Mong Thongdee was promised citizenship nine years ago at age 12 when he represented Thailand in an international paper airplane contest.

Former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has put forward a formal recommendation that paper airplane whiz Sai Mong Thongdee get Thai citizenship.

Twenty-one-year-old Mong Thongdee was born in northern Thailand to parents who were migrant workers from Shan State. In 2009, at age 12, he participated in a paper airplane competition that made him a national champion in Thailand and led him to compete in Japan on a temporary travel document; he brought home a third-place award.

For his achievement, he was promised Thai citizenship by then-PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and others. However, nine years later, he remains stateless.

The recent recommendation letter from Abhisit states that the migrant student did his best to build a good image for Thailand.

Mong Thongdee said that the new call for his citizenship comes from both Abhisit and other former ministers and that he is grateful to his teachers and all other supporters.

“I don’t have enough documents,” he told SHAN, of why he has not been able to obtain full rights in the country of his birth. “I don’t know when I will get Thai citizenship.”

He is currently a construction worker and is studying in informal high school. He likes shooting video with a drone, and his skill has led to him being called on to assist Thai TV news crews.

Mong Thongdee’s case has come to the forefront following the incident involving 13 children who were trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai Province—once they were freed, it was revealed that four of them were stateless. They were granted citizenship earlier this month.

“Our cases are different, but I am so proud of them,” Mong Thongdee told SHAN.