Citizenship Application Rejection Letter

[ultratech]

Hello All,

Good Morning. Post long due to check back on citizenship application rejection letter.
Well, after nearly 14 years in Singapore with around 11 years as PR with family, we received the ICA rejection letter for Citizenship application. Asian / (not Chinese) / family with kid in P6 / Applied for all / Sal household - 190K+

May I check for some guidance from the experts here - SMS, SF and others on the new rejection letters. Understand that the application system changed last year.
What is the usual letter format now a days ? Does it only state "rejected after careful consideration" or has more bullet points ?

[gizmogeek]

Sorry to hear, Well basically any rejection letter will not say much, except that they have carefully considered the application. When the criteria for success is not made known, it hardly makes sense to divulge the exact reason(s) for rejection. This is to ensure ppl dont try to game the system. For Others it is indeed a difficult bet, but all the best if you try again.
When did you apply and how long did it take?

[ultratech]

Thanks gizmogeek.
Yep. Totally Appreciate. In fact we are very happy of the fact that the system is so tight and no details are divulged. You are so right. I have been to other countries where I see hoards entering and gaming the system based on those points. We applied back in Feb 2019 and got rejection last month.

Another question - Can anyone who recently received rejection letter (in last 5 weeks), advice if the new rejection letter format has a note that mentions you may apply again when there are changes in circumstance.

[singaporeflyer]

Thanks gizmogeek.
Yep. Totally Appreciate. In fact we are very happy of the fact that the system is so tight and no details are divulged. You are so right. I have been to other countries where I see hoards entering and gaming the system based on those points. We applied back in Feb 2019 and got rejection last month.

Another question - Can anyone who recently received rejection letter (in last 5 weeks), advice if the new rejection letter format has a note that mentions you may apply again when there are changes in circumstance.

There is no format for letter and you cant guess based on that.

I had it say that I can continue to work on my employment pass and after a few years still got my PR.

Can you say the below?
1. where are you from?
2. what do you work as?
3. education? age?
4. family details?

Rejection letter format cant be reverse engineered in my personal view.

[ultratech]

Hi SF,

Details again.
Well, after nearly 14 years in Singapore with around 11 years as PR with family, we received the ICA rejection letter for Citizenship application. Asian / (not Chinese) / family with kid in P6 / Applied for all / Sal household - 190K+
Work as IT Professional. Degree in Technology. Age nearing 40.

Not trying to reverse engg the letter.. Noticed that the letter is changed now. Friends who previously (couple of years) back got rejection letters simply said “your application has not been successful” without other annotations. There was just 1 bullet point for status of application, but now there seems to be new line that states you may apply upon change in circumstance.

Looks like Re-Applying after a couple of years (2022) may be better. Like SMS nicely put it on another post, pestering ICA incessantly and getting rejected again won’t help much either.
Hope others get AIP soon. Best wishes !!

[mystic_river]

So...what did your rejection letter actually say? In verbatim

[PNGMK]

Just keep applying every few years. Covid is massively disrupting immigration patterns (large inflow and outflows are halted at present) so who knows what ICA will do in the next few years to make up for the loss of new citizens.

[singaporeflyer]

Hi SF,

Details again.
Well, after nearly 14 years in Singapore with around 11 years as PR with family, we received the ICA rejection letter for Citizenship application. Asian / (not Chinese) / family with kid in P6 / Applied for all / Sal household - 190K+
Work as IT Professional. Degree in Technology. Age nearing 40.

Not trying to reverse engg the letter.. Noticed that the letter is changed now. Friends who previously (couple of years) back got rejection letters simply said “your application has not been successful” without other annotations. There was just 1 bullet point for status of application, but now there seems to be new line that states you may apply upon change in circumstance.

Looks like Re-Applying after a couple of years (2022) may be better. Like SMS nicely put it on another post, pestering ICA incessantly and getting rejected again won’t help much either.
Hope others get AIP soon. Best wishes !!

OK. Any reason on why you say asian but not disclosing exactly on where you are from?

[Pinkpanther]

Are you sure you've provided full details about yourself and your family?

[Pinkpanther]

All rejection letters would be in a standard format. I suspect the line about reapplying if circumstances change appears in all the letters.

[Pinkpanther]

Do you have a son? Did you keep him out of the PR application 11 years ago, when you applied? Did you try to make him a PR at some point? Or is he on an LTVP / Student Pass? Unfortunately, if you decided your son should avoid NS while you became PRs, it's too late now to convince ICA that you were not gaming the system.

Further, if you sent your child to an international school and waited till they got to P6 to apply for citizenship so that you can appeal to MOE to keep them there or send them to one of the three international schools SCs can attend after completing P6, you can pretty much kiss your chances of becoming SCs goodbye.

Did you try, as a family, to integrate into Singaporean society? If your answer is no, then I'm not surprised.

[ultratech]

Thanks everyone for your replies.
@pinkpanther - no worries on your strong comments as I totally echo your concerns and frustrations which I equally share. Have heard and known so many people who badly gamed the system and now genuine applicants like us are paying the fine for it.. People took those old 10 year PRs and then vanished to new lands (just to keep backup options...) Similarly what you have written of not applying son PR etc for avoiding NS. But let me assure we are definitely not one of those.

Missed quite a few posts so let me try to cover the key points from many above.

No - we don't have a son and not skipping them from PR etc.
All of us are PR including my daughter who goes to local school (MOE)
@SF - Avoiding the infamous race trolling.. I know my race is not in the Top 2 ... so Asian (non pref race is good I guess)
I agree too that the volunteering topic I saw on another post is also being badly reflected with people selectively doing it, but then again how else can one integrate.

@PNGMK - I echo your point on Covid19. While not a large bearing, I am sure it played its part into the outcome.

We will keep trying and re-apply in a couple of years. Thank you all.. Best wishes to those who have crossed the waiting mark of 24 months as you may soon announce the good news.

[ultratech]

All rejection letters would be in a standard format. I suspect the line about reapplying if circumstances change is the same in all the letters.

Noted. Thanks.
Wanted to check if anyone else recently received a letter too and can confirm.

[ultratech]

So...what did your rejection letter actually say? In verbatim

Two lines -
your application has been not been successful.
you may apply again if there are changes in circumstances.

[Pinkpanther]

Ultratech, then I agree it's a bit of a mystery. All the best. I hope it works out in the end.
To answer your question, markers of integration that I think are important: 1) kids in local school 2) HDB over condo 3) learning one of the three official languages 4) community club membership and participation in community events (but not volunteering and making donations - red flags for ICA unless done in conjunction with participation). As always, it's a bunch of factors that determine outcome, of which integration is one. With a child in local school, perhaps you ticked the integration box and it was something else. Did you wait for a long time before applying for citizenship? Any other evidence that you may not be committed to Singapore? And finally, an odd question that you don't need to answer - do you speak Hindi? North Indians don't seem to be doing well.