PR Application Chances

[realtheory]

I found this forum and everyone seems super helpful. I've just submitted my PR application, but I've been told to expect at least one rejection, so just hoping for useful advice on how to continue improving my chances for the next submission.

Myself:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on EP) - HK Mother, PRC Xiamen Grandfather (Father born in Phils), speaks Mandarin/Hokkien
Gender: Male
Age: 31 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Salary: $21k fixed salary per month, reflected in 2 years of NOA, grew from 8k -> 10k -> 15k -> 21k during time in Singapore
Pass: Personalised Employment Pass (converted from EP during shaky job market 2023)
Education: Dual Bachelor's from top Philippine University
Work: Software Engineer in Finance and Cybersecurity
Stay in Singapore: 3 years from 2016, returned after marriage and pandemic lifted in Jan 2022 up to present

Wife:
Nationality : Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on DP) - HK Mother, PRC (Fujian) Father, can speak Hokkien
Gender: Female
Age: 32 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Pass: Defendant's Pass
Education: Dual Bachelor's from a top Philippine University (same as mine)
Background: Accounting and Finance, but on a break since giving birth
Stay in Singapore: Jan 2022 up to present

Child:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Singapore
Race: Chinese (on Singaporean birth certificate)
Gender: Female
Age: 1.5 years old
Stay in Singapore: 1.5 years (since birth)

Other things we have done:
- Moved most savings over in the form of long term investments for home purchase, enough to buy a decent 3BR condo (as HDB income ceiling also applies to resale now + 3 year wait period for new PR).
- Maxed out SRS contributions to "catch up" with people who were on CPF system since start of career
- Secured life, health, and accident insurance separate from employer-provided insurance to show we will not be burdens to social services

I've always found Singapore to be much closer to my cultural upbringing than the Philippines itself or even PRC given how much it has changed. I know that beyond stability and economic prospects ICA is looking for cultural integration, but I'm not sure how to demonstrate that beyond just the above.

[MOCHS]

The moment you leave Singapore, the time you spend in SG is reset to zero. ICA doesn’t take into account that you were here from 2016 to 2019. So yes, there might be a rejection.

However, you’re on PEP which could work in your favour since those on PEP are encouraged to apply for PR.

Won’t know till the result is out. You’re worrying too early. Just relax and wait lah. What’s done is done. Go and live your life while your application is being processed.

[JWNYsg]

Good luck with your application

[20characters]

I found this forum and everyone seems super helpful. I've just submitted my PR application, but I've been told to expect at least one rejection, so just hoping for useful advice on how to continue improving my chances for the next submission.

Myself:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on EP) - HK Mother, PRC Xiamen Grandfather (Father born in Phils), speaks Mandarin/Hokkien
Gender: Male
Age: 31 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Salary: $21k fixed salary per month, reflected in 2 years of NOA, grew from 8k -> 10k -> 15k -> 21k during time in Singapore
Pass: Personalised Employment Pass (converted from EP during shaky job market 2023)
Education: Dual Bachelor's from top Philippine University
Work: Software Engineer in Finance and Cybersecurity
Stay in Singapore: 3 years from 2016, returned after marriage and pandemic lifted in Jan 2022 up to present

Wife:
Nationality : Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on DP) - HK Mother, PRC (Fujian) Father, can speak Hokkien
Gender: Female
Age: 32 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Pass: Defendant's Pass
Education: Dual Bachelor's from a top Philippine University (same as mine)
Background: Accounting and Finance, but on a break since giving birth
Stay in Singapore: Jan 2022 up to present

Child:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Singapore
Race: Chinese (on Singaporean birth certificate)
Gender: Female
Age: 1.5 years old
Stay in Singapore: 1.5 years (since birth)

Other things we have done:
- Moved most savings over in the form of long term investments for home purchase, enough to buy a decent 3BR condo (as HDB income ceiling also applies to resale now + 3 year wait period for new PR).
- Maxed out SRS contributions to "catch up" with people who were on CPF system since start of career
- Secured life, health, and accident insurance separate from employer-provided insurance to show we will not be burdens to social services

I've always found Singapore to be much closer to my cultural upbringing than the Philippines itself or even PRC given how much it has changed. I know that beyond stability and economic prospects ICA is looking for cultural integration, but I'm not sure how to demonstrate that beyond just the above.

We have very similar profiles:
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=134139&p=864059#p864055

We got approved after a 10-month wait. Before applying, my stay in SG was only at 25 months - my wife's was even shorter at only 10 months. I think what got us approved were race, income, age, and education. I'll be very surprised if you get rejected, especially since you already have a child. Good luck!

[realtheory]

We have very similar profiles:
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=134139&p=864059#p864055

We got approved after a 10-month wait. Before applying, my stay in SG was only at 25 months - my wife's was even shorter at only 10 months. I think what got us approved were race, income, age, and education. I'll be very surprised if you get rejected, especially since you already have a child. Good luck!

Thank you! That’s super encouraging. I think both of you having advanced degrees is an edge though. I particularly worry about the race part - what did you provide in the application to have your Chinese ancestry registered?

[20characters]

We have very similar profiles:
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=134139&p=864059#p864055

We got approved after a 10-month wait. Before applying, my stay in SG was only at 25 months - my wife's was even shorter at only 10 months. I think what got us approved were race, income, age, and education. I'll be very surprised if you get rejected, especially since you already have a child. Good luck!

Thank you! That’s super encouraging. I think both of you having advanced degrees is an edge though. I particularly worry about the race part - what did you provide in the application to have your Chinese ancestry registered?

Sorry just saw this. To prove our Chinese ancestry, we provided the PH naturalization papers of 1 parent (from PRC to PH), the PH alien registration card of 1 grandparent (it shows on the card where he is from in China), and then for the other parents, we just provided a family tree document that shows the Chinese names of ancestors.

[realtheory]

Sorry just saw this. To prove our Chinese ancestry, we provided the PH naturalization papers of 1 parent (from PRC to PH), the PH alien registration card of 1 grandparent (it shows on the card where he is from in China), and then for the other parents, we just provided a family tree document that shows the Chinese names of ancestors.

Thank you for the reply, and no issues at all. Did you provide them at the point of application?

Application is still pending - fingers crossed the whole time!

[bubblyeducate]

I found this forum and everyone seems super helpful. I've just submitted my PR application, but I've been told to expect at least one rejection, so just hoping for useful advice on how to continue improving my chances for the next submission.

Myself:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on EP) - HK Mother, PRC Xiamen Grandfather (Father born in Phils), speaks Mandarin/Hokkien
Gender: Male
Age: 31 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Salary: $21k fixed salary per month, reflected in 2 years of NOA, grew from 8k -> 10k -> 15k -> 21k during time in Singapore
Pass: Personalised Employment Pass (converted from EP during shaky job market 2023)
Education: Dual Bachelor's from top Philippine University
Work: Software Engineer in Finance and Cybersecurity
Stay in Singapore: 3 years from 2016, returned after marriage and pandemic lifted in Jan 2022 up to present

Wife:
Nationality : Filipino
Place of Birth: Philippines
Race: Chinese (on DP) - HK Mother, PRC (Fujian) Father, can speak Hokkien
Gender: Female
Age: 32 Years Old
Marital Status: Married
Pass: Defendant's Pass
Education: Dual Bachelor's from a top Philippine University (same as mine)
Background: Accounting and Finance, but on a break since giving birth
Stay in Singapore: Jan 2022 up to present

Child:
Nationality: Filipino
Place of Birth: Singapore
Race: Chinese (on Singaporean birth certificate)
Gender: Female
Age: 1.5 years old
Stay in Singapore: 1.5 years (since birth)

Other things we have done:
- Moved most savings over in the form of long term investments for home purchase, enough to buy a decent 3BR condo (as HDB income ceiling also applies to resale now + 3 year wait period for new PR).
- Maxed out SRS contributions to "catch up" with people who were on CPF system since start of career
- Secured life, health, and accident insurance separate from employer-provided insurance to show we will not be burdens to social services

I've always found Singapore to be much closer to my cultural upbringing than the Philippines itself or even PRC given how much it has changed. I know that beyond stability and economic prospects ICA is looking for cultural integration, but I'm not sure how to demonstrate that beyond just the above.

We have very similar profiles:
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=134139&p=864059#p864055

We got approved after a 10-month wait. Before applying, my stay in SG was only at 25 months - my wife's was even shorter at only 10 months. I think what got us approved were race, income, age, and education. I'll be very surprised if you get rejected, especially since you already have a child. Good luck!

Actually there was no surprise, even when I proved I was qualified I was still rejected. There were so many things that made me give up, they replied that it was because of my ethnic background.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Little bit of clarification, if I may....

When it comes to Chinese ancestry there are other hierarchies that are taken into consideration which will give you a better inkling as to what you are up against and what ICA is actually capable of. First of all the Chinese who are from Malaysia stand the best chance of gaining PR as most there already have either close or distant relatives here in Singapore as this was part of Malaysia until separation in '65, unless, of course, it should turn up that the grandparents were members of the Chinese Communist part back in the day. One step down are Indonesian Chinese, assuming they have the relevant older government paperwork to proof their ancestry. Or other Chinese documents to proof this. This can be family household census data, or documents showing the owners names and their Chinese names. Further down the list are Philippines, Vietnamese, Myanmar Chinese At the bottom of the list are PRC, HK, Taiwanese Chinese. The last 6 countries may often have a further request for family CVs. This is to see if searches turn up as to political backgrounds and bents and whether those ties cause any sort of problem for Sg. None of these are engraved in stone as all is thrown together for consideration. What we don't have and never will have is an internal knowledge of HOW those weightages impact other data in the application. Trying to find work arounds will only be successful in one aspect. That is it will speed up your rejection. Honestly (NOT embellishment) of your data is the only way you will be successful if it is in the cards. Good luck.

SMS

NB: ICA has teams of officers in almost all Asian/SE Asian countries who do ground work searches, especially with the family CV's when requested. They also use these teams to vet Academic qualifications by direct interactions with the educational institutions. Where they don't have actual teams they contract their needs to in-country agents who represent SG interests.

[RikkuG]

Hey I just saw this! Did you guys have to do Apostille / Authentication for the documents to the DFA in the Philippines? (e.g. Birth Certificate, Diploma etc...) or you submitted the scanned versions to ICA? Thanks!

Were translations done too (if you presented Chinese docs).?

[realtheory]

Thanks to the forum for providing guidance. Unfortunately, just saw that we were not successful. Not surprised, but also a little sad.

Since I applied, there were two changes that I had updated the ICA about:
- Fixed salary increased to 25k
- Promoted to a leadership role

I'm hoping that the short length of stay (and presumed lack of integration) is what's holding us back here, since the action plan would be to reapply in a few years, hopefully with role/company/salary improved in addition. We also plan to have another child. Of course, this is completely unrelated to PR - we have always wanted at least 2 children.

Now I'm wondering what to do.

Daughter is 2 years old, and a critical point for me is when she starts primary school (in 4 years, since registration is a year prior). We definitely prefer the local school system, and we do not want to make major life changes once she reaches that age, so if we still do not get granted PR by then, we definitely need to execute an alternative plan (what that is, I haven't defined).

My plan right now is to re-apply end of next year. At that point I will have stayed for 4 years, and it gives me 1 year for the application to bear fruit before the PEP expires. If not successful, hoping we can grab the Tech.Pass or ONE Pass for 1 more application round.

[korosensei]

I think it will tough to get PR on the coming years. Specially next year is election. Even my malaysian friends whose race always gets express PR now receiving all rejections.

[realtheory]

I think it will tough to get PR on the coming years. Specially next year is election. Even my malaysian friends whose race always gets express PR now receiving all rejections.

Do you think the government is looking to curtail the number of PR grants overall for the forseeable future? The statistics seem to show a very small rise every year.

[korosensei]

I think change policy. They might have internal points system which is not disclosed to public. With your profile have you ever think migrating to AU ot NZ. I got friends there within 5yrs got their citizenship.

[Coooooo]

Hi I have just applied for PR recently as well, can u give updates when u receive a result? So I know how long is it going to expect:) Ty!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk