Thai identity card
identity card
The Thai identity card (Thai: บัตรประจำตัวประชาชนไทย; Thai pronunciation: [bàt.pràtɕam.tuə.pràtɕʰaː.tɕʰon.tʰaj]; RTGS: bat pracham tua pracha chon thai) is an official identity document issued to Thai nationals between the age of 7 and 70 years. It was first introduced in 1943 when Plaek Phibunsongkram was the Prime Minister. The minimum age was originally 16 years but later lowered to 15 in 1983 and 7 in 2011.
The card is used for proving the holder's identity and receiving government services. Other private services, such as applying for a mobile phone contract or opening a bank account, also require a production of valid identity card. Failure to produce a card without good reasons can result in up to ฿200 fine.
History
Prior to the introduction of an identification card in 1943, anyone who wanted to travel can apply for an internal passport at the district office. However, the law was rarely enforced until 1943, when a compulsory identification book law was enacted. Thai nationals who were 16 and older and lived within designated areas were required to have an identification book, similar to the existing internal passport.
In 1963, an identification book was replaced by a smaller laminated paper card featuring holder's photo with height scale.
“Thai identity card” enters the record as identity card. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thai, identity and card can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11327831. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1943, 1983, 2011 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thai identity card” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.