A good example of how Thailand will not issue citizenship to anyone

A lot of the world talks about refugee this and asylum that and I mostly don't pay it any mind because I don't want to get wrapped up in the political battle. When I hear about the path to citizenship in other countries I kind of scoff because of the many years that I have been in Thailand, I have NEVER heard of anyone being offered citizenship for anyone, regardless of how talented they are or how deserving they are based on their past.

I saw a story in the media recently that was about a tragic story that I don't care to get involved in (it was a double murder) and how there is this very talented interpreter that the police will call upon in situations where she is needed.

src

The fact that she is quite pretty is also a factor, I will admit.

Her name is Varvara Davydova, and she is of Russian descent. Her parents moved to Thailand to do something that isn't mentioned since she was 8 years old. In that time she attended Thai school with Thai children, played with Thai children and grew up with Thais. She obtained some of the highest grades in her education and she is 100% completely and entirely fluent in Thai. She has a law degree from a Thai University where she graduated with top honors and started working as an interpreter when she was just 15 years old.

There is no doubt that she is the cream of the crop when it comes to people that probably should be offered citizenship if they want it.

While I am certain that she receives special treatment by Immigration because she volunteers with them as an interpreter on a regular basis, this woman still has to jump through all the Immigration hoops that the rest of us have to and to me, this seems extremely silly. If there ever was someone that should be offered Thai citizenship it would be her.

In various Thai social media groups she is a bit famous and is referred to as "she is Thai in every way except for the ID card."

She responds to these posts herself saying “100% Thai at heart, all that’s left is the ID card.”

Why in the world would she be denied? Well maybe the press that she is getting from helping in this high-profile police case will change that. She already has the admiration of the Thai people and the respect of the Thai police, but I once read the list of qualifications that a person must have to obtain citizenship and there is a subsection that states something along the lines as "anything else the officer determines is necessary" and well, this probably would be money as it tends to be when dealing with officials in this country.

She has been very helpful to the police and I am hopeful that now she will actually get that push to become one of the first ever Thai citizens who wasn't born here.

When I first got here I was naive and was really spending a lot of time on learning Thai, hoping at some point to gain dual-citizenship and thought that if I did become fluent that they would want me because of my professional background. I learned very quickly from others that this is a foolish goal and that nobody ever gets it. Hell, there are foreigners here that have become pillars of their various communities setting up foundations for the poor and even overhauling the waste treatment of entire villages and yet thy are never so much as considered for Thai citizenship. One particular story is about how a guy who was basically giving away his life's fortune to better a community and at one point he was basically hounded to produce ever-increasing sums of money else he was going to get deported.

That is just hearsay though so don't focus on that too heavily.

This situation with this Russian interpreter though to me seems pretty cut and dry. She is already better at Thai language than most Thai people are and if they don't offer her citizenship it can only be because she doesn't look Thai. Quite the opposite actually. There's a rather negative statement that goes around here in the expat community that says "no matter what you do you will always be "farang.""

I kind of fear that is true.