What’s in this article
Singapore boasts a high standard of living, top-quality education, affordable housing, and world-class healthcare. This allure has solidified Singapore’s position as the most liveable Asian city for expatriates for 14 consecutive years, naturally enticing them to migrate and pursue Singapore Citizenship or even start businesses here.
Benefits of Singapore Citizenship
Singaporean citizens enjoy the following benefits upon receiving citizenship:
Disadvantages of Singapore Citizenship
Despite all the benefits of acquiring Singapore citizenship, It still comes with a set of disadvantages. Not only are Singaporean citizens unable to hold dual citizenship, all males must serve a mandatory National Service (NS).
Singapore National Service
A pertinent point to note for all male applicants is mandatory National Service (NS). NS forms the basis for Singapore’s defence and comprises three main branches: the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
Consequently, The Enlistment Act requires all Singaporean and permanent resident males to serve in National Service (NS). This comes in 2 stages:
Post-NS
Once a male individual has served full-time NS enlistment as an NSF for 2 years, the individual will become an Operationally Ready National Serviceman (NS men). Furthermore, this obligation concludes at the age of 50 for officers or 40 for other ranks.
Singaporeans that are liable for NS are to register for it by the age of 16.5 years old. Hence, they will be enlisted at the age of 18 years, or once they have graduated from their educational institutions with qualifications up to the ‘A’ Levels certificate, the polytechnic diploma, or equivalent.
Do note that this is subject to exemptions or deferments. Moreover, male applicants for Singapore Citizenship are to access the Central Manpower Base website before proceeding with the application.
Eligibility for Singapore Citizenship
An individual must meet the following criteria to be eligible for Singapore citizenship:
Required Documents for Singapore Citizenship
The application process for Singapore citizenship is fairly simple. Applicants must prepare the relevant documents and pay the application fee.
Required Documents
ICA will only accept certified true copies of original documents. You must officially translate any documents that are in a language other than English. Additionally, ICA accepts different types of translations, but they must be provided by the embassy or notary public of the country that issued the document, or by the embassy or notary public in Singapore.
To get the full list of documents, please reach out to our consultant here and we can advise accordingly.
Application Fees
Please note that this list is not exhaustive. You can find more information on the Singapore ICA website.
| Types of Applicant | Application Fees | Certificate or Identity Card Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Permanent Resident (PRs) and Children of PRs | SGD $100 | SGD $70 for the Singapore Citizenship Certificate
SGD $10 for a Singapore ID |
| Children born overseas to Singapore citizen parents | SGD $18 | SGD $10 for a Singapore ID |
| All the other children born overseas or locally | SGD $100 | SGD $70 for a Singapore Citizenship Certificate
SGD $10 for a Singapore ID |
All processing fees will be collected online when an application is made. Additional fees are payable only once the application is successful, at the time of Registration. Online fees are payable using:
Documents will only be processed once all documents are in place, and payment is received.
Steps to Applying for Singapore Citizenship
Having understood the required documents and fees that must be prepared for a Singapore citizenship application, one can follow the steps listed below to begin the application process.
Step 1
First, submit an application through e-Service with all the required documents listed above. Furthermore, the applicant will require a SingPass account to do so. If he or she does not have an account, the application can be made via their sponsor’s SingPass account.
Step 2
The applicant can check on his or her application status via MyICA. However, note that applications for Singapore citizenship take approximately 6 to 12 months to be processed.
Step 3
If the Singapore citizenship application is successful, the applicant will receive an Approval in Principle letter with their appointment date and time to register for Singapore citizenship. Furthermore, administrative matters include the renunciation of the applicant’s foreign citizenship and attending the Registration, which would similarly take about 1 to 2 months.
