Singaporean couple having a child in the US

last SG · 2010-03-17T22:30:03+00:00

If I could do it all over again, I would have my kids benefit from a Sg education. JMHO.

spencer99 SG

Hi,

We are a Singaporean couple living in the US. We are expecting a child in July.

I am wondering whether there are anyone who had similar experiences as us who can give us some advice.

In the US, can I registered my kid in BOTH his English name eg "Peter" as well as his dialect name like "Ah Beng".

Or must I choose between Peter TAN or Ah Beng TAN. Or must I do a Peter Ah Beng TAN with Ah Beng as the 'middle' name??

I think in Singapore, we use 'alias' in the birth cert?? I am not too sure though...

I wanted to give my son an english name and a dialect name and of course a chinese name. But I don't know what is do-able and what is not in the US..

I also don't want to confuse future documentation... for example, i don't want his travels in the future to have different names and maybe have issues... eg he is Tan Ah Beng in his Spore passport but Peter Tan in us US green card etc etc...

Oh yeah, how do I 'register' him as a Singaporean? I imagine he is automatically a Singaporean, but must I do anything after birth??

Both my wife and I are US green card holders. Do I need to apply a green card for him?

Meia Gisborn SG

Your child's Chinese name will most likely have to be concatenated and treated as a middle name. Hence, Peter Tan Ah Beng will appear on official documents as Peter Ahbeng Tan to conform to the first/middle/last name convention adopted here.

If your child is born on US soil, he/she is automatically a US citizen by virtue of birthright citizenship conferred by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, regardless of the parents' nationalities. No messy green card applications to worry about here!

As for registering your child as a Singapore citizen, I'd imagine you can do that at any of the Singapore embassies/consulates in the US; you'll just have to put up with the surly staff at those establishments.

dragg SG

why dont you ask the americans since you and your wife are now living there?

spencer99 SG

Thanks for the responses so far..... will the US authorities issue a 'birth certificate' to my child???

as to why i don't ask the americans here? well, the amerians that i work with are probaly not familar with english or dialect name for Singaporeans... etc etc...

in fact, the people that I work with (assume my name is Tan Ah Seng), ask me whether "Ah" is my 'middle' name or not??

or whether the name Ah Seng Tan (spelled the first name, last name convention) whether "Seng" is my middle name... and they just call me "Ah"

TERMINATOR3000 SG

when is your child going to MIT?

jetta SG

From my experience, you have 14 days to register your son's birth with the Sg govt. Being overseas, I expect that you're given a little more leeway with that time frame. All you have to do is contact the Sg consulate. Visit their website for more details. As for a US birth certificate, the hospital will give you forms to complete and turn in.

Re: middle name, why not hyphenate it to avoid confusion? That's what I did with both my children's middle names. So far, so good.

Meia Gisborn SG

Re: middle name, why not hyphenate it to avoid confusion? That's what I did with both my children's middle names. So far, so good.

Hyphenate the middle name--now why didn't I think of that, seeing as how that's what my sister did for her daughter (i.e., my niece) who was born a few years back here in the US?

mancha SG

No need to hyphenate too.

Tan Ahseng or Ahseng, Tan

Deng Xiaopeng

Jiang Zemin

Most official forms calls for surname to be underlined therefore this format should present no problems.

littlestream SG

not so complicated leh. i mean if u name your son tan ah beng. in north american term they will treat it as ah beng tan. in this case, it will look like this :

first name : ah

middle name : beng

last name aka surname : tan

if u name your son peter tan ah beng, then it will be treated as peter ah beng tan. and it will look like this:

first name : peter

middle name : ah

another middle name : beng

last name aka surname : tan

that's why your don't know who addresses u as "ah" lor 'cos u no hab ang moh name. and your first name will read as "ah".

btw, congratz....u both must be excited to becoming first time parents. great joy!!! :)

Meia Gisborn SG

Or you could avoid the hassle altogether by not bothering with a Chinese/dialect name.

That's what I did when I got naturalized back in '08, when I was allowed a one-time name change. I kept my first and family names but dropped the Chinese name completely. Makes filling in official forms and paperwork a little easier.

littlestream SG

heh heh..... u did eh? well, i didn't find any prob with my name wor. i just need to remember half of my chinese name 'cos sometimes when i called, like at school or at the doctor's office? i forgot it was me they calling.....kekeke..... but what jetta and mancha wrote are good options too. they are being used here as well. ;-)

kengkia SG

erm...TS...do u think Singapore will have a future in the future? it'll be better to remain in the US, instead of having ya son coming back here to serve NS for the ungrateful 'rulers'. To them we're just a digit, not as a people, self serving and enrichment of elites down here. wanna find out more about what i saying, just look in to speaker corner forum. just compare how the americans treat you as foreign aliens, the 'ruler' heretreats it's foreign aliens better than locals. Do u see that in the US? FT PR basically get the same thing as citizen but no NS obligations. there're endless to say about this, just ask the peeps at speaker corner. To clarify, i not asking u not to register ya son as singaporean, but i feel the need to tell u that if u do, ya son may need to do NS on the grounds of enjoying the benefits of SG citizen. it'd be better for ya son to come back here as a FT(US citizen) than a local.

victri SG

Having the dialect name and english name really caused my wife a lot of inconvenience when dealing with administrative paprework (and especially while travelling). Anyway, ultimately it's your call what you want to name your child.

Being born on US soil, your child will be a US citizen (unless you are a foreign diplomat). The nurses at the hospital can advise you on how to register your child as well as obtaining a SSN for him/her.

As for S'pore citizenship, as long as any one parent is S'porean, the child will be S'porean by descent. You have 1 year to register the birth. There's an electronic form that you need to fill out, then proceed to get your documents verified/certified at a S'pore embassy/consulate or have someone do it for you at ICA back in S'pore.

https://esc.ica.gov.sg/esc/index.do

Oh btw congrats! And p.s. you get the baby bonus too!

Dondontan SG

You are kind to tell TS about it. Good.

kengkia SG

i wanted TS to make an informed decision. but the choice is up to TS.

lostintransition SG

for me...say my dialect name is Tan Ah Lian....over here, i'd use Ah-Lian TAN. so Ah-Lian is first name. so far, no issue.

spencer99 SG

Thanks for all the responses and advice. And thanks to all the good wishes, I am very happy and excited to being a first time parent.

I will want to give my son a dialect name. I understand that dropping the dialect name and just using the english name will probably be administratively easiler for the kid in the US...

Why? Well, in some way, maybe I want to retain some of my 'heritage'?? after all, dialect name is kind of unique to singapore isn't it?

Call me conservative, traditional, resistant to change etc etc...

But of course there is one more 'name' to think about. We need to have the Chinese name (characters), the Engilsh name and then the dialect name equivalent.

I understand that having an english name will probably make life more easy for the kid in the US, hence I wanted a english name for him AS WELL as the dialect name.

As to just staying in the US and not coming back to Singapore, that is another discussion altogether. With the kid, there is of course more consideration. I know what it is like to live in Spore having grown up here and I am also aware of the changes in Spore during the past few years.

But the US is also not a ideal place to live. Esp in the future. Expensive Child care, high taxation, which will even be higher because of all the govt debt. high cost of health care. slow advancement and increment at my work place.

The plus point will be a slower pace of life, child friendly policies in work place, less expensive

TERMINATOR3000 SG

SPORE GOV TREATS ALL LIKE A CHEWING GUM....ONCE ITS USED UP ITS SWEETNESS IN A FEW YEARS.......U END UP AS DIGIT OR CIGGY BUTT....SOME PHD FROM USA STANFORD UNIVERSITY ENDED UP AS A TAXI DRIVER IN SPORE AFTER BEING A CITIZEN OF SPORE AND UNABLE TO SECURE A JOB AFTER BEING FIRED FROM JOB OF 10 YEARS.

WORSE WOULD BE THE NATIONAL SERVICE WHERE MOST GUYS GET "TORTURED" IN TRAINING PROCESS FOR MTHS AND YEARS.AND THATS NOT COUNTING THE CIVILIAN RESERVIST TRAININGS WHERE THEY COULD JAIL YOU FOR THE SLIGHTEST INFRACTION FROM MISSING OUT ON ARMY PHYSICAL FITNESS REMEDIAL TRAINING.

IF YER SON ISNT A BORN ATHELETE WHO IS ABLE TO JUMP HILLS AND MOUNTAINS IN A SINGLE LEAP......THEN EXPECT AT LEAST 25 YEARS OF HARDSHIP IN SINGAPORE FROM ARMY FITNESS SCHEDULES EVEN THOUGH HE IS A CIVILIAN AND BUSY WORKING FOR SOME JAPANESE OR AMERICAN COMPANY AS A MANAGER OR ENGINEER LEVEL!

jetta SG

Thanks for all the responses and advice. And thanks to all the good wishes, I am very happy and excited to being a first time parent.

I will want to give my son a dialect name. I understand that dropping the dialect name and just using the english name will probably be administratively easiler for the kid in the US...

Why? Well, in some way, maybe I want to retain some of my 'heritage'?? after all, dialect name is kind of unique to singapore isn't it?

Call me conservative, traditional, resistant to change etc etc...

But of course there is one more 'name' to think about. We need to have the Chinese name (characters), the Engilsh name and then the dialect name equivalent.

I understand that having an english name will probably make life more easy for the kid in the US, hence I wanted a english name for him AS WELL as the dialect name.

The plus point will be a slower pace of life, child friendly policies in work place, less expensive

My kids have gone through US elementary and middle school and I have to say, I am disappointed at the poor standard of primary education. They're now in high school and I am shocked that they come home with almost no homework everyday. If I could do it over, I would have had them gone through primary school in Sg, to get the proper academic foundation. I have a friend who re-located here last year. Her kids were 9 and 11. She agrees that in retrospect, she is grateful that her kids had the Sg groundwork. Her girls find school here so relaxed.

Re: Anglican name. Your child would have an easier time with an Anglican name. Kids in the lower grades can be very mean. I should know since I used to teach preschool. Kids just want to blend and be just like everyone else, especially at that young age. JMHO. My kids have not had any problems with their hypenated Chinese names since, in many instances, all they want is a middle initial and not the entire name.

spencer99 SG

I live in Northern Cal. I also have feedback that the school system here is not very good. I have a friend whose kid went through the spore school system but the kid went to attend high school here. the feedback that I received is that the spore schools will certainly give you better foundation.

I think maybe the US school will encourage more vocal articulation skills but i am not sure whether it will provide the proper foundations in hard skills like math and science etc.

The Singapore environment isn't ideal but I guess nothing is.

At the very least, I kind of 'know' the Singapore system... and I guess I might be a better position to work the system. There is also family support in Spore, whereas there isn't any family support in the US.