Help Stateless children achieve Thai citizenship

Exciting new updates: new laws have come into place just since June. These laws allow a new group of people to be eligible for citizenship if they submit their paperwork now and work in Thailand for the next 5 years. We are so happy this new law has come into place, it will allow many of the college students we support to be able to get their Thai citizenship just a few years after they graduate from university. 

The new laws also shift the power to approve citizenship applications from the prime minister in Bangkok to the local county offices. This will make the process much quicker for many cases since we won't have to wait for the paperwork to make its way up the chain. We have heard from several counties that our clients will be getting their ID cards this year! 

In June, we were excited to celebrate with Yamee who got her Thai ID card just before she turned 18. We are very thankful to the local authorities who made an exception in her case and didn't require her to pass a Thai exam to get her card due to her being raised by English speaking Americans and home schooling her instead of registering her in Thai school. We were very worried they would not allow her to get her ID card due to these issues but since she was not eligible for any other country citizenship, they bent the rules a bit. 

Fah is a case we have been working on for about 7 years and her paperwork finally made it through the process! While the county office scheduled her to come get her ID printed last week, upon arrival they said the new office chief wanted her to do an updated criminal background check first since the one on file was about 5 years old now. The results from that take 1-2 weeks so hopefully by mid-August she will finally be a Thai citizen. Despite both her parents being born in Thailand this case had many complications. She went to school to be a Nursing Assistant but has not been able to work due to not having her ID card yet, so this will allow her to pursue her chosen career! 

We are just starting on Ann's case and in the process of collecting paperwork from her educational background and witnesses to her birth so the government can create a birth certificate for her and allow her to apply for citizenship. She is very entrepreneurial and has many ideas of businesses she would like to start but is hindered by her lack of an ID card. 

These are just the most recent cases we have worked on in June and July, but by the time of our next update, we are hopeful we will have several more cases nearing completion. Thank you so much for your faithful support! 

We continue to follow up on over 2 dozen cases, but most of them are at the point where they have been submitted and we are waiting on the government to contact us and let us know when a Thai ID number has been assigned to the client and schedule an appointment to get their official Thai ID card at the government office. 

In the past quarter, we have done 2 DNA tests for clients, submitted the final paperwork in Chiang Dao for one client to apply for citizenship, and are reigstering another client into the Thai GED program to get documentation that she is doing homeschool. Two girls in this family were raised by Americans and never registered for Thai school, and also never applied for their Thai ID cards. As they are now teenagers, it's more time consuming and complicated to get their ID than it would have been if their caretakers had done it when they were 7 years old, as the Thai law indicates. We are hopeful that the GED classes will give us the final paperwork required to submit an application to get the Thai ID card. 

Thank you for your support for this program. Most of the clients we work with have been expolited by the local village chiefs for astronomical sums of money to do services they are legally obligated to provide. Since many people in remote villages are unaware of their own rights, we often have to mediate to ensure they are getting the proper treatment and that children are getting their Thai identity cards in a timely manner. Your support allows us to ensure our clients are able to use their hard earned money to provide for their children rather than give it to corrupt officials.