Applying for PR Tomorrow

[Manoj.K]

Gaming the system by living in Singapore and posting on a forum - Sure. I guess thats why they have a casino there - to game on! Skiing is a winter thing and we are in Fall.

[JR8]

Gaming the system, by seeking tenure in SG for immediate personal advantage. When tenure, or the privilege of residency (EP/LTVP/PR/Citizenship etc) is a 2-way deal, and that's made crystal clear in Singapore. SG is small and highly in-demand, so it's tough but I can see why they have no choice but to protect themselves against opportunists. The message seems clear - if this isn't a lifetime commitment don't bother.

A theme is you see people asking for advice about gaining such tenure, then in the same breath adding 'how else can I afford to buy a home and start a family', or 'but I might consider Australia or Canada too'. The unspoken goal is plain to see, and naturally ICA see it too; perhaps why they make people wait.

--- Ah, I recall skiing Goat's Eye Mountain, Calgary area, in early April so season length depends on many things not least altitude. That and Norway are head+shoulders the best snow I've ever encountered. Enjoy it

[Manoj.K]

If SG is small and highly in-demand, the average 1,500 (official count) true-blue Singaporeans wouldn't want to leave Singapore every year right? This highly in demand thing is to keep foreigners interested for as long as possible?? the checking your commitment thing is another nice little noose and so is the gaming the system. Humans live lesser than establishments and countries so they need to adapt faster. Protecting themselves against opportunists? You need to be one to know one, I say.

These 1500 opportunists, take away $426 Million from the CPF coffers every year. (Quote from Channel News Asia)

[JR8]

If SG is small and highly in-demand, the average 1,500 (official count) true-blue Singaporeans wouldn't want to leave Singapore every year right?

It's hard to follow your point. Are you suggesting that because 1500 passport holders/pa emigrate, or 1500/5500000 = 0.027%, that is significant of anything?
If you'd got your PR would you be a 'True Blue' now too? Or only up until another opportunity came along, and you were another amongst the statistic you quote?

This highly in demand thing is to keep foreigners interested for as long as possible?? the checking your commitment thing is another nice little noose and so is the gaming the system. Humans live lesser than establishments and countries so they need to adapt faster.

I don't see it as some clever trick or game; simply the identification of and weeding out of the undesirables. Though perhaps it is a 'noose' or game if you seek to play them at it; as IME SG and their policies aren't often on the losing side or taken for fools.

Protecting themselves against opportunists? You need to be one to know one, I say.

Why would you want to live somewhere you consider opportunist? And in the same vein to what extent do you consider Canada non-opportunist in letting you in? I mean they didn't do so on humanitarian grounds, so what non-opportunist benefits-to-CN hurdles did you have to meet?

[Manoj.K]

You wont cede anything & I wont either. Time will tell if Singapore and its policies worked well. For me, the policy didnt, in some small measure, it didnt work for them either. The collective sum of the losses will tell somewhere. Until then, Adios Amigo and keep skiing.

[JR8]

I'll answer what ever you like bar giving you my home address. Meanwhile, it's still unclear why you think SG was somehow unfair to you (or worse foolish, and shooting themselves in the foot) by not issuing you a passport on demand; when you seem to have perhaps illustrated the reasons here yourself.

Let us know how the tandoori caribou goes eh?

[Manoj.K]

I never said Singapore was unfair to me. I was indicating that we will find out whether this ever changing policy will hold water - long term. Passport on demand Caribou Curry you mean? Sure. I would have sent some over if you didn't allege to be living somewhere other than Singapore.

[JR8]

Where's next after Canada by the way, the US? Better not, they'll see that one coming a mile off, much like SG did eh.

I don't 'allege' to live in SG, but I spent several years doing so. I live in the Middle East.
Hard to understand your 'we shall see [them get their comeuppance]' position, like you still feel angry/spurned. I mean if you gave up on SG and are delighted to have done so, then why do you care about what happens to SG in future decades? Beware carrying a grudge for longer than doing so adds value, that's my 2c.

[Manoj.K]

Thanks for your advise. No no intentions of going to the US, at all. I have my PR, plan to contribute to the Canadian economy, get my citizenship in 4 years or so, buy a home, and then come visit you in the Middle East with the Caribou curry or perhaps meet you in the mountains when you come here to ski next.

I would have stayed on and settled down in Singapore but it was too much of an ask - since it is such a high demand country.

The "We shall see what happens...." is not any position - it is just a lets see what happens next kind of sentence. Like we wait and watch for a match to end.

If You can wait and watch, and carry a "grudge" (like you have, to start of this battle with me again) for so many months, why do you object to me waiting? Heck I ain't even waiting for you - I was waiting for Singapore.

I don't know why you are on the Singapore expats forum when you don't stay there, don't care to live there, don't seem to have any ties but definitely know what the ICA can and cannot see from a mile away - even what the US can see from a mile away...

Oh Wait - you are above the rules....

[Manoj.K]

By the way is the Middle East - somewhere in Choa Chu Kang? or is it Bukit Panjang?

[Manoj.K]

Funny that someone who "lived" in Singapore fought with "PAP stooges" in 1994 and is now fighting with me.

[Manoj.K]

Its 1 AM in Singapore - Too late for small talk aint it, my middle eastern friend whose sister owned a post war carbuncle in west london which was ugly as sin?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Manoj,K, you still get peeved and let all show when you can no longer keep up or has not done all his research before unsheathing his sword/pen. However, glad you are happy in Canada. I'm currently back in the US, but will be catching my return flight to SG tomorrow morning.

[Wd40]

Hi Manoj,

Thanks for updating. Good decision. Personally I have given up all hopes on Singapore and just going with the flow. I dont like my current job and I dont want to jump to another company in Singapore now. Totally fedup with the job market here and the kind of jobs available. I will probably return back to India wheever this thing ends and then think about what to do next. I have made enough money to just go back and semi retire, in India.

[JR8]

I don't know why you are on the Singapore expats forum when you don't stay there, don't care to live there, don't seem to have any ties but definitely know what the ICA can and cannot see from a mile away - even what the US can see from a mile away...
Oh Wait - you are above the rules....

Because I lived in SG for c6-7 years.That covered 3 separate international relo in/outs, so I'm quite familiar with many of the kind of questions that come up here. And when we are done here it's 50/50 that me and my SGn wife might return there. So it's of interest and useful for me to keep abreast of what's going on in the expat sphere, and hopefully I can occasionally give some assistance to those setting out SG-bound.

When I worked in the US we had to hire a great many people for a 3 year project that at it's core was an IT programme. Corporate headcount was c60k, our direct project team c120 people...
Many of the IT contractors had arrived in North America via a stint and a passport in Canada. This caused us varying degrees of trouble in hiring them into the US, as USCBP looked upon the candidates not as candidates brought in for say a 'one-year contract', but people who'd given up on their country of birth, then given up on Canada, and now odds on were probably going to try and get a US Green Card. Before we even offered a candidate a job, we had to try and divine which ones might get rejected by USCBP as passport-shoppers. That was a perpetual issue, and a significant challenge.

p.s. 'Fighting the PAPbots'. Lol, a blast from the past, maybe the relevance is lost on you. The government proceeding with a policy (in that case opening internet access in SG, yes, as late as the mid 90s), but then rather bluntly trying to exert their control out into Usenet. Rather like immigration into SG, opening a door and welcoming some people in, but then retrospectively tweaking and changing policy to try and control the ultimate and optimal outcome.