Acquiring Thai Nationality

[Bullie]

Today we celebrated the long awaited arrival of my wife's Thai passport. As a young girl she came to Thailand as a Cambodian refugee, and last week she finally, finally, acquired Thai citizenship after a long wait of 34 years. Although everything went through the proper channels nobody needs to be surprised that it took some " oil" to let it all happen. Our son, who already has the Dutch nationality (and passport) would follow suit and also would become a Thai citizen. After receiving the ID-card money changed hands, and, as said, the passport arrived today. So far so good.

Now, suddenly,, the rules have changed and we are kindly requested to donate some more bananas to the insatiable elephant , to the tune of an amount I am really not happy to part with, if we want to have Thai nationality for my 9 year old also. Something was mumbled about Bangkok, and officials, but I don' t really believe it.  We went home today, saying we would think about it, but since we plan to leave Thailand for the Netherlands ASAP, I am not really that worried.

So, I have two questions for the more knowledgeable inmates here:

 

Can' t my son get Thai nationality anyway eventually, now that my wife has become Thai through naturalization? We have friends that are quite happy to put him on their Tabian Baan.

 

He has a virgin Dutch passport. Should I expect any problems with customs at Subernabhumi, since it (of course) does not show any stamps of arriving in the Kingdom, since he never left it yet.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, Bullie said:

He has a virgin Dutch passport. Should I expect any problems with customs at Subernabhumi, since it (of course) does not show any stamps of arriving in the Kingdom, since he never left it yet.

Not a problem if you can present his Thai birth certificate to prove he was born here to show immigration on departure from the country.

[prakhonchai nick]

17 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not a problem if you can present his Thai birth certificate to prove he was born here to show immigration on departure from the country.

Would the son have a Thai birth certificate, even if he were born in Thailand? Father Dutch and Mother Cambodian (at the time).   If he does have a Thai birth certificate, then surely he is deemed a Thai citizen, with/without a passport. What more is necessary?

[bbi1]

"Although everything went through the proper channels nobody needs to be surprised that it took some " oil" to let it all happen" - Hmmm, what exactly do you mean by some "oil"? You needed some petrol/gasoline to make it happen?

Edited October 20, 2018 by bbi1

[JackThompson]

8 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

"Although everything went through the proper channels nobody needs to be surprised that it took some " oil" to let it all happen" - Hmmm, what exactly do you mean by some "oil"? You needed some petrol/gasoline to make it happen?

Are you new here (to Thailand)? 
I remember when was, once upon a time.

Edited October 20, 2018 by JackThompson

[bbi1]

2 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Are you new here (to Thailand)? 
I remember when was, once upon a time.

I'm just wondering @Bullie needed a lot of petrol to travel everywhere to the different government offices many times or if something illegal was done, eg. a bribe or multiple bribes. The " " used in the post makes me wonder.....

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Would the son have a Thai birth certificate, even if he were born in Thailand? Father Dutch and Mother Cambodian (at the time).   If he does have a Thai birth certificate, then surely he is deemed a Thai citizen, with/without a passport. What more is necessary?

Thailand issues birth certificates for all nationalities that are born here. They are not exclusively for Thai nationals.

[Bullie]

1 hour ago, bbi1 said:

I'm just wondering @Bullie needed a lot of petrol to travel everywhere to the different government offices many times or if something illegal was done, eg. a bribe or multiple bribes. The " " used in the post makes me wonder.....

"Oiling the wheels, feeding the elephant, greasing the wheels" : To facilitate or expedite matters.

Don' t bash a non-native English speaker, please.

[Esso49]

3 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Would the son have a Thai birth certificate, even if he were born in Thailand? Father Dutch and Mother Cambodian (at the time).   If he does have a Thai birth certificate, then surely he is deemed a Thai citizen, with/without a passport. What more is necessary?

As Ubonjoe said any child born in Thailand will be issued with a Thai birth certificate, but it does not make them Thai.

 

They are not Thai citizens because Thailand  primarily utilizes a nationality doctrine called “jus sanguinis” which is the law of the blood, that's a rough translation. . If neither one of the parents are Thai, as is the reality in this instance as the Father is Dutch and the Mother Cambodian at the time of the birth, then the child is not a Thai citizen.

 

[bbi1]

33 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

AThey are not Thai citizens because Thailand  primarily utilizes a nationality doctrine called “jus sanguinis” which is the law of the blood, that's a rough translation. . If neither one of the parents are Thai, as is the reality in this instance as the Father is Dutch and the Mother Cambodian at the time of the birth, then the child is not a Thai citizen.

 

If that's the case then how did the OP's Cambodian wife get Thai citizenship when she's got no Thai blood? Or do they do some sort of blood test on her to find out that she has some Thai blood? And how do all these Indians living in Thailand get Thai citizenship? I'm certain I've seen some with Thai passports. Even Chinese I've seen at the airport carrying Thai passports.

 

"As a young girl she came to Thailand as a Cambodian refugee, and last week she finally, finally, acquired Thai citizenship after a long wait of 34 years."

Edited October 20, 2018 by bbi1

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, bbi1 said:

If that's the case then how did the OP's Cambodian wife get Thai citizenship when she's got no Thai blood? Or do they do some sort of blood test on her to find out that she has some Thai blood?

She was considered to be a stateless persons. There is a provision in the nationality act to allow stateless persons to obtain Thai nationality.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

A containing a quote taken out of context has been removed.

[LukKrueng]

20 hours ago, bbi1 said:

If that's the case then how did the OP's Cambodian wife get Thai citizenship when she's got no Thai blood? Or do they do some sort of blood test on her to find out that she has some Thai blood? And how do all these Indians living in Thailand get Thai citizenship? I'm certain I've seen some with Thai passports. Even Chinese I've seen at the airport carrying Thai passports.

 

"As a young girl she came to Thailand as a Cambodian refugee, and last week she finally, finally, acquired Thai citizenship after a long wait of 34 years."

any child born to at least 1 Thai parent is automatically a Thai citizen. However, there are legal ways a non Thai can apply for Thai citizenship.

As for the OP's child, he is not a Thai citizen as he was born to non Thai citizens. Now that his mother got her citizenship it can serve as a reason to apply for citizenship, but it will be a similar process to the mother's and not automatically. Any child she might give birth to on the future will be a Thai citizen automatically.

[Bullie]

Thanks for the information, guys, especially Ubon Joe.

For those interested: my wife claimed Thai nationality on grounds of co-sanguinity. She was born in Koh Kong, which used to belong to Thailand in the past. There are many similar cases. It goes without saying that it makes a big difference if the application is on top, or the bottom of the pile. Hence the feeding of the elephant.

[samran]

On 10/21/2018 at 9:45 AM, Bullie said:

Thanks for the information, guys, especially Ubon Joe.

For those interested: my wife claimed Thai nationality on grounds of co-sanguinity. She was born in Koh Kong, which used to belong to Thailand in the past. There are many similar cases. It goes without saying that it makes a big difference if the application is on top, or the bottom of the pile. Hence the feeding of the elephant.

Interesting story.

 

Your son is also technically a Thai citizen from birth due to having one parent, but as you say, there are ‘local factors’ involved.

 

If you wanted to avoid elephant feeding, then i suggest submitting a case to the administrative court which covers actions of civil servants. Slow due process is something that you could possible argue effectively for, and civil servants do fear the court as a rule. Simply filing a case may be enough for things to fall into place, legally. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by samran