Adoption court case brought about by sexist policy on citizenship eligibility

by Olivia Chiong

Did you know that the reason why the Singaporean gay doctor needs to adopt his son is due to a sexist policy?

From Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. An overseas-born minor (child) may be eligible for Citizenship by Descent, if any of the following conditions can be met:

1. The father is a Singapore citizen by Birth who has a lawful marriage at time of child’s birth;

2. The father is a Singapore citizen by Registration who has a lawful marriage at time of child’s birth and child shall not acquire citizenship of the country he was born by reason of his birth in that country;

3. The mother is a Singapore citizen by Birth and the child born on or after 15 May 2004;

4. The mother is a Singapore citizen by Registration and the child born on or after 15 May 2004. The child shall not acquire citizenship of the country he was born by reason of his birth in that country;

5. The father (who has a lawful marriage at time of child’s birth) or mother, is a Singapore citizen by Descent has to complete an additional Annex form to the application declaring their residence period in Singapore. The application can only be accepted if the applicant fulfills the requirements stipulated in the Annex.

So basically, if you are a Singaporean woman by birth and you give birth to a child overseas, regardless of whether or not you are married, your child is eligible to be a Singaporean.

However, if you are a Singaporean man, you must be married to the mother of the child before your child can be Singaporean.

If the requirement to be married was removed, then the Singaporean gay doctor won’t even need to adopt. Isn’t it clear that this needs to be changed?

This was first published as a Facebook post on Olivia’s Facebook page and reproduced with permission.