Hi,
I'm looking for any personal experiences or actual knowledge of the processes around the Thai military draft for young men who have dual citizenship and/or are living overseas. My sons have Thai and NZ nationalities and will probably be living in NZ when they reach 18 (is it 18 for the draft?). I'm wondering a few things:
Are they required to return to Thailand to be part of the draft?
What if they are in the middle of university studies etc, can they come back later i.e. apply for a deferral of the draft?
Do they have to come back at all? If they don't come back at that time, but do come back later (say in their mid-20s) would they then be considered criminals for not coming back at the "right time"? Or just ignored?
Cheers for anything you might know or be able to share, or any pointers to useful resources around this! Admittedly my boys are a few years off this stage, but I'd like to know as much as possible ahead of time so we can put some thought into how to handle it.
I'm looking for any personal experiences or actual knowledge of the processes around the Thai military draft for young men who have dual citizenship and/or are living overseas. My sons have Thai and NZ nationalities and will probably be living in NZ when they reach 18 (is it 18 for the draft?). I'm wondering a few things:
Are they required to return to Thailand to be part of the draft?
What if they are in the middle of university studies etc, can they come back later i.e. apply for a deferral of the draft?
Do they have to come back at all? If they don't come back at that time, but do come back later (say in their mid-20s) would they then be considered criminals for not coming back at the "right time"? Or just ignored?
Cheers for anything you might know or be able to share, or any pointers to useful resources around this! Admittedly my boys are a few years off this stage, but I'd like to know as much as possible ahead of time so we can put some thought into how to handle it.