SINGAPORE CITIZEN IDENTITY CARDS (Non-acceptance of certified extract from Adopted Children Register)

Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour whether he is aware that a certified copy of an entry in the Adopted Children Register issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths under the Adoption of Children Ordinance containing a record, approved by the court, specifying Singapore as the country of birth of the adopted person is not accepted by the National Registration Office in support of an application for the red (Singapore Citizen) identity card; and if he will clarify the matter.

Mr Sia Kah Hui (for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour): Mr Speaker, Sir, as the hon. Member seeks clarification. I must explain in some detail the circumstances under which citizen identity cards are, or are not, issued on the strength of a certified extract from the Adopted Children Register.

When an applicant produces an extract from the Adopted Children Register issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Singapore, as directed by the District Judge in the Adoption Order, with place of birth shown thereon as Singapore, he is requested to produce a copy of the Adoption Order. Whether or not an Adoption Order is proof of one's birth in Singapore will depend on the terms of the order and evidence before the court making the order. If proof of place of birth is furnished to the satisfaction of the court, it will be stated in the order itself. In such cases, a citizen (pink) laminated identity card will be issued. If however a birth certificate cannot be produced and all that is relied upon to prove place of birth is a statutory declaration, then this evidence would not be conclusive evidence of place of birth, but only prima facie evidence in support of it. In such cases, a non-citizen (blue) identity card will be issued.

It is also pertinent to point out to the hon. Member that an Adoption Order does not go into the question of nationality.