I have been stalking and reading posts on this wonderful forum for a long time, and recently I have also got myself in a sticky situation as well so I was hoping to seek some opinions and advice from here.
My background: I obtained SG citizenship by registration as minor when my parents who immigrated to SG registered me as citizen around 1 years old (I was born in Hong Kong, where my family is from). After shortly living in SG for a few months, my parents however decided to return to HK - I have never been back to SG since then. Since I am both HK national and SG national by definition I held two passports, which the SG passport has expired since I'm 18. I'm 24 now.
My issue: I am currently studying in Taiwan and in order to apply for visa I will have to apply as HK/Macao people or as foreigner. My identity is in doubt by TW immigration since they have record of my family visiting TW sixteen years ago using the SG passport and by their definition I am considered foreign and must use my SG passport to apply for visa. I have (like many others here) not served in NS as it's not the first thing to come in mind of a person who is a complete stranger to SG. Thus I could not obtain a new passport nor renounce my citizenship in a traditional way.
Only recently I have read the case of Ekawit Tangtrakarn, who was in the exact same situation as I am. Through his case I realise that citizenship obtained by registration in minor like me have to take the oath at 21 otherwise will "ceases to be citizen". This raises the question of whether I'm still a citizen, and if there could be any ways to prove that.
So far the overseas consulate/office is not very cooperative and I have difficulty in obtaining any form of citizenship confirmation documents (which is requested by TW immigration as proof of me not having SG citizenship anymore)
The Straits Times report of Ekawit Tangtrakarn's case on court
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... fined-6000
Question:
1. Have I already lost my citizenship under the circumstance that I did not perform oath taking after 21?
2. Is there any way to confirm my citizenship status overseas / ask someone local to do it for me?
3. Does the NS issue have any affect on losing my citizenship status? (NS should be done if I were to renounce citizenship in the general way, but from how the Thai boy's case is reported it seems that he is no longer liable for NS since he lost his citizenship already, but I am not sure if it's case by case or what)
p.s. I understand that I will still have an offence record with the government for not showing up, but the thing I'm concerned now is my citizenship status.
Sorry for the long essay, just hope it would explain the case clearly
Thanks everyone in advance
Sincerely,
Percy
