ICA: Marrying Singaporean does not automatically grant long-term stay

February 22, 2012

The New Paper
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012

We refer to the letter by Mr Leong Sze Hian, “Shed light on why passes rejected” (The New Paper, Feb 3).

Marriage to a Singapore citizen does not automatically qualify a foreigner for long-term stay in Singapore.

Each application for long-term stay is evaluated holistically based on its own merits.

Among the factors taken into consideration in assessing the grant of long-term stay in Singapore, the ability of the sponsor to support his or her foreign spouse financially for the long-term, whether the marriage is legally in order, the duration of the marriage and the good conduct records of both applicant and sponsor would be relevant.

From 2000 to 2010, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority granted an annual average of 10,300 long-term visit passes to foreign spouses of Singaporeans.

Koh Wee Sing

Head, Public and Internal Communications

Corporate Communications Division

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

About the Author

Leong

Leong Sze Hian has served as the president of 4 professional bodies, honorary consul of 2 countries, an alumnus of Harvard University, authored 4 books, quoted over 1500 times in the media , has been a radio talkshow host, a newspaper daily columnist, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow, columnist for theonlinecitizen and Malaysiakini, executive producer of Ilo Ilo (40 international awards), Hotel Mumbai (associate producer), invited to speak more than 200 times in about 40 countries, CIFA advisory board member, founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of 2 countries. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional qualifications.