Justameerkat

My hushand and I are in our late 30s with 2 young kids (6 and 8) and currently live in Singapore as permanent residents. We're all British citizens, and have always imagined our kids doing their Uni in the UK like we did, while we (hopefully) spend our later years back there. This was fine till I discovered the 3-year residents rule for Uni "home" fees. My husband does not like the idea of uprooting the kids from their education in Singapore around the GSCE age to move them back to the UK. He's worried that the cultural shock, and potential alienation due to difference in accents, etc might be too much. He'd rather they go back when they go to Uni, as the level of acceptance there will be higher since it will be "small fish in big pond" there, compared to if we moved them back in sixth form, say.

So, since that's out of the question, this means that as of now, we will not benefit from holding on to our UK citizenship, and neither will be benefit from the perks of being a singapore citizen (singapore does not allow dual citizenship).

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, and have taken up foreign citizenship? Do you have any regrets or did you wish you'd done it earlier? We do not have many strong ties to the UK so that would not be a factor to consider ie not many relatives or friends, as we've mostly lived abroad since we were in our 20s. Thanks for reading this far!

SanDiegogirl

Not sure if I understand correctly what you want to do when you retire, but if you give up British citizenship you won't be able to retire there automatically.
You've got some 9 to 10 years before your kids are eligible for university - start an investment account to pay for Uni?

brits1

I am not sure why your OH would think your children would “stand out” at school here, there are many students from around the globe in our high schools here and the UK is also very experienced in having overseas students. If your all very happy in Singapore why not stay I am sure the university’s in Singapore are equal to most universities in the UK, who really knows where our children will “end up” when they grow up but when they leave home maybe then you can assess where you and your husband would like to retire. Good luck with your decision

okonumiyaki

Um - as your kids are the children of Singaporean PR holders, won't they have to do NS anyway? Or are they both female.

christmasoompa

+1. My daughter had children from France, Tanzania, South Africa, and Brazil etc in her year at school. All joined later on in the secondary school period, two didn't even speak a word of English when they arrived. All were accepted just fine in the 100 or so children, and didn't stand out at all. And this was a little secondary in Berkshire, not a huge school in a city!

dean350

In a similar situation but somewhat older and with an older child. Not PR's either. Our plan is to head back after GCSE and do sixth form in the UK. If they have been in a British style international school rather than local it would help with the transition. Some universities will waive the 3 year rule for claiming domestic status for some courses whilst others wont. If your children do gap years after sixth form that problem is avoided. To get tuition and maintenance loans there are no exceptions to the 3 year rule. Do watch out if your children are likely to do science or medical courses as UK non-domestic fees are between 25K and 50K per year.

Also, don't bank on being able to choose an excellent state school if you do go back. I have discovered that its very hard to apply from overseas and in any case you have to apply a year in advance.

I will second that you need to be very careful not to forget NS liability if you have male PR children. They can only avoid it by renouncing PR and Govt advice is that they wont ever be granted a work permit. Also, their parents' Re-entry Permit Renewal might not be done in future either.

I know some westerners that have taken citizenship. They tend to have local spouses and children who have been born here and have gone through local schooling. I would think carefully in your situation as you will make it so much more difficult to go back to UK in future if you decide later on that you want to do that. There are some hard decisions to be made for long term expats with kids but its good that you are thinking through them now.

getoutofbritainquick

Some universities will waive the 3 year rule for claiming domestic status for some courses whilst others wont. If your children do gap years after sixth form that problem is avoided.
Can you elaborate what you mean by the gap year issue? Is this in relation to domestic status? We have just moved back to the UK and have not found anyway around paying ‘foreign fees’ for Uni even though I have paid taxes in the UK for 27 years!

dean350

I would be interested to hear of your experiences. As I understand it, the student has to have been resident for 3 years in UK prior to the day of the course starting. Under those circumstances they can then claim domestic fee status. Therefore 2 years of sixth form and then a gap year would allow that condition to be fulfilled. Whilst I understand that sometimes universities do make exception to this, I also am led to understand that the Student Loan Company take a very strict view on the 3 year timeline they impose for access to the loans system. Therefore its possible to be in a position where you gain domestic status with less than 3 years residence, but then have to pay up front as you can't access the loans system.