In the case of Singapore, fear of divided loyalties and the complications arising from the national service policy are often cited for discouraging dual citizenship.
However, others facing more immediate political and military challenges, like Taiwan and Israel, have not barred multiple citizenships.
Today, significant return migration trends are happening in both places.
For instance, many skilled Taiwanese emigrants are returning and contributing to the island's development. Their children, raised abroad and possessing foreign citizenships, have also returned to pursue educational and work opportunities. Rather than brain drain, processes of 'brain exchange' are taking place.
As Singaporeans become more globalised and develop significant ties in different parts of the world, the citizenship model needs to be adapted to fit the needs of a diversified population.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Saturday+Special+Report/Story/STIStory_247668.html
June 14, 2008
VIEWPOINT
Adapt citizenship model to meet new needs
By Elaine Ho
AS A friend living in New York applied for Singapore citizenship for her newborn recently, she started worrying.
Twenty-one years down the road, her son will have to choose between this birthright and his other right - American citizenship.
Her dilemma is not unique. As Singapore globalises and more citizens sojourn overseas for studies, career or other exploratory reasons, it may be time for the country to reconsider its approach towards citizenship.
In 2006, Parliament liberalised citizenship laws, making it easier for children born to overseas Singaporeans to become citizens. This formally recognised the ties that overseas Singaporeans and their descendants maintain with Singapore.
However, this change has a limited impact because of the dual-citizenship restriction.
Singapore law requires that those with multiple citizenships decide by the age of 21 if they want to retain their Singaporean citizenship or forfeit it.
Such a stark choice is difficult as more people increasingly have family members and emotional attachments in more than one part of the world.
Yet, dual citizenship is but one model of transnational citizenship, a legal framework recognising multiple national ties.
Dual citizenship accords a full set of civil, political, economic and social rights. This is most commonly practised in Western liberal democracies such as the United Kingdom and Canada.
However, what is popularly known as dual citizenship elsewhere is often only dual nationality, which grants selective rights like visa-free travel to overseas citizens while reserving other rights, particularly political rights, for citizens in the country.
Countries like India and Mexico are taking this approach to proactively manage emigration trends. They allow their dual nationals to enjoy multiple entry, residency, land ownership and property investment rights, but regulate their voting rights.
This policy allows migrants to retain the rights most important to them while reserving voting rights and political leadership for citizens living there.
So what about citizenly obligations under a transnational citizenship framework, one may ask.
In the case of Singapore, fear of divided loyalties and the complications arising from the national service policy are often cited for discouraging dual citizenship.
However, others facing more immediate political and military challenges, like Taiwan and Israel, have not barred multiple citizenships. Today, significant return migration trends are happening in both places.
For instance, many skilled Taiwanese emigrants are returning and contributing to the island's development. Their children, raised abroad and possessing foreign citizenships, have also returned to pursue educational and work opportunities. Rather than brain drain, processes of 'brain exchange' are taking place.
One option is for Singapore's national service requirement to be adapted to meet the criteria of a dual nationality framework, as countries like Turkey and Germany have done.
For example, military service performed in Germany by Turkish immigrants counts towards the military service requirement in Turkey.
The German conscription programme allows some men to fulfil civilian service, such as in hospitals and eldercare homes, or participate in international aid schemes for developing countries instead.
These alternative provisions can be creatively applied to Singaporeans with dual nationality.
As a starting point, Singapore could consider a few midway initiatives instead. In the United Kingdom, citizenship laws allow those able to prove their ancestral links with the country - such as if a grandparent had British citizenship - to apply for an ancestry visa. In return, they get residency and working rights for up to five years, after which they can apply for British citizenship.
If adopted here, this scheme could enable future generations of overseas-born Singaporeans to maintain ties with Singapore.
More can also be done to allay the worries of Singaporeans who have worked overseas for a prolonged period of time, have not been contributing to the Central Provident Fund and are anxious about rising living and health-care costs.
Policymakers here can begin to address this concern by negotiating bilateral agreements to enable the transfer of pension and health-care contributions across national systems.
The UK, for example, has an arrangement allowing British citizens working in New Zealand and Canada to contribute to their British pension scheme. A similar social security agreement exists between the United States and Mexico.
The UK has also signed bilateral health-care agreements allowing citizens of some non-European Union countries, like New Zealand, to receive free or subsidised health treatment in the UK.
Critics may argue that such policies privilege internationally mobile Singaporeans over the rest of the citizenry, in that such Singaporeans can access rights in different countries.
However, it is counter-productive to limit the potential of Singaporeans who can carve an international niche. The task ahead should be to enable less privileged Singaporeans to advance economically and socially alongside their successful counterparts.
Transferable social security agreements can furthermore facilitate the return of overseas Singaporeans without over-burdening state resources.
As Singaporeans become more globalised and develop significant ties in different parts of the world, the citizenship model needs to be adapted to fit the needs of a diversified population.
Though dual citizenship is most often put in the spotlight, it represents only one potential answer.
Meanwhile, other more modest options - such as the partial rights of dual nationality, ancestry visas and transferable social security agreements - should be seriously considered if Singapore wishes to sustain ties with Singaporeans abroad and their descendants.
The writer, born and bred in Singapore, is a postdoctoral fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London. She did her PhD in Singaporean transnational migration. 
