SINGAPORE: A 62-year-old man was fined S$2,000 (US$1,500) on Tuesday (May 23) for failing to report a change in his residential address, an offence under the National Registration Act.
Singaporean Lee Kah Hin had moved out of his landlord’s home at Jalan Bukit Merah in April 2020.
More than two years later, in December 2022, the landlord informed the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) that she was still receiving his letters.
These included letters of demand from different credit companies.
ICA said that after Lee moved out of his landlord’s home to a new place at Tampines Street, he continued to take out additional loans from various licensed moneylenders using his former address.
“He did so knowing that the moneylenders would send him reminder letters whenever he could not keep up with his repayments,” the agency said.
“As a result, letters of demand were sent to the former address after Lee had defaulted on debt repayments.”
Under the National Registration Act, all identity card holders who change their place of residence must report it to ICA within 28 days.
Those who fail to do so face a fine of up to S$5,000, a jail term of up to five years, or both.
“ICA takes a firm stance against any person who fails to comply with the National Registration Act and its Regulations,” the agency said.
Those who need to report a change in their residential addresses can do so online via ICA’s change of address e-Service. The updated addresses will facilitate their transactions with government agencies.