Dual Citizenship and Traveling to Thailand with a Thai Passport (Reader Submission)
Although using a Thai passport to enter Thailand has become common, there are still a few things you need to keep in mind. As mentioned earlier on this blog, you can only leave Thailand with the passport you entered with.
As a minor (under 20 years old according to Thai law) traveling alone without a Thai parent and you lose your Thai passport, you can face big problems. Obtaining a new passport, which is needed to leave Thailand, can then be very complicated. This is especially true if you do not have a Thai identity card (Eid).
In some cases, especially when applying for a Thai ID card for the first time, you will need to go to the place where the Thai parent (usually the mother) is officially registered. This parent will then need to provide a legalized power of attorney via the Thai embassy for an adult Thai (or foreigner) who can act as a proxy for the minor. Once the ID card has been obtained, the application for a new (replacement) Thai passport can be started, again with the necessary power of attorney. Once this passport has been obtained, you can leave Thailand without any problems.
This is a personal experience that I am currently going through with my daughter who is visiting and has dual nationality (Thai and Belgian). We are currently in Jomtien and have been to immigration, foreign affairs and the municipality. We are still waiting for a final solution and have been doing this for 12 days.
For those wondering why my daughter (19) still didn't have a Thai identity card: her Thai mother found owning one completely unnecessary.
Submitted by Walter
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A similar story was recently posted on this blog.
I wondered then: how did they get that first Thai passport? Wasn't that Thai identity card needed then?
The first time you can get a passport.
I suspect that they want to give everyone who has never registered in Thailand the opportunity to register in a Tabien Baan in Thailand. They can then travel to Thailand with a passport.
“Applicants who were not born in Thailand, do not possess a 13-digit identification number, and have not been registered in a Thai House Registration (Tabian Baan) will only be permitted to apply for their first passport. Application for a second passport requires that the applicant be registered in a Thai House Registration”
Is from the Thai embassy in Brussels but will also apply to The Hague.
Passport
https://brussels.thaiembassy.org/en/page/thai-passport
ID card
https://brussels.thaiembassy.org/en/page/thai-id-card
We also had a challenge with applying for a new passport for a 26 year old son. Had brought an old passport, but it was not accepted because he did not look like the photo of the 12 year old boy on it. We focused on his identity number that is on his Thai ID card, that is the basis for everything.
Second challenge was that the official could not find the required documents in the computer. Explained that they were from a time when they did not have a computer yet ... eventually understood after some gentle pressure from my wife.
The key to the solution was to bring in witnesses. The Thai mother physically present with all available papers, the (daughter of) the mayor of the village in the place of residence physically summoned to the town hall to testify that this was a mother and son. Perhaps an idea to do that
What is it with the Thai ID Card? Why can't a Thai renew a valid passport (the best ID there is) without an ID Card? Why do it twice/difficult when it can be done easily?
william,
I think you're missing the point here.
FIRST OF ALL your national ID card is the document with which you can identify yourself in your own country. Outside Thailand you can do nothing with your ID card.
A passport is an additional means by which you can travel abroad. This is then the only means that the authorities accept outside the borders of your country.
I find it normal that a civil servant of the (Thai) municipality demands your ID card when official acts need to be handled. In our own country, from a certain age you are even required to have an ID card and to carry it with you at all times.
Here in Thailand, applying for an ID card is a piece of cake.
That a passport is the best ID document is incorrect! At least for use in your own country. For that you need your ID card.
Nee,
and sometimes not possible to get. 18 years ago you had to be 12 years old to get a Thai id. I don't know how the Thai law is now.
When my 2 stepdaughters came to Belgium 18 years ago, the eldest was almost 16 and the youngest almost 11.
The eldest had a Thai ID, but the youngest did not.
To come to Belgium they obviously needed a Thai passport.
Once in Belgium, the eldest could get a new passport (travel pass) without any problem after the expiration date at the Thai embassy in Belgium. The youngest, then almost 16 years old, could not. Because she did not have a Thai ID.
She could not obtain a Thai ID card at the Thai embassy in Belgium.
Anyway…we didn’t succeed.
She had to apply for a Thai ID at the Amphoe (town hall) where she was registered on the blue booklet. Which we have now sorted out. How it is with the children who were born in Belgium and have dual nationality, I do not know. (They are probably registered somewhere on a blue booklet)
william,
I would like to see how you would apply for a passport in Belgium without being in possession of a (valid) identity card.
That is 100% certain that you will not succeed, even if you can show your old passport. Your valid document is your identity card, which shows your national number.
In Thailand for Thai residents and for Thai citizens abroad, a Thai ID card is an official identity document. Without such an ID card, it is extremely difficult for Thai people to communicate with the Thai authority/government. The ID card is more important than a Thai passport, because a passport is only valid as an international travel document.
The card is used to prove the holder's identity and receive government services. Other private services, such as applying for a mobile phone subscription or opening a bank account, also require presentation of a valid ID.
The meaning of an ID card is different than in the Netherlands, for example. Only a Thai ID card shows that you are truly Thai. The ID card carries an emotional charge in this way.
The Thai ID card is issued to those between the ages of 7 and 70. It was first introduced in 1943. The minimum age was originally 16, but was later lowered to 15 in 1983, and to 7 in 2011. The Thai government at the time lowered the minimum age to 7 to reduce the use of birth certificates and other proof of identity for children. [ 4 ]
In 1985, a Bureau for Registration Management was established, and a 13-digit national identification number was introduced. A kind of BSN number. That number is of course on the ID card, just as the BSN can be read in the passport in the Netherlands. (Source - Thai Ministry of the Interior https://www.moi.go.th/)