Chance of PR

[stevendragoz]

Hello, I am new here in this forum.
I would like an experienced advice from you guys on my chances of getting a PR if I were to apply right now.

Seeking advice on PR Application and chances of getting approved.

My profile:
Gender Male ,
Age : 26 this year coming Nov
Marital Status: Single, attached
Ethnicity: Chinese
Country of Origin: Myanmar
Length of Stay: 2008 - 2020, close to 12 years
Past Education: O Levels, A Levels (Junior College)
Latest Education: Bachelors of Electrical and Computer Engineering (NUS) Graduated in 2018.

As I heard from reading some post that it is best to wait 2 years of employment under EP. before applying. Thus, here are my employment history

First Job: Field Application Engineer (Sep 2018 - Oct 2019)
Basic Salary: S$46.8k / annum
First Job Field: HVAC, Building Maintenance

Current Job: Software Engineer (Nov 2019 - present)
Basic salary: S$48k /annum
Job Field: Medical Devices Industry (Start-up)

In addition, whenever, IRAS sent me an sms about tax, I paid straight away. Hence, I am not sure how many tax assessments I have done.

I also saw in some post that, volunteer work/volunteer time-sheet is not needed when applying for PR. Also, volunteer work is mainly important when I am applying from PR to Singapore Citizen. Is this information mostly true?

Please advice on when I should apply for PR and more importantly, what are my chances of getting a PR.

[singaporeflyer]

Hello, I am new here in this forum.
I would like an experienced advice from you guys on my chances of getting a PR if I were to apply right now.

Seeking advice on PR Application and chances of getting approved.

My profile:
Gender Male ,
Age : 26 this year coming Nov
Marital Status: Single, attached
Ethnicity: Chinese
Country of Origin: Myanmar
Length of Stay: 2008 - 2020, close to 12 years
Past Education: O Levels, A Levels (Junior College)
Latest Education: Bachelors of Electrical and Computer Engineering (NUS) Graduated in 2018.

As I heard from reading some post that it is best to wait 2 years of employment under EP. before applying. Thus, here are my employment history

First Job: Field Application Engineer (Sep 2018 - Oct 2019)
Basic Salary: S$46.8k / annum
First Job Field: HVAC, Building Maintenance

Current Job: Software Engineer (Nov 2019 - present)
Basic salary: S$48k /annum
Job Field: Medical Devices Industry (Start-up)

In addition, whenever, IRAS sent me an sms about tax, I paid straight away. Hence, I am not sure how many tax assessments I have done.

Please advice on when I should apply for PR and more importantly, what are my chances of getting a PR.

Are you on EP? If so, you can apply now or after 1 year. You have a decent chance as you are here for long time and may be considered as well integrated into SG. Your Ethnicity also is +ve. Hope you have documents to prove that.

Please go ahead and apply. If you are rejected, reapply after 2 years.

FYI, sometimes please dont start a new thread for this. This topic already has 2-4 active threads. You could have made a new post there.

[stevendragoz]

Hello, I am new here in this forum.
I would like an experienced advice from you guys on my chances of getting a PR if I were to apply right now.

Seeking advice on PR Application and chances of getting approved.

My profile:
Gender Male ,
Age : 26 this year coming Nov
Marital Status: Single, attached
Ethnicity: Chinese
Country of Origin: Myanmar
Length of Stay: 2008 - 2020, close to 12 years
Past Education: O Levels, A Levels (Junior College)
Latest Education: Bachelors of Electrical and Computer Engineering (NUS) Graduated in 2018.

As I heard from reading some post that it is best to wait 2 years of employment under EP. before applying. Thus, here are my employment history

First Job: Field Application Engineer (Sep 2018 - Oct 2019)
Basic Salary: S$46.8k / annum
First Job Field: HVAC, Building Maintenance

Current Job: Software Engineer (Nov 2019 - present)
Basic salary: S$48k /annum
Job Field: Medical Devices Industry (Start-up)

In addition, whenever, IRAS sent me an sms about tax, I paid straight away. Hence, I am not sure how many tax assessments I have done.

Please advice on when I should apply for PR and more importantly, what are my chances of getting a PR.

Are you on EP? If so, you can apply now or after 1 year. You have a decent chance as you are here for long time and may be considered as well integrated into SG. Your Ethnicity also is +ve. Hope you have documents to prove that.

Please go ahead and apply. If you are rejected, reapply after 2 years.

Hello @singaporeflyer, Yes I am currently on EP. I have already prepared necessary documents. Only waiting for my previous employer's letter of employement and I am good to go.

However, Due to recent changes to the EP salary requirements, I am not sure if I stand a good chance in getting a PR should I apply now. Some friends around me suggesting getting a raise to 4.5k a month to get a much better chance for getting a PR. I am not really sure how to go about it.

Noted on the post, Please pardon me on posting a new thread I will post there for more feedback

[sundaymorningstaple]

Getting a 12.5% salary increment in a period of economic stress will surely send up the red flags especially as you have not been at your new employment for a year as of yet. Even then, I think an increment given at a time when the news of new income criteria is being invoked will definitely be a red flag, and suspicion of kickbacks to the employer. I think I'd be prepared for rejection IF it were me. YMMV.

[the observer]

He studied O levels and NUS here.
Basically been brain washed enough.

He’s young and has many years ahead of him to pay tax.

He’s chinese and fulfills the racial harmony mix matrix equation.

What more do you wanna ask for?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Like those from the 'peens, if you have Myanmar Nationality (not ethnicity), it is still going to be hard. It's also the same for VN Chinese. Not saying it can't be done, I have a friend here in my estate who is a MRT Maintenance Engineer from Myanmar. Been here for donkeys years and did get PR a couple of years ago. He's also a long time member of my RC (I've been in the RC for a dozen years.) It took him considerable tries to gain PR as well - persistence is going to be what is needed. I hope I'm wrong but I think we are going to see a lot of variance from the normal patterns that we've been seeing in recent years. Having been an HR Manager for around 20 years here, I've seen a lot of crap from the MOM & ICA. Some I agree with, some I don't. Oh, if it was the ethnic matrix, then you would think PRC would be a shoe-in. After the debacle in '97, PRCs have a very hard time gaining PR here (even those who came through the local school system with their pei du momma's in tow).

Good example is my gut feeling with the large push on PEP approvals which I've never seen before. If you add the changes to the criteria for EPs with effect on 1 Oct and applicable for renewals from 1 May next year. A lot of those eligible for PEP which flying under the radar at the moment are liable to find themselves struggling to meet the income requisites for the PEP and possibly even the EP (depending on experience). As the PEP is only good for 3 years and is non-renewable, it will be easy to grant, give the employers 3 years to find local replacements and when those PEP holder come up for renewal / conversion back to EPs (because their PR applications were possibly rejected or they didn't apply) MOM might just not approve the new EP applications. Good way to buy some time by the MOM and gives them time to work out the details.

Seriously, though, I hope you are right but I've been around here for 38 years of which the last half have been in HR. Frankly, I'm glad I retired last year.

[stevendragoz]

hello @sundaymorningstaple, and @the observer,

Thank you for your input. I am sure it is going to be hard for EPs to get PR given that EP criteria has increased now and people are panic applying to be PR to not get sacked by that as well as to remain in Singapore for longer if they loses the job.

My plan currently now is to apply for PR next year Janurary 2021. Would it be too late for me to apply? or I should go ahead with application straight away?

Of course, salary do matters but as I am sort of fresh grad, they might be reluctant to increase my salary or wait until the pass renewal(next year October 2021)is going to happen then raise my pay.

[stevendragoz]

Getting a 12.5% salary increment in a period of economic stress will surely send up the red flags especially as you have not been at your new employment for a year as of yet. Even then, I think an increment given at a time when the news of new income criteria is being invoked will definitely be a red flag, and suspicion of kickbacks to the employer. I think I'd be prepared for rejection IF it were me. YMMV.

This coming November will be a year of employment in my current company. Therefore, My plan is to apply Next year Jan 2021 when the COVID situations are hopefully better perhaps?
Currently in my company, I am the only Employment Pass holder, I really hope to become a PR and settle down here, maybe in the future, convert to SC.

[TropicalExpat]

I don't think January 2021 will be any better for applications given the number of layoffs that are likely to come along.

[sundaymorningstaple]

TE, Sadly, I'm inclined to agree with your comments. and in Stevendragoz's case, while ethnically Chinese, his nationality will not help directly, at least it will not be construed as a negative but more of a null factor. Take that out and he still would need two full consecutive years on work passes (which he will meet in November) to meet the current unspoken criteria (unspoken as the site claims you can apply after 6 month-what they don't say is you would have to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist to pull that off). Having said that, I'd definitely wait until after Jan 1 in any case, as noted as there may well be a little more clarity on the purging that's taking place at the moment.

[stevendragoz]

TE, Sadly, I'm inclined to agree with your comments. and in Stevendragoz's case, while ethnically Chinese, his nationality will not help directly, at least it will not be construed as a negative but more of a null factor. Take that out and he still would need two full consecutive years on work passes (which he will meet in November) to meet the current unspoken criteria (unspoken as the site claims you can apply after 6 month-what they don't say is you would have to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist to pull that off). Having said that, I'd definitely wait until after Jan 1 in any case, as noted as there may well be a little more clarity on the purging that's taking place at the moment.

Thank you @sundaymorningstaple and @tropicalexpert on your comments,
I will possibly give it a try at the application in Janurary 2021 when things are a little bit calmer than now. Regardless, are there any ways that I can improve my profile for better chances? (salary is of course one thing)

Maybe, for example, getting a Chinese language certificate help in the approval chance?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually, just listing your race as Chinese is all that will be necessary on the application. Don't know what kinds of documentation you have for ethnicity other than birth cert showing race and/or maybe school certs that specify race as well as nationality. Does the Myanmar Identity card show race? I know the passport doesn't unless they use the Nationality item as race indicator) I doubt seriously that a language cert would help. If they do consider it, they will ask for documentation later but it would be more like what I alluded to in the beginning of this post. The problem is, you cannot change history. It is what it is. Going forward, yeah, income is one of the few items than can be improved upon. The other is marriage to a child-bearing aged Singaporean woman. But honestly, that isn't the way to go. Nothing wrong with marriage, but not for the express purpose of PR. Even then, you would still need to wait around the 2 years of marriage mark to avoid having ICA look at it as possibly a marriage of convenience (especially under the current situation the world is finding itself in).

[stevendragoz]

@sundaymorningstaple,
I will try to see if the birth certificate shows that I am Chinese. My father is from China who migrated to Myanmar due to World War 2.
I am not here to boast but, my skin color is decently white to be labelled as Chinese/Singaporean. But it shouldn't matter when they see my Ethnicity as Burmese.

In terms of income, yes, I will work towards upgrading my skill-set to get a higher salary.

I do have a person in mind to marry, a Singaporean woman. However, I feel that I am not ready for that. Maybe in 4 years time? when I am around 29 to 30 years old.

Nevertheless, thank you for all the input that you are giving.
I will proceed with preparing my documents to have a try at PR next year Jan 2021.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I have a soft spot for Burmese folks (I'm 73 so pretty much old school so I still tend to refer to Sri Lanka as Ceylon as well). About 50% of my foreign contingent of Pest Control Technicians were from Myanmar on S passes before I retired last year. I also have a Burmese helper who's been with my family for 4 years now. Good luck to you and let us know how it turns out.

[stevendragoz]

@sundaymorningstaple,

You are 73 and it is really amazing that you are frequently active here, all for a good cause.

I have checked with my father on my birth cert over the weekend.

My birth cert only shows the race of my father and my mother, which is stated as "Myanmar".
However, In my Myanmar Identity card, under Race/Religion: It is stated as Chinese/Bamar.