The Thai Government’s National Security Council (NSC) announced on 29 October 2024 that it has decided to award Thai citizenship to 483,626 long-term immigrants who have the required documentation.

These include migrants from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and ethnic minorities who have been settled in Thailand for a long time.

The long-term migrants being granted citizenship break down into several categories. Approximately 120,000 came to Thailand between 1984 and 1999, and approximately 215,000 arrived between 2005 and 2011. There are also two groups of people born in Thailand, these are approximately 29,000 children born to ethnic minority parents in Thailand and approximately 113,000 people born to unregistered people in Thailand.

Saw Hti Wah, a former Thai MP and advocate for the Karen ethnic group in Thailand, confirmed that the Thai government has discussed and approved granting citizenship to the long-term immigrants but further steps need to be finalised before the policy can fully implemented. He also pointed out that for people to receive citizenship they will need to have the necessary documentation and recognition from the Thai authorities that they have lived long enough in the country.

He said to KIC on 31 October: “As far as I understand, the Thai government is still working on the next steps. Once finalised, the government will notify relevant departments across the country. Many people have lived here for ten or twenty years, owning homes and farms and raising children, yet their kids, though born in Thailand, couldn’t become Thai citizens. The government aims to make things easier for them. There are also those who’ve been here a long time but aren’t eligible for citizenship under current laws, and the government will support them in aligning with the citizenship requirements.”

The Thai cabinet is also considering streamlining the process of issuing citizenship to these groups as under normal circumstances it could take 44 years to process the approximately 483,000 people who are due to receive citizenship.

Traditionally, the Thai Government has issued a special identification card to ethnic minorities such as the Karen and members of mountain dwelling groups. The identification card, commonly known as the Mountain Tribe Card (0-89), allows its holders to stay in Thailand for 10 years. The Thai Government has announced that children born to parents holding these cards will be permitted to become Thai citizens upon graduating from university.