Thai National Service Warning

[Big Boy]

The son of a friend arrived in Thailand a few days ago and was marched straight to jail.

He has dual nationality, but lives in the UK. He arrived on his Thai Passport. The system at airport immigration immediately flagged him up as not having reported for the black/red ball national service lottery.

It made no difference that his reason for return included renewal of Thai passport, obtaining a Thai driving licence and reporting for the national service lottery. He had to be arrested, and spend 24 hours in custody. The more cynical are probably thinking a revenue collection exercise. No, good to their word, he was released next day with no fine, etc. and told to get his overdue national service reporting resolved before trying to return to the UK. Failure to do so would see him back in custody, but the consequences would be a lot more serious. He said his treatment whilst in custody was very good.

I know a few families living in the UK with sons of dual nationality, who at some point in the future could be caught out the same way. I thought it would be useful to share the experience.

[Dannie Boy]

Could be quite worrying to the unexpected!!

[Motyduke]

i know one thai with dual nationality from Canada who was sentenced of one year in jail in Thailand for that. And he did the year in jail AND after that, the time in army !

[HHTel]

This may be interesting for those with dual nationality living abroad:

https://www.thaicitizenship.com/thai-military-service/

[Big Boy]

It was interesting, thank you, but how current is it? Indications are it could be 5 years old, and probably Thai IT has advanced a little allowing the system to flag such misdemeanours. Has it ever been updated? As Thailand seems to have a law for almost everything, the custody element seems to indicate the process has moved forward a bit since written. Either that, or the author had no knowledge about the custody element for late reporting (as I'm sure most people aren't).

When my son arrived at age 22, he arrived on a Certificate of Identity i.e. no ID Card or Passport. As such, the system did not flag him. However, when he reported for National Service at age 23, he was fined for late reporting.

[Gregjam]

Thanks Big Boy for the warning. Both my sons who have dual nationality and are 30 or less will visit late April and while the conscription issue I understand was “sorted out” I will advise them to use their UK passports as they are here for less than 30 days. It will be interesting to see how many get caught out by this.

[HHTel]

I agree, BB, that the content does imply that it could be up to 5 years old. However, the comments/questions and replies are current right up to March 2023.
Of course the assumption is that 'he knows his stuff' or that he's unaware of the current situation.

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More broadly, across SE Asia, we help provide clients with market intelligence assessments for their prospective investments and joint ventures.

Our consultants are based ‘on the ground’ in Asia and have extensive experience across the region. All of our principals have significant backgrounds advising government the region and can provide a unique insight to the political and business environments.

Seems to have the right credentials!

[Thai Citizenship]

Thanks for the heads up. This seems to be a fairly new thing then.

I do want to ask, did the lad have any warrants out for him based of the fact that he never reported? This can happen when someone doesn't show up to report, where the conscription office notes no shows, and then puts in train the process to obtain a warrant. I'm guessing the lad may have had call up papers sent to his house, and either didn't respond, or didn't defer.

This is a bit of a different situation as opposed to simply being a Thai male who is of conscription age but who's never been 'in the system' (ie on a tabieen baan) which is the normal case for most foreign born Thai's (until they move back to Thailand. In this case, he's literally not on the military's radar.

Whatever the case, thank you for sharing. Hope the boy isn't too shaken up.

[Big Boy]

He was born and lived in Thailand until he was about 11 years old. He'd have been on the system. I'm sure call up papers were sent, but to an address he no longer resided at. It was when he arrived at Suvarnabhumi that the system flagged him up as not having reported - I've no idea if it was on the system because there was since an outstanding warrant for him.

[Thai Citizenship]

Thanks for the quick response.

Literally just had the boys of some friends come back to do their ID card and Thai passports. Moved to OZ at 11, six years ago, and before they could finally apply for their Australian citizenship, they needed valid ID cards and new Thai passports, so they had to come back and get them issued here. Arrived at the start of April and have already gone back.

I'll ask their mum to keep an eye out on if any documents get sent to them. In that case, I outline in the article what to do particularly if based overseas.

Anyway, thanks again for bringing this up. I'll keep my ear to the ground too. To be honest I've never heard anything like this happen before (not to say it never does), so good to know about your friends son.

Cheers
TC

[HHTel]

Just a note on the post above. I'm pretty sure you can get a Thai ID card and passport at any Thai embassy. My two certainly did before coming to Thailand. All done at the Thai Embassy in London, including Thai birth certificate.

[Big Boy]

My son couldn't in 2012, which is why he had to travel to Thailand without a passport. He arrived on a Certificate of Identity, which totally flummoxed Thai Immigration. He had to sort Thai ID Card first, which involved a trip to Somdet, and had to be validated by the Village Head, Once he had the ID Card, passport was simple.

The Thai Embassy in London could only supply his Birth Certificate.

[Thai Citizenship]

Just a note on the post above. I'm pretty sure you can get a Thai ID card and passport at any Thai embassy. My two certainly did before coming to Thailand. All done at the Thai Embassy in London, including Thai birth certificate.

So these days an embassy can renew a Thai ID card, but it remains the case (until they bring the system into the 21st century) that the first ID card needs to be issued in Thailand.

As such, an overseas born Thai citizen needs to go to a district office and have their name put down on a housebook and get an ID card issued.

Embassies generally allow for an overseas born Thai citizen to get their first Thai passport overseas. However Thai passports generally require you to be on the house registration and, if above 15 years of age, have an ID card. So subsequent Thai passports can only be issued if you are on the house registry.

https://www.thaicitizenship.com/thai-ci ... -overseas/