Citizenship and adoption

[smoulder]

First some background. I'm 40, from India, my wife is 41, a naturalized Singaporean Chinese, originally from Malaysia. I've been here for about 7 and a half years.


We are in the process of adopting a child who will take up Singapore citizenship (she currently holds a Malaysian passport). Most likely, as per our estimation, she will be able to get her citizenship around the middle of next year, possibly sooner.

Now my question. I've been a PR since October of last year. I understand that there is "supposed" to be a minimum wait of 2 years before I can apply for citizenship. 2 years would be around October next year which would be a few months after my daughter gets her citizenship. The adoption agents, nonetheless, have been advising me to apply for citizenship at the same time as my daughter. Question is if that is even possible or do I just wait till October of next year to try.

[PNGMK]

1. Malaysian adoptions are held up. Badly held up. The various departments at their end are completely stuffed up right now (a friend here is having issues). Are you sure this will come through? I hope to God you haven't paid a lot of money.

2. Adoption agents are not immigration agents. Adoption agents are basically lunatic asylum escapees in my experience. I would not take any advice from them that you don't counter check with your own legal counsel.

Saying that... yes I concur your chances of SC are higher with this type of family unit. In addition AGE is not a factor for SC from the latest stats report (I assume you are actually doing some basic reading and research and not just relying on urban myths?). I don't see quite the rush for SC that you seem to have and I can't think of a reason to wait for applying except that waiting a year or two shows stability in the family unit.

As I said previously I think the bigger issues with be across the causeway.

If the Malaysian adoption falls through I encourage you to see if you find a local child. They do come up for adoption and the process is much more straight forward (I adopted a local Indian baby back a decade ago).

If you need a lawyer there is one I really recommend who is experienced with these types of adoptions - he is quite deaf and getting on but very experienced. That is if he hasn't been killed by a stack of falling files in his office!

[smoulder]

If the Malaysian adoption falls through I encourage you to see if you find a local child. They do come up for adoption and the process is much more straight forward (I adopted a local Indian baby back a decade ago).

The baby is already with us. We are past the first court hearing and waiting for the MSF interview. There's no turning back from here.

So what you are suggesting is that I could probably apply for citizenship for myself (along with the baby) despite not waiting for 2 years to pass from obtaining my PR?

What kind of issues is your friend facing? Which stage of the adoption process is he /she at?

[PNGMK]

1. Glad to hear you have the child (although that is not technically legal but widely practiced here - should not be be an issue), the MSF will keenly check the receipts for all payments. Make sure every line item is justifiable. There cannot just be blanket payments.

2. Yes - I think you have justification to apply for SC - have you obtain a letter from your high commission stating the right of the child to return to your home country? Or is that not an issue considering the mother is a SC? This maybe why the agent is pushing you to try to get SC early.

3. My friends case cocked up by Malaysian immigration - they could not issue a passport for the child in this current crisis it seems.

[smoulder]

Thanks for your reply. Got to love this forum. There's usually someone here who has real world experience in whatever situation you are facing.

Some answers below.

1. Glad to hear you have the child (although that is not technically legal but widely practiced here - should not be be an issue), the MSF will keenly check the receipts for all payments. Make sure every line item is justifiable. There cannot just be blanket payments.

smoulder : my memory is terrible at the moment and I can't quite remember the exact milestone that we have to cross before we can legally take custody of the child, but we've crossed that a while ago.

2. Yes - I think you have justification to apply for SC - have you obtain a letter from your high commission stating the right of the child to return to your home country? Or is that not an issue considering the mother is a SC? This maybe why the agent is pushing you to try to get SC early.

smoulder : no such requirement that I'm aware of. Maybe because the mother is a SC. The only thing I had to get from the Indian high comm was a police clearance.

3. My friends case cocked up by Malaysian immigration - they could not issue a passport for the child in this current crisis it seems.

smoulder : I have heard of similar stories. Timing was key for us. Our baby made it into Singapore just days before the Malaysian MCO took effect in March. Most likely, the Malaysian side paper work was also similarly wrapped up prior to covid. I've heard that the agents are basically providing nanny services to keep the babies in Malaysia until the border opens up. Adoptive parents are bearing the costs, but more importantly, crucial time that could be spent between the parents and the babies is being lost.