How to be a Resident in Singapore

Posted by John Rikvin on February 7th, 2020

There are many reasons to love Singapore, as the country’s favourable business environment, safety and security, harmonious multicultural community and high standard of living regularly attract foreign talent to the city-state.

As indicated in a recent survey jointly commissioned by the Ministry of Manpower and the Migrant Workers’ Centre, nine out of 10 foreign workers expressed their overall satisfaction about living and working in Singapore, giving the country one of the highest rankings in the world.

As expected, this longstanding global interest in establishing residency in Singapore has resulted in an increasingly competitive application process, as the number of approved applications has fallen sharply from 79,000 in 2008 to approximately 30,000 each year since.

This stringent process requires attention to every detail in the application process, no matter how large or small.

Should I Apply for an Employment Pass or Permanent Residency?

Unlike the application for an Employment Pass, which is assessed at the discretion of the Ministry of Manpower, the application for permanent residency is assessed by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority; commonly referred to as ICA.

Therefore, the entire process and types of forms to be completed would also be different from applying for an employment or dependent pass. This application is also understandably more stringently reviewed and is evaluated holistically based on the applicant’s family ties in Singapore, economic contributions, education qualifications, age, family profile, ability to contribute and integrate into Singapore, as well as commitment to staying and living in Singapore.

One of the key differences between an application for an employment pass and an application for permanent residency is that an application for permanent residency can only be applied after you have worked in Singapore for at least six months under the PTS Scheme (Professionals / Technical Personnel and Skilled Workers Scheme).

The processing time for a permanent residency application is also much longer, and can vary between a few weeks to a few months.

This emphasizes the seriousness of the application and highlights how important it is to get everything right, ensuring that your application is not rejected due to a minor mistake.

Hence, it is crucial to obtain advice from a good consultant from an experienced employment agency that can assist you with the paperwork and ensure accuracy when making your application.

Read more about how you can apply for visa in Singapore at Rikvin.com.