Singapore child born in NZ - what are her rights here and what must we do to ease on immigration matters?

[Aini]

Hi there

I am currently in NZ on 3 year work visa since Dec 2012 and am expecting a baby this year.

As I am currently waiting for my ITA application for residency under SMC to be processed, I wanted to understand the following:

1. what options does my child has once she is born in NZ? I note that she cannot be a NZ citizen since my husband and I are both non-residents or PR at the moment.

2. does my child have to apply for a Singaporean passport still once she is born? She will need to be registered and holding a NZ birth certificate but apart from that she has to hold a singapore passport and in that sense mean she is a singapore citizen?

3. does my child have the ability to change citizenship should our application for residency be granted down the line? assuming we update our application and include her into our SMC application, will this mean she will also be granted residency should our residency be granted down the line?

4. what other things must i note upon her birth, in matters relating to NZ immigration matters?

Seek your kind advice on this, thanks.

Cheers
Aini

[shawankit]

1. what options does my child has once she is born in NZ? I note that she cannot be a NZ citizen since my husband and I are both non-residents or PR at the moment.

Answer1: Your child can take citizenship of either parents or both (if you and your partner are from different country) depedning your country of origin. You will need to register for birth in NZ and then you will need to use the birth certificate and register with child with your country's embassy and then can apply passport for your child.

2. does my child have to apply for a Singaporean passport still once she is born? She will need to be registered and holding a NZ birth certificate but apart from that she has to hold a singapore passport and in that sense mean she is a singapore citizen?
Answer 2: Yes, your child will become singapore citizen and will be need to be registered first at local embassy and follow rules to apply singapore passport.

3. does my child have the ability to change citizenship should our application for residency be granted down the line? assuming we update our application and include her into our SMC application, will this mean she will also be granted residency should our residency be granted down the line?

Answer 3: You will need to inform INZ that your circumstances have changed and you are pregnant and you are expecting child on XX month. Once you have your child's signapore passport, you will need to provide the details with NZ birth certificate to INZ to add your child to your application.
Once you are granted resident visa, your child will also get resident visa. After completing required duration i.e 5 years , your child can apply citizenship anlong with you and your partner and you call can hold NZ citizenship along with Singapore Citizenship(if Singapore allows dual citizenship).


4. what other things must i note upon her birth, in matters relating to NZ immigration matters?

Infrom INZ about pregenency, keep them informed after birth , apply and get NZ birth certificate, Singapore passport for child, do medicals for your child and update INZ with details (You will need to complete a form to add your child to application). All done.

[batgirl1001]

1. Your child is a Singapore citizen at the time of birth according to the citizenship of both parents. NZ does not automatically grant the right of citizenship to anyone born in NZ.
Once you obtained the birth register from the hospital you should immediately register her citizenship at the nearest Singapore mission which is in Wellington. For more clarification, contact the mission. Don't leave it to the last minute.

2. Yes, she will need to apply for a Singapore passport once she receives her Singapore birth certificate. She needs a visa to remain in NZ during the duration of your work visa while you are applying for a resident visa. The type of visa she gets is determined by your status at the point of application. For more information, you need to personally contact INZ. The info on this website http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1084 will answer some of your queries.

3. Once you obtained the birth certificate, you can submit it along with your residency application. Your child will get residency once you and your partner obtain residency, not citizenship. You won't be able to circumvent the regulation which requires all permanent residents a minimum of 5 years residency to apply for a citizenship. Furthermore under Singapore law, your child can hold dual citizenship until she turns 21, in which, she will have then decide which sole citizenship she wants to hold.

[zednic20]

If a child born to the parents of different nationals (e.g. both Malaysia) and parents are having resident visa as well in that case will the child be granted NZ citizenship or he will get resident visa only.

[JandM]

If either parent has Residence, the child will have NZ citizenship. http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.ns...s?OpenDocument

[batgirl1001]

Need to add that the child of NZ residents will get citizenship if the child is born in New Zealand. Like property, location matters. If your child is born outside of NZ (like for mine in this case), he/she will only get residency on application and arrival into NZ.