Hi all,
So sorry for posting yet another one of these posts here -- this is the best chance I have. I just found out from my parents -- came up in a casual conversation -- that 1- I had Singaporean nationality, and 2- I was in effect defaulting the national service given what I know from Singaporean friends. I then asked my parents for details, who told me about the exact situation I'm in. I've stumbled across the forum and have been scrolling for a while now. There are some similar cases, notably that of envoy91 (viewtopic.php?f=55&t=147341&p=864557&hi ... ce#p864557) and Wasabi88 (viewtopic.php?t=154958). But I still figured to post my situation to seek advice on what I should do because I need to make a decision relatively quickly.
Background:
- Currently 21, going to turn 22 *extremely soon*; according to past posts this means that I'm technically losing my citizenship according to Singaporean constitution very soon (?), but then this doesn't actually mean losing it formally until I renounce it.
- Born in a European Country X to a Chinese father and Singaporean (formerly Chinese) mother -- could only automatically get Chinese or Singaporean citizenship, but not X (due to residency requirements). Parents chose Singaporean thinking that I'd be able to renounce when and if need be without trouble -- mistake according to what I've read so far.
- Got X citizenship along with the family when I was 3 years old. My mother also did, but she kept her Singaporean one too (which I think is technically not allowed?)
- Have an expired Singaporean passport, apparently never renewed since I got citizenship from country X.
- Moved to China (as expats) when I was maybe 4, and then went to University in another European Country Y.
- Never got any correspondance from any Singaporean institution. In hindsight it's probably because my mother never updated her address.
- I've been to Singapore twice, once when I was 15, once when I was 16, using my EU passport, and I never got into any trouble. Never lived in Singapore though.
- Likewise, my parents were totally oblivious of any hurdle for renouncing the citizenship, and probably never informed anything to the Singaporean government on my intention to renounce, nor did they do any of the post 13 y.o. procedure that is suggested by posts in this forum (inform intent to emigrate, apply for exit permit, apply for deferment etc.). -- They are now panicking just like me.
Question
I acknowledge that this is a very unfortunate situation to be in, but instead of trying to cast the blame, I want to try to see what I can do to mitigate the disaster. The question is: what should I do? To be more precise, from previous posts, it seems like I have essentially two choices:
1- never go to Singapore again
2- try to regularise the situation (whom should I contact? posts talk about ICA and CMPB) but then my chances of going through are apparently very slim.
Choice 1 seems easiest, because I do not know anyone in Singapore apart from uni friends. My (somewhat naive) question would then be: should I claim to have Singaporean citizenship when applying for visas or jobs in other countries, or should I just say I don't anymore by Singaporean constitution?
Choice 2 however seems like the right way of doing things. Issue is I'm turning 22 soon, and I don't want to make them think I'm only doing this renunciation now because it's a convenient time to do so, and that I've been intentionally avoiding NS (I can only admit negligence on my parents' part) -- resulting in an obvious rejection. If I were to take this route, what should I even do? Or what can my parents do to increase my chances?
