Did Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's cabinet approve a proposal to grant citizenship to people from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam? No, that's not true: It's a different target group. The target for a new measure is minority ethnic groups and stateless people.
The claim appeared in a video posted on TikTok on October 30, 2024 (archived here), and had the following caption (translated from Thai into English by Lead Stories staff):
Save: Granting citizenship to aliens is a national security risk for Thailand. #PleaseLike
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Oct 31 12:19:11 2024 UTC)
The post also has an on-screen caption, as translated, stating, "Latest news, the cabinet has approved granting Thai citizenship to 483,000 aliens, encouraging the Interior Ministry to get it done in 60 days."
The video sarcastically said Thailand is very kind in giving out its citizenship. The narrator pointed to Choi Young-seok, known as "Coach Choi," the head coach of the Thailand Taekwondo National who got his Thai citizenship on October 3, 2024, according to the Royal Gazette (archived here), despite being here for years.
The narrator said that aliens from Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia will get citizenship within 60 days, noting that Thailand will be like the United States one day.
The claim stemmed from a decision from the cabinet meeting on October 29, 2024, which was to streamline the citizenship process for 483,626 migrants from 19 targeted ethnic minority groups who have been in Thailand for a long time, according to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's press conference after the meeting (archived here). She said the standard process would take 270 days, but that will be changed to five days.
That doesn't mean anyone from Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, or any country would get Thai citizenship within five days.
The new measure is explicitly for the 483,626 people who already have their citizenship consideration pending, according to the cabinet's meeting consensus from October 29, 2024. (archived here). These are people of ethnic minority groups who have been in the country for a long time and their children. It noted that the Office of the National Security Council has already endorsed the measure.
According to the eligibility criteria (archived here), the person must have been living in Thailand continuously for 15 years, must have migrated to the country before 1999, must have a 13-digit identification number, and must not have citizenship with any other country.
Government Spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said at an October 29, 2024, press conference (archived here) that the cabinet has sent the measure to the Ministry of Interior for execution within 30 days, and it will be in effect 60 days after the official announcement.
