Dual Citizenship in Singapore - need advice

[SAAL]

Hi, I have a question here and hope to get some advice from people who have similiar experience. I am getting married soon, I am a Singaporean but my fiance is an American. He can't relocate to Singapore for the time being and wants me to apply for an US citizenship when we get married, citing that it will be easier for travel within US with a valid citizenship.

I understand that United States allow dual citizenship, but not in Singapore. But then, I do not want to give up my Singaporean citizenship because I has a HDB flat here. I've read somewhere that USA have a K1 (or K2?) marriage visas - so is it fine if I don't apply for the US citizenship if I have this visa? How does you people work around tricky situation like this?

Any form of advice will be appreciated!

[moto]

Hi, I have a question here and hope to get some advice from people who have similiar experience. I am getting married soon, I am a Singaporean but my fiance is an American. He can't relocate to Singapore for the time being and wants me to apply for an US citizenship when we get married, citing that it will be easier for travel within US with a valid citizenship.

I understand that United States allow dual citizenship, but not in Singapore. But then, I do not want to give up my Singaporean citizenship because I has a HDB flat here. I've read somewhere that USA have a K1 (or K2?) marriage visas - so is it fine if I don't apply for the US citizenship if I have this visa? How does you people work around tricky situation like this?

Any form of advice will be appreciated!

I suppose you are still in Singapore...

Anyway, it will take time before you have to decide on your citizenship conundrun--if at all... You can simply be a permanent resident with a green card.

If you are going to the US as a fiance, read this: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A2eng.pdf

If you are already married before going to the US, read this:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... f3d6a1RCRD

And here's a good overview of immigrant or non-immigrant spousal/fiance visas:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants ... _1315.html

[SAAL]

Hi, I have a question here and hope to get some advice from people who have similiar experience. I am getting married soon, I am a Singaporean but my fiance is an American. He can't relocate to Singapore for the time being and wants me to apply for an US citizenship when we get married, citing that it will be easier for travel within US with a valid citizenship.

I understand that United States allow dual citizenship, but not in Singapore. But then, I do not want to give up my Singaporean citizenship because I has a HDB flat here. I've read somewhere that USA have a K1 (or K2?) marriage visas - so is it fine if I don't apply for the US citizenship if I have this visa? How does you people work around tricky situation like this?

Any form of advice will be appreciated!

I suppose you are still in Singapore...

Anyway, it will take time before you have to decide on your citizenship conundrun--if at all... You can simply be a permanent resident with a green card.

If you are going to the US as a fiance, read this: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A2eng.pdf

If you are already married before going to the US, read this:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... f3d6a1RCRD

And here's a good overview of immigrant or non-immigrant spousal/fiance visas:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants ... _1315.html

Hi moto, yes, I am still in Singapore and no, we are still not married yet, but will be this year. Thanks for the links. Those are really helpful. It helps that US has a flexible policy of granting dual citizenship..right now, more of my worries are on my own motherland...I don't know how does one get around with carrying dual nationality passport/citizenship without giving up my nationality.

[sundaymorningstaple]

The simple answer is you can't. Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship for it's citizens once they reach their 21st birthday. A lot do it but I know that they are gambling with their freedom as when they apply for a new or renew their passports the application asks you if you hold citizenship or a passport for any other country. So you perjure yourself before you even get the passport. And to them it is deliberate.

[snowieee]

The simple answer is you can't. Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship for it's citizens once they reach their 21st birthday. A lot do it but I know that they are gambling with their freedom as when they apply for a new or renew their passports the application asks you if you hold citizenship or a passport for any other country. So you perjure yourself before you even get the passport. And to them it is deliberate.

Hi, yes I agreed, that once it reaches 21yr old, Singapore will not allow dual citizenship. Just like one of my friend married to HK, kid can have dual citizhenship now, till he reaches 21 yr old, then he has to make a decision to let go either one of the citizens.

[jamesy]

Its not easier to travel within the US, citizen or not.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I've haven't been back for a couple of years now. It would appear even American's have a hard time traveling even within the US. My mom was detained for a while because she was traveling by herself to California from Maryland as she didn't know what her forward traveling plans would be (this about 2 years ago). She was detained and searched and her bags picked apart and finally allowed to proceed. And she's 82! Wonder what they thought she was gonna do? Profiling there is the pits. She was on a one-way ticket and that raised some silly flag in the system.

If you are a minority with 5 screaming brats and a pocket book full of food stamps and welfare checks and needle tracks all over your arms, you'll be right though. No problems at all.

[VanofVA]

SAAL, I agree with most of the replies here. First off, Singaporean passports will get you into most of the same countries as a US passport (as far as I know) so international travel shouldnt be a concern. Once you are in the US for local travel, you need only show your passport or US Drivers license.

I'm a US citizen and married a Thai back in 2004. We thought about the fiance visa but chose the marriage visa instead as it was MUCH quicker and easier. We married in Thailand, got all the paperwork, submitted to the Embassy.....very smooth. Once she had the visa we applied for her PR and that was smooth too. We then moved to the US and she got a US drivers license.

She has kept her Thai passport and we had some extra trouble when we wanted to travel to Europe. She needed to appply for a Shenken Visa. She also needed to apply for a visa to travel to Australia and New Zealand. US (and I believe Singaporean) passports do not need visas for those countries. Anyhow, we might end up applying for US Citizenship for her, but it's not critical.

[jdaniel]

yup

[TennoHekka]

Hi, I have a question here and hope to get some advice from people who have similiar experience. I am getting married soon, I am a Singaporean but my fiance is an American. He can't relocate to Singapore for the time being and wants me to apply for an US citizenship when we get married, citing that it will be easier for travel within US with a valid citizenship.

I understand that United States allow dual citizenship, but not in Singapore. But then, I do not want to give up my Singaporean citizenship because I has a HDB flat here. I've read somewhere that USA have a K1 (or K2?) marriage visas - so is it fine if I don't apply for the US citizenship if I have this visa? How does you people work around tricky situation like this?

Any form of advice will be appreciated!

Well, you can always keep your green card first, and let the US immigrant proceedings take its time. That will buy you some time, though I don't think travelling within the US is gonna be any easier with a US passport. If you DO toss the Sg passport eventually, the pros are: You can wave the flag in all our faces and call us names, lecture us when you come home for visits, and own property in the USA (which IMHO is HELLUVA more worth it than playing the Sg market!), while the cons would be: You're enslaved to the IRS, you had better be careful with those offshore accounts and cashflows in and out of the USA, and you might get yelled in the face or worse if you wind up in the wrong regions/towns/district/street corner. Still, you can be an Obama and Pelosi fan for the next EIGHT years...YAH!