Singapore Expats

Hi guys,

I have come across some very useful information in this forum which is fantastic, but I have not been able to find anyone discussing my specific situation. I would be very grateful for some advice.

I was born in Singapore in 1991 to a Singaporean mother and a Canadian Father (which i believe gave me Singaporean Citizenship). My family moved to canada almost immediately after my birth. I spent my entire childhood (from 1992 to 2005) in Canada as a Canadian without ever addressing my Singaporean citizenship. I have lived in a couple of other countries as a teenager but never Singapore. I think my parents were issued some documents at my birth but they never renewed my passport or notified the Singaporean government about my situation. I have never received anything from the Singapore government, and I never dealt with anything relating to national service since I never really thought about it.

I am now 26 (male), still living in Canada, and I am considering renouncing my Singaporean citizenship so that I do not have any issues in the future, especially when I would like to visit Singapore (as a tourist or potentially on business). After having read many articles in the forum, I now realize that it would have been very beneficial to take some steps all throughout my life. It's clearly too late for that now.

My main concern is that if I officially make the government aware of my situation by applying for citizenship renunciation, they might demand that I serve NS. Just to be clear, I intend to keep my Canadian citizenship considering that Singapore does not allow dual citizenship.

So i have two main questions:
- How likely am I to get in trouble with the government (primarily regarding NS) if I apply for Renunciation of my Singaporean Citizenship?
- Based on the risk, do you think I should submit the application?

I always have the option of doing nothing and not ever visiting Singapore, but that would be very tragic for me... Or visiting with my Canadian passport and hoping for the best, but that would be extremely stressful.

Thank you very much for your help!

steph000 wrote:Hi guys,

I have come across some very useful information in this forum which is fantastic, but I have not been able to find anyone discussing my specific situation. I would be very grateful for some advice.

I was born in Singapore in 1991 to a Singaporean mother and a Canadian Father (which i believe gave me Singaporean Citizenship). My family moved to canada almost immediately after my birth. I spent my entire childhood (from 1992 to 2005) in Canada as a Canadian without ever addressing my Singaporean citizenship. I have lived in a couple of other countries as a teenager but never Singapore. I think my parents were issued some documents at my birth but they never renewed my passport or notified the Singaporean government about my situation. I have never received anything from the Singapore government, and I never dealt with anything relating to national service since I never really thought about it.

I am now 26 (male), still living in Canada, and I am considering renouncing my Singaporean citizenship so that I do not have any issues in the future, especially when I would like to visit Singapore (as a tourist or potentially on business). After having read many articles in the forum, I now realize that it would have been very beneficial to take some steps all throughout my life. It's clearly too late for that now.

My main concern is that if I officially make the government aware of my situation by applying for citizenship renunciation, they might demand that I serve NS. Just to be clear, I intend to keep my Canadian citizenship considering that Singapore does not allow dual citizenship.

So i have two main questions:
- How likely am I to get in trouble with the government (primarily regarding NS) if I apply for Renunciation of my Singaporean Citizenship?
- Based on the risk, do you think I should submit the application?

I always have the option of doing nothing and not ever visiting Singapore, but that would be very tragic for me... Or visiting with my Canadian passport and hoping for the best, but that would be extremely stressful.

Thank you very much for your help!

Do you have relatives in Singapore?

Based on past posts what do you think is going to happen?

Honest question

It sounds like you were issued a Singapore Passport and probably exited using said passport. You will probably be able to get around it but you will need to contact the CMPB / Mindef and a lot of too'ing & fro'ing. But as you have never gotten an NRIC nor enjoyed any of the socio-economics benefits of Singapore (e.g., Schooling), they will probably allow you to renounce but you will still have to go through the motions in order to eliminate any nagging doubts.

Just wonder if your dad and yourself have Singapore identity card / holding Singapore passport .


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Singaporeuser2007 wrote:Just wonder if your dad and yourself have Singapore identity card / holding Singapore passport .


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OP clearly stated his passport was never renewed (I assume it was a 5 year passport that he left the country with. Having said that, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have an NRIC either as it would not have been issued until he was 14 years old. So he's pretty much been flying under the radar. As he's not enjoyed any socio-economic benefits of Singapore and left well before his 7th birthday, I think he's pretty safe but he still must dot the 'i's and cross all the 't's.

Thanks very much for the feedback! I have decided to proceed with the application for renunciation of Singapore citizenship and I have received all the documentation for the application. There are several steps, including contacting CMPB so I expect this will take some time.

To answer some of the questions: I do have some relatives in Singapore. sundaymorningstaple was correct in presuming that I was never issued an identity card or NRIC number; I have indeed been flying completely under the radar, although not intentionally. I simply have been living as a Canadian without ever thinking very much about my status in Singapore.

Thanks again for the help! If I discover any useful and appropriate information I will be sure to share.

Please do update us on the outcome.

hello, I think Singapore is not obliged to know that you are Singaporean of origin . You simply travel to Singapore with your Canadian passport as a tourist, then you can make findings on your origins. Once you arrive Singapore with your passport. You have to consider that you are not canadian anymore and make the necessary investigations. Lost of birth certificate, from birth certificate, you can become Singaporean, and quietly obtain your identity card and passport. then you can claim your double nationality back in canada.

jadeasong wrote:hello, I think Singapore is not obliged to know that you are Singaporean of origin . You simply travel to Singapore with your Canadian passport as a tourist, then you can make findings on your origins. Once you arrive Singapore with your passport. You have to consider that you are not canadian anymore and make the necessary investigations. Lost of birth certificate, from birth certificate, you can become Singaporean, and quietly obtain your identity card and passport. then you can claim your double nationality back in canada.

You're an idiot. Everything you've just suggested is either criminal or a very bad idea.

jadeasong wrote:hello, I think Singapore is not obliged to know that you are Singaporean of origin . You simply travel to Singapore with your Canadian passport as a tourist, then you can make findings on your origins. Once you arrive Singapore with your passport. You have to consider that you are not canadian anymore and make the necessary investigations. Lost of birth certificate, from birth certificate, you can become Singaporean, and quietly obtain your identity card and passport. then you can claim your double nationality back in canada.

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