BANGKOK — Thai government approves Thai citizenship for 483,000 people – forwards to Interior Ministry for implementation within 60 days, expected to stimulate economy
Jirayu Huangsap, Government Spokesperson, announced after the cabinet meeting on October 29, 2024, that the National Security Council (NSC) proposed to the cabinet to approve criteria to expedite citizenship and status solutions for long-term immigrants in Thailand and their children born in Thailand, replacing the cabinet resolution of January 26, 2021.
Currently, there are long-term immigrants in Thailand in several groups: The first group, from 1984-1999, consists of approximately 120,000 people, and the second group, from 2005-2011, consists of approximately 215,000 people.
The third group includes approximately 29,000 children of ethnic minorities born in Thailand, and the fourth group consists of about 113,000 surveyed children born in Thailand to persons without registration status, totaling 483,000 people. Today, the cabinet considered streamlining various procedures, as processing all 483,000 cases would otherwise take 44 years.
Regarding concerns about the potential impacts of granting citizenship, the cabinet has approved the principle and forwarded it to the Ministry of Interior to announce and implement the details within 30-60 days.
Mr. Jirayu stated that these 483,000 people have lived in Thailand for a long time, can work normally, and have important documents. Thailand therefore believes it should properly address their status to allow these people to travel freely, stimulate the economy, and maintain proper records of their whereabouts. This is expected to benefit many sectors.
source: https://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2024/10/30/cabinet-approves-thai-citizenship-for-483000-long-term-immigrants/
