PR Chances

[st879]

Hi All,

I am a dual Australian/New Zealand citizen living in Malaysia (long term pass) and have been living here for a number of years. I own a company here (Malaysia) and also an investment holding company in SG where I invest the majority of my assets (owned for 3+ years). For my SG based company, I have a nominal SG company director (legal reasons), I am the sole operating director and shareholder.

I am interested in using my company in Singapore to sponsor myself for a an Employment Pass, I can pay myself a wage in excess of SGD$10,000 per month. Once this is done I will be looking at submitting a PR application for myself and dependent pass for my wife and child.

I would like to know what chances I would have of obtaining PR, and once I have an EP how long I should wait to apply? details below

Myself:
Nationality : Australian/ New Zealand dual citizen
Race: Caucasian
Gender : Male
Age : 35 Years Old
Marital Status : Married
Salary : (proposed) $10k+ in Singapore
Education: Highest - Postgraduate Certificate of Business - UNSW Sydney
Work: Company director - F&B business (Malaysia) - Company Director - holding company Singapore
Prior Work History: Public Service - manager mid-senior level Australia - Departed 2017
Assets: Own a house in a major city in Australia and also in Malaysia. Assets in SG holding company (shares).

Wife:
Nationality : Malaysia - Also has NZ and AU PR
Race: Chinese
Gender : Female
Age : 33 Years Old
Marital Status : Married
Salary : Approx RM30k per month currently
Education: Highest - Diploma of Hospitality Management from Australian institution
Work: Company director - Hospitality business (Malaysia) - Not listed on SG company
Prior Work History: Senior Chef and now company director (Malaysia)

Child:
Nationality : Malaysian (Australian also, but Malaysia doesn't know that)
Race: Chinese (on Malaysian birth certificate)
Gender : Female
Age : 3 years old
Marital Status : N/A

Sorry if anything is a bit vague, I don't want to dox myself.

What are your thoughts? Thanks for your time replying.

[korosensei]

wow you got a lot of PR from different countries.

[st879]

Haha yeah, one parent from each country. Wife and I met in Australia and she got PR there. We applied for and got spouse PR in NZ.

[MOCHS]

PR is a stepping stone to citizenship and it seems unlikely that you and your spouse wanna be SG citizens.

With your dual citizenship and your wife’s dual PR, collecting PRs like candy is generally frowned upon by ICA. The likelihood that you settle back down under or in NZ is so high.

So, low chance for SPR.

[st879]

I don't necessarily think we don't want to be citizens. We have significant investments in Singapore and would like to plan to retire there in the future due to the favourable tax environment.

Do you think our chances would be improved if my wife was to get the EP and dependent pass for myself? As she is Malaysian Chinese.

[MOCHS]

She might be of favoured race & nationality but like I said, collecting PR like candy isn’t something ICA appreciates.

You can’t work on a DP, need your own employment visa/pass.

Since you claim to have significant investments in SG, why don’t you apply for PR under Global Investor Programme?

[Lisafuller]

Hi All,

I am a dual Australian/New Zealand citizen living in Malaysia (long term pass) and have been living here for a number of years. I own a company here (Malaysia) and also an investment holding company in SG where I invest the majority of my assets (owned for 3+ years). For my SG based company, I have a nominal SG company director (legal reasons), I am the sole operating director and shareholder.

I am interested in using my company in Singapore to sponsor myself for a an Employment Pass, I can pay myself a wage in excess of SGD$10,000 per month. Once this is done I will be looking at submitting a PR application for myself and dependent pass for my wife and child.

I would like to know what chances I would have of obtaining PR, and once I have an EP how long I should wait to apply? details below

Myself:
Nationality : Australian/ New Zealand dual citizen
Race: Caucasian
Gender : Male
Age : 35 Years Old
Marital Status : Married
Salary : (proposed) $10k+ in Singapore
Education: Highest - Postgraduate Certificate of Business - UNSW Sydney
Work: Company director - F&B business (Malaysia) - Company Director - holding company Singapore
Prior Work History: Public Service - manager mid-senior level Australia - Departed 2017
Assets: Own a house in a major city in Australia and also in Malaysia. Assets in SG holding company (shares).

Wife:
Nationality : Malaysia - Also has NZ and AU PR
Race: Chinese
Gender : Female
Age : 33 Years Old
Marital Status : Married
Salary : Approx RM30k per month currently
Education: Highest - Diploma of Hospitality Management from Australian institution
Work: Company director - Hospitality business (Malaysia) - Not listed on SG company
Prior Work History: Senior Chef and now company director (Malaysia)

Child:
Nationality : Malaysian (Australian also, but Malaysia doesn't know that)
Race: Chinese (on Malaysian birth certificate)
Gender : Female
Age : 3 years old
Marital Status : N/A

Sorry if anything is a bit vague, I don't want to dox myself.

What are your thoughts? Thanks for your time replying.

Do you have any intentions of settling in singapore long-term?

[Lisafuller]

Haha yeah, one parent from each country. Wife and I met in Australia and she got PR there. We applied for and got spouse PR in NZ.

Always good to have options, but to what end?

[Lisafuller]

PR is a stepping stone to citizenship and it seems unlikely that you and your spouse wanna be SG citizens.

With your dual citizenship and your wife’s dual PR, collecting PRs like candy is generally frowned upon by ICA. The likelihood that you settle back down under or in NZ is so high.

So, low chance for SPR.

Must agree. Moreover (and this may be me reading too much into things) it doesn't seem as though OP has any sincere intention of making singapore home. In that case, I not only doubt the chances of success, but I think that is probably right, as PR is not meant to be given out willy-nilly.

[Lisafuller]

I don't necessarily think we don't want to be citizens. We have significant investments in Singapore and would like to plan to retire there in the future due to the favourable tax environment.

Do you think our chances would be improved if my wife was to get the EP and dependent pass for myself? As she is Malaysian Chinese.

Becoming citizens does mean forgoing foreign citizenship, is this something you're prepared and willing to do?

[st879]

We do plan on retiring in Singapore as the local taxation on our retirement investments is much more favourable than my birth country.

Regarding the question regarding my wife's PR in NZ and Australia. She has PR from Australia because that's where we met years ago, got married etc. and lived together for a number of years prior to moving to Malaysia.

With respect to NZ PR we applied for that so that she is covered by NZ public healthcare. Australian Cit and PR need to re-enroll for public healthcare once you've been out of the country for 5+ years. We'd plan to travel to NZ for treatment for any major illness under the public healthcare system there, rather than receive treatment in Malaysia due to the different standards in the local healthcare systems.

Regarding the global investor program, I have enough invested in SG for a comfortable retirement, which I plan to do within 10 years, but not the huge amounts required for that program. Although, we are considering the potential of opening a store liked to our current F&B business located in MY locally in SG. Still, I highly doubt we'd ever meet the requirements.

Yes I am aware that Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship. I would have no issues renouncing my other citizenships. I have already considered this. If required I could reapply for my birth citizenship in future if I absolutely needed to, but besides visiting family there occasionally I don't see why I would as I plan on selling my property there next year.

The majority of my wife's family and friends also live in SG and she would be very comfortable living there indefinitely. Alternatively, we had considered staying indefinitely in Malaysia but the political situation here seems to be consistently deteriorating.

[Lisafuller]

Not sure I see the issue with the politics at least for the moment, if anything many Singaporeans are looking to move to Malaysia for the better cost of living/work life balance.

[hopeislife]

We do plan on retiring in Singapore as the local taxation on our retirement investments is much more favourable than my birth country.

Well, that should not be the reason why one should get pr for saving on taxes. Such applications are not usually approved, especially with multiple citizenships or prs (though there are some cases that are favoured). You want to try your luck with the 'malaysian chinese' factor for spouse and kid, but its not a guarantee.

[Lisafuller]

We do plan on retiring in Singapore as the local taxation on our retirement investments is much more favourable than my birth country.

Well, that should not be the reason why one should get pr for saving on taxes. Such applications are not usually approved, especially with multiple citizenships or prs (though there are some cases that are favoured). You want to try your luck with the 'malaysian chinese' factor for spouse and kid, but its not a guarantee.

More importantly, singapore is a small country with heart and soul, you don't come for the tax benefits.

[wavingerwin]

Hi @st879, did you end up applying?

I am also an NZ by Nationality (but racially Chinese). I'm curious to understand the experience for NZ nationals in applying for PR.