Hi everyone
I'm a long time lurker and just wanted to post my experience because this PR application has been a source of heartache and headache for me for the past year.
Profile
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Race: Chinese
Nationality: Malaysian
Income at the date of application: $3500
Occupation: Paralegal
Submitted: October 2015
I grew up in Malaysia and studied in UK for my university, graduated with honours (LLB), then I came over to Singapore to do the Bar course as I received an offer for my training contract at a very good law firm. I passed my Bar and completed my training contract so was all set to become a lawyer. In Singapore, however, one has to become PR or citizen in order to get called. We cannot submit our application during our training period because we are under training pass during the period, not EP. In the past it was considered fairly easy to get PR (in a couple months). As we all know its much more difficult now and my application took over 10 months, getting the appointment took about 4 months also. At month 3-4, the law firm I was at fired me because the economy was getting really bad and my PR application was "taking too long". I was working the same hours (15 hour days and weekends) and had the same responsibility of an associate, while accepting low pay for this opportunity, so naturally I was floored with the news. My bosses who I work with had to negotiate this with the management and after like 5 months of intense negotiations between my bosses and upper management, they eventually concluded they could not keep me and told me that it was a business decision.
Apparently they have connections there and they were told the acceptance rate was really low now (something like 4-5% - hearsay, so take it with a grain of salt). Anyway, I was given a month to find another job and pack up. I managed to find a company to take me at a slight increase in pay ($4500). I submitted my change of employers form at ICA, worried that this was going to hinder my application.
After a few weeks, I received the letter of approval and currently, I am waiting to do my formalities. After that I will prepare to get called! I feel immensely relieved. Lucky the power of being Malaysian Chinese was too strong because I had no tax returns and only submitted 2 months payslip (because I was not under EP during training).
Thanks everyone - I wish you guys the best of luck.
Well done!
