23 Year Old Male--Singapore Conscription?

pvincent87 · Post by **pvincent87** » Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:20 am

Hello,

I am 23 years old and I am considering relocating to Singapore. If I renounce my U.S. citizenship and becoming a citizen of Singapore, will I be compelled to serve in the Singapore military? Thanks and I appreciate your responses.

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:41 am

pvincent87 wrote:Hello,

I am 23 years old and I am considering relocating to Singapore. If I renounce my U.S. citizenship and becoming a citizen of Singapore, will I be compelled to serve in the Singapore military? Thanks and I appreciate your responses.

questions:

Are you born and brought up in US ?

How exactly will Singapore give you citizenship ? under which qualifier ?

And without specific info, not much help you are going to get here ..

pvincent87 · Post by **pvincent87** » Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:52 am

Are you born and brought up in US ?

How exactly will Singapore give you citizenship ? under which qualifier ?

And without specific info, not much help you are going to get here ..

I am born and brought up in the U.S. I am not 100% sure yet under which qualifier Singapore will grant me citizenship. I plan to stay and work in singapore as a U.S. citizen until I can become a permanent resident of singapore and then (hopefully) a citizen.

I am asking this question because I am running into conflicting information online about conscription in Singapore. I am just confused

Thank you for your responses.

boffenl · Post by **boffenl** » Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:25 am

I'm sorry, why would you give up your US citizenship? Becoming a permanent resident in Singapore is not an easy process--neither is becoming a citizen. What is drawing you here? You've got to make a damned good case to MoM and ICA to let you in to work in the first place.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:51 am

First of all you have to find a job.

After you find a job, your prospective employer has to apply for an employment pass (getting harder and harder to do).

Assuming you DO get an Employment Pass and have worked for at least 2 years, you could apply for Permanent Residence (Most are being rejected unless you really have something that the country needs or wants).

Even then, applying for citizenship is probably not going to go anywhere unless they can see you actually being desirable for the country. As far as NS is concerned, no, you would not have to do NS under the Professional, Technical Scheme for PR. However, if you gain your PR under the family ties you would most probably be required to do NS at your tender young age, but without any family ties here, I don't think you need worry about that. Your biggest problem is just finding a job here that the MOM will agree to issue an EP for.

luminoso · Post by **luminoso** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 3:36 pm

I think getting Singapore citizenship is not a straightforward affair - as others have said, you will first need a work visa (EP), followed by permanent residency, followed by citizenship.

The criteria for permanent residency is ambiguous, but they generally give it out to anyone who can prove that they can support themselves and are unlikely to create a social burden and claim benefits EVER.

Not sure why you would want to get citizenship though, since permanent residency confers pretty much the exact same rights and privileges minus the liability of having to serve in the military.

Plus, if your kids are Singapore citizens, they will have to do their military service - do you really want them to waste two years of their life holding guns and digging trenches?

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 4:24 pm

luminoso wrote: Not sure why you would want to get citizenship though, since permanent residency confers pretty much the exact same rights and privileges minus the liability of having to serve in the military.

Not sure where you are from, and not wanna know, but, for a fair bit of people, Singapore passport is much valuable .. no, I am not talking of 'rights' ..

luminoso · Post by **luminoso** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 4:54 pm

ecureilx wrote:
luminoso wrote: Not sure why you would want to get citizenship though, since permanent residency confers pretty much the exact same rights and privileges minus the liability of having to serve in the military.
Not sure where you are from, and not wanna know, but, for a fair bit of people, Singapore passport is much valuable .. no, I am not talking of 'rights' ..

Care to explain what you mean?

What I meant to say was that PRs in Singapore are accorded almost the same rights as citizens, the most obvious exception being the right to vote and run for public office. In almost every other area, PRs have the same benefits as Singapore citizens.

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 5:22 pm

luminoso wrote: What I meant to say was that PRs in Singapore are accorded almost the same rights as citizens, the most obvious exception being the right to vote and run for public office. In almost every other area, PRs have the same benefits as Singapore citizens.

I meant that holding a Singapore passport means a lot to some people, and no, PR is PR, not Citizen .. And of late, a few more benefits for PRs have been dropped ..

cheers

luminoso · Post by **luminoso** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 5:48 pm

I don't see any reason why it might be advantageous to hold a Singaporean passport as opposed to an American passport (which was the point raised by the OP). Of course, this is my subjective opinion and I could be wrong.

I suppose a Singapore passport allows for visa-free entry to many countries, though the same can be said of an American passport as well as an EU passport.

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 5:51 pm

luminoso wrote: ...

My response was geared towards owning a Singapore Passport, not Singapore passport vs US passport.

Asian_Geekette · Post by **Asian_Geekette** » Wed, 14 Sep 2011 2:27 pm

luminoso wrote:
ecureilx wrote:
luminoso wrote: Not sure why you would want to get citizenship though, since permanent residency confers pretty much the exact same rights and privileges minus the liability of having to serve in the military.
Not sure where you are from, and not wanna know, but, for a fair bit of people, Singapore passport is much valuable .. no, I am not talking of 'rights' ..
Care to explain what you mean?

What I meant to say was that PRs in Singapore are accorded almost the same rights as citizens, the most obvious exception being the right to vote and run for public office. In almost every other area, PRs have the same benefits as Singapore citizens.

@luminoso:
Where have you been the past two years or so? PRs don't have the same benefits as Singapore citizens. PRs don't have almost all the same rights as citizens (never have and never will be).

Sweeping statements that you made above make ordinary citizens think that their citizenship are not worth anything at all. This is why I'm clarifying things. There are significant differences between the rights and privileges of citizens and PRs.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Wed, 14 Sep 2011 2:47 pm

luminoso...

Boy are you way, way off base on this one....

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic82231.html

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Wed, 14 Sep 2011 3:09 pm

Asian_Geekette wrote: Sweeping statements that you made above make ordinary citizens think that their citizenship are not worth anything at all. This is why I'm clarifying things. There are significant differences between the rights and privileges of citizens and PRs.

Yes, couldn't say it better, at a time when the natives equate PEP to PR .... and think PEP is a 'illegal' PR

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23 Year Old Male--Singapore Conscription?

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