Visa rejected despite prestigious PhD scholarship

[PNGMK]

BBCW - returning to the point of charity/religious/quango residency visas.... You continue to couple such an occupation to an assured income. Would it surprise you to know that my parents and my in laws lived and worked as missionaries a combined 110 odd years (2 x 30 and 2 x 25) with absolutely no assured income - no salary guaranteed at all. When you draft in an economic entanglement you miss out on the gracious occupations that have ZERO economic benefit. The housing and all can be fixed with regulations. I am just amazed that we have no way to encourage artists, charity workers, missionaries and others to 'take up residence' in Singapore anymore.

[BBCWatcher]

I don't think it's at all unreasonable for Singapore to require that foreigners have some reasonable, minimum income (and/or wealth) appropriate to the financial realities of modern Singapore, in part to avoid substantial (not all!) risk of foreigners becoming state burdens. And I don't think governments should disfavor or favor religious workers with such requirements.

The government already favors charities with major tax preferences, but that's all the more reason why their foreign workers shouldn't be destitute or near destitute in Singapore.

As mentioned, I'm open to the idea of allowing appropriate, in-kind housing to count toward the minimum income requirement for S Passes. Housing is the major financial problem for foreigners in Singapore. If a religious organization provides appropriate housing, directly, that ought to count for something in my view. It doesn't under current rules.