Apologies but yet another NS deferment post

[Ixora05]

Hi all,
My sincerest apologies for yet another NS post. Very worried mother over here.
Quick family background—I am a Singaporean citizen with US permanent residency and will be eligible for US citizenship in 2021. My husband is an American citizen and no SG PR or anything, as we reside only in the US. My son is currently 2 years old, and my parents pressured us into applying for SG citizenship for him when he was born. We have not applied for baby bonus for him and DO NOT intend to get an IC or Singapore passport for him.
I am trying to figure out the process for renouncing his citizenship so that he will not have to serve NS. The best I can figure from frantic Googling is:

1) send a letter to MINDEF and CMPB announcing his intent to renounce citizenship at 21

2) when he hits (11 or 13?) apply for Deferment Till Age 21 Pending Renunciation and secure the exit permit necessary for us to continue living in the US as we intend to do. Hopefully this gets us the extended exit permit and we’re not stuck dealing with the issue of a bond.

3) at 21 we take him to an SG consulate and renounce his Singaporean citizenship here in the US.

My questions—

1) by what process do we notify MINDEF and CMPB? Is registered mail good enough?

2) in order to strengthen our case for Deferment and Renunciation, should I renounce my own SG citizenship? I was not intending to do so and maintain a US green card and my own citizenship.

3) how does one apply for the Deferment at age 13? Is it done via CMPB website or must we return to Singapore?

4) should I prevent my son from traveling to Singapore at all, even on his American passport (he does not hold a Singaporean passport) until the Renunciation is successful?

Any critique on the process I’ve outlined is welcome. We are hoping to preserve his future freedom to travel between the US and Singapore as we still have family there for the foreseeable future. And of course no mom wants the stress of her son being considered a criminal by her home country!!

TIA to you all for any help or advice you can offer!

[sundaymorningstaple]

As long as you retain your citizenship, his attempt at evading the NS obligation is virtually nil as you will be continuing to maintain a 'backdoor' to Singapore. If you want to emigrate, do so, but the fact that you applied and obtained his Sg citizenship obligates him to do NS and you attempt to remove him from that obligation will be for naught until you, yourself, give up and divest yourself from Singapore for good (e.g., if you own an HDB here you would also need to sell that as well.) So before you even think about applying for his exit permit, you need to make up your mind what your goal is.

[Ixora05]

Thank you for your advice.

After a lot of research, it seems that I definitely am going to need to renounce my own citizenship. I really am the only one who would actually have emigrated as our whole family has resided only in the United States since before he was born. I don't own any property in Singapore at all so that's not a concern. I really regret allowing my parents to pressure us into applying for the Singaporean citizenship, ironically all of us would have had more freedom WITHOUT it.

[PNGMK]

It's good that you've researched this early on. You have time to fix this.

For item 3 there is a website for it. MS (Mad Scientist) has a recommended duration which I think is 364 days (one day short of a year) to avoid having to post a bond.

Make sure ICA have your correct postal address so you don't miss any notices.

You can start right now I think with the notice of intention. Feel free to travel unless you receive notice that the renunciation is unsuccessful and/or your son is AWOL (i.e. he has been sent notice but has not shown up). DO NOT fall into the biometric trap of giving Singapore any biometrics for your son, then you can at least do Crazy Rich Asian Kwan trick (TM) and have him travel on a USA passport with a different name.

[jamie9vardy]

And yet another case of this hot button issue

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/thai-citizen- ... 02325.html

[PNGMK]

And yet another case of this hot button issue

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/thai-citizen- ... 02325.html

Extraordinary (and brave lad). 9 weeks and no longer a SC or SRP. Wow.

"This is the first case of its kind where a National Service defaulter coming back to face charges was not liable for NS at the time of the charge, as by then he was no longer a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, according to the prosecution."