ICA prefers immigrants without Uni education to be PR?

[jason1919]

Hi friends,

I just got an offer from a MNC in SG and would like to consult you about the current immigration policy there.

I was originally from mainland China and currently I am working in Hong Kong and holding HK passport. For some reasons (well, mainly because of the bilingual education, stable political systems as well as friendly & highly civilized people in SG), I want to move to SG with my wife and kids permanently and settle down there.

Recently one of my friends told me that now SG is the last country I should consider to move in "because the immigration authority in SG only welcomes foreign workers without university education to be PR & citizens", which makes me super doubtful and confused.

My friend obtained his PhD from NTU and have been working in SG for almost 3 years (oil & gas industry), totally 7 years there, with a basic pay of abt 7K+/month. His wife also graduated from NTU and they have a boy. They have applied PR separately before, both rejected. And last year (2013), his family application for PR also got rejected. He is at his early 30s but has nowhere to settle down his family.

And he told me his subordinates (SP holders, salary is abt 2.2K to 2.5K) without university education all have their PR applications approved in 2012/2013 after working for just months and one even has converted to Singaporean recently.

I have read many articles about Singapore before I made the decision to move there and know that the country needs skilled professionals to help to transform and upgrade the economy. But now I'm really feeling frustrated after I heard my friend's story.

Anybody knows why ICA is not aligned with the Gov's policy and only welcomes those without university education to be PR & citizens?

Really appreciate your help on this and wish all of you happy new year.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Are all of the incidences you have related been of the same race, country, education qualification, marital status and family status?

As far as we know, without a uni education here you don't really stand too much chance on getting PR. The days are gone when diploma holder High School Graduates are able to get PR, without having the backup of family ties, e.g., married to a Singaporean who earns sufficient dollars to be able to sponsor the applicant.

The person who told you that doesn't sound too much like your "friend". I'm a little worried about you description of as highly civilized people here though!

[PNGMK]

Ignore your friend. Listen to the ICA.

[FaeLLe]

If anything your friend is a tad bit of a low earner for his experience and qualifications.

But all that aside, ignore your friend and if you want to move to Singapore do it...

The government considers each application on its own merit and your circumstances could have no relevance to his.

If anything we know there is no specific "trend" or pattern in PR approvals.

[the lynx]

I think your friend is one of the xenophobic kinds that troll around internet, brandishing keyboard like a warrior.

Like what SMS said, it is all about the whole package. Those days of easy PR for low quality foreign labour is far far far away. Your friend is still in that era.

Citizenship is even way harder. And your friend is far out. Are you sure your friend is not a time-traveller? Because we're talking about a 4-year-old change here!

[zzm9980]

My guess is your friend is mis-guessing the dates those under-qualified people got their PRs. They probably got them 3-4 years earlier than he's telling you.

[iamneo]

I am a newbie in this forum but I will say that Singapore ICA do not approve PR and citizenship just because you are PHD and you earn 7000 per month.
A few years ago, PRCs used to be one of the preferred group of foreigners until some of your countrymen killed off all the good will with their mistaken sense of entitlement.
Based of my understanding, ICA looks at a wide range of factors. Race, nationality, age, industry you are working in, family background and structure are important factors that ICA considers when approving PR.
Indians or South Asians who are working in IT and/or banking will have a very high chance of being rejected. There are too many Indians working in banking IT and Singapore government is taking steps to reduce these foreign enclaves. The recent Little India riot has given Singaporeans more reasons to attack Indian enclaves in Singapore.
For PRC, I felt that those who have completed their diplomas or bachelor degrees here in local universities; below 30 and single will have a very good chance of getting PR. PRC PHDs are very unpopular among Singaporeans. In recent years, the government has offered a lot of money and incentives to draw Singaporeans PHDs back to Singapore to reduce dependence on PRC PHDs.
Malaysian Chinese and Chinese from other south east asian countries are the most popular because they share similar histories with Singapore Chinese and also because PRC Chinese are increasingly unpopular among Singaporeans.

[sundaymorningstaple]

You sure haven't done much research on this board have you. We've have said this, virtually every week, for the past two years. Welcome to the board.

[Wd40]

I am a newbie in this forum but I will say that Singapore ICA do not approve PR and citizenship just because you are PHD and you earn 7000 per month.
A few years ago, PRCs used to be one of the preferred group of foreigners until some of your countrymen killed off all the good will with their mistaken sense of entitlement.
Based of my understanding, ICA looks at a wide range of factors. Race, nationality, age, industry you are working in, family background and structure are important factors that ICA considers when approving PR.
Indians or South Asians who are working in IT and/or banking will have a very high chance of being rejected. There are too many Indians working in banking IT and Singapore government is taking steps to reduce these foreign enclaves. The recent Little India riot has given Singaporeans more reasons to attack Indian enclaves in Singapore.
For PRC, I felt that those who have completed their diplomas or bachelor degrees here in local universities; below 30 and single will have a very good chance of getting PR. PRC PHDs are very unpopular among Singaporeans. In recent years, the government has offered a lot of money and incentives to draw Singaporeans PHDs back to Singapore to reduce dependence on PRC PHDs.
Malaysian Chinese and Chinese from other south east asian countries are the most popular because they share similar histories with Singapore Chinese and also because PRC Chinese are increasingly unpopular among Singaporeans.

Interesting. Where did you get all this information from?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Probably this board.

[iamneo]

Probably this board.

For the part on Indians:
1. NTUC and MOM stated that there were a lot of anecdotal evidences that indicates discrimination against Singaporeans in the banking and IT sectors.
2. REACH reported in 2013 that they have received a lot of feedbacks on foreign labour especially for the banking and IT sector. I assume most of them are negative feedbacks.
3. Mr Tharman admitted that some departments in banks hire large number of foreigners. He made this comment after a closed door conference with all the banking big wigs.
4. Significant push for banks and IT MNCs to hire locally. Part of this push will come from the scrutiny measures under the new FCF. Together with the advertising requirement, it will form a pincer attack on the banking IT companies.

For the part on PRC:
1. I have friends in both Singapore and Malaysia who married PRCs. They told me that PRCs are no longer the preferred group but younger Chinese who lived and studied in Singapore will still have a good chance because they are easier to assimilate as compared to the older PRC applicants. There are a lot of PRC phds who worked in the universities and government research centres. A lot of Singaporeans are complaining and there are significant political pressure on the government to stop the trend. International students in local universities have already dropped from 18% to 13% this year. A lot of these International students are from China followed by India.

For the Malaysian part:
I am a Malaysian Chinese and PR. None of my Malaysian Chinese friends have any problems applying for PR. All of thrm got their PR after thr first application.

[sundaymorningstaple]

All old news posted here had you bothered to do any research before posting. (at least once a week). When you come in all clued in without having done any research on this board first, it doesn't make you look very good, frankly speaking.

[x9200]

Ok, it looks a bit funny if a newbie appears, announcing his newbieness and repeating in a spirit of divine revelation what has been roughly said on this board for years. Still IMHO he deserves some credit and it does not look that bad especially comparing to the usual type with no logic but tone-loads of frustration and arrogance.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Which is why I still welcomed him to the board in the first post.

[akrapovic]

Been awhile since i came in after my wife got her PR approved last Mar.

My colleague who is a msian chinese married to a SC(Converted SC, indon chinese) is well still waiting for her PR results after almost 6 months.

Husband did his degree/PHD in a local u while she did her tertiary education in NTU and has been here since 2008 or slightly earlier. She took up some sponsership for her PHD if i'm not wrong thou.