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My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

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confusedman
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My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by confusedman » Tue, 14 May 2019 3:40 pm

Just sharing my journey of converting my baby and myself to Singapore citizen. I am a first time parent. And due to my wife and I were both foreigners of different nationalities, I was completely lost with so many procedures when my child was just born. I had a hard time figuring out what to do and information on the internet was vague. So I decided to share my journey here in case it helps someone in some way. This is not a perfect guide. Just sharing my experience, if there is wrong information, feel free to correct me. Cheers.

==Background==
I was a Malaysian Chinese in early 30s. Been SPR since 2008, stay in Singapore since 2005. Earning around 5.5k when I applied for citizenship in feb 2018. (increased to 6.5k/month now). I am an IT Manager in a local listed company. I have a Degree from private university obtained through Singapore Kaplan, I also have a Diploma from Singapore local poly. My wife is a Japanese on SPass. has a Degree from university in Japan. Certified as dental hygienist in Japan. Earning about 3.5k+ as nurse here. I applied citizenship in feb 2018 and had a new born in jul 2018.

==New Born [Advisory Note, Notification of Live Birth, Singapore Birth Certificate]==
My first baby girl was born in mid July 2018.
Right after the birth, hospital will give you a few documents: including Notification of Live Birth and Advisory Note. Advisory Note has Disembarkation/Embarkation (DE) number on top. (Hxx-xxx-xxx-x). This DE number is important, you will have to use it to apply for Dependent Pass & LTVP. Advisory Note is just 2 pieces of A4 paper but it is a special pass for your newborn to stay in Singapore for 42 days without other pass. You have to keep it safe.
On the next day of baby’s birth, I went to the hospital’s front desk along with the filled forms and Advisory Note, and of course passports, NRIC etc. Baby and Mother need not to be present. You have to confirm a few things with the front desk staff, such as baby name, race, address. Hospital will issue you the Singapore Birth Cert on the spot. You don’t have to get a birth cert immediately after birth, but you’d have to do it within 14 days after birth. Hospital will ask you whether you want to laminate it. Some embassies don’t accept laminated Birth Cert. So it’s best not to laminate unless you are sure your embassy is ok with it. For Malaysia and Japan, lamination is fine.
Next, the priority is to apply for Baby’s Malaysia and Japanese passport so I can then apply for VISA extension, then LTVP. Bare in mind that you have only 42 days to obtain a passport AND a DP/LTVP or at least extended visa for your baby's legal stay in Singapore after the 42 days grace period. Considering the amount of paper work, applications lead time, baby's health condition.. you really have to start working on all these right after baby's birth.
Reference: https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permi ... -a-newborn
https://www.futurebooks.com/6-steps-to- ... xpat-baby/

==Get Baby’s Birth Certs from Parents' Home Countries Then Apply For Passport==
First, I have to register the birth of baby for Malaysia and Japan.
So, on the next day after birth. I went to Japanese Embassy at 16 Nassim Rd, Singapore 258390. Baby and Mother need not to be present (but you must know how to write mother’s and baby’s name in Kanji). Just bring along baby birth cert, parents birth certs and parents passports. Do note that there are two lobbies in Embassy of Japan. Do not go to the left one. You should go to the on the right. Wait time will be quite short. Get a que number, staff will let you fill up a few forms. And you are done. No document will be given to you on the spot, they will send the forms to Japan city hall, you can collect Japanese birth cert few weeks later from your city hall. For my case, we asked our parent in law to help collect the birth cert from Shinjuuku city hall, and post it to us with courier service so we can apply for Japan passport at Embassy of Japan in Singapore.

Next, I have to register my baby at High Commission of Malaysia at 301, Jervois Road Singapore 249077. You should go to the Consular Office on the far right, not the Immigration office on the far left. Both Parents and Baby's presence are required. Take note that all forms to be filled in with black Ink only. Otherwise you have to redo it.

Reference: http://mw.kln.gov.my/web/Singapore_singapore/ ... riage_cert
Refer to this link for a full list of documents to prepare. But i would highlight a few details which you might miss (like i did)

1. Both Parents’ IC (photocopies of front and back MUST be in same page, otherwise you have to re-copy. There is a photocopy service in High Comm’s passport lobby, but they accept small amount of cash only, no e-payment.)
2. Both Parents’ Birth Certs : Do note that you have to provide translated copy in English if your birth cert is not Bahasa Malaysia or English and duly endorsed by the respective Embassy. So I translated my wife’s Japanese birth cert to English at Japan embassy ($15. Can be collected after 2-3 days)
3. Malaysian Marriage Certificate (Singapore ROM will not be accepted) I did not have Malaysian Marriage Certificate, so I had to register my marriage with High Comm first before I can register my child, it takes about 3-4 working days and collectable only in the afternoon. Here’s the procedure how to get Malaysia Marriage Cert http://mw.kln.gov.my/web/Singapore_singapore/ ... riage_cert.
4. 2 pieces of passport photo for each parent; 4 passport size photos of your baby (2 to be used for the birth cert application and 2 for the passport application). Photo taken must be able to see the baby’s eyes and with light blue background, and the baby cloth have to be in dark color (grey, black, dark blue etc) otherwise you have to resubmit

Please take note of all remarks above. I had to return and resubmit many times due to my errors above. In fact this is the most tedious part of my entire journey. Do read the links again and again to make sure you have all documents that COMPLETELY fit the requirements. High Comm is extremely strict about every single details. If you ignore the small details and wants to try your luck, most likely you will be wasting your time and have to return to resubmit again.

For detailed guide how to register birth of baby at High Comm, you may refer to this blog. It is quite a good read http://weichet.blogspot.com/2010/04/ste ... rn-as.html

To summarise, you have to fill up Borang D (application form) in order to get Borang W (real birth cert, collectable around 7 days later). Once u submitted Borang D, a receipt will be given to you. Right after that, you can use this receipt to apply the passport for baby at the immigration hall (another lobby on the left). Go to counter 10 to tell the officer that you want to get the Passport Application form for your newborn passport application, but tell him you’ve just done the Birth Registration today. You will collect the birth cert 7 days later. (If you don’t explicitly tell him so, the officer thought that you are applying passport now.) He will hand you the form and ask you to complete the form first then come back to the same counter again. The officer will check your baby photos and proceed to complete his section on the form. This form will then be returned to you with the baby's photos glued on it. The reason for this is to let you come back to submit the baby's passport application 7 days later, without bringing the baby along after you have collected the birth cert from the Consular office. 7 Days later, after you collected birth cert, and once submission and verification are done, you can collect the baby's passport in the afternoon. (basic rules at high comm: morning is for application, afternoon is only for collection; they wont let you collect anything in the morning. Check your receipt for collection time, it is stated there)

I got the Malaysia Passport earlier than Japan’s. So I used Malaysia Passport to extend her VISA for her stay in Singapore while applying for LTVP.


====Baby Extended Visa and LTVP====
As I have applied for Citizenship (for myself) in Feb 2018 and got the interview appointment on 3rd Aug 2018. I did not intend to apply PR for her. I heard that I was able to just bring her along and let her tag along my Citizenship application during my interview.
I applied Visa Extension and LTVP for her through ICA e-service. Visa Extension of 2 months get approved after 2 weeks. (You will get email notification, there won't be letter about it. If you need to travel, you can print the email just to play safe, however I believe the extended visa is updated on ICA customs' system). LTVP will be approved after 3-4 weeks. You will receive an IPA with appointment date to verify your document at ICA. Parents and baby’s presence required. After verification, you can wait for about 30 mins at another counter to get the LTVP card. (im unsure why ICA website says they will deliver the card to the given address 4 working days after the documents verified, but for my case I got it on the same day. The LTVP valid for 1 year)
Link for reference https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permi ... for-a-pass

===Citizenship for myself and my baby===
ICA reference https://www.ica.gov.sg/docs/default-sou ... oadmap.pdf
As mentioned I applied citizenship for myself since feb 2018 and the appointment was set on Aug 2018. The plan was to let my baby tag along with my application.
So during the interview I just brought along my baby and fill in her details as applicant. ICA did allow me to do so. Only hiccup was I did not prepare my wife’s income documents (the ICA forms did not indicate so), I was scolded by the rude ICA officer but she asked me to resubmit to her colleague within a week without making new appointment.
I got a call from ICA office in Jan 2019 to verify child’s race. Then I guessed the result might be out soon. I was right, I got the AIP letter in Feb. The letter asks you to complete Singapore Journey: there are 3 parts of this https://www.ica.gov.sg/docs/default-sou ... oadmap.pdf:
- online quiz about Singapore history/social/culture which you can google the answers
- join a half day (free) tour to understand Singapore more, a few options to choose from .i.e. museum, marine barrage etc.
- join a community sharing session in the community centre nearest to your registered address. The community will introduce the district’s MP, activities and happenings around you.
I did all that before early march. Then I got the Final Approval letter in end of March. It asked me to:
1.renounce Malaysia citizenship (applicant below 21 not required to renounce, they can hold as many nationalities as they could)
2: then register for Singapore citizenship at ICA in mid April (date/time will be stated in the letter)
So I went to High Comm of Malaysia and renounce my Malaysia citizenship. Reference: http://mw.kln.gov.my/web/Singapore_singapore/ ... nformation
Same old rules: you have to fill up everything in block letters and with black pen only. You can collect the acknowledgement slip in the afternoon despite the website suggests 3 working days.
Things to note: you need this acknowledgement slip to attend Singapore citizenship registration. You have to surrender your Malaysia passport, IC, birth cert to the High Comm so until you got your SG PP, you cannot travel overseas. So you have to do your math if you intend to travel in this period.

My appointment for citizenship registration was on mid April 11am. All required documents are stated in the Final Approval Letter so you have to bring them all. We went there and do the routine, i.e. scanned fingerprint, verified documents, submitted photos etc. then you have to wait for about 1-2 hour to wait for your turn to take oath (applicant below 21 not required) in another office at same level. After took oath, you will officially became Singaporean. Then wait again to get your NRIC collection slip (a paper ic) this slip is your temporally ic until you collect pink IC in the ceremony, But don’t worry. You are officially a Singaporean now at this stage! You are eligible to apply for passport, baby bonus etc without waiting for the ceremony. Baby doesn’t need to wait for ceremony, they will give you a date (approximately 1 week) so you can come back to same level to collect the baby's Citizenship Certificate by using the same barcode on approval letter for que number. Although you're a Singaporean citizen as this stage, do note that the procedure is not over for adult: you still have to wait for Malaysia High Comm’s official renunciation status letter and bring it to ICA within 8 months after yopur registration. Secondly, you need to wait for the letter for Singapore citizenship ceremony to get your pink IC.
Due to the fact I needed to travel overseas a few days after the registration, I needed to get my passport done asap. So after I took my oath, I went to the ICA passport level (level 2?) to tell the receptionist I needed passport urgently. Receptionist will ask your reason of urgency then give you a que number to help you apply for passport and get it asap. Even for urgent case, you still have to wait at the same passport application waiting zone. You still have to wait for about 40mins for your turn, but you will get the passport within the day. Since I have a baby with me, the attending ICA officer was very nice and promised she will help me get both baby’s and my pp done on the day. She advised me to come back about 4 hours later to collect them. (baby’s presence not required for collection). And I did collect my Singapore passport on the same day.

(Edit on 25 oct 2019)
- Attended Citizenship ceremony on 24th Aug. The invitation letter will be sent to your mailing address to indicate documents required, venue details. You won't receive email about this.

- Received email from High Comm of Malaysia to collect Borang K on 10 oct. Collected it on 17 Oct. The will on be email about this, no letter.. bring along whatever indicated in the email. go to the consular office in the afternoon, que at the most left counter to submit your photocopies first, no need que number, counter 2-3 will then call you by name and give you your Borang K cert and Birth Cert. Everything should complete in 30mins (Counter staff are darn rude and this is probably one of the reason why many malaysian give up their citizenship. :x )

- with the Original and Photocopy Borang K, bring along your pink NRIC to ICA level 6, get a que ticket at the kiosk without appointment, select "Collection of Document". wait time is about 30mins. Counter staff will write your mobile on the photocopy of Borang K. and you're done with everything!



==Baby Bonus, Infant Care Subsidy, Child Care Leaves and Tax Relieves===
So we got the citizenship, what's next? For me, due to my small paycheck and giant bills, i needed all the help i can get. I immediately applied for Baby Bonus and Infant Care Subsidy.

Baby bonus enrolment is easy and its processing time is fast (about a week). You just have to logon https://babybonus.msf.gov.sg/, click the Join Baby Bonus button and login with Singpass. Then you have to fill up a few online forms. Important thing to note: When filling up parents' particulars, you MUST fill up the same information as in child birth cert, even if it is changed now. If your filled fields are different from birth cert's, your application WILL BE UNSUCCESSFUL. So just fill in old information as per birth cert in the particulars sections. There is another section below where you can provide updated information (citizenship, new pp number etc ) and it allows you to upload scanned documents.
Other sections are for bank information etc. pretty straight forward.
Do take note that you can't withdraw money from Child Development Account (CDA). it kinda works like CPF. Basically only approved institutes (like child care centres) are allowed to deduct payment from your CDA. So you have to plan wisely. For my case, I intended to use CDA for infant care, so i applied it through the centre. Centre will let you fill up a form and they will take care of the application and payment.

Infant care subsidy: government grants infant/child care subsidy for citizen: https://www.childcarelink.gov.sg/ccls/h ... ulator.jsp I am eligible for a 600 subsidy. You will just have to provide baby's Citizen Certificate and Mother's employment letter (stating position, working hours, salary.. etc pretty standard template) to infant care centre and they will apply for you.

Child Care Leaves: parents of singapore citizen entitled to 6 days of Child Care Leaves. (PR gets only 2) You have to inform your company that you child has converted to SC. They would need a copy of Citizen Certificate or Passport.

Tax relieves: I applied for Qualifying Child Relief (non citizen are also eligible) and Parenthood Tax Rebate. it might not be wise to do so considering I am applying PR for my wife. But I doubt tax relieves will be much of a negative factor for PR application. Although now i regretted applying for QCR and PTR, anyway i have already applied those. We'll see how it goes.

=====================================
So that’s pretty much about it. I just applied PR for my wife on 14 May and hopefully get some good news. Will update here again.

[Edit 26 Dec 2019: My wife's PR application has just been approved] :mrgreen:

Also will try to buy resale HDB soon, the loans, payments, procedures etc are still pretty confusing to me but I guess I would have to get that figured out soon.

[Edit 26 Dec 2019: I've purchased a resale HDB and got the key in Dec. If anyone need more information, i could create a new thread about that in a more relevant section] :mrgreen:
Last edited by confusedman on Thu, 26 Dec 2019 1:10 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 14 May 2019 5:27 pm

Excellent! Thank you for the blow by blow. I'm sure this will help others with similar situations. And congratulations. Well done on all counts! =D> =D> =D> :-k

In fact, so well done, I've promoted it to a "sticky" so it's easy to find.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by confusedman » Wed, 15 May 2019 8:17 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Excellent! Thank you for the blow by blow. I'm sure this will help others with similar situations. And congratulations. Well done on all counts! =D> =D> =D> :-k

In fact, so well done, I've promoted it to a "sticky" so it's easy to find.
Awesome! Thanks for sticky. Will update when I could. Hope it helps. :wink:

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by gio2018 » Tue, 16 Jul 2019 10:07 am

Hi confusedman,

Congrest, That's great news.

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by shuigao » Mon, 21 Oct 2019 5:12 pm

For whoever's reading this in 2019, I guess some things have changed a little. The Citizenship application is now online and - for me at least - there was no interview step. I applied online (uploading pdf copies of all my documents) in Feb 2019, and got the IPA letter in Sept 2019.

[edit] Some further updates. I completed my citizenship formalities today at ICA level 6. I was instructed by the ICA lady to go home and apply for passport online tomorrow*. Furthermore she also told me that the submission of confirmation of the M'sian citizenship renunciation letter (within 8 mths) should also be done online. So it seems that everything is moving online now.

* I am not in any rush to go anywhere so I didn't enquire whether in-person passport applications are still accepted
Last edited by shuigao on Sat, 02 Nov 2019 3:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
shuigao's travel & food blog http://look-see-eat.blogspot.com/

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gio2018
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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by gio2018 » Mon, 21 Oct 2019 5:16 pm

Congratulations mate. That’s really quick. Do you mind to share your profile ?

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by shuigao » Mon, 21 Oct 2019 9:37 pm

gio2018 wrote:
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 5:16 pm
Congratulations mate. That’s really quick. Do you mind to share your profile ?
Wife and I are both Malaysian Chinese so ... easy mode :(
Mid-late 30's, been in SG for 8 years, PR just over 5 years.
I have MBA, wife has Degree, both of us are upper middle class I guess.
Applied together as we have no intention to move back to Malaysia.
shuigao's travel & food blog http://look-see-eat.blogspot.com/

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by Andrewccs » Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:46 pm

Just Sharing :

Malaysian Chinese,
Myself : Degree
Wife : Diploma
2kids ( Girl & Boy)
First Apply : 2013 Failed
Reapply : Feb 2019, IPA Letter : Aug 2019
Been in SG 11years ( first 5 years "daily in and out" , then bought hdb in 2013.
Not high profile as all.

Hope those bro and sis will get their sg citizenship soonest.

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by gio2018 » Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:49 pm

Congrats mate.

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by confusedman » Thu, 26 Dec 2019 1:11 pm

update: my wife's pr application has just been approved. (applied in mid May) :D

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 26 Dec 2019 6:36 pm

confusedman,

Merry Christmas, and a Merry one I am sure! Congratulations and thanks for keeping us updated. This is really appreciated. New Year for you and your family is definitely a NEW YEAR. Cheers.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by confusedman » Fri, 27 Dec 2019 10:06 am

Thank you SMS! Happy New Year to you too!

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by shuigao » Tue, 14 Jan 2020 4:20 pm

shuigao wrote:
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 5:12 pm
For whoever's reading this in 2019, I guess some things have changed a little. The Citizenship application is now online and - for me at least - there was no interview step. I applied online (uploading pdf copies of all my documents) in Feb 2019, and got the IPA letter in Sept 2019.

[edit] Some further updates. I completed my citizenship formalities today at ICA level 6. I was instructed by the ICA lady to go home and apply for passport online tomorrow*. Furthermore she also told me that the submission of confirmation of the M'sian citizenship renunciation letter (within 8 mths) should also be done online. So it seems that everything is moving online now.
Just one final update for completeness. I've also gotten my baby's citizenship approved. Application is online, but you do still need to present the baby to complete formalities. I brought him to ICA in the morning to register everything, and was told to come back ~2 hours later to collect his citizenship certificate (this collection no need to bring baby).

I did Passport application for baby later on to take advantage of free passport in 2020. Application is online, collection no need to bring baby (they only fingerprint / register iris if the kid is 6 years old or older).
shuigao's travel & food blog http://look-see-eat.blogspot.com/

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 14 Jan 2020 5:17 pm

Smooth sailing. You all are well on your way now. Whole new phase of life! Exciting future. Many thanks for your blow by blow description from start to finish. Will help some I'm sure.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Re: My Journey: Converting my new born and myself to Singapore Citizen

Post by PrincZe » Tue, 21 Jan 2020 3:42 pm

shuigao wrote:
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 5:12 pm
For whoever's reading this in 2019, I guess some things have changed a little. The Citizenship application is now online and - for me at least - there was no interview step. I applied online (uploading pdf copies of all my documents) in Feb 2019, and got the IPA letter in Sept 2019.

[edit] Some further updates. I completed my citizenship formalities today at ICA level 6. I was instructed by the ICA lady to go home and apply for passport online tomorrow*. Furthermore she also told me that the submission of confirmation of the M'sian citizenship renunciation letter (within 8 mths) should also be done online. So it seems that everything is moving online now.

* I am not in any rush to go anywhere so I didn't enquire whether in-person passport applications are still accepted
hello, please do open another thread for purchase of hdb

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