Saturday, October 29, 2011

Reply from ICA

Apparently ICA has the view that as long as you are a "minor", you can hold dual citizenships up to 21 years old.

I have written the following reply to ICA:

Dear Mr. Wee,

Thank you for your reply.

However, I need further clarification on the following clause under our Constitution:

(2) A person born outside Singapore shall not be a citizen of Singapore by descent by virtue of clause (1) unless —

(a) his birth is registered in the prescribed manner at the Registry of Citizens or at a diplomatic or consular mission of Singapore within one year, or such longer period as the Government permits, after its occurrence; and

(b) he would not acquire the citizenship of the country in which he was born by reason of his birth in that country where —

(i) in the case of a person born before the date of commencement of section 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2004, his father is a citizen of Singapore by registration at the time of his birth; or

(ii) in the case of a person born on or after the date of commencement of section 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2004, either his father or mother is a citizen of Singapore by registration at the time of his birth.

By 2(B), the children SHOULD NOT become citizen of Singapore by descent IF they acquire the citizenship of the country of their birth.

It would basically mean that those who are born outside Singapore who have acquired citizenship at the place of birth by Right of Abode are actually BANNED from acquiring Singapore citizenship. That is why I am puzzled ICA deems it is alright for any minor to have dual citizenship up to 21 years old when the Singapore Constitution has specifically denied the right of such application in the above clause.

Goh Meng Seng


ICA Feedback/526564

Dear Mr Goh,

Please refer to your enquiry on 5 Sep 2011.

2 Under the Constitution of Singapore, Singapore citizens are not allowed to possess dual nationalities. The exception to this is when a person is a minor. Such a person is allowed to hold dual citizenship (typically citizenships by descent and by birth) until the age of 21 when he/she is then required to make a decision on which citizenship he/she wishes to retain. If he or she fails to make a decision on the choice of citizenship, the Government will initiate action to deprive him/her of the Singapore citizenship.

3 Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Wee Yew Boon
Senior Customer Relations Executive
for COMMISSIONER
IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY

5 comments:

cluase 2(b)(ii) said...

By 2(B), the children SHOULD NOT become citizen of Singapore by descent IF they acquire the citizenship of the country of their birth, where either his father or mother is a citizen of Singapore by registration at the time of his birth (clause 2(b)(ii))

I am NOT a citizen of Singapore BY REGISTRATION - I am a citizens of Singapore BY BIRTH. So, my child CAN be a citizen of Singapore by descent even if he acquires the citizenship of the country of birth, because he is not constrained by clause 2(b)(ii)

What about you, Mr. Goh? You are not born in Singapore? You are not a citizen of Singapore BY BIRTH? You are a Singapore citizen only BY DESCENT? Is that why you are so concerned that your child cannot acquire Singapore citizenship because your child will be constrained by clause 2(b)(ii)?

The more you write, the more you reveal your poor level of English and worse, your unbelievable stubbornness - tell me, how many people have pointed out to your error with regard to dual citizenship on sammyboy.com and on this very blog of yours?

Just what's wrong with you? Are you dense, or are you still plain idiotic? CLAUSE 2(b) HAS A SUB CLAUSE 2(b)(ii) For goodness sake, if you still want to be in politics, stop exposing your unreasonableness to everyone!

Can you read clause 2(b)(ii)? said...

Goh Meng Seng wrote half-truth:
"By 2(B), the children SHOULD NOT become citizen of Singapore by descent IF they acquire the citizenship of the country of their birth."

The whole truth:
""By 2(B), the children SHOULD NOT become citizen of Singapore by descent IF they acquire the citizenship of the country of their birth, where in the case of a person born on or after the date of commencement of section 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2004, either his father or mother is a citizen of Singapore BY REGISTRATION at the time of his birth."


Do you know what is the difference between citizenship of Singapore BY REGISTRATION versus citizenship of SIngapore BY BIRTH?

Ans: A citizen BY BIRTH can pass on his citizenship to his child with no condition whatsoever i.e. even if his child acquires the citizenship of another country at birth. That's the special right of a citizen BY BIRTH! And it is not unique to Singapore. Canada, UK, USA, Australia, heck, all countries on earth give such rights - albeit with minor differences - to their citizens BY BIRTH.

A citizen BY REGISTRATION canNOT pass on his citizenship so freely. There are additional conditions and in Singapore's case, the additional condition is that the child cannot acquire another country's citizenship when he is born.

Tell me, what is so difficult to understand? You can't read? On the one hand, there is citizenship BY BIRTH. On the other hand, there is citizenship BY REGISTRATION. And they confers different rights to a citizen when the citizen wants to pass his citizenship to his child.

You really should quit politics! A good politician will not keep exposing his weakness again and again repeatedly for all to see!

Anonymous said...

"It would basically mean that those who are born outside Singapore who have acquired citizenship at the place of birth by Right of Abode, where in the case of a person born on or after the date of commencement of section 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2004, either his father or mother is a citizen of Singapore by registration at the time of his birth, are actually BANNED from acquiring Singapore citizenship."

Are you a Singapore citizen by birth or by Registration? Your so-called "ban" applies only to those who parents are the latter (citizen by registraion), not those who parents are the former (citizen by birth). If you need to know why the distinction between the two, go read canada's recent citizenship law: passing of canadian citizenship restricted to one generation only i.e. from the first generation (citizen by birth to his child (who become citizen by registration, but his child (citizen by registration) cannot pass the citizenship to the grandchild (because of similar law to the ban you referred to in singapore's constitution, which makes a distinction between citizen by registration versus citizen by birth)

Anonymous said...

Actually, the Singapore constitution does not actually ban dual citizenship. All it says is that the Singapore government MAY take away the Singapore citizenship of someone who has another citizenship.

A true ban on dual citizenship would be something like civil or criminal penalties for holding dual citizenship or the automatic loss of Singapore citizenship for dual citizens. Some countries that ban dual citizenship have laws like that. Singapore's dual citizenship law is actually a lot more ambiguous and leaves discretion in the hands of the government (which is quite typical in Singapore).

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