Citizenship approved on first application

[AussieSG]

Got my IPA today! Took around 14 months.

Married, no kids.
Aged 46.
Indian race. Australian nationality.
PR for 12 years.
In SG for total of 20 years.
CFO of a MNC.
Salary - 40K per month. Never been unemployed ever.
Condo owner for 10 years.

Now i must embark on the citizenship journey.

[Path2Family]

Congrats, OP. Did your spouse take up SC as well? Out of curiosity, how did you make the decision of taking up SC v/s keeping Australian citizenship with PR (which is typically the Singaporean dream, I believe?)?

[smoulder]

Congrats. Do you have family and if so, I presume they were part of the application?

Also, are you a naturalised Australian citizen?

[AussieSG]

Congrats. Do you have family and if so, I presume they were part of the application?

Also, are you a naturalised Australian citizen?

Spouse is LTVP and did not apply. Just me. I was born in Australia.

[AussieSG]

Congrats, OP. Did your spouse take up SC as well? Out of curiosity, how did you make the decision of taking up SC v/s keeping Australian citizenship with PR (which is typically the Singaporean dream, I believe?)?

Spouse did not apply, it was just me. TBH I feel that my values are more in line with Singapore than Australia. It was not an easy decision, but on balance I decided to take the plunge.

[Max Headroom]

Well done AussieSG.

Can I ask, I take it that Oz doesn't have a public pension plan that all Aussies auto-opt into? Presumably, if it did, any Aussie renouncing citizenship would forfeit whatever they'd accumulated in that plan. But I'm guessing that's a non-issue?

[digitalfruits18]

Hi @AussieSG I am assuming you have already received your final approval letter as well? Upon completing the Singapore Citizenship journey, how long did it take for you to receive this letter from ICA? Some posts here say that the approval letter comes the following day or after a couple of days? Was that your experience as well? Thanks!

[AussieSG]

Hi @AussieSG I am assuming you have already received your final approval letter as well? Upon completing the Singapore Citizenship journey, how long did it take for you to receive this letter from ICA? Some posts here say that the approval letter comes the following day or after a couple of days? Was that your experience as well? Thanks!

It took a day. So once the SCJ is updated on your record as complete, the ICA will send you an e-letter the next day with your appointment to register at ICA as a citizenship and instructions on renunciation. Seems it is all an automated process, and very clear and simple.

[digitalfruits18]

@AussieSG Thanks for letting me know. It has been 5 business days for me since I completed the SC journey, so I am a little worried.

[PNGMK]

Well done AussieSG.

Can I ask, I take it that Oz doesn't have a public pension plan that all Aussies auto-opt into? Presumably, if it did, any Aussie renouncing citizenship would forfeit whatever they'd accumulated in that plan. But I'm guessing that's a non-issue?

There are two forms of pension in Australia.

1st is superannuation. That's private and not at risk.

2nd is the OAP. That requires 35 years of residence post 16 to fully qualify.


Also some others have defined pensions from the ADF or APS. Usually not affected by living overseas.

The best advantage is becoming non tax resident from Australia.

[malcontent]

I knew some yanks who worked in Oz for several years and were able to withdraw their superannuation as a lump sum.

One was a former boss who was a little nutty and loved to gamble. He would get on these crazy winning streaks, one of which I not only witnessed but participated in on a trip to Sydney - I walked in with $50 and walked out with $1200, just betting behind him at the blackjack table. Needless to say, the lump sum he took was never reported or taxed… he got lucky with that too.