Singapore Expats

Hi,

Me and my husband are both British by descent and just recently moved to Singapore. My husband has a EP and i have a DP. I am currently pregnant and plan to go to HK to give birth and will stay there for a month after birth before returning to Singapore. During that month in HK i know i will have enough time to apply for a HK passport for my baby but probably not enough time for a UK passport (as it can take up to 6/8 weeks). Can someone tell me if we can still apply for a Singapore DP for my baby using her HK passport? I'm unsure because she won't have UK passport on entry to Singapore like we both do. And would it be easy enough to apply for her UK passport once back in Singapore?

Thanks in advance

Ali2016 wrote:Can someone tell me if we can still apply for a Singapore DP for my baby using her HK passport? I'm unsure because she won't have UK passport on entry to Singapore like we both do.

Yes, that's OK. There's no requirement that a child's nationality (as Singapore knows it) must match those of the parents. With adoptees frequently it doesn't.

Moreover, while it's important to document both of the child's citizenships with reasonable alacrity, there's no real requirement to obtain the child's U.K. passport (specifically) unless and until it would add travel value above and beyond the Hong Kong passport. A Hong Kong passport works quite well for international travel to most countries, including to the U.K. So you can hold off on the second passport if you wish. Passports aren't free, and they expire, so (financially speaking anyway) holding off on the second passport has some merit provided you're getting both citizenships documented. (A documented citizenship is a prerequisite for a particular passport, but that doesn't mean you have to get the passport. Millions of documented U.K. citizens don't have U.K. passports. Much like millions of documented U.K. citizens aren't members of Parliament.)

Thanks for the info BBCwatcher! Such a relief!