Social visit pass 60 days via agent in india

[revathisaravanan]

Hello,

Im fed up with my maid and gonna send her back home.I need to bring my mom/MIL to take care of my 2 yr old baby.Both of them have already been here 4 to 5 times.Me and hubby both of us on EP,so we get help from PR friends to apply SVP for my mom/MIL.But nowadays ICA is rejecting/questioning when mom/MIL come back to back and we need to reappeal them for approval along with our local sponsor.We feel we're disturbing our PR friends unnecessarily every time by calling them to ICA for reappeal.
So now,if taking care of baby again we need to apply back to back for my mom/MIL,so we decided to go with travel agents in india. When i checked with my travel agent in india,below is what they tell:

1) If my mom/MIL have never been in singapore they can get 1 yr or 2 yr visa where they can stay upto 60 days min on each visit...though its not possible in my case..let me know is it true?

2) Since my mom/MIL have been here many times,they can get 60 days visa(agent applies and dont want any local sponsor),after which i can do extension of stay by taking any of my local sponsor to ICA and reappeal stating its for child care.
Addition to above the agent says..after 60 days completion + 1 month gap he can re apply and get another 60 days for the same person.So the process continues(extension in ICA else back to home for 1 month and again apply for 60 days)
For each 60 days visa they charge 7000 INR.

Agent is very loyal person in my native but i need to know is it possible for the above 2nd case.Can the agent do like this get me 60 days visa like above.?

Please enlighten me.Based on that i need to decide whether to have another maid or put my baby in child care.

[BBCWatcher]

There is no assurance your mother and mother-in-law would be allowed entry into Singapore with such a frequent pattern of long stays. The STVP is not for living in Singapore, which is what they are attempting to do. If they're already having problems, then you're certainly not going to get reliable child care this way. And if you don't have reliable child care, then you're likely going to have problems with your employers. I think you've reached a dead end with STVPs.

One correct way to bring your mother and/or mother-in-law into Singapore is to apply for LTVPs for them (or one LTVP for one of them). Only EP holders with a fixed monthly salary of S$10,000 or more can sponsor parents for LTVPs, but if you've hired a maid then maybe at least one of you meets that minimum income requirement.

Otherwise they would have to qualify on their own merits, e.g. their own Employment Passes. But employment is unlikely to be compatible with caring for a child. They would have the same problem you would.

Another option is for your child to spend time with them, outside Singapore. Another option is to arrange child care services at, for example, an NTUC or PCF center. And another option is to find a new maid, yes.

[revathisaravanan]

Since our combined income is more than 10K by which we were able to bring in maid.But for LTVP,individual income should be 10K.

[Strong Eagle]

Since our combined income is more than 10K by which we were able to bring in maid.But for LTVP,individual income should be 10K.

BBCWatcher is correct... you essentially want your parents to live here, which you cannot do. Get another maid.

[ecureilx]

BBCWatcher is correct... you essentially want your parents to live here, which you cannot do. Get another maid.

[BBCWatcher]

Elaborating on the childcare center option, the government has a Web site listing all of Singapore's authorized childcare centers. In Singapore childcare is available for infants as young as two months of age, and operating hours are typically 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. weekdays (and 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays) to help working parents meet their regular work schedules and also have some time for errands on Saturday mornings. NTUC (My First Skool) and PCF (Sparkletots) are the two biggest operators.

Drop off childcare centers typically offer a few advantages. First, they likely offer better early childhood education, on average. Second, children at childcare centers have more opportunity to socialize with other children -- and build up their immune systems I suppose, which is a very good thing. (Babies and children are supposed to play and get a bit "dirty.") Third, you're not assuming employer responsibilities with all that entails. Fourth, it's often possible for your child to go to a childcare center near one parent's workplace.

And there are some possible disadvantages. Childcare centers do not provide home cleaning or cooking services; they only provide childcare service. Childcare centers are closed a few days more than just the public holidays, so you and your spouse might have to juggle your work schedules a bit during those few extra days and on days when your child is sick and must stay at home.

For what it's worth, we've been quite happy with our chosen childcare center. We have enough flexibility in our work schedules to be able to handle the occasional day when our child has to stay at home. And we don't highly value the other services a live-in maid would provide, nor do we want to assume those responsibilities and costs. So it works well for us.

[PNGMK]

I would be very hesitant about spending money with a visa agent in India. Worthless promises I fear.

[ecureilx]

I would be very hesitant about spending money with a visa agent in India. Worthless promises I fear.

A Indian passport holder I know applied for a Singapore visa via agent, rejected.

He got some PR or SC to apply- approved.

I have no idea how the agency can screw up a simple SAVE Application.

[ecureilx]

Elaborating on the childcare center option, the government has a Web site listing all of Singapore's authorized childcare centers. In Singapore childcare is available for infants as young as two months of age, and operating hours are typically 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. weekdays (and 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays) to help working parents meet their regular work schedules and also have some time for errands on Saturday mornings. NTUC (My First Skool) and PCF (Sparkletots) are the two biggest operators.
.

I know BBCW is a treasure trove of supplying TL- DR kind of info .. but ..

Just for reference :

MyFirstSkoool
Infant Foreigners $1,966.13 -$2,014.28
Toddler, Playgroup, Nursery, Kindergarten - Foreigners $1,017.45 -$1,112.27

PCF (Government run but - no joy in fees)
Infant care Foreigners $1,853.70

Comparatively a Maid who speaks the native language works out cheaper, much much cheaper, though the mother would be the cheapest

[BBCWatcher]

Comparatively a Maid who speaks the native language works out cheaper, much much cheaper, though the mother would be the cheapest

Infant care (younger than 18 months) costs quite a bit more than toddler care. Once you get to toddler age, if you care about the dollars, the math changes quite a bit. I think we bought a total of 14 months of infant care.

Mom and dad speak languages (plural), so that's working well. Our child is picking up a bit of another language (Chinese), and we like that, too. It works for us. We're quite happy with the arrangement.