Registering new born

[Pommie]

Can anyone tell me what is the actuall process of registering a new born child in Singapore?
I have been told so many different things.

Both parents are british.

Thanks

[JD]

When my daughter was born at Mt E. hospital we were able to register the birth and obtain a birth certificate at the hospitals special registrars desk. Check with your hospital where the bbay was born.
Otherwise you should enquire at the SIR building (Singapore Immigration and Registration) they do births/deaths etc there.
If you wish to obtain a British birth certificate you should go to the British High Commission and pick  up a form. But please be aware a brit birth cert is quite expensive-about $200 I think.
We went and got our baby a brit passport and birth cert and blew $300 in a few minutes on both documents.
A British birth cert isn't necessarily a must have but we felt better that she have one. The Singaporean certificate states that our daughter was not a citizen so we felt she needed a document to confirm her British nationality.
Hope this helps.

[blue]

JD

I beg to differ!  The passport is a must have as you need it for the dependant pass/long stay visa to be stamped in!!  The birth cert is not essential as the British High Comm accept the Sgp birth cert for issue of passport.

Make sure you get the passport quickly and then lodge at SIR.  Our baby's DP took 2 days longer than the month allowed and the bureaucratic idiots stamped "overstayer" in her passport!!!  Did they think she was looking for work illegally??

[blue]

doh!!  misread your post JD!  apologise for my early morning myopia!!

[Pommie]

Thanks JD,

I was confused about the need for a British Birth certificate, as the hospital said exactly the same to us?

I guess I can still get a british passport whilst holding a singapore Birth certificate?

[New Dad]

I wondered the same thing about actually getting the registration/birth certificate from the High Commission.

The advice they gave me was that the advantage of registering the birth there (regardless of whether you got a copy of the certificate (you don't have to, and it costs $98 if you do)) was that when the child returns to the UK, and need a replacement birth certificate (well, who doesn't lose things) they can apply from the NSO in the UK. Otherwise, you'd have to get hold of the government office (or possibly the hospital) here in Singapore to get a copy. Bit of a pain if you needed it in a rush.

We chose to get all done (including copy), that is passport and registration, and it cost us $337.80 (I believe).