National Service Deferment Procedure in Singapore.

[Plavt]

The following has been provided by Petales Soufflez with thanks.


I contacted CMPB recently as I have an almost 12-year old boy who has dual citizenship, but who has never held a Singapore NRIC, passport or attended school in Singapore.

CMPB advised that I can only apply for Deferment from NS for the boy after he turns 13. Of course I have to announce the boy's intention to renounce his Singapore citizenship at the age of 21 at the same time.

IF they grant the deferment, I will then have to apply for an exit permit for the boy if we do not live in Singapore. There will be no bond required in this case and the exit permit will be posted to our overseas address.

"NATIONAL SERVICE DEFERMENT

1. Please refer to your email dated 26 Jun 2008 regarding your request for your son to be granted deferment from National Service (NS) till his age of 21 years, pending the renunciation of his Singapore citizenship.

2. Under the Singapore Constitution, Singapore citizens may renounce their Singapore citizenship after reaching the age of 21. NS-liable males below 21 years old can apply for deferment from NS till 21 years of age, pending the renunciation of their Singapore citizenship. Any request for deferment can only be assessed if the NS-liable male is aged 13 years and above. As your son has yet to reach the age of 13, we are unable to process your request at this point in time.

3. We wish to remind you that all NS-liable persons aged 13 and above who have not completed full-time NS are required to have an Exit Permit if they wish to remain overseas for periods spanning three months or longer."

You know what they say, when in doubt - ask. I was under the impression before that that the thing to do would be to not let the child enter Singapore between the age of 13 and 21 (when he could then renounce his citizenship). Mistake - as this would mean staying away without exit permission and he would then become an NS defaulter. Not only would he not be able to renounce his Singapore citizenship without doing NS but he would be handcuffed etc upon arrival at the airport.

I must thank this forum for clearing some of the air and especially to SMS for his replies. Everyone has a different situation, the best thing to do is check with CMPB directly. They will not bite you and never asked me for my NRIC number etc during our exchange.

[PhantomX]

The following has been provided by Petales Soufflez with thanks.


I contacted CMPB recently as I have an almost 12-year old boy who has dual citizenship, but who has never held a Singapore NRIC, passport or attended school in Singapore.

CMPB advised that I can only apply for Deferment from NS for the boy after he turns 13. Of course I have to announce the boy's intention to renounce his Singapore citizenship at the age of 21 at the same time.

IF they grant the deferment, I will then have to apply for an exit permit for the boy if we do not live in Singapore. There will be no bond required in this case and the exit permit will be posted to our overseas address.

"NATIONAL SERVICE DEFERMENT

1. Please refer to your email dated 26 Jun 2008 regarding your request for your son to be granted deferment from National Service (NS) till his age of 21 years, pending the renunciation of his Singapore citizenship.

2. Under the Singapore Constitution, Singapore citizens may renounce their Singapore citizenship after reaching the age of 21. NS-liable males below 21 years old can apply for deferment from NS till 21 years of age, pending the renunciation of their Singapore citizenship. Any request for deferment can only be assessed if the NS-liable male is aged 13 years and above. As your son has yet to reach the age of 13, we are unable to process your request at this point in time.

3. We wish to remind you that all NS-liable persons aged 13 and above who have not completed full-time NS are required to have an Exit Permit if they wish to remain overseas for periods spanning three months or longer."

You know what they say, when in doubt - ask. I was under the impression before that that the thing to do would be to not let the child enter Singapore between the age of 13 and 21 (when he could then renounce his citizenship). Mistake - as this would mean staying away without exit permission and he would then become an NS defaulter. Not only would he not be able to renounce his Singapore citizenship without doing NS but he would be handcuffed etc upon arrival at the airport.

I must thank this forum for clearing some of the air and especially to SMS for his replies. Everyone has a different situation, the best thing to do is check with CMPB directly. They will not bite you and never asked me for my NRIC number etc during our exchange.

It does not matter that u intend to announce yr intention to renounce as only your son can do it and only after attaining 21 years. By then he would already have done his NS and then the question is why wd u want to do that since he has already served his time?

[trout]

Kids are facing some sort of similar situations. Left Singapore when one was 3 months old and the other at 2 years, both are Singaporeans. Been hearing stories of friends and relatives who has to post a bond for their kids when they visit Singapore but were below age 11.
So I called ICA who says they took direction from MINDEF, called MINDEF and that's what they said.
Before 2006, boys age 11 and below who left Singapore will have to furbish a bond but this was change in 2006 with the age limit raised to 13. So effectively my boys age 5 and 7 can return to Singapore and leave without problems for a short visit.

Saw a good post by PHK..reposting it here for people who are keen to know more.

Exemption from Singapore NS critical information (Revised):


1. Get you son's out of Singapore before their 11th birthday (age 13 is unconfirmed). These
ages are recommended by the U.S. Embassy Singapore as a guide. MinDef
advises there is no specific age, however, each young man is handled on
a case-by-case basis and it is just safer to observe these ages so that
your child is judged to have left Singapore at a young enough age.

a. Immediately document the departure date and new foreign domicile for each individual by mailing in the ICA change of address form for persons residing overseas: http://www.ica.gov.sg/data/resources/do ... orm_A1.pdf

2. On or before the 13th
birthday send a registered letter, with postcard return receipt for
yourself, to ICA and MinDef declaring intention to renounce child's
citizenship at age 21. Include a photocopy of your child’s birth
certificate, citizenship certificate (if applicable), proof of foreign
school enrollment / attendance, proof of departure date from Singapore.
The addresses for this notification are as follows:

Central Manpower Base
3 Depot Road, #02-07
Singapore 109680
Tel# +65-6373-3132

ICA Renunciation Unit
10 Kallang Road, #06-00
Singapore 208718
Tel# +65-6391-6316

3. Avoid the complications of applying for or retaining a Singapore Passport as a Dual Citizen. If your son’s need to physically enter, exit or live in Singapore then
they can do so with their foreign passport too. Simply go to the ICA
6th floor Citizenship office with your child’s foreign passport and
proof of Singapore citizenship and have them place a “Right of Entry”

[ScatterBrain]

Hello everyone,
I have been following this thread with great interest and decided to be another case study! I have 3 boys, 2 singaporeans, 1 american (with Singapore temporary citizenship -- ya, stupid!stupid!) Father is singaporean, I'm not. We all intend to be US citizens when the 5 years of being PR is fulfilled, for except for the youngest(born in the USA), we are all US permanent residents. We all left Singapore when children were 6 yrs and 3 yrs. I shall run through 3 cases, starting with the easiest, see if my thread of thought is faulty or not:

Youngest-- still a grade schooler. No Singapore passport, born in USA. I will have to apply for exit permit and send a letters to CMPB and ICA come the time he just about to turn 13. (as advised by PHK's 9 commandments, being commandment #2) (see reposting on Dec24, 2009)

Middle -- he is 11 now, never renewed passport, out of country since he was 3, so same as above-- commandment #2.

Oldest -- ahh... he's the headache. Renewed passport when he was 10.5 yrs, because we needed a valid passport when we began our Green Card application. Passport was extended to the max 10 years when the new law came out. His is not a biometric passport. We've never travelled on that new passport, though I don't think that even matter. I applied for exit permit when he turned 13. Never knew I had also to send letter of intend to CMPB and ICA until I came to this website. So now his exit permit is going to expire. So now, PHK and Sunday (if you read this), has he usurped socio-economic benefits? I guess the passport thing can be counted against him. How about the letter of intend part? Don't suppose he missed the boat? At least he holds no IC.

I will have to contact CMPB soon since his exit permit is soon going kaput. Will keep you all posted so you'll know.

[Mad Scientist]

Deleted

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually, he does have a problem with the passport. That is more critical than the NRIC. The NRIC is only usable in Singapore while the Passport means enjoying the socio-economic benefits of Singapore worldwide. They will likely find a sticking point there. Even in Singapore, if you don't have your NRIC your passport is still all that you need.

[Mad Scientist]

Deleted

[sundaymorningstaple]

And that is the reason we have so many problems trying to advise here. We get one report of somebody getting by and another with them getting hung out to dry. Makes it rather difficult and there seems to be a definitely lack of consistency of implementation as to what actually is the parameters of socio-economic benefits as viewed by the gahmen. Again, it's possible that they also give weightage to a fair number of factors and provided you don't score too many strikes, they will let you walk. Of course that may also be part of a larger plan to keep all on their toes if they plan on trying it. Kind of like applying for PR now days. Nobody knows what guidelines they are using to allow in or bounce out.

This is why this topic here is basically an assemblage of anecdotal evidence only.

[Mad Scientist]

Deleted

[ScatterBrain]

MS

Were you granted deferment for your son between 13 - 21?

We cannot get exit permit again since we have "consumed" the first less-than-2-years exit permit which I applied online. CMPB says either issue sing$75K or return to Singapore even for a day to reapply for another less-than-2-years permit. Meanwhile I applied for permission to "defer pending renounciation at age 21". There is a form to fill in and all kinds of things to photocopy to send to them (like every page of your passport, old and new, birth cert etc). So this is where I am now. They said will take them 3 weeks to process.

Again will keep you posted once I get a reply.

[Mad Scientist]

Deleted

[ScatterBrain]

MS,

Ah, that's my problem -- only PR, not US citizen yet. But what you said is just a stop gap measure. In the end still have to post bond or else become runaway case, which is not ideal. Who wants her children to never return to see his place of birth. Maybe they give me extra 6 months... 1 year... what ever the case to buy time to post bond at most. Not enuf time to get citizenship. Yes you correct, they ask for school letter to enable him to stay overseas but only until end of high school.

LOng and short, he might yet be made to go back for NS.

If you work backwards, 5 years on green card, 2 years on work permit before can apply for green card, and the long long time it takes to process green card, you better get out of country before son turns 3 in order to have citizenship all ready for the battle at age 13!! I suppose Gahmen already planned that way.

[Mad Scientist]

Deleted

[ScatterBrain]

MS,

I need like another 4 years to citizenship.

The deferment include foreign PR and citizen to apply. So ya, cannot renounce yet, only can ask for deferment pending
renounciation at 21. We certainly will be US citizen by then.
The hard thing about serving is that he will be there and the rest of us will be here. For two years. Gahmen got no heart for the family.

Thank you for your brain juice!
If you indeed have a pea brain, that's a pretty BIG pea!

[firstdown80]

Hello everyone, this is my first time in this forum.

got a question about the bond and deferment. I've been offered a job to work in the US by my current employer.

I want to bring my family along, but my son is 15 this year. Anyone knows what to do? Must I still post the 75K bond?