From Paperwork to Possibility: The Long Road to Legal Status and Nationality

On a humid morning 22 years ago, in two hospitals an hour apart in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Mai, a miracle happened - twice.

Kanokwan Nongyaw entered the world first, at Doi Saket Hospital. She weighed just 900 grams, small enough to fit in the crook of her father’s arm. A nurse carried the fragile newborn to the baby’s father, Saw Kampan, and gently asked if he wanted to keep her as she was unlikely to survive.

“I’ll take care of my daughter, whatever it takes,” he replied.

Hours later, after the mother, Ying Nongyaw, developed complications, she was rushed to Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital in the city. There, her second daughter - Kamonwan - was delivered. She weighed 1.1 kilograms. The twins were born in different hospitals, under different roofs, in a race against time.

They spent two months in incubators, suspended between life and loss. But they survived. They grew. They laughed. And, against the odds, they thrived.

What they did not receive, however, was something more ordinary and yet still important: a nationality.

Today, Kanokwan and Kamonwan are 22 years old. They live in Mae Tang district of Chiang Mai Province with their parents, from an ethnic minority, who work as construction workers. By law, the twins were entitled to Thai nationality. But that bureaucratic error at birth would shadow them for more than a decade.

“The problem started with my father’s documents,” Kanokwan explained. “His name on our birth certificates didn’t match the name on his identification card.”

Over the years, her father’s identification documents had changed - different names, a cancelled ID, a reissued number. What might seem like minor administrative discrepancies became seemingly insurmountable obstacles. When local officials tried to process the children’s nationality, the paperwork would not align. The applications stalled.

Without a nationality, life is narrower. When scholarship opportunities required Thai citizenship, the twins were automatically excluded. When classmates applied for student loans to ease the burden on their families, they could not. If they wanted to travel outside their district for internships or competitions, special permissions from district office were required and sometimes denied.

“It closed off opportunities for us,” Kamonwan said. “We studied hard. We qualified. But we lost chances simply because we didn’t have a nationality.”

Statelessness affects every aspect of a child’s life. Without a legal identity, children are more vulnerable to poverty and have limited access to quality education, healthcare and protection. As they grow older, they face greater risks of exploitation and abuse and often end up in dangerous, low-paid work.

Thailand is home to one of the largest stateless populations in the world. According to the Ministry of Interior, as of December 2025, more than 509,364 people in the country are stateless, including more than 150,000 children. While Thailand has made significant progress in its laws and policies, implementation at the local level remains slow and complex. District officials struggle with limited resources and heavy caseloads. Some are not fully aware of updated policies and procedures. At the same time, many stateless families, fearful or unaware of procedures, do not know where to begin.

For the Nongyaw family, the process became a marathon. For more than ten years, Saw Kampan worked to correct his identification records. The family submitted documents again and again and patiently endured multiple interviews. In 2022, the twins, their brother and their father even agreed to DNA testing to prove paternity as evidence for the district office.

“We were exhausted by the waiting,” said Kamonphob, their brother. “We submitted documents so many times. We did interviews. We did DNA tests. Then everything went silent. When we followed up, we were told to wait. Appointments were postponed. We almost gave up.”

In 2021, UNICEF and the Legal Status Network Foundation, with support from the European Union, launched a Mobile Civil Registration Unit project to help stateless children obtain legal status and Thai nationality. Officials visited communities and schools, helped families prepare documents, submitted them to district offices and followed up on cases.

The ongoing project eases the burden on families, teachers and district officers while helping to speed up the process. Since its launch, the project has reached more than 50,000 stateless children and helped over 10,000 gain legal status.

The Nongyaw siblings were among them. Yet the process remained slow until a historic breakthrough.

In October 2024, Thailand’s cabinet approved a resolution offering an accelerated pathway to permanent residency and nationality for more than 483,000 stateless individuals who have lived in the country since 1984. The number includes approximately 142,000 children born in Thailand from ethnic minority communities. For families like the Nongyaws, who had waited years or even decades, it marked a turning point.

“The 2024 cabinet resolution has been transformative,” said Parinya Boonridrerthaikul, Child Protection Officer at UNICEF Thailand. “It significantly shortens the process from many months to just a few days in most cases. For children, that speed matters. It means faster access to healthcare, education, protection and opportunities that shape their future. We must ensure the momentum continues to reach every eligible child.”

In October 2025, the Nongyaw siblings reapplied. One month later, they were granted Thai nationality.

“I felt so relieved,” said Kamonwan. “It had been so long that we had almost stopped believing it would happen.”

For Kanokwan, the timing changed everything. She is now in her second year at university, studying to become a teacher. Hoping against hope that she would achieve her legal identity, she chose to follow her dream of becoming a civil servant teacher, a career that requires citizenship. “It was risky,” she admitted. “But I want to teach children in remote ethnic communities. They face many challenges. I want them to receive the best education.”

Her twin sister, Kamonwan, is also in university, hoping to build a future in business.

For Kanokwan and Kamonwan, the second miracle of their lives did not happen in an incubator. It happened at a district office counter, stamped and signed.

UNICEF’s Parinya said recent progress has shown that statelessness can be resolved - and resolved quickly - when policies are clear and properly implemented at local levels. UNICEF has advocated for this change over many years and with many partners and will continue to work with the Royal Thai Government and partners to end statelessness. This includes supporting birth registration and helping families access documents for nationality and residency. It also means advocating for stronger laws, policies and practice so that stateless children can claim their right to identity.

“No child should grow up invisible,” she said. “Every child should be registered and legally recognized. When everyone is committed, we aren’t just gaining legal status or nationality for children, we are giving them a future.”

Originally published by UNICEF Thailand