The Thai cabinet decided on Tuesday to grant Thai citizenship to about 483,000 migrants who have been living in Thailand since 1984 and children born in Thailand to parents in ethnic minority groups.
Spokesman for the prime minister’s office, Jirayu Huangsap, said that, since these documented migrant workers have been working in Thailand for a long time, the cabinet feels that it is appropriate to grant them Thai citizenship, so they can travel freely and still beneficially contribute to the development of the Thai economy.
He said that the Ministry of Interior will issue regulations within 60 days for the implementation of today’s cabinet decision.
The first group to benefit from the decision comprises about 120,000 migrants who have lived and worked in Thailand between 1984 and 1999.
The second group comprises 215,000 migrants living in the country between 2005 and 2011.
The third group comprises about 29,000 children born to ethnic minority parents in Thailand and the fourth group comprises about 113,000 children born to parents who are members of an undocumented minority.
Chirayu noted, however, that it could take as long as 44 years to process all those applications for Thai citizenship.
