Dual Citizenship

[LCE]

Hi There!

I am struggling to find out more on the possibility of obtaining dual citizenship for my baby boy next year and hopefully some of you out there will be able to help

I am a Singaporean and my husband holds a Dutch passport and we are expecting our baby boy netx year. From what I gathered so far is my boy will automactically be a Singapore citizen as I am Singaporean and he is born here.

Question #1: Is it possible for us to register him in Dutch Emabassy and get him a Dutch passport so at the same time he will hold both Dutch and Singaporean citizen until he is of a certain age?
Question #2: At what age does he have to renounce either one of the citizenships?
Question #3: Will he still be subjected to National Service even if he decided to give up Singapore citizenship?

Anyone out there with the similar situation? Can you share with me what decision you made and any advice for me?

Thanks in advanced!

LCE

[sundaymorningstaple]

Hi There!

I am struggling to find out more on the possibility of obtaining dual citizenship for my baby boy next year and hopefully some of you out there will be able to help

I am a Singaporean and my husband holds a Dutch passport and we are expecting our baby boy netx year. From what I gathered so far is my boy will automactically be a Singapore citizen as I am Singaporean and he is born here.

True

Question #1: Is it possible for us to register him in Dutch Emabassy and get him a Dutch passport so at the same time he will hold both Dutch and Singaporean citizen until he is of a certain age?

Yes

Question #2: At what age does he have to renounce either one of the citizenships?

Unsure of Dutch citizenship. Singaporean Citizenship cannot be renounced until the age of 21.

Question #3: Will he still be subjected to National Service even if he decided to give up Singapore citizenship?

Only if he follows the proper protocols and has not been resident in Singapore from the age since his 12 birthday. For protocols, do a search of the Strictly Speaking Sub-forum of this forum. All your questions will be answered. As long as you follow the instructions to the letter, you will have no problems. If you decide to skip or forego any of the steps, you will screw your son's entire future as he will be considered a deserter or defaulter. Both jailable offenses if he should return to Singapore, even on a visit.

Anyone out there with the similar situation? Can you share with me what decision you made and any advice for me?

Read the numerous threads on the subject matter in the Strictly Speaking forum. I've have moved this thread to that forum as well. You can start with the following thread:
http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/viewtopic.php?t=61423 and then check out some of the other threads as well.

Thanks in advanced!

LCE

Good Luck. At least you are aware of the problem early and can make your plans accordingly so you don't have any missteps that will mess up his future.

sms

[nakatago]

Relevant link: http://www.government.nl/issues/nationality

[FreeSpiritRunner]

It's best not to obtain Singapore citizenship for the boy as there are implications in the future with National Service. Despite what they say in this forum, I know of Singaporean boys who emigrated to Canada at young ages of 3 and 10, and are not allowed to renounce their Singapore citizenship without serving their NS, even though their dad applied for deferment numerous times when they were younger. They are now in their late 20s and 30s, and are labeled NS defaulters because they do not feel a closeness with Singapore and did not want to go back to Singapore to serve.

[LCE]

Thanks all for the great information and advice.. Will really have to think hard on what decisions we have to make for my boy's future.

[sundaymorningstaple]

It's best not to obtain Singapore citizenship for the boy as there are implications in the future with National Service. Despite what they say in this forum, I know of Singaporean boys who emigrated to Canada at young ages of 3 and 10, and are not allowed to renounce their Singapore citizenship without serving their NS, even though their dad applied for deferment numerous times when they were younger. They are now in their late 20s and 30s, and are labeled NS defaulters because they do not feel a closeness with Singapore and did not want to go back to Singapore to serve

NSRunner, you are running very close to the wire. We DO NOT ENCOURAGE breaking of the law on this forum.

Capisce?

Oh, regarding boys who emigrated to Canada at young ages of 3 & 10, how many of their parents still hold property, CPF or even their Citizenships in Singapore? As long as the whole family emigrates they ALL have to sever ties with Singapore including renunciation of Citizenship, withdrawal of CPF and the selling of their HDB flats if owned. Otherwise, ICA knows it's just a ruse for chickensh*t whiney boys to avoid growing up and doing their military obligation (and before you say they have not benefited from being born in Singapore, the country has the 4th LOWEST infant mortality rate in the world.) So they have benefited greatly by being born here to Singaporean Parents. ICA is not as stupid as the defaulters.

moderator

[PNGMK]

Thanks all for the great information and advice.. Will really have to think hard on what decisions we have to make for my boy's future.

IF you're adamant on having the child in Singapore then he can be registered at the Netherlands consulate and obtain dutch citizenship via descent of the father. As you stated he will be a SC and pretty much have to do NS unless you both sever all ties with Singapore and migrate fairly soon (before he finished primary school IMO). At 21 he can choose one of the citizenships... (but still has to do NS).

The other choice is to have the child birth in Europe. As far as I recall Singapore citizenship is not guaranteed nor automatic for a child born overseas to a Singapore mother / non Singapore father (it is automatic for a Singapore father unless this has changed). Regardless you have to then apply for naturalization at ICA if you want the child to have SC (right and privileges), if you don't do this - the child is never an SC and will never have an NS obligation but the difficulty will then be finding a way for the child to stay in Singapore (and PR will invoke an NS obligation - the only real option a student visa).

[FreeSpiritRunner]

It's best not to obtain Singapore citizenship for the boy as there are implications in the future with National Service. Despite what they say in this forum, I know of Singaporean boys who emigrated to Canada at young ages of 3 and 10, and are not allowed to renounce their Singapore citizenship without serving their NS, even though their dad applied for deferment numerous times when they were younger. They are now in their late 20s and 30s, and are labeled NS defaulters because they do not feel a closeness with Singapore and did not want to go back to Singapore to serve.

NSRunner, you are running very close to the wire. We DO NOT ENCOURAGE breaking of the law on this forum.

Capisce?

Oh, regarding boys who emigrated to Canada at young ages of 3 & 10, how many of their parents still hold property, CPF or even their Citizenships in Singapore? As long as the whole family emigrates they ALL have to sever ties with Singapore including renunciation of Citizenship, withdrawal of CPF and the selling of their HDB flats if owned. Otherwise, ICA knows it's just a ruse for chickensh*t whiney boys to avoid growing up and doing their military obligation (and before you say they have not benefited from being born in Singapore, the country has the 4th LOWEST infant mortality rate in the world.) So they have benefited greatly by being born here to Singaporean Parents. ICA is not as stupid as the defaulters.

moderator

How am I encouraging her to break the law? Please clarify. I was just saying the pros and cons of obtaining Singapore citizenship.

As for the parents of the 3 and 10 year old boys, the dad gave up citizenship and took out CPF. They don't have property back in Singapore anymore. I'm not sure about the mom. Why would you call these boys chickenish? They grew up in Canada, and from what I can see they are fit and quite tall, probably stronger than those NS boys you are referring to who get their maids to carry their backpacks for them.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Why don't you check on the mother's status before coming back here full of P*ss & Vinegar then.
It's pretty obvious that they didn't do it by the book or else they would be home free. They either didn't post the bond, or the mother still has connection to Singapore or they didn't bother to do the necessary at all. You don't have all the story, that's for sure. I know of no one "who has followed proper protocol" who wasn't allowed to renounce AND avoid NS until renunciation. As far as my chicken comment, they are probably following in the parents footsteps. You know, the ones who took them out of Singapore in order to avoid NS in the first place. The boys were entirely unaware, consciously, that they were being brought up to think it's alright to run away from obligations. They are now aware of those obligations and don't voluntarily return to do what is right. Therefore, they will never work in Singapore, nor will they ever visit Singapore, but they better hope no plane they are on ever is diverted to Singapore for whatever reason as they will be in deep brown stuff, and it isn't chocolate. Life does have a way of coming back and biting one in the butt. Maybe they should be sure to thank their parents for the predicament they are in.