“Singapore citizenship permanent resident"

Citizenship is the legal right to reside in a state or country i.e. state of being a resident or a citizen of a country. Under citizenship status, citizenship carries both rights and responsibilities to the society and nation at large. There are various ways in which one can acquire citizenship with the most common way being by birth. However, that does not mean that “outsiders” cannot acquire citizenship. In Singapore, the permanent resident status can afford one the right to citizenship in the country.

In Singapore, one can legally apply for citizenship if he/she has been a permanent resident in the country for over two years in what is generally known as the accelerated citizenship scheme. In recent years, back dating as early as the year 1999, the government made some changes to the citizenship act whereby the following changes were made;

i.                    The initial waiting period of between 2 and 10 years, for permanent residents to acquire citizenship was reduced to between 2 and 6 years.

ii.                  The processing period for citizenship was also reduced from between 6 and 10 months to between 3 and 6 months.

iii.                In addition to these changes the stringent rules that forbade women from conferring citizenship to their husbands were scrapped off. Singaporean women could now back their permanent resident husbands for citizenship as long as their families were well off i.e. have the means and capability to provide for themselves, given that the husbands have been permanent residents for a period not less than two years.

The changes to the policy were generally aimed at tying down productive foreigners, forcing them to settle down in Singapore thus bringing prosperity in terms of investments and innovations. As a consequence, there would be no need for the repatriation of large sums of money due to the foreigners from the country to other countries from which these foreigners hail. This in its end would help solve the balance of payment problems facing the country.

                                                                    

One can still apply for Singaporean citizenship even before they move to the country or even start working in the country given that for the next couple of years they are certain to live in the country in sought of a “permanent basis”. With citizenship comes ease in travelling in and out of the country, ease in acquisition of essential needs such healthcare, housing and education due to the possession of a local passport. Generally, companies prefer to higher local hands than foreign ones thus making it a necessary essential for foreigners to acquire a local passport. Also, laws do prohibit foreigners from owning houses without special exemptions in place on top of the fact that foreigners are charged higher medical and school fees.

However, Singaporean citizenship is not without its draw backs. As with most citizenship, responsibilities do come in with the passing of the passport. Under law, all males over the age of 18 years are eligible for National Service (NS) and for those taking up citizenship there is no exception. Also, Singaporean laws do not allow for dual citizenship thus forcing those taking up the citizenship option to first renounce their own citizenship. Finally, the law limits the withdrawal of lump sum cash savings thus restricting the activities of permanent resident citizens.