The Thai draft. Several factors come into play when deciding who goes and who stays.My security man is an army sergeant attached to Amphoe. His duties include every year making sure all 17 year olds registered.ie: having ID cards, complete a liability to national service form, then nearer the 18th birthday, enlisting them. He has a quota to be fulfilled. Now normally as this is a very poor region there are enough volunteers to fill this, but if there isn't, the remainder are invited to take place in a public draw at which, coloured tokens are drawn that signify, going or not.Many of the richer folks believe if they give him money, their little darling will be excluded from the draw. Not so, if he has sufficient numbers to make his quota , volunteering, then they don't need to have a draw, so poor little rich boy stays home. Now if his parents like to think that he has helped them to keep their son home and give him a gift, then, up to them, thank you mam.Incidentally his required quota has been increased considerably this year, presumably because more commitments are expected in the near future, maybe the south, maybe not.!
Now regarding a Thai citizen being abroad. As you all know, to get a passport you need an ID card, to get an ID card you need a house address with your name on, this doesn't indicate you live abroad, so on the due date the enrolment form will go to this address. If you don't respond, its big trouble time, possibly a jail sentence. So if your boy is living abroad, unless proof is sent of attending a university at the time, it means him coming back to enlist.
The longer term members may recall this contradicts what I posted about 3 years ago. At that time, I honestly believed my wife had paid for her sons freedom, but if you read above, its more likely, she just gave the recruiting sergeant , a nice little gift. TIT.

Suppose (just suppose) that the half thai guy who may or may not have been living abroad does not speak more than 6 words of Thai !
He is able to sawasdee to the recruiting man and tell him he likes khow phat and beer Chang - but thats the limit of his Thai language 'skills'

Surely that would make him exempt ????

Paul wrote:Suppose (just suppose) that the half thai guy who may or may not have been living abroad does not speak more than 6 words of Thai !
He is able to sawasdee to the recruiting man and tell him he likes khow phat and beer Chang - but thats the limit of his Thai language 'skills'

Surely that would make him exempt ????

I would imagine there are many holding Thai ID cards that aren,t fluent in the language.Where he has been living is immaterial because if he,s been abroad all that time, he has been falsely declaring his place of residency on the blue book.Another point to consider for those wanting dual nationality.

valentine wrote:Now regarding a Thai citizen being abroad. As you all know, to get a passport you need an ID card, to get an ID card you need a house address with your name on, this doesn't indicate you live abroad

Val,
I assume you mean... "to get a passport you need an ID number"?

I say this, because I was under the impression that ID cards are only issued when a child reaches 15 years of age...
(my Thai born child has passports, but no ID card yet... only a number)


Not having a pop... just for the clarity of other readers

Stevo wrote:

valentine wrote:Now regarding a Thai citizen being abroad. As you all know, to get a passport you need an ID card, to get an ID card you need a house address with your name on, this doesn't indicate you live abroad

Val,
I assume you mean... "to get a passport you need an ID number"?

I say this, because I was under the impression that ID cards are only issued when a child reaches 15 years of age...
(my Thai born child has passports, but no ID card yet... only a number)


Not having a pop... just for the clarity of other readers

No a minor can get a passport based on the parents ID. I was originally referring to conscription which takes place at aged 17, by then the minor should have registered and been given an ID.Sorry for the confusion.
It is worth noting that if the child doesn,t register for an ID at age 15 even if he/she already holds a Thai passport it will not be renewed without the ID.

valentine wrote: It is worth noting that if the child doesn,t register for an ID at age 15 even if he/she already holds a Thai passport it will not be renewed without the ID.

Thanks Val... very handy to know that.
So, (and I am assuming again )... at age 15, the ID number allocated to my child will no longer be sufficient for passport replacement na? a plastic card must be issued first (effectively 're-registering')?

Stevo wrote:

valentine wrote: It is worth noting that if the child doesn,t register for an ID at age 15 even if he/she already holds a Thai passport it will not be renewed without the ID.

Thanks Val... very handy to know that.
So, (and I am assuming again )... at age 15, the ID number allocated to my child will no longer be sufficient for passport replacement na? a plastic card must be issued first (effectively 're-registering')?

Yes he must have a full Thai ID card, whether it will bear the same number as that already issued I can,t in all honesty say. Presumably he is already recorded on the blue book, house register, so its quite possibly the same one.

Val,

I just had this discussion with my wife concerning our 5 yr old who is dual national. She stated that another option to avoid conscription is for our son to perform 3yrs of cadet training in highschool. However, he is still required to register. Do you have any info on this.

BTW, I found this site having to do with Thai military service while searching more on this subject, but it's in Thai and apparently my wife doesn't have time to provide translating services for me I don't mean to imply that I want you to translated it. Just thought you may be interested

http://www.kodmhai.com/m4/m4-15/H24/H-24.html

valentine wrote:Presumably he is already recorded on the blue book, house register, so its quite possibly the same one.

Yes, she is recorded on Tabien ban

thanks for the info I'll make a mental note of it for the next 14 years..

Stevo wrote:

valentine wrote:Presumably he is already recorded on the blue book, house register, so its quite possibly the same one.

Yes, she is recorded on Tabien ban

thanks for the info I'll make a mental note of it for the next 14 years..

Well you won,t have to worry about conscription for her. Sorry I don't think I,ll be around to remind you.

val wrote:The Thai draft. Several factors come into play when deciding who goes and who stays.My security man is an army sergeant attached to Amphoe. His duties include every year making sure all 17 year olds registered.ie: having ID cards, complete a liability to national service form, then nearer the 18th birthday, enlisting them. He has a quota to be fulfilled. Now normally as this is a very poor region there are enough volunteers to fill this, but if there isn't, the remainder are invited to take place in a public draw at which, coloured tokens are drawn that signify, going or not.

could there be 2 age times to be picked ?

the Mrs had a recent converstion with a family member that she has'n t talked to for a while and it was... her nephew has been en-listed by picking the coloured token, apparently if i understood it correctly there was around 20 tokens and only 1 needed, and he drew it now he is just turning 21 i think, but he is definatly not 18 or 17, and he is a Katoey in the making, and word amongst his family is that he father has arranged this from the "other Side" by means of turning him straight when he joins up !!!
i don't think he is looking forward to it, and from what i understand the draw was at songkran period.