singaporean or british nationality

[Fat Bob]

Yorkshire guy: One other thing to think about. If your child is not born in Yorkshire he will not be eligible to play for Yorkshire County Criket Club.

Interesting points here, personally if I was in the same boat I'd go for the British citizenship as this allows great freedom of travel and employment (the whole of the EU) and means the child does not need to do NS.

The only question there is could the child apply for Singaporean citizenship at a later date if he so desired? Could he/she state that they were born here to a Singaporean parent?

[Sunny]

The below is an email reply to my query to SIR when I had my girl last year. I am Singaporean and my husband, a Scandinavian. My girl is currently holding citizenship from both countries.

The Email Reply:

Dear Mdm,

    I refer to your email  dated 2.9.2001.

2    Please be informed that if the child is born overseas and  either one
of parents are Singapore Citizen and there is a lawful marriage at time of
the child's birth,  the parents may approach our Singapore Overseas Mission
for the registration of their child for Singapore Citizenship (SC) within 1
year of his/her birth.

3    They may forward the completed application form and relevant documents
which are to be duly certified by a Notary Public or person authorised to
administer Oaths through overseas mission or directly to our office for our
processing. Please enclose 2 separate bank drafts of $60 and $70 for
processing and issuance of certificates (for approved cases) respectively.
The normal processing time is 3 to 6 months.

4    Singapore does not allow dual citizenship. However, for minor citizen,
he/she is allowed to hold dual citizenship until the age of 18 where he/she
has to make a decision on which citizenship he/she decides to hold.

5    If the child decides to retain the Singapore citizenship, he/she has
to renounce his foreign citizenship on reaching 21 years old and come to
our Citizen Services Centre/Citizenship to take this Oath of Renunciation,
Allegiance and Loyalty before his/ her 22nd Birthday.  He/She will cease to
be a Singapore citizen by operation of law if he/she fails to take this
Oath on attaining 22 years of age.

6    We would like to highlight that if the minor Singapore citizen is
found to exercise his/her foreign citizenship rights, such as travelling on
a foreign passport when he/she reaches 18 years old and above, he/she is
liable for deprivation of Singapore citizenship.

7    All male Singapore citizens on reaching the age of 16 years are liable
for National Service (NS). You may like to check with the Central Manpower
Base (CMPB) on NS liability as this comes under their purview.  You may
contact them at Tel: 2700134 or email at: MFU@starnet.gov.sg.

8    Each application made will be considered on the merits of the case.

9    If the child is born in Singapore and  either one of parents are SC
and there is a lawful marriage at time of the child's birth, the child will
automatically become a SC.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Tan Kim Yen (Ms)
Public Affairs Executive
for DIRECTOR
SINGAPORE IMMIGRATION & REGISTRATION
SIR feedback/34092

[Professor]

expatmom,

The bond is S$75,000, I believe.

Anyone who put up a bond recently, please correct if my figure is wrong. Thank you.

[expatmom]

Wow, so one could lose $75,000 or thereabouts if stroppy teenage Johnny decides he doesn't want to do his National Service?! I'd drag him back to Singapore and march him into the recruitment center!

The letter from the INS was very interesting. I wonder what happens then if the parents are *not* married? Isn't the child worthy of becoming a Singaporean?      

[expat yorkshire]

thank you all for the replies ..

2 more questions

I we decide to go for british citizenship and not  singaporean citizenship ...apart from not being able to vote are there any specifc disadvantages of holding a british passport if we intend to stay here for e.g schooling ,additional costs .

Secondly if my child has a singaporean passport and nothing else can they still live and work in England ?

Thanks fat bob ...the yorkshire cricket thing is a concern ...but i dont think my wife would appreciate me shipping her back to Leeds for the birth at the last minute. Although this is what PArky did ...

[Fat Bob]

For the Singapore passport worker in england (or anywhere in the EU) then you would have to get work permits and the like. This could be difficult, depending on the climate at the time.

So for that reason then the UK citizenship would be preferable.

[to yorkshireman]

As the reply to Sunny from SIR clearly states, if your child is born in Sg, he/she automatically becomes a Sg citizen. Be aware that it becomes a hugely stressful exercise for kid & family if it's a boy by the time the NS issue & bond comes around. Do realise that it is difficult  for MRs to have the child overseas so do sit down and talk this through carefully.
There are friends whom we are aware of whose kids cannot re-enter Sg cos he's branded a defaulter.
Are there any great advantages in holding a Sg passport..

[expat yorkshire]

in reply to fat bob

i understood from somebody ( probably the bloke in the pub) that even if children had a singapore passport in my situation they could still get "permanent right of abode" ( the equivalent of PR ) in the Uk which would allow them to live and work there as their father was a british citizen .

Does anybody have experiecne of this ?

We were aware when we got married about the national service thing. If my future child ia a boy and we are here say for the next x number  years . The boy will have grown up in Singpaore and having been to local schools et c. Therefore all his friends will be going for national service ...is it really that bad to do national serice ?

I agree that if we move to europe and stay there for it will be a probalem for them to come back !

[Horsesh*t]

NS is not that bad, for those who have to put up with it. It has character- and body-building qualities, like in a stud farm. But it eats up two and half of the fawn's prime years - time which he can spend finishing his university degree immediately after high school. Otherwise, the momentum for his pursuit of higher education may be lost with more than two years of his youth spent on running around the bushes. Since he will be the workhorse running round the bushes at less than minimum wage for those years and not you, you do not wish to make a wrong decision for him in which he may regret when he grows up to be a mustang.

Worse still, he may just kick you if he realizes he has better things to do (such as working on an accelerated PhD or boinking his love interests) when he grows up into a restless, rebellious, anti-establishment, SG-hating, galloping maverick. One year with the Royal Marines is a better bet for his attitude improvement.  

[Bewildered]

Don't worry about not playing cricket for Yorkshire. They changed the rules a while ago and now anyone can play for them....even Fat Bob.