Singapore Expats

I am a local and my advice is, stay being a PR if you can and not be a Singaporean..... oops! did I just say something bad

Jaw: You have a right to an opinion, but your reasoning is weak.
The rest of you: do you know any Caucasians turned Singaporean?

I don't know any Caucs (I just realised the abbrevation is hilarious!) turned Singaporean personally but last year the Straits Times featured several who have decided to make Singapore their home, raised their kids in Singapore and they all seemed very happy (obviously though, as the unhappy ones wouldn't be here to be interviewed would they?).

GordonGekko wrote:Jaw: You have a right to an opinion, but your reasoning is weak.
The rest of you: do you know any Caucasians turned Singaporean?

Why it does not happen more often (if ever) I think is due to requirement to give up one's old passport. I would happily take Singapore citizenship but I would not like to give up my old one, which is same as you have.

With a PR status in Singapore one can already stay and have essentially all the same opportunities than a citizen, so why would I give up something that does not really add anything (well a visa free travel to Indonesia seems to be the only benefit). Essentially passport for me is a traveling document that is needed to cross borders. I don't feel my identity depends on passport I carry.

Also if ever have kids they can benefit of two passports, easier to study or work in Europe. I might like singapore, my kids might have another opinion, so why limit their choice if I do not have to.

ProvenPracticalFlexible wrote:

GordonGekko wrote:Jaw: You have a right to an opinion, but your reasoning is weak.
The rest of you: do you know any Caucasians turned Singaporean?

Why it does not happen more often (if ever) I think is due to requirement to give up one's old passport. I would happily take Singapore citizenship but I would not like to give up my old one, which is same as you have.

With a PR status in Singapore one can already stay and have essentially all the same opportunities than a citizen, so why would I give up something that does not really add anything (well a visa free travel to Indonesia seems to be the only benefit). Essentially passport for me is a traveling document that is needed to cross borders. I don't feel my identity depends on passport I carry.

Also if ever have kids they can benefit of two passports, easier to study or work in Europe. I might like singapore, my kids might have another opinion, so why limit their choice if I do not have to.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Why burn bridges?

Wind In My Hair wrote:as the unhappy ones wouldn't be here to be interviewed would they?).

even if they were interviewed, no one will ever see those reports/comments either...

ProvenPracticalFlexible wrote:

GordonGekko wrote:Jaw: You have a right to an opinion, but your reasoning is weak.
The rest of you: do you know any Caucasians turned Singaporean?

Why it does not happen more often (if ever) I think is due to requirement to give up one's old passport. I would happily take Singapore citizenship but I would not like to give up my old one, which is same as you have.

With a PR status in Singapore one can already stay and have essentially all the same opportunities than a citizen, so why would I give up something that does not really add anything (well a visa free travel to Indonesia seems to be the only benefit). Essentially passport for me is a traveling document that is needed to cross borders. I don't feel my identity depends on passport I carry.

Also if ever have kids they can benefit of two passports, easier to study or work in Europe. I might like singapore, my kids might have another opinion, so why limit their choice if I do not have to.

BINGO!! as a singaporean, I don't find myself having many special privileges compared to a PR. And who knows, the govt maybe 'forced' by circumstance to accept dual citizenship in time to come ..... even the old man mentioned that before since there are so many quitters recently .

having two birds is better than one.

I don't know any Caucs (I just realised the abbrevation is hilarious!)

Creative writing skills are not your problem I can see! I wrote a lengthy piece, but I guess I lost it, or it was censored ha! I found it very funny, although many will miss the point. But it's the materialistic quality that counts in Singapore...is it not? Not the size hee hee!

The citizenship, isn't really a problem for British Citizens, because even though it is renounced in Singapore to the Singapore authorities to get Singapore citizenship, it is none effective to the UK.

So one automatically gets a new passport, from UK if applied for! So yes its better to have two passports if your birth Country allows it. Even if they don't allow it, there is no reason to tell them!

ksl wrote: So one automatically gets a new passport, from UK if applied for! So yes its better to have two passports if your birth Country allows it. Even if they don't allow it, there is no reason to tell them!

yep...... mum's the word.

I have met a few whiteys with Singapore passports.

I'd agree, however, remain a PR, unless you are from the US and want to avoid double taxation.

Thanks for your input, guys. You had a lot of interesting viewpoints. However, I don't have a whole lot of people to miss here, so I don't see a return to Sweden or even to Europe in the horizon.
Vaucluse: any of your "whitey" citizen friends willing to share their story?

PPF: my story seems to be a little different from yours, though. I've been living outside of Finland most of my life, and Sweden has never felt like home...

GordonGekko wrote:PPF: my story seems to be a little different from yours, though. I've been living outside of Finland most of my life, and Sweden has never felt like home...

I my instincts say, that you are of Eurosian parentage, for some reason! based on the desire to give it all up, in the west for Singapore.

shouldnt that be scandasian instead of eurasian?