A foreigner can get Thai citizenship through naturalisation. First comes permanent residence, then at least five years of living in the country with it, a job paying at least 80,000 baht a month (40,000 if your spouse or child is a Thai citizen), three years of taxes, conversational Thai and the anthems by heart. You apply to the police: in Bangkok to the Special Branch, in the provinces to the provincial police headquarters. The fee is 5,000 baht, and the official processing time is 730 days. In September 2026 the government ordered a review of the rules, but so far they haven’t changed.
Step one: permanent residence
The five years for naturalisation are counted not from your first arrival but from the day you got permanent residence or an Alien Registration Book. And permanent residence is granted under a quota: no more than 100 people of any one nationality a year, plus 50 stateless people. The window doesn’t open every year and doesn’t stay open long: applications under the 2025 quota were taken from 9 March to 3 April 2026.
Requirements for naturalisation
Under Section 10 of the Nationality Act and the Ministry of Interior’s criteria, the applicant must:
- be of legal age;
- have lived in Thailand for at least five consecutive years with permanent residence;
- work with a work permit and earn at least 80,000 baht a month, or at least 40,000 if they have ties to Thailand: a Thai spouse, a child who is a Thai citizen, a degree from a Thai university;
- have paid taxes in Thailand for at least three years;
- speak and understand Thai and be able to sing the national anthem and the royal anthem;
- have a clean record: there are fingerprint checks for criminal convictions, links to drugs and any threat to security.
DOPA’s list of documents also includes proof of charitable donations, with at least 5,000 baht recommended. The law doesn’t require it, but leaving it blank makes the application look weaker.
Lawyers also describe a points-based assessment with a pass mark of 50 out of 100. We haven’t found an official document setting it out, so treat it as practice rather than a rule.
If your spouse is a Thai citizen
The routes differ for wives and husbands.
A foreign wife gets citizenship under Section 9. This isn’t naturalisation but a separate procedure. It requires at least three years of marriage (one year if the couple have a child together), a husband earning at least 20,000 baht a month, and an interview with the couple.
A foreign husband goes through naturalisation, but under Section 11: the requirements for five years with permanent residence and for knowing the language are waived. What remains is at least three years of marriage (one year if there are children), income of at least 40,000 baht, a work permit and three years of taxes.
How to apply and how long it takes
You apply in person. In Bangkok, at the Special Branch Bureau of the Royal Thai Police; in the provinces, including Chonburi, at the provincial police headquarters. The decision is made by the Minister of Interior, and royal approval is then required. After that the applicant takes an oath of allegiance, the naturalisation is published in the Royal Gazette and a certificate is issued. The citizen’s ID card comes later, through civil registration.
The fee in the DOPA guide is 5,000 baht per application, 2,500 for a minor child and 500 for the naturalisation certificate. In 2022 the government approved in principle doubling the fees to 10,000 baht, but this isn’t in the current rules.
The official processing time is 730 days. That’s a standard, not a promise: in practice lawyers talk about several years.
The applicant’s minor children who live in Thailand can get citizenship together with them, without the requirements on age, work, length of residence and language.
What happens to your previous citizenship
The law has no direct ban on dual citizenship, but the Ministry of Interior asks for a document from your country’s embassy stating your intention to renounce your previous citizenship after approval. If a naturalised citizen keeps using their old passport, the Minister may strip them of Thai citizenship. It can also be taken away for living abroad for more than five years without a place of residence in Thailand.
What citizenship gives you, and what it doesn’t
A citizen needs no visas, extensions, work permit or immigration check-ins. Occupations closed to foreigners open up: the Ministry of Labour keeps a list of 40 types of work, and 27 of them are completely closed to foreigners. You can buy land without workarounds. You can set up a company with no limits on foreign shareholding.
Political rights are more modest. A naturalised citizen can vote only five years after getting citizenship, and can never become an MP, a senator or a minister: under the Constitution that right belongs only to citizens by birth.
And an important correction to a popular myth: a child born in Thailand does not automatically become Thai. Citizenship by birth goes to the child of a Thai citizen, wherever the child is born. A child of two foreigners living in the country on visas does not get citizenship by place of birth.
What’s changing in 2026
On 17 September 2026 the government ordered a review of the procedure, criteria and methods for assessing citizenship applications, a check of the grants made over the past year, and the drafting of amendments to the law. The reason: citizenship had been used in schemes involving nominee owners. As of 25 September the current rules haven’t changed, but checks on applications will most likely become stricter. If you’re in the process, keep your income and tax documents in perfect order.
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