The Ministry of Interior announced that 44 Thai citizenship applications have been approved and have been announced in the Royal Gazette. This follows a similar announcement in August 2020.
Many congratulations to those who applied. Given the current environment where expats are worried about their ability to stay in Thailand long term, the option of getting citizenship means that this uncertainty is taken away.
From our best intelligence, those mentioned in this announcement undertook their final Ministry of Interior interviews around 12 months ago, in November 2019. In all, the turn around time from applying to grant appears to be around 3 years. We think that under the current minister, applications will continued to be turned around at this rate. So if you are thinking about applying, this is an optimal time to do so.
Interested in Thai citizenship?
Trying to figure out how to stay in Thailand indefinitely given COVID uncertainty? Sick of worrying about visas?
In 2008, amendments were made to Thai nationality law. These changes have allowed people with Thai spouses to make Thai citizenship applications without first needing to go through the permanent residence process. You could be eligible to apply for citizenship within as little as one to three years, depending on circumstances.
For foreign husbands married to Thai wives, please see this article “Thai citizenship for foreigners married to a Thai spouse” to see how you can apply.
For females married to a Thai husband, please see the following article: “Thai citizenship based on marriage to a Thai husband”.
If you aren’t married, but would like to commence the journey towards Thai citizenship, you’ll need to attain permanent residency first. A detailed guide on how you do this is available at our article here: “The ultimate guide to Thai permanent residency”.
The announcement was printed in the Royal Gazette countersigned by the Minister of Interior. The list of people naturalized is available for download below:
