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How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

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hans46
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How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

Post by hans46 » Tue, 16 Oct 2018 2:21 pm

My girlfriend was here to visit for about 3 weeks last month. She stayed for 8 days, then we visited Malaysia for a weekend, she stayed 12 more days, we visited Thailand for a weekend, she stayed 2 days and left as scheduled. She had a round trip ticket from her home country to Singapore totaling well under 30 days and we took two weekend trips outside of Singapore. Every time she crossed the border she was harassed endlessly, despite coming from a country where she is supposed to get an automatic 90 day stay without a visa. She has never been to Singapore before so it's not because of a previous overstay.

I know that I cannot get a long term visit pass for her because we are not married, but is there anything else I can apply to stop the border harassment?

How often is one allowed to get a 90 day entry?

Thanks.

bgd
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Re: How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

Post by bgd » Tue, 16 Oct 2018 4:32 pm

Why was she hassled? What sort of questions was she asked? I would have thought that an outward ticket would be enough.

A friend was here for more than 2 years, always leaving just before his 90 days were up. Only time he had any issues was when he did a day trip to Batam. They still gave him 90 days though. So it's definitely possible to get multiple extensions.

There may be a bias against females if they are from one of the countries that regularly abuse the tourist visa to work in the "entertainment" industry.

hans46
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Re: How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

Post by hans46 » Tue, 16 Oct 2018 4:48 pm

"Is it your first time here? (Duh, doesn't their computer tell them?!) Why are you here? What are you doing here? How long are you here? When are leaving? Who are you visiting? Why? Where are you staying? Who's place is that? Where are you going now? Where are you going next? Are you sure? Where is your ticket to leave?" etc. etc. A real interrogation. And also each and every time these dim wits seemed to have no record that the questions were already asked and already answered. Also these entries were all via air not, land or sea.

I also lived here years ago and had lots of people that came and left repeatedly and stayed for a long time with little to no trouble. I don't know what they had against her unless it's just the new norm here. I also got harassed at the Malaysian boarder myself (but this was by car) right before I got my EP after I had only been here 4 weeks max.

I was wondering if there was a way to say in advance, "Look I'm coming for 90 days, here is my ticket in, here is my ticket out, mean while I'm going to take lots of weekend trips to go diving etc, please don't harass me at the border." Or if there is someway to get a 90 day visa in advance even though you don't really need one?

I know there is a "short term visit pass" too but I couldn't quite figure out how to get that (or if it's even possible) for people that come from countries that can enter without an advance visa.

It's all very annoying.

bgd
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Re: How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

Post by bgd » Tue, 16 Oct 2018 5:21 pm

The visa resets when you leave and return, although there is no guarantee it will be renewed for 90 days. There must be something they don't like about her. Maybe Sg has had trouble with her country in the past. They probably ask the same questions each time to try and catch her out if her story changes.

hans46
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Re: How to prevent border problems for visiting girlfriend?

Post by hans46 » Tue, 16 Oct 2018 5:23 pm

bgd wrote:The visa resets when you leave and return, although there is no guarantee it will be renewed for 90 days. There must be something they don't like about her. Maybe Sg has had trouble with her country in the past. They probably ask the same questions each time to try and catch her out if her story changes.
Nope, not the country. I know two other people from the same country that came and went without issue 15-20 times, if not more and basically lived here without a real pass.

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