Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[GarryP 5,107]

10 hours ago, khongaeng said:

I started my application in the beginning of 2017. Once I get my ID card, I plan to give a detailed account of my experience.  All in all my application process will be well over 3.5 years.  I'm glad to see that for some of you, it has been about a year shorter than that.  

I applied on 7 June 2012 and finally got my ID card on 2 March 2016. My application was considered quite fast at the time, but certainly not straightforward nor as fast as they currently seem to be. Very recently I looked through some correspondence regarding my application and it brought back memories of how stressful it was. At one stage I was ready to give up. Glad I didn't but it showed me that I had deliberately buried my memories of the whole thing.   

[Neeranam 7,829]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

I applied on 7 June 2012 and finally got my ID card on 2 March 2016. My application was considered quite fast at the time, but certainly not straightforward nor as fast as they currently seem to be. Very recently I looked through some correspondence regarding my application and it brought back memories of how stressful it was. At one stage I was ready to give up. Glad I didn't but it showed me that I had deliberately buried my memories of the whole thing.   

 I made inquiries in 2012, but my salary was not enough. Therefore, I had to ask for a raise and wait four years. This meant I was stuck in a job that didn't pay much and I hated it. Although I could have moved jobs, It was difficult and risky. I also applied initially out of Bangkok, which wasted a year and took a LOT of running around for nothing. I nearly gave up multiple times!  

[khongaeng 119]

8 hours ago, Neeranam said:

 I made inquiries in 2012, but my salary was not enough. Therefore, I had to ask for a raise and wait four years. This meant I was stuck in a job that didn't pay much and I hated it. Although I could have moved jobs, It was difficult and risky. I also applied initially out of Bangkok, which wasted a year and took a LOT of running around for nothing. I nearly gave up multiple times!  

what a journey! It makes the posting of your name in the RG an even sweeter accomplishment.  

 

I still remember stumbling on this thread back in 2009 (page 19), thinking how cool it would be if one day I was eligible to apply.  At the time I was married to a Thai, but living in Europe.  After moving to Thailand a few years later (around page 70 of the thread), I read through the whole forum again gleaning gems of knowledge from old-timers like @dbrenn, @Arkady, @GarryP, @ubonjoe, to name a few, but at the time I was on a marriage visa without a work permit, being employed overseas.  Then a few years later, it happened that I met the requirements to apply having held a work permit and paid taxes at the required levels and with the required points to apply.  The past 3.5 years has been a series of ups and downs not knowing if the day would ever come, and finally it did!  

 

I know that I have personally read every word posted on this thread, most of it very useful, and some of it sparking the right level of determination to press on.  I sincerely appreciate the dedication of many old-timers who regularly check-in and give us all words of guidance and hope.  With only a few hundred of us every year, we are truly part of an elite club, that most on the outside can't and don't understand.  Even my wife didn't really give much care about the process (though now she is excited that we can go to all the national parks without my having to pay the farang rate that always seems to put me in a bad mood for at least 30 minutes of the day  )

 

It has been a great ride the past few years, and it's been nice to not go it alone with all you friends.  

 

For those of you who are somewhere in the process keep at it, you will make it.  For those who are wondering whether or not to apply, just make sure to check all the boxes as soon as you can so you can get your application in.  I'm confident it will be worth the wait (2-4 years) in the end.  

[saakura 4,796]

Thank you @khonkeng, i have also been reading all the helpful posts on this thread regularly. I have been on a work permit and paying sufficient taxes here for over 25 years and married to a Thai citizen for 20yrs, got a PR too, but only this year after reading some recent posts on this thread, i decided to apply. Now waiting for the MOI interview but i am not in a hurry. 

[david143 223]

@Neeranam
Brother Hows your process going.

[Neeranam 7,829]

4 hours ago, david143 said:

@Neeranam
Brother Hows your process going.

Nothing new here. 

[GabbaGabbaHey 217]

On 11/27/2020 at 4:20 PM, Neeranam said:

Nothing new here. 

All's quiet on the eastern front.

[khongaeng 119]

5 hours ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

All's quiet on the eastern front.

After all this time, even the 3 weeks wait between RG and Naturalization papers still seems like a long time. ใจเย็นๆ (Jai Yen Yen) as we have been told  

[dbrenn 2,532]

On 11/21/2020 at 2:03 AM, khongaeng said:

what a journey! It makes the posting of your name in the RG an even sweeter accomplishment.  

 

I still remember stumbling on this thread back in 2009 (page 19), thinking how cool it would be if one day I was eligible to apply.  At the time I was married to a Thai, but living in Europe.  After moving to Thailand a few years later (around page 70 of the thread), I read through the whole forum again gleaning gems of knowledge from old-timers like @dbrenn, @Arkady, @GarryP, @ubonjoe, to name a few, but at the time I was on a marriage visa without a work permit, being employed overseas.  Then a few years later, it happened that I met the requirements to apply having held a work permit and paid taxes at the required levels and with the required points to apply.  The past 3.5 years has been a series of ups and downs not knowing if the day would ever come, and finally it did!  

 

I know that I have personally read every word posted on this thread, most of it very useful, and some of it sparking the right level of determination to press on.  I sincerely appreciate the dedication of many old-timers who regularly check-in and give us all words of guidance and hope.  With only a few hundred of us every year, we are truly part of an elite club, that most on the outside can't and don't understand.  Even my wife didn't really give much care about the process (though now she is excited that we can go to all the national parks without my having to pay the farang rate that always seems to put me in a bad mood for at least 30 minutes of the day  )

 

It has been a great ride the past few years, and it's been nice to not go it alone with all you friends.  

 

For those of you who are somewhere in the process keep at it, you will make it.  For those who are wondering whether or not to apply, just make sure to check all the boxes as soon as you can so you can get your application in.  I'm confident it will be worth the wait (2-4 years) in the end.  

The process can feel very onerous, and I thought about giving up a couple of times. I always tried to frame it in my mind as a puzzle to be solved, a hobby even. 'Beating the system' and coming out of the other end with a prize satisfied my rebellious nature, so I stuck at it. 

 

Advice to all here is don't give up. Thai citizenship is a very useful thing to have, and makes living in Thailand so much more pleasant. 

[david143 223]

@GabbaGabbaHey @Neeranam
Gabba Brother are you done with ID
Neeraman brother whats going on .

[Neeranam 7,829]

13 hours ago, khongaeng said:

After all this time, even the 3 weeks wait between RG and Naturalization papers still seems like a long time. ใจเย็นๆ (Jai Yen Yen) as we have been told  

It will be a nice Christmas/NY present  

[Neeranam 7,829]

3 hours ago, david143 said:

@GabbaGabbaHey @Neeranam
Gabba Brother are you done with ID
Neeraman brother whats going on .

Waiting for the next step. Should be in a week or 2. 

 

 

[david143 223]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Waiting for the next step. Should be in a week or 2. 

 

 

nice

[Neeranam 7,829]

6 hours ago, dbrenn said:

The process can feel very onerous, and I thought about giving up a couple of times. I always tried to frame it in my mind as a puzzle to be solved, a hobby even. 'Beating the system' and coming out of the other end with a prize satisfied my rebellious nature, so I stuck at it. 

 

Advice to all here is don't give up. Thai citizenship is a very useful thing to have, and makes living in Thailand so much more pleasant. 

Pretty much the attitude I have had. Never liked Red Tape.

[GabbaGabbaHey 217]

On 12/3/2020 at 9:05 AM, david143 said:

@GabbaGabbaHey
Gabba Brother are you done with ID

Yes, I got it in September. This has been my timeline:

 

Mar-2017 - Read the forum and decided to apply based on mariage
Apr-2017 - First visit to SB
Sep-2017 - SB interview
Oct-2017 - NIA Interview
Mar-2018 - Application sent to MOI
Jul-2019 - Interview at MOI

Dec-2020 - MOI approval

Apr-2020 - HMK signature
Apr-2020 - Oath of allegiance      
Aug-2020 - Publication to RG
Sep-2020 - Certificate issued
Sep-2020 - Thai ID card issued
 

Total 3.5 years

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by GabbaGabbaHey