Appeal Letter for PR rejection

[CuriousJorge]

Hello everyone. My family and I applied for PR in late 2022. We just received the notice of rejection today. Was wondering if anyone has experience of writing an appeal letter and could share their format and some tips?

For reference, here is our profile:

14 years stay in Singapore
Filipino family of 4. Both EP + a 6 and 3 yr old, both kids born in Singapore
Combined income of 260k+ per year (even split)
I'm working in a UK company's Singapore office with mostly pharma clients, wife is working in fortune 500 company
Both of us are uni grads, i'm taking my MBA remotely in a UK uni, finishing next year
Probably applied about 5 times - 2x as singles, 1 as married couple, 1 when we had our 1st son and now with all 4 of us.

Thank you.

[sundaymorningstaple]

What is your job description/function, eg. what is on your business card? Are you in IT or Sales or Administration. Same with your spouse. What you gave me was nothing but bragging rights not hard data to see what the problem may be aside from being "others" which is the most heavily oversubscribed Ethnic grouping in the CIMO category (only 1.5% of CIMO is allocated annually for those in the O "others" category. That included all those who are not Chinese, Indian or Malay. for the applicable 1.5% is has the largest percentage of applicants by percentage so the chances are much slimmer. All ethnic groups not in the CMI category are fighting for the same roughly 600 slot available annually. Give us something to work with.

[CuriousJorge]

Hello. Sorry, didn't mean to sound boastful (really far from my intent). I am working as a digital strategy consultant. My wife is a senior digital marketing manager.

I appreciate you taking the time to write a detailed reply. What you are saying makes sense. We are also competing with other Filipinos that are healthcare workers so that's another hurdle for us. We are just devasted because we thought this was when our chance would be the highest with 2 boys and good changes to our income since we last applied. This is why we are considering trying to appeal because, well, what do we have to lose?

We are also thinking that intent was a bit difficult to communicate in the online application. We built our careers and family here so we're 100% planning on staying and, if given the chance, eventually apply for citizenship. Would an appeal letter be a good channel to communicate this? Will it even help?

Thanks again.

[NYY1]

Where were you educated for university (assuming Philippines or at least not here) and how old are you (mid/upper 30s or low 40s)? Any plans for where the older one will go to school for elementary/primary?

One other thing about the O bucket is that some of these spots will go to people that have an easier time (say spouse of SC; under the right circumstances these applications are pretty safe. Some of the ASEAN kids that are educated here may also have somewhat better chances, although this is still not guaranteed). How many and what's left is unknown but it's not making things any easier.

I was also going to ask what gender the younger one is but you answered that above. You may get lucky at some point, but if the last application wasn't enough (two boys) unfortunately things may never change.

Best of luck and regards.

[CuriousJorge]

Where were you educated for university (assuming Philippines or at least not here) and how old are you (mid/upper 30s or low 40s)? Any plans for where the older one will go to school for elementary/primary?

One other thing about the O bucket is that some of these spots will go to people that have an easier time (say spouse of SC; under the right circumstances these applications are pretty safe. Some of the ASEAN kids that are educated here may also have somewhat better chances, although this is still not guaranteed). How many and what's left is unknown but it's not making things any easier.

I was also going to ask what gender the younger one is but you answered that above. You may get lucky at some point, but if the last application wasn't enough (two boys) unfortunately things may never change.

Best of luck and regards.

Hello. Thanks taking the time to share your insights. Yes. Both my wife and I attended university in the Philippines. We are 38 years old this year. For the older, we will try to get into local schools - if no luck then we have no choice but to send to International School.

Agree with your conclusion that if this was the result even with the two boys, then it might never happen. The appeal will really be a last-ditch effort.

My wife and I are still going through the grieving process. I was even mentioning that maybe if when I finish my MBA, we can apply again - but i'm not sure if this is just me in being in the "bargaining" stage of the process. We're looking for a permanent place to make our home and we thought Singapore was it. Unfortunately, it seems we'll have to start seriously looking into plan B.

[NYY1]

Where were you educated for university (assuming Philippines or at least not here) and how old are you (mid/upper 30s or low 40s)? Any plans for where the older one will go to school for elementary/primary?

One other thing about the O bucket is that some of these spots will go to people that have an easier time (say spouse of SC; under the right circumstances these applications are pretty safe. Some of the ASEAN kids that are educated here may also have somewhat better chances, although this is still not guaranteed). How many and what's left is unknown but it's not making things any easier.

I was also going to ask what gender the younger one is but you answered that above. You may get lucky at some point, but if the last application wasn't enough (two boys) unfortunately things may never change.

Best of luck and regards.

Hello. Thanks taking the time to share your insights. Yes. Both my wife and I attended university in the Philippines. We are 38 years old this year. For the older, we will try to get into local schools - if no luck then we have no choice but to send to International School.

Agree with your conclusion that if this was the result even with the two boys, then it might never happen. The appeal will really be a last-ditch effort.

My wife and I are still going through the grieving process. I was even mentioning that maybe if when I finish my MBA, we can apply again - but i'm not sure if this is just me in being in the "bargaining" stage of the process. We're looking for a permanent place to make our home and we thought Singapore was it. Unfortunately, it seems we'll have to start seriously looking into plan B.

Is your older one going P1 next year? If so, did you sign up for the Phase 3 registration (allocated space not guaranteed)? If yes and you do not get in, perhaps try AEIS next year for P2. Schooling choice should be made independently (of PR application), but on the margin it may help if a child or children are enrolled in the local school system (although again, still not guaranteed for the Os).

The above takes you forward roughly half a year and one and a half years (and up around to age 40), and add on some time for a decision. If still not successful at that point, unfortunately will probably need to decide whether to slug it out here as long as you can (educate the kids here and then they will have to fend for themselves) or see if there's somewhere else the family can relocate to and gain residency.

Wish you luck and regards.

[curiousssshi]

Hi,

Sorry to hear this.
I am curious as to what kind of outcome letter did you receive from ICA.

[epo_anonymous]

Hello. Sorry, didn't mean to sound boastful (really far from my intent). I am working as a digital strategy consultant. My wife is a senior digital marketing manager.

I appreciate you taking the time to write a detailed reply. What you are saying makes sense. We are also competing with other Filipinos that are healthcare workers so that's another hurdle for us. We are just devasted because we thought this was when our chance would be the highest with 2 boys and good changes to our income since we last applied. This is why we are considering trying to appeal because, well, what do we have to lose?

We are also thinking that intent was a bit difficult to communicate in the online application. We built our careers and family here so we're 100% planning on staying and, if given the chance, eventually apply for citizenship. Would an appeal letter be a good channel to communicate this? Will it even help?

Thanks again.

Appeals rarely work. From what I understand it’s the same person reviewing your application.

Unless something significant changes (Job change with significant pay rise etc), then really it’s a shot in the dark. Also it wastes 6 months+ of your time of your next application assuming you apply again.

However someone here did recently appeal and was accepted. Have a look through the forums for the case…

[Lisafuller]

Yes, appeals that are successful are few and far between. They would have to have overlooked a key piece of information or you would've had to have mistakenly omitted it for something to realistically work out.

[Lisafuller]

Where were you educated for university (assuming Philippines or at least not here) and how old are you (mid/upper 30s or low 40s)? Any plans for where the older one will go to school for elementary/primary?

One other thing about the O bucket is that some of these spots will go to people that have an easier time (say spouse of SC; under the right circumstances these applications are pretty safe. Some of the ASEAN kids that are educated here may also have somewhat better chances, although this is still not guaranteed). How many and what's left is unknown but it's not making things any easier.

I was also going to ask what gender the younger one is but you answered that above. You may get lucky at some point, but if the last application wasn't enough (two boys) unfortunately things may never change.

Best of luck and regards.

Hello. Thanks taking the time to share your insights. Yes. Both my wife and I attended university in the Philippines. We are 38 years old this year. For the older, we will try to get into local schools - if no luck then we have no choice but to send to International School.

Agree with your conclusion that if this was the result even with the two boys, then it might never happen. The appeal will really be a last-ditch effort.

My wife and I are still going through the grieving process. I was even mentioning that maybe if when I finish my MBA, we can apply again - but i'm not sure if this is just me in being in the "bargaining" stage of the process. We're looking for a permanent place to make our home and we thought Singapore was it. Unfortunately, it seems we'll have to start seriously looking into plan B.

That's rough, I can only imagine how you both must be feeling. On paper you have done everything right - married with sons, educated, and making good money. Plus, you have some additional factors in your favor like the fact that you are both ASEAN citizens. I would like to think this won't be the case for much longer, so I encourage you to continue to better yourself and deepen your roots in the meantime, and apply once more. At the same time, you can explore other options as you may find some thing you like more.