Singapore Citizenship Application approved after 22 months

[lot286]

Wanted to throw this data into the mix, for those who come here in search of their own probabilities of success..

Wife
Age : 46
Occupation : Home-maker
Nationality : "Stateless"
Race : Chinese
Husband : Naturalized Singapore SC
Kid : Naturalized Singapore SC

1st attempt at SC.
Applied for it immediately after waiting for 2 years post obtaining SPR in 2017

[smoulder]

Stateless?

[lot286]

yep!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong ... a_Purposes

[Shps6432]

Hello,

Thanks for posting this. There's so little representation for stateless people.
I am stateless from Brunei. Tried to apply for Singapore PR last year 2020 and failed in December 2020. Was considering whether it is my lack of nationality problem.

Female
Age: 24
Occupation: Auditor
Race: Chinese
Education: Bachelor degree from University of Melbourne
Work pass type: S Pass

At the meantime, I would wait for longer stay period, pay more taxes, try to get an employment pass (higher salary criteria) and probably get the local Singapore's CA Qualification. It is getting harder year by year due to COVID-19 and increasing local unemployment rate.

[lot286]

Hello,
may i know more about your circumstances (leading to your stateless situation).?

[WincH+]

Hello,
may i know more about your circumstances (leading to your stateless situation).?

It's quite a norm having older generation stateless ethnic Chinese along with their descendants in Brunei. Like most ex-British colonies in SEA, all gained independence one after another, with all having some controversial ius soli - the principle that the nationality of a person is determined on the basis of their country of birth - due to the immigration history of British colonies.

Unlike Singapore that allows citizenship for those born in Singapore or the Federation of Malaya, British citizens with two years’ residence, and those who had lived in Singapore for ten years or more; Brunei did not opt to automatically grant citizenship to everyone born within its borders nor open up an easy naturalisation route for immigrants. Instead, the automatic citizenship is determined by ethic descent i.e., for the Malays only.

Thus, when Brunei gained her independence in 1984, about 20,000+ ethnic Chinese born and have been living all their lives in Brunei lost their nationality overnight. Until now, their descendants and themselves are still (mostly) stateless due to the limited and complicated 200 slot/year (can't remember the exact figure) Malay-language written naturalisation exam that requires a detailed knowledge of the Malay terms for local plants and animals. Heard that older stateless folks above 50 y.o. can nowadays go for oral exam, instead of the written one though.

[emergency234]

Hello,
may i know more about your circumstances (leading to your stateless situation).?

Thus, when Brunei gained her independence in 1984, about 20,000+ ethnic Chinese born and have been living all their lives in Brunei lost their nationality overnight. Until now, their descendants and themselves are still (mostly) stateless due to the limited and complicated 200 slot/year (can't remember the exact figure) Malay-language written naturalisation exam that requires a detailed knowledge of the Malay terms for local plants and animals. Heard that older stateless folks above 50 y.o. can nowadays go for oral exam, instead of the written one though.

Really WTF

[WincH+]

Really WTF

Brunei is just making sure that any new citizens are able to "assimilate" into the society like what other ethnic Chinese had gone through in the rest of ASEAN countries (except in Singapore and Malaysia) over generations. Like ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, ethnic Chinese in Brunei are still maintaining their (legal) Chinese name, language, culture, religion, etc. - so perhaps there's a need to ensure one should be as Malay deep inside oneself in order to be qualified as a true blue Bruneian.

To what extend one can be considered as a true blue Bruneian? Saw this sample exam question which a Bruneian Malay had posted on the web so judge it by yourself:-

a colleague is currently studying for the citizenship test and has recently, studied on the difference between kuih basah ("Malay wet pastry") & kuih karing ("Malay dry pastry").

when i was asked- all i could answer was
- kuih basah: you can see the minyak ("oily") and not crunchy, e.g. penyaram.
- kuih kering- not really oily and usually crunchy, e.g. cincin

the textbook answer is kuih that usually last for a day for the former and at least 3 days for the latter.

i never actually looked at it that way!

the thought of having to sit for it makes me scared! am very lucky to be a yellow ("equiv. to Singapore pink") ic holder by birth!

Nothing to be surprised of as most (if not, all) countries in ASEAN have more or less some citizenship policies that looks "unimaginable" in the eyes of foreigners, in particularly the westerners. It's to maintain the racial balance/harmony/supremacy or whatever one wants to call it. Even Singapore has its own strict CMIO quota kept in check.

[Shps6432]

Haha I'm back again. Got rejected on my 2nd PR application after waiting for 21 months I'm on Employment pass this round, and on my almost 6th year in Singapore. I applied again 2 years after my first. Changed company from financial services to maritime during my 2nd application and the result was out after settling my tax. Worked in the new company for 1 year+.

Given the new employment pass restrictions (salary range increase with age), I doubt I will be able to continue employment pass and have any further chances. I do see a pattern whereby people rely on marriage and spouse sponsor.