toneemontana wrote:Situation: I am an American, Ex-Wife is Singaporean with U.S. PR. Son born in Singapore and is currently 15 years old. Soon after son's birth we filed for naturalization for American Citizenship at U.S. Embassy in Singapore, of which he was granted. We left Singapore when our son was two years old and none of us have returned to Singapore since.
My son was never issued a Singapore Passport or an NRIC.
After my son turned Thirteen I e-mailed the CMPB and here is their response:
NATIONAL SERVICE OBLIGATIONS
1. Please refer to your email dated 31 Dec 11 regarding your son’s National Service (NS) obligations.
2. All male Singaporeans or Permanent Residents (PR) are required to fulfil their NS obligations under the Enlistment Act. As a Singapore citizen, your son is required to apply for exit permit (EP) at the age of 13 years old and to register for NS upon reaching the age of 16½ years old. He is also required for NS enlistment at the earliest opportunity after reaching the age of 18 years, unless he is granted deferment from NS for his overseas studies. We are enclosing the EP leaflet for your retention.
3. Under the Singapore Constitution, Singapore citizens can only renounce their Singapore citizenship (SC) after reaching the age of 21 years. Those below 21 years can apply for NS deferment till 21 years pending renunciation of their Singapore citizenship.
4. You have indicated that your son intends to renounce his SC at his age of 21 without serving his full-time NS. We are enclosing the application forms for your completion. We will assess his eligibility for NS deferment till his age of 21, pending renunciation of his SC when we have received his application.
5. Thank you and regards.
After reading other related post on this site, seems to be some discrepancy on how the CMPB may handle my son's case. As we/he left Singapore when he was two years old, never issued a Singapore passport or NRIC , and never enjoyed the socio-economic benefits of Singapore, I have hopes that he may be allowed an Exit Permit without having to post a bond. I cannot afford the bond and if there are no concessions made by CMPB, I will have no choice but to advise my son to never step foot in Singapore. From what I have read he cannot be extradited from U.S. to Singapore.
If you didn't apply for an exit permit using the proper protocols, when he was 13, you have little hope of him escaping unscathed from this mess. Additionally, all you have mention is a very real possibility. He cannot be extradited from the US nor can he be picked up in Malaysia. Most (and there are a lot of them) do just what you mentioned. Have the rellies visit him in JB cause if he steps foot in Singapore he will be picked up as a deserter/defaulter.
Has anyone else experienced a similar situation ? What was your outcome ?
Would there be an issue if he visited Malaysia and had his Singaporean relatives visit him there ?
toneemontana wrote:SMS.. Thank you for your reply. As of now I haven't submitted info on the NS Portal for an Exit Permit. Not sure I should even bother, as it seems very few people get concessions from N.S. duty. I wouldn't discouraged my son from military service, but I feel it needs to be his choice to enter or not, and of which country to serve.
If you had followed protocols early on when you were supposed to, had he decided to do NS it wouldn't cause any problems at all. You just can't do the the other way around. There is where you went wrong. I'm afraid, like a number who have posted on this board over the past 7 years, it will one day bite him in the butt. We've had them want to come back due to corporate transfers and have to tell their employers they can't take the promotion or huge pay increase because they broke the law in Singapore. (and they didn't do it, but the parents did it to them.) Don't say it can't or won't happen. None of us know what lies behind door number 1, 2 or 3. We buys our ticket and takes our chances. It's sucks when you grab the winning ticket and find out you can't collect because your parents screwed it up. I hope you don't someday find yourself in a similar position. In fact, the gahmen here have a very, very long memory.
Other than my ex-in-laws, who I still care for and especially would like my children to have the opportunity to spend time with, I do not for for-see my son or daughter working or living in Singapore.
You did the right thing when you send email to mindef when your son is 13 but screw it up by not applying for the EP and deferment. It don't cost you to apply for the EP online at the ns portal and i think in your case, you do not need to post bond also as you and your son has been living abroad all along with your son intention to renounce at 21yrs. He will get to decide then if he wants his Singapore citizenship or renounce it. You did not give him that choice which you mentioned you like him to have.toneemontana wrote:SMS.. Thank you for your reply. As of now I haven't submitted info on the NS Portal for an Exit Permit. Not sure I should even bother, as it seems very few people get concessions from N.S. duty. I wouldn't discouraged my son from military service, but I feel it needs to be his choice to enter or not, and of which country to serve.
Other than my ex-in-laws, who I still care for and especially would like my children to have the opportunity to spend time with, I do not for for-see my son or daughter working or living in Singapore.
Your right I am making excuses, but do you see his Singaporean mother in here taking the brunt with me ? If this doesn't pan out, my son will be fine either way.Two years in NS is not as important as two years in college directly after high school. Other than good food SG doesn't offer much. He'll get by in the U.S. or elsewhere. I have raised him from diapers until now, and I will continue to love and help him for the rest of my life. Do you think two years in NS or possibly being a deserter from a country he doesn't even know compares with that ?sundaymorningstaple wrote:That sounds like an excuse to me. The longer you wait, the less likely CMPB will be to cooperate. But we know how it is, it's not your life you are shafting is it. You just don't like being put in the hot seat for something you did to your son that could be detrimental to the rest of his life.
What happens when he meets a Singaporean girl in the US and she wants him to return to Singapore with her? Sorry, I can't cause my father made me a fugitive from Singapore.
It's time you start thinking about him.
As quoted from Mimo:sundaymorningstaple wrote:Frankly, I believe a young man will do much better in University with a 2 year break BEFORE starting University. Military service will make a young man learn a lot about himself and just what he is capable of.
The obvious question I have to ask is "have you, yourself, done any military service?" Of course, if you haven't, then there is no way that you could know these things. As ex-military, I believe, with a son currently in the military, I am well equipped to judge. Whether your wife is with you or not is, frankly, immaterial. Certain obligations were inherited with citizenship and every parent has the obligation to understand these things and to not shirk their duties as parents as far as possible. With the world having shrunk dramatically since I was in VN in the 60's, today, New York is but one day away from Singapore. You have no idea what the future holds for your son. It would be a shame to burn your child's bridges out of willful stubbornness, don't you think? The fact that YOU spent 99% of your life in the US, doesn't mean he will want to. My father spent all of his working life in the US. I've spend half of mine overseas. He didn't know and neither did I until I was in my mid 30's.
Take offense if you want to. It's the normal reaction when faced with the bald truth.
Oh yeah. The fine. From 3 to 10K from what I understand. AND the child will still have to do NS. It's impossible to buy his release from NS if that's what you are thinking.
It really depends what your career expectations are for your son. Billions of people world-wide sleep on dirt floors and survive on less than a dollar a day.toneemontana wrote: If my son never steps foot in Singapore again, for him like billions of other people worldwide that will never visit Singapore, it's not going to be the end of his World.
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