Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai ID cards for foreigners. So I have done other videos on this topic before but I often forget that we have been doing this for a number of years and something I may have said years ago that I kind of just think "hey that's out there on the record, I'm sure people can find it", it's probably not the easiest thing in the world to find so sometimes we need to kind of reiterate points we have made in the past. Meanwhile, about a week ago I put out a video where I basically said "hey we have kind of come to the end, the light at the end of the tunnel if you will, of Thailand shut down and we don't really need to do as many videos so much about Thai Immigration as we once had to do, so what did people want me to talk about. 

This recent comment, I am going to quote some from this comment about Thai IDs. Quoting directly: "Thanks for asking Ben. How do I get a Thai ID Card as a follower? Do I have to travel back to my home country? Do I need a lawyer to get a Thai ID? What are the benefits of a farang having a Thai ID?" Okay, a couple of things. First of all, there are Thai ID cards and there are Thai ID Cards. So a blue Thai ID Card, it's like a baby blue Thai ID card. That is the ID of a Thai National. That is the ID; all Thai Nationals of a certain age have to have a Thai ID card for purposes of really dealing with much of anything. It basically is kind of their all-in-one document if you will. It has got all their basic documents in there: birth certificate, house registration book, etc., etc. There is a ton of documentation that is sort of tied into a Thai ID Card. There is also a Pink ID card which is an ID card that may be possible for foreign nationals to obtain. Now generally speaking, and this was especially true in the past, I do believe they are easing up on this a little bit, generally speaking you would only see Thai ID cards issued on foreigners here in Thailand who had obtained what is called a Yellow House Book, a house book, it's a yellow Tabian Baan. That was sort of the root document associated with obtaining a Thai ID. These days it may be possible to obtain other certified documentation most notably from Thai Immigration which may be utilized, I stress may be because there is no actual affirmative duty on the part of the Civil Registrar Officers to issue a Thai ID card to a foreigner per the Civil Registration Act I believe 1991 as amended. There is not any affirmative duty on them to do it, it's kind of more of a courtesy. Now many of them will because it is a useful identification document for that foreign national and it can be useful to the foreign national. It is also kind of useful to the Thai government because now they have got that person ID'd. They know who that person is, they have got their identity documentation and relative residence documentation in the system so to speak. So again, it may be possible. 

As far as benefits, I've done videos on this before and I kind of got burned in the comments, there is not in my opinion a ton of benefits associated with a Thai ID other than it does act oftentimes in lieu of a passport although not in a travel context necessarily especially internationally, and yeah it can be kind of useful for Banking and things like that to just have an ID at the ready and not having to pull out one's passport every other document that they have ever had associated with their immigration status, yes it can have some benefits but they are more kind of practical knick knack conveniences, they are not really benefits that are like of any major significance but yeah they can be useful, having a Thai ID. Truth be told I never had a Pink ID card even before I was Thai. I just didn't feel it was overly necessary. I did have a Thai driving license in my 10 years here, my first 11 years or so here. I had a Thai driving license which I would often use a lieu of any other ID including a passport here, where I could get away with that. But in my opinion a Thai driving license, kind of a little bit better than a Thai ID because at least it provides you with the ability to drive in Thailand legally. That said, again I have been burned on that in comments before, people disagreeing with me. I understand reasonable people can disagree on that. There are pros and cons to both kinds of documentation. Long story short yes it may be possible for many people to get a Thai ID card here in Thailand. You are going to be dealing with the bureaucracy; there is going to be a lot of documentation; it is going to vary from office to office but yeah foreigners can get an ID card here in Thailand. It does have some tangential benefits for those living here in the Kingdom.