SPR + GF

[harry_potter]

OP how did you meet your gf?

I was posted to Vietnam for a while for work. I met her at the War Museum in HCMC. She speaks perfect English, has good values, comes from a good and decent family and is university educated (bachelor's degree); this is more than can be said about some of the shameful posters on here.

[sundaymorningstaple]

In the eyes of the government of Singapore, which is what we are trying to point out to you, you have not been in a de facto relationship.

First of all, Singapore only recognizes de facto relationships that have been entered into prior to coming to Singapore.

Secondly, as she ONLY has a social visit pass, she has had to leave the country each time, only to return again, The lack of residency also means, in ICA's eyes, no relationship of any sort of permanency is there, therefore, as she is from one of the countries that traditionally have young girls who come to Singapore for immoral reasons, multiple trips means she would have to be working illegally as otherwise she has no means of support.

Thirdly, what you have been given here is exactly what ICA thinks, not our personal beliefs/knowledge. The ICA have a set checklist where people are pigeonholed based on their travel habits against known data. It's called profiling. Nobody likes it, but everybody is affected by it. Get used to it. Happens everywhere today. If you fit the profile and don't have legal documentation to prove otherwise, you are up the creek without the paddle.

What beppi was saying, is exactly what the Immigration officer thought and that's why your gf was yanked from the line. 6 visit visas in 6 months without viable means of support, well, looks pretty obvious when the vast majority of lone girls, from certain Asian countries, make multiple trips here.

Honestly, I don't find it upsetting that providing physical pleasures in return for food, board and occasional travel is not on the list of activities that gets somebody a visa.

Oh, one last thing, I've never met beppi.

[v4jr4]

OP how did you meet your gf?

I was posted to Vietnam for a while for work. I met her at the War Museum in HCMC. She speaks perfect English, has good values, comes from a good and decent family and is university educated (bachelor's degree); this is more than can be said about some of the shameful posters on here.

As shameful as it is, sadly speaking, people only rely on information. You surely don't expect that everyone in this forum knows you or your GF, right? You or your GF may be a good person, but please don't assume that posters / immigration staffs know both of you personally.

[harry_potter]

It is true, I agree with you. I get it.

As a White guy in SG I am believed to be a rich arse hole who is here to shag anything that moves (profiling).

As a VN girl in SG on a SVP she is believed to be a whore (profiling).

All black dudes are gangsters and drug deals (profiling).

All Muslims are terrorists (profiling).


I was just asking that the moderator be tougher on the hateful comments.

[Mi Amigo]

The ICA have a set checklist where people are pigeonholed based on their travel habits against known data. It's called profiling. Nobody likes it, but everybody is affected by it. Get used to it.

I used to get the ferry over to Sebana Cove frequently to play golf at weekends. Then one time entering the US, the immigration officer noticed all the stamps in my passport (from a Muslim country - shock horror!) and then proceeded with a line of agressive questioning as to why I was such a frequent visitor to Malaysia. When I told him it was because I liked to play golf there at the weekend, he thought I was taking the p!ss. So yes, profiling does happen everywhere.

I can understand harry_potter's anger about what happened to his girlfriend, but as has been discussed, that is to be expected here if you try to 'game' the system. The folks on here try to explain the way things work in this town, which is not always the way that individual posters might wish them to be. But at the end of the day we are all guests (unless we become SCs), so we have little say in what the rules are, or how they are applied. I wouldn't want to pass judgement on harry_potter or his girlfrined - as v4jr4 says, we don't know them - but all we can do is try to explain the perception and context around what occurred.

Edit to correct the name of the poster who pointed out that we don't know the individuals concerned.

[Saint]

I was just asking that the moderator be tougher on the hateful comments.

Unfortunately that's not going to happen

Obviously my wife is a gold digging SPG in that case

[v4jr4]

I was just asking that the moderator be tougher on the hateful comments.

The last time we did this she was detained by Singapore immigration and treated like scum.

Welcome to the internet, where anyone can be anything. Despite of the hateful comments, I think it will be easier if you try the available suggestions from some posters.

PS + OOT + 9gag: "Ching Chang Chong" (profiling)

[JayCee]

OP how did you meet your gf?

I was posted to Vietnam for a while for work. I met her at the War Museum in HCMC. She speaks perfect English, has good values, comes from a good and decent family and is university educated (bachelor's degree); this is more than can be said about some of the shameful posters on here.

To be fair, you can't be that shocked about someone jumping to conclusions when you posted "in a relationship for 6 months...lived together the entire 6 months". It's not exactly the norm for girls (from any country) to do that, is it? Sounds like you've found one a bit different so good for you, but it's unconventional whichever way you look at it

[sundaymorningstaple]

And for the record, Saint got his PR via Family Ties while still in the UK with his wife, so he's throwing out a red herring for no reason as the facts are totally different.

[Saint]

And for the record, Saint got his PR via Family Ties while still in the UK with his wife, so he's throwing out a red herring for no reason as the facts are totally different.

SMS, I was referring to profiling people when you don't even know them. My wife being local and married to a Brit expat, she would be deemed a SPG, the same as the OP's GF must have been, or still is, a working girl. Totally relevant to this thread.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Unless your wife had been single and pulled aside after 6 30day visas and coming from a neighbouring country I don't see any similarity at all, as the multiple svps are what triggered the profile in the first place. Same as expats doing multiple visa runs who get caught and are sent packing. A wife of several years isn't quite the same as a gf of only 6 months with 6 visas. You are really reaching this time.

[Saint]

I'm not even referring to visa runs, never even mentioned that in my post. I said SPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarong_party_girl

Understand now

[x9200]

My choices seem to be:

1. Marry her.
2. Move to a country that has more liberal views on marriage and\or more relaxed immagration policies.

Why don't you go together to ICA and ask an officer (so not an ordinary counter clerk) about your options? Frankly, I don't believe you will get anything valuable out of such visit but it will also cost you nothing and with no other acceptable options it may be worth to try even if the chances for anything positive are 1/10000.

[zzm9980]

You clearly have no respect for peoples' feelings and no respect for women. You are saying my girlfriend is a Yellow whore (which is not at all true, she is a good and caring person). I can't believe the Moderator will allow you to speak to people that way. My views might be myopic but yours are hurtful and bigoted. Shame on you. I am living in Asia, so what is wrong with me wanting to have a relationship with an Asian woman.

No, he didn't say that at all, you did. With regards to your last sentence, however, it says volumes. What does a common law or de facto spouse provide? What do they get out of it?

moderator

Honestly, I don't find it upsetting that providing physical pleasures in return for food, board and occasional travel is not on the list of activities that gets somebody a visa.

So what is this implying? Pretty obvious to me and it's a shame this kind of posting is being allowed on here now.

Yeah, re-reading that post again, I have to agree... Quite inappropriate IMO. Harry is rubbing some people the wrong way with a western sense of entitlement here in Singapore which he shouldn't have, we've told him his only way around this is marriage, but that doesn't mean anyone has to call his girlfriend a whore just because they're not choosing that option and she didn't happen to win the lucky draw and be born in the west like most of us. What are we a bunch of freak Mormons here?


edit: I didn't say 'freak', but apparently the forum software changed it for me my term started with F , ended in -ing and was a bit more angry

edit2: and the irony isn't lost on me that I'm also behaviorally profiling

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm not even referring to visa runs, never even mentioned that in my post. I said SPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarong_party_girl

Understand now

Saint, frankly I don't.

You DO know what an SPG is right? You did refresh your memory by reading the Wiki you linked to, right? Nowhere did I see references to Asian women MARRIED to western men being classed as SPGs. You might what to have another look.

But if you are trying to profile her, then she could be, from your current thinking only, be profiled just like my Asian wife would be. Not an SPG but a Gold digger. Big difference, especially in BOTH our cases. That's why I couldn't figure out what you were on about. SPGs are not Asian wives of Expats. (Although they may well have been when they were single) Which is like the difference in getting your N levels and getting a degree - two totally different ball games.