last months of the year, that male foreigners married to Thai wife can apply on the basis of marriage after just one year of marriage (or three?) assuming they already have the 3-year WP and tax submission? and how long the process takes in the recent years (It took me 4 years in 2008-2012), is it 6-12 months as I could read recently somewhere? Finally is there any big change in the process or requirements worth knowing in the recent years? Thank you in advance!

Hello, Anyone knows if when we turn 55 but DO NOT resign (continuing to work and to contribute through a company registered provident fund), we are able to start withdrawing partial amounts from this provident fund -with all tax benefits-, or not ? It's unclear to me if this is only possible in the context of quitting a job/retiring and stopping contributions.

I think forum admins just increased the number of posts displayed per page, but I'd also support moderators to remove some parts which regularly aim to derail the topic, by people challenging the process when they aren't even applicants themselves.

Nope. Once you become Thai you cannot use your former nationality within the kingdom (which is the place we live), so from that point onwards immigration-wise you can't go to your foreign embassy seeking for help or protection anymore. If this is not a renouncement of former citizenship, tell us what it is.

It's surprising how they came with a social system in which you may contribute for let's say total 300K during 30 years and could expect 1.8M (6 times higher than what you paid) if you remain heathy person for 25 more years... unless the calculation was a 1998 projection of low life expectancy statistics for Thai men? I know this is not the topic of the forum, but since we're talking about it, do you know if one can get the retirement punsion from SSO and still maintain an activity, like some own business or get income by private/declared activity? I'd be happy to 'retire young' to get my 6K/month and at the same time continue to work on my own and generate extra income. Would this conflict?

This is what I did last year.

I had an e-WP since 2017 I think, and I though this was general. Or would it be only for BKK area or for BOI companies?

I had funny experience when I my company lawyer requested all documents to renew my WP last year, to which I answered that was no longer needed since I got Thai nationality, I imagine they were not happy I did the citizenship process on my own and the company would not have to pay them fees anymore, consequently they replied a kind of scary negative letter (for the company) saying that I should have cancelled my WP on the day I got my Thai ID card and by not doing that me and the company were exposed to kind of fine and unnamed problems in the future. Of course we know all you could face is a fine of a couple thousand bahts in the case your WP was not cancelled and you would apply for a new one while this one was not expired. But in my case, having Thai ID and since I was one month before expiry of my WP it means this was totally irrelevant and just the answer of some unhappy lawer that would no longer get money handling me as foreigner. The only justification I find rather ok for cancelling WP (although not really important) is that, as I understood, they will clear your name as foreigner from the WP database. Keep in mind there is no more physical booklet, it is currently e-WP in your mobile phone app. I did print screenshots of my WP and provided them with signature whenever I was asked for it, which made officers happy. It's also good to capture screenshots for memory and just in case, you know what I mean.

Or could it be some confusion in the wordings where doing the application meant different thing for journalists? Obviously special merit to Thailand has a high potential to speed up signatures as compared to standard Joe applicants but I doubt they would bypass necessary investigations. Let's see, it will be an interesting timeline to follow.

I went to ask for a loan in a Thai bank recently, they copied my ID card and were asking for my passport, then I showed the Thai passport... guess what? they made a copy of it. That was funny but understandable, one can never be too careful!

I don't want to go into details because the point of this forum is to help citizenship applicants and not discuss the laws of Thailand. I will just mention that beside some differences in the process (yes there are some), foreign women are also requested to either be married to a Thai national either hold PR, this is the same base requirement as to foreign men.

My many thanks to dbrenn as well as to Arkady, GaryP, Ubonjoe and several other people who have helped answer my questions when I started in 2017. Without this forum and knowledge I would probably never have understood that there is no level such as very good/good/average pass on the points, there is just that you either pass or not. As I had PR with less than 5 years and I was married, I already met above the 50 points, there was no point for me to wait more time for more points... then I took action and saved 1-2 years and was lucky to complete everything before companies started to be really hit with Covid... getting citizenship in 2020 was perfect time for me. Also, without solid help like we can get here, I would probably not have been keen to endertake the full process myself without any external help (you'll quickly know more than any lawyer by doing yourself and it's a fun path! Thai people always try to help you). I have since then tried my best to provide fact based answers to some questions that were posted in this forum, and always enjoyed to help someone achieve what I was helped to achieve too. At the very benning after reading the forum from A to Z in 2017, I even "knew everything" (the little details like salary statement has to be exactly annual income divided by 12 and others) when I entered SB Office for the first time and thought that providing things they didn't even requested day one (like my first entry stamp to Thailand) would make good impression and help me to get it faster... nada... this was a mistake. Hence my advice to people who consider to read everything from this forum like I did... go to SB and just pretend you know nothing, just provide what they request when they request it as more and more requests will be added on the way, this is part of the process to test your ability to keep calm in every situation. I think one day I'll post the 10 very funny things that happened to me during my process, I'm sure we all face these moments in a way or another. Also thank you to the dozen of people which whom I interacted in private message along these years, we had true sharing exchange and it was done in a friendly and cooperative way. Cheers to all of you who know who they are! And yes, it's good to see new applicants take over and maintain this forum active with such good spirit. A reason why I'm still here regularly ????

But you still didn't get the Thai ID, right? I guess Neeranam is asking this question for those who already got Thai nationality.

(I understand this question means consequences for those who already got Thai nationality) I would'nt personnally do that, as for any action which involves registering in a Thai database that could potentially come into official hands. I know the risk is perhaps low if what you refer is the possibility to fall into the case of losing Thai nationality, but as for myself I plan to apply this as a golden rule: in Thailand I'm Thai and I will not use my foreign passport for any reason whatsoever. This is just my own personal view on the topic, of course. I was recently been asked for it for changing some insurance number from foreigner to Thai but I denied and explained "sorry my foreign passport is no longer legal in Thailand, if you need copy of my passport I have Thai passport" which cut the discussion and this was accepted as valid case.

Why not make a new one to get 10 years? technically all you will lose is 1000 baht -the cost of the one you just did-, I mean, if it has importance to you.

This is true for a man who has a Thai wife, at least one child and married for more than one year, otherwise married for more than 3 years. For a man who has no Thai wife, going through PR is mandatory route and will take 13+ years (5 to get PR + 5 of PR + 3 of citizenship process) which is roughly 8 years min from the year you get PR.

This was my experience in September last year: The day I got the certificate at SB I signed two papers, paid the 500 THB fee, got the certificate with certified documents, 3 are certified copies of the RG, I made few photos with the boss and the officer in charge who congratulated me, total took 30 minutes. Then I went to my district with my wife and the registration guy asked to see key documents to prepare for the "ID day": he kept one certified copy of the RG and asked for photocopies so we went outside to prepare these: marriage cert, kids birth certificate, tabian baan, my pink ID (I had PR), passport, PR books, WP copy (screenshot of the e-WP actually), and of course the Thai citizenship certificate. He explained that two witnesses would be needed on "ID issuance day", my wife being one and her sister the other person (he said they had to be relatives, he said Thai children older than 25 would be accepted as witnesses), and he agreed to book the day one week later and requested that we come in very early morning. The pictures they asked for were 1.5 x 2 inch, so different size from those done for SB. ID issuance day. I arrived to the district at 8:30. Since we had appointment no need for a queue ticket. Then there was a bunch of successive informal interviews and chats with the registrar, the senior officer and few people who enter data into the system, so you need to basically go through reviewing the forms before you sign and having details like your parents and siblings name transliterated and entered too (I thought SB or MOI would have passed the whole stuff but no, it's a different office, and sadly I forgot my special document with all information at home, so we had to Google for some translation of my brother firstname into Thai language), then my family witnesses also had little interview and some signatures to provide, all this moving slowly from one desk to another because the registration was split into several parts.. until I got to the finger print and the photo shooting steps and the last one was ID issuance. I already had my name in blue tabian baan before from PR (which only got strikedthrough on my original nationality with "ไทย" being added manually and registrar signature beside) but it seems this did not speed up anything. Or perhaps people without blue book could expect an extra hour for that? I hane no idea. I finally got my ID at 11:30am. Total time 3 hours.

Congrats to david143, yankee99 and kst! (+ all others who got it this round). Within a month you should have in hands that blue shiny ID that will make your life in Thailand much easier and more enjoyable. I'm happy for you guys.

Correct, digit 13 is a computation of the 12 first digits that helps validating the number.

Hi Arkady, Boarn mentioned he's 35 and as you said, it means in 4+ years he can secure 5 additional points (compared to applying before).

This means you (and david143) are closer than ever. Fingers crossed.

Congratulations to all of you in the post oath queue, the locally-life-changing achievement is ahead and coming! It just requires a bit more patience at the end.