Singapore Expats

Hi all,

I need your advise on my chance to apply citizenship at my own merit at this point of time

About me

Gender: Male
Age: 30
Marital status: Married
Duration of marriage: 1 year+
2004 - 2008: took Computing Bachelor Degree at NUS (on student pass) (graduated with pass degree)
After graduation received PR invitation letter and became PR since Dec 2008
Job: IT industry (working continuosly since graduation)
Salary: 3500
Citizenship: Vietnamese

About my spouse

Age: 30
LTSVP holder (1 year validity)
Duration of stay in Singapore: 1 year
Education: Bachelor Degree (Vietnam)
Currently not working
Citizenship: Vietnamse

streetvendor38 wrote:Hi all,

I need your advise on my chance to apply citizenship at my own merit at this point of time

About me

Gender: Male
Age: 30
Marital status: Married
Duration of marriage: 1 year+
2004 - 2008: took Computing Bachelor Degree at NUS (on student pass) (graduated with pass degree)
After graduation received PR invitation letter and became PR since Dec 2008
Job: IT industry (working continuosly since graduation)
Salary: 3500
Citizenship: Vietnamese

About my spouse

Age: 30
LTSVP holder (1 year validity)
Duration of stay in Singapore: 1 year
Education: Bachelor Degree (Vietnam)
Currently not working
Citizenship: Vietnamse

You would probably have a good chance of it once you have been married for at least two years. Applying for citizenship by yourself after getting married won't be looked upon favourably. Additionally, you will need to be at least on your second REP before applying. So, I'd say give it a couple of years, say 6 years on PR and having been married at least two years (with your wife having obtained her PR (family ties) as well before your citizenship application.

streetvendor38 wrote:Hi all,

I need your advise on my chance to apply citizenship at my own merit at this point of time

About me

Gender: Male
Age: 30
Marital status: Married
Duration of marriage: 1 year+
2004 - 2008: took Computing Bachelor Degree at NUS (on student pass) (graduated with pass degree)
After graduation received PR invitation letter and became PR since Dec 2008
Job: IT industry (working continuosly since graduation)
Salary: 3500
Citizenship: Vietnamese

About my spouse

Age: 30
LTSVP holder (1 year validity)
Duration of stay in Singapore: 1 year
Education: Bachelor Degree (Vietnam)
Currently not working
Citizenship: Vietnamse

Sorry to disappoint you but it seems that your profile is not strong enough given the current situation to make a cut. Even if you stay for more than 5 years as PR but without improvement in your family income, your chance is close to zero. In fact your wife may not even be eligible for PR with your current financial situation. In the past, they have been very lenient in granting PR, especially with local graduates but that is not the case any more, they also stop sending the invitation letter for PR and the employment pass eligibility certificate for local students.

For individual, I have not seen a single one that has been approved under the economic scheme with salary below 4.5K, and most who make the cut recently earn significantly higher than that. For family, you should earn much more than an average Singaporean family to be competitive in your application; with your wife not working and you only earn 3.5K, ICA may question your affordability to stay here as a family.

Your race is also a negative factor (I assume you are Vietnamese and not ethnic Chinese), Singapore tries to maintain the current racial combination and to be other than Chinese, Indian or Malay, you will fall into the category of Others which only has a 1% - 3% quota. Most importantly, you will be competing with high earning foreign expats from developed countries who are also in the same category (yes there are a stronger interest in citizenship among the so call "ang mo" community due to apprehension of tax increase and deterioration of job prospect back home).

I would suggest that your wife looking for a job or take up some education here in Singapore, apply for PR after 2 to 3 years of marriage and if the application is approved then you can think of applying for citizenship after having a son.

Hope it helps.