Thailand for a Long Period of Time. The new Resolution aims to improve access to legal immigration status and permanent residency for registered stateless long-term residents who were unable to meet previous criteria set by the Cabinet in 2010. It is expected to benefit up to 400,000 registered stateless persons who will be able to access legal immigration status and basic rights. However, specific criteria and procedures have not yet been determined.35 Issue 1: Gender Discrimination in the nationality law 32 The Nationality Act denies women the equal right to confer nationality upon their foreign spouse. Nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender violate Thailand’s obligations under CEDAW, Article 9 of which explicitly obliges States to guarantee equal nationality rights to women. 33 Section 9 of Thailand’s Nationality Act provides: An alien woman who marries a person of Thai nationality shall, if she desires to acquire Thai nationality, file an application with the competent official according to the form and in the manner prescribed in the Ministerial Regulations. The granting or refusal of permission for acquisition of Thai nationality shall lie with the discretion of the Minister. 34 Section 10 provides that a foreign husband may apply for naturalisation under certain conditions. However, citizenship acquired through naturalisation is less secure than citizenship by birth – it is subject to the state’s permission and can be revoked.36 35 The denial of equal nationality rights leads to both the denial of proof of legal identity and the denial of the right to a nationality. Furthermore, discrimination in nationality laws violates CEDAW Article 16 by inhibiting the ability of women to, in practice, freely choose a spouse. This further entrenches traditional stereotypes regarding the primacy of male legal identity and contributes to women’s inequality within the family and society at large. Entrenchment of such stereotypes is in breach of Thailand’s obligations under CEDAW Article 5(a). 36 The CEDAW Committee has noted with concern that among ethnic minority and indigenous communities, men are reportedly given priority to register for nationality.37 This leaves many ethnic minority and indigenous women without nationality, with restricted freedom of movement and limited access to education, employment, healthcare and social protection. 37 Countries that deny women equal rights to confer nationality to foreign spouses threaten family unity, including the child’s right to know and be cared for by their parents. For example, when foreign men are denied access to their spouses’ 35 ‘Criteria for determining the status and rights of immigrant and long-lived persons’ RYT9 (26 January 2021) [source in Thai]. J. Cheva-Isarakul, ‘Navigating the ineligible state: Everyday experiences of Statelessness among Shan youth in Northern Thailand’ (2020, Victoria University of Wellington). 37 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Thailand’ CEDAW/C/THA/CO/6-7 (24 July 2017), para. 32 36 7