HELP: Spousal PR called to register for NS

janiceliu88 · Post by **janiceliu88** » Sun, 12 May 2013 12:11 am

Hi everyone!

I'm a Singaporean but my American husband is a PR (on account of being a spouse, and as father of a Singaporean-American baby), and today in the mail we got a notification from the army requiring him to register. It's a horrible shock, he's 31 this year and as long as I've been living here it's absolutely unheard of. I was wondering if anyone else has been notified in the same manner, and if there's any chance it's purely administrative and they only require registration but not actual service?! What is the experience of other spousal PR expats in recent years?

I'd appreciate any help on this that you can give - we're in a bit of a bind here, with an eight-month-old baby and everything. He simply /can't/ do NS, it's ridiculous, he only got his PR early this year and had only been in Singapore for six months or so prior to that

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sun, 12 May 2013 1:53 am

Yep, he should have registered upon receiving his PR. Hopefully, they will give him he normal wavier, but then again, with all the crap going around about NS and True Blue Singaporean, they may well try. but I seriously doubt it.

Wd40 · Post by **Wd40** » Sun, 12 May 2013 4:40 pm

So you sponsored PR for your husband without fully understanding the implications?

At 31, he is still very young and fit. I would be surprised if he really gets a waiver.

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Sun, 12 May 2013 5:43 pm

Wd40 wrote:So you sponsored PR for your husband without fully understanding the implications?

At 31, he is still very young and fit. I would be surprised if he really gets a waiver.

He will get a waiver your statement is totally unfounded and miss leading. Probably best leave this to people with experience

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Sun, 12 May 2013 5:46 pm

janiceliu88 wrote:Hi everyone!

I'm a Singaporean but my American husband is a PR (on account of being a spouse, and as father of a Singaporean-American baby), and today in the mail we got a notification from the army requiring him to register. It's a horrible shock, he's 31 this year and as long as I've been living here it's absolutely unheard of. I was wondering if anyone else has been notified in the same manner, and if there's any chance it's purely administrative and they only require registration but not actual service?! What is the experience of other spousal PR expats in recent years?

I'd appreciate any help on this that you can give - we're in a bit of a bind here, with an eight-month-old baby and everything. He simply /can't/ do NS, it's ridiculous, he only got his PR early this year and had only been in Singapore for six months or so prior to that

Don't worry yourself, I had to register for NS after getting my PR and I was 39 years old! Immediate waiver

Wd40 · Post by **Wd40** » Sun, 12 May 2013 6:00 pm

If a 31 year old, family ties applicant gets a waiver from NS then who does NS really? Why have NS at all in that case, for family ties applicants, might as well completely remove NS for all 1st gen PRs

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Sun, 12 May 2013 10:45 pm

Wd40 wrote:If a 31 year old, family ties applicant gets a waiver from NS then who does NS really? Why have NS at all in that case, for family ties applicants, might as well completely remove NS for all 1st gen PRs

You're not really making sense or have a point, unless you're just trying to spout hyperbolic statements to start something.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sun, 12 May 2013 11:18 pm

Wd40 wrote:If a 31 year old, family ties applicant gets a waiver from NS then who does NS really? Why have NS at all in that case, for family ties applicants, might as well completely remove NS for all 1st gen PRs

Once again you are letting that bulldog mouth overload the hummingbird butt.

NS is primarily for 2nd Gen PRs and should you be luckly enough to gain citizenship at the age of 23 or something using the family ties scheme, then you probably would have to do NS. The reason all male PR's have to register while under the age of 40 is because is the country did come under attack, then they could call him up for service if required, e.g., he had a skillset that could be usable by the military in a wartime situation.

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Mon, 13 May 2013 10:22 am

Saint wrote:He will get a waiver your statement is totally unfounded and miss leading. Probably best leave this to people with experience

+1 and same to SMS too

The only case over 14 years I know of somebody who had to do NS when he got PR was a guy, born in SG but moved to India .. and when he was 26, came to work in SG, and when he applied for EP, he was asked to apply PR as he was Born in Singapore and he was then asked to report to CMPB

Still he says, he didn't have to fret it .. he was assigned to some light stuff in SCDF for 6 months and that was that .. and the recalls ..

And those were the days things happened so ..

janiceliu88 · Post by **janiceliu88** » Tue, 14 May 2013 12:11 am

Thanks everyone - we have to wait for June 3rd to register and find out, but thanks for being so supportive (mostly, anyway, apart from the occasional "just serve NS what, got PR" troll that seems to come with the expat forum terrain). When we got the letter we were worried it could necessarily mean being called up for service, thanks for clarifying.

sundaymorningstaple, yeah, that anti-foreigner sentiment is what's troubling me. In Singapore all it takes is a single policy change to screw you over well and good, and even though it would be plainly unreasonable to do so, it's not like Singapore is well-known for its reason and reasonableness. Ecurelix, that's really comforting to know that it's quite the anomaly, thanks for that.

Wd40 wrote:If a 31 year old, family ties applicant gets a waiver from NS then who does NS really? Why have NS at all in that case, for family ties applicants, might as well completely remove NS for all 1st gen PRs

Well let's see, who does NS? Young, able-bodied men who have lived their lives in Singapore and don't have babies and mouths to feed, living under the roofs of their parents'? UM YES I THINK THAT'S WHO. And actually, they have removed NS for 1st gen PRs, but only if you're incredibly rich or have a particular skill that is deemed currently desirable, but I guess you're okay with that huh. But the right of a Singaporean to marry whoever they choose and not have their collective lives ruined (and that of their young, Singaporean baby), <i>that</i> you're not okay with. Wow.

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Tue, 14 May 2013 10:27 am

janiceliu88 wrote: Well let's see, who does NS? Young, able-bodied men who have lived their lives in Singapore and don't have babies and mouths to feed, living under the roofs of their parents'? UM YES I THINK THAT'S WHO. And actually, they have removed NS for 1st gen PRs, but only if you're incredibly rich or have a particular skill that is deemed currently desirable, but I guess you're okay with that huh. But the right of a Singaporean to marry whoever they choose and not have their collective lives ruined (and that of their young, Singaporean baby), <i>that</i> you're not okay with. Wow.

Don't mind WD40, he's just salty his PR was rejected.

taxico · Post by **taxico** » Tue, 14 May 2013 11:43 am

janiceliu88 wrote:...Well let's see, who does NS? Young, able-bodied men who have lived their lives in Singapore and don't have babies and mouths to feed, living under the roofs of their parents'? UM YES I THINK THAT'S WHO...

i have served NS with young able bodied men (NSFs) who had babies and other mouths to feed.

i have also served NS with old able bodied men (NSFs) that were somehow overseas for a long (long) time.

but you might be on to something - i've not served NS with men that satisfies both criteria.

worldpeas · Post by **worldpeas** » Mon, 02 Sep 2013 7:03 pm

hello,

i realise this is a bit old, but i would like to check with the OP what happened in the end with regards to the ns issue?

i'm in a similar situation - my husband is american and we are expecting a baby in a few months' and thinking of settling down in sg, but i don't want him to be away in the army while we have a new born baby... so we are wondering if we should apply PR for him or simply bring up our son in the us..

Post by **PNGMK** » Tue, 03 Sep 2013 1:11 am

worldpeas wrote:hello,

i realise this is a bit old, but i would like to check with the OP what happened in the end with regards to the ns issue?

i'm in a similar situation - my husband is american and we are expecting a baby in a few months' and thinking of settling down in sg, but i don't want him to be away in the army while we have a new born baby... so we are wondering if we should apply PR for him or simply bring up our son in the us..

Your yankee husband will be fine. Worry about having a son who WILL have an NS obligation.

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Tue, 03 Sep 2013 1:22 am

Clean up your act and stop with the personal attacks.

You have started down the ban path again.

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HELP: Spousal PR called to register for NS

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