Application for LTVP while based overseas: Spouse of SGC

[jdjacob]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and would like to know if there is anyone in my situation. My wife (a Singaporean citizen) and I ( Canadian Citizen) are planning to move to SG later this year.

My wife is finishing her PHD in Canada and is also working as a University/College lecturer. I have a senior analyst position at a federal government agency (salary of about $80,000 CAN a year). We both have a graduate degree and I am a certified urban planning professional. My wife has been away from SG for 8 years. We have been married for a little less than a year.

I'd like to know if anyone on this forum has been successful in applying for a spousal LTVP without the SG spouse sponsor holding a job and living in Singapore. Would not currently be based in Singapore be an impediment to our application?

Thanks for your help!

[Angelus]

Hard to say. I would call ICA on this one. I'd reckon it will be hard to obtain, since neither you nor your sponsor stay in Singapore. Has your wife found a job in Singapore in order to be able to support you as the dependent?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and would like to know if there is anyone in my situation. My wife (a Singaporean citizen) and I ( Canadian Citizen) are planning to move to SG later this year.

My wife is finishing her PHD in Canada and is also working as a University/College lecturer. I have a senior analyst position at a federal government agency (salary of about $80,000 CAN a year). We both have a graduate degree and I am a certified urban planning professional. My wife has been away from SG for 8 years. We have been married for a little less than a year.

I'd like to know if anyone on this forum has been successful in applying for a spousal LTVP without the SG spouse sponsor holding a job and living in Singapore. Would not currently be based in Singapore be an impediment to our application?

Thanks for your help!

It's do-able, but rarely. We have a long time regular on this board, Saint, who applied for PR while in the UK and married to a Singaporean woman working in the UK. Granted this was a couple of years ago. You can do a search of the forum for Saint and the relevant topic. So, while it is unusual, it's not unheard of.

[JR8]

'Spousal LTVP'?

I have one, but I'm not sure how you'd apply for one without being here. On the LTVP application you need to enter the ref-number from the 'Disembarkation/Embarkation' [Immigration] form* that you fill in before going through immigration.

Check the http://www.ica.gov.sg website for the LTVP (sub-category - spouse of citizen) requirements. Does it state that you need the D/E form serial number? Unless you can find anything on that site that specifically allows for application without physical presence here, I'd conclude it is not possible.

More to the point why would you want to apply for an LTVP before you get here? How will they interview, fingerprint, and question you? How will you provide the results of a blood test and chest x-ray?

I don't think you can do it, but I'm not saying categorically 101% you can't; since the rules constantly change.

The usual route IME is (from memory, and there might have been some changes to this process by now...).
- Arrive on SVP/tourist visa. I.e. getting the D/E card mentioned above upon arival.
- Get together all the forms, tests, pics, certificates etc required to apply.
- Apply online. Then wait for the outcome (can be weeks).
- If it is approved, then you need to book an appointment (online only), for the 'Completion of Formalities', and issuance.
- During that appointment you hand over all your initial originally submitted documents + your physical passport, birth cert, passport pix, results of health checks, education certs, and basically what ever they have additionally asked for... maybe proof of income, assets, and so on.
- [Edit to add: You have to attend together with who ever sponsored your application, so that person can prove their ID, edu certs, income, hand-over an employment reference (if requested) and so on; and answer any questions].
- If that is in order, they might confirm a couple of minor details, and if ok, you're done.
- They stamp your passport with any extension they think you might temporarily need, and then in due course they post the physical LTVP card to the address you've evidenced is your SGn home.

How to do all of that without being here?

* The official form code is 'IMM-27A' or 'IMM-27E'. Here - http://www.ica.gov.sg/data/resources/do ... 20Card.pdf

[jdjacob]

Thank you so much for your quick reply.

I should have been clearer. We intend to do all the application procedures with ICA from Singapore (tentatively in April 2015), but we are wondering if our application is likely to be successful considering that my wife has not worked in Singapore for over 8 years (she`s finishing her Phd and will be returning to SG to find a job soon).

We are considering this option as we understand it may take over six months for the LTVP to be processed. To avoid long delays, it would be better for us to send the application in the pipeline while we finish our stint in Canada before moving permanently to SG. Then we would be able to go back together and be able to start working shorlty after, as opposed to my wife finding work first and me coming to join her several months after.

Hope this is clearer now!! Thanks again!

[JR8]

Aaah/oops I see. Have a look at this link re: the application procedure, to consider what you can do before arrival, and only once here. http://www.ica.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid= ... tsRequired

I don't think (IMHO) her 8 year absence changes things. In fact have a look at the government agency http://www.contactsingapore.sg/ (esp the link to Visas-Passes / For Family Members).
My take on it is, that SGns who had the balls to leave and excel (PhD = big gold star), are precisely the target clientèle of this agency. If their spouse is up there too, all the better. Have a good old dig around their site. The sites remit is to make it easy to understand and consider your options, and to encourage couples such as yourselves to 'return to the fold' in SG. There used to be a Contact sub-section for you to field any questions, see if it's still there, and ask away... they will bend over backwards to help (IME).

Hopefully that covers the core of the question, for now.

p.s. Welcome to the forum, and good luck