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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing basically Thai Citizenship; Citizenship by naturalization. This is a topic I am pretty intimately familiar with because I have undergone this process and I can say it is a pretty cumbersome one. 

A recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thai Citizenship Seekers Must Pass Thai Test. Now to be clear, in the past there has always been a Thai language component. I will get into that in a minute but let's quote directly, again, Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com. "The Cabinet on Tuesday approved new Ministerial Regulations requiring Thai Citizenship seekers to pass a Thai language test with fees for Citizenship applications going up by two fold, Deputy Government Spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said. Miss Rachada said that the Interior Ministry had proposed amendments to Thai Citizenship regulations which had been imposed since 1967." Quoting further: "The old regulations required applicants for Thai Citizenship have the ability to speak and understand Thai," and yeah I have been through that. That was not easy. The definition of "speak and understand Thai" did not mean that were not tests associated with that. In fact I kind of felt like I was constantly under a microscope with respect to Thai capability, and I sometimes felt that I may have squeaked by to some extent. Now some of that might have been stress but up to now it has not been a cakewalk with respect to Thai language. It has not just been an easy thing but it looks like they are they are making it harder to some extent, for lack of a better term. Quoting further: "Under the new regulations, applicants must pass a Thai language test provided by”, (this is probably where the rubber hits the road on this). Quoting further: "provided by a Citizenship Subcommittee or have Certificates from the Education Ministry to prove that they had completed at least primary education in the Kingdom." That second one is going to be a tall order for a lot of folks. That is going to add a lot of time on and I suspect this Citizenship Subcommittee, again I have dealt with the Committees that are associated with naturalizing to Thai Citizenship and there are multiple bodies you end up dealing with as you are going through the process and if there is another one being added on top of what you are already dealing with and then also their whole task is adjudicating your Thai capability, I can just see where that could have pretty substantial ramifications. It could fundamentally change the overall process. 

So I hesitate to say it is getting more difficult but I definitely would say look the requirements are becoming more stringent and for those who are looking to naturalize to Thai Citizenship, moving forward it looks like it is going to be fundamentally different to the process we have seen in the past.