Guide to Prepare for the Thailand Permanent Residence Interview, including Sample Questions

Are you planning to be a permanent resident in Thailand?

There are various benefits of having permanent residence. You can stay in Thailand without a visa. Your non-Thai family members can get an extension of stay in Thailand based on your permanent resident status. It also allows you to buy a house and/or property in Thailand.

However, to get permanent resident status, you need to be able to communicate in Thai. Your language fluency will be tested by having an interview in Thai with an immigration officer.

In this article, we will guide you through how to increase your chances of success with the Thai interview, including how to prepare yourself, and popular questions asked by immigration officers.

Do I need to be fluent in Thai?

You don’t need to be fluent in Thai in order to pass the interview. The immigration officers mainly expect you to be able to communicate in Thai in everyday situations.

As long as you are able to somehow answer their questions, you should be able to pass the interview.

Please note that showing respect and following Thai etiquette can increase your chances of passting the interview.

How to Prepare Yourself

Questions will be mainly revolving around you, your family, your work, and some general regulations about your visa and permanent residence requirements.

You might also be asked additional questions based on your answers. For example, if you say that you have two kids, then you may be asked about their names, ages, grades, and schools.

A good way to prepare yourself for the interview is to do a mock interview with Thai friends.

Let them ask you questions in Thai in their own style. And then have them ask any additional questions they can think of based on your answers.

Ask multiple Thai friends to do the mock interview with you since different people have different ways of asking questions. They might use completely different words or sentences to ask the same thing.

For example, when asking about your job, one person may ask you “มีอาชีพอะไร” but another one may ask you “ทำงานแบบไหนอยู่”.

After that you can list down important vocabulary for these questions and answers and try to memorize as much as possible before the interview.

You can also ask a Thai tutor for help. Please make sure to tell them clearly about your purpose and then send them a list of questions.

Here are some popular questions asked by immigration officers.

What is your name?
What is your nationality?
How old are you?
Where do you live?
Why do you want to live in Thailand?
What Thai food do you like?
How long have you been in Thailand?
Can you please introduce yourself in Thai?
What is your current workplace?
What is your position?
What is the name of your employer? And what is their business?
Where is your office located?
How much is your salary?
Do you have a family?
How many sons and daughters do you have?
What is your favourite place in Thailand?
Where did you go during the Songkran festival?
Why are you applying for permanent residence?
What is the capital city of Thailand?
To apply for permanent residence, how many years do you need to stay in Thailand?
What is the Thai culture for greeting?
What is the date of the Thai New Year?
What is the date of the Songran Festival?
Have you had a health check-up before?
Do you usually exercise?

Please note that these questions are only a sample. There may be additional questions asked by immigration officers.

You don’t need to be able to answer everything in order to pass the interview. As long as you are able to answer many questions, then, you should be able to pass.

Good luck.