MTGS

Singtip.com Just to share this site with you guys, they have a forum on jobs and housing, it's all in Thai though so I think you can get your Thai partner to check it out, maybe he/she will find something useful there. But actually if you want to find a job for Thai, good place to start is Golden Mile, I know that place is more famous for the nightspots but it's quite lively in the day, they have a supermarket, department stores, restaurant and some other businesses running, there's also translation services there at level 2 so it's not all that bad.

Seems like the guy dragged her and she was not happy about it and started attacking him with a black object, I think it was a shoe or a pouch and then the guy slapped and shoved her a few times, I wonder what happened before that, but what I know so far is that she was being deported, well, since she was being deported she should have cooperated, how will yelling like that help, and the guy should have been nicer to her, why hit and shove her? Couldn't they get a female officer to deal with her instead?

Recently I got a few mails asking about this so I thought I might as well make a post to share the information. First of all, who can apply for PR? Apply for Permanent Residence (a) Spouse and unmarried children (below 21 years old) of a Singapore Citizen (SC)/Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) (b) Aged Parents of a SC (c) Employment Pass/ S Pass holders (d) Investors/Entrepreneurs You can look at (a), the key word is spouse i.e. your husband or your wife, which means both of you must be legally married, doesn't matter whether you marry in Singapore or other country as long as the marriage certificate is issued by the country's authority, in Singapore, the authority for marriages is Registry of Marriage or more commonly known as ROM, in Thailand, they have district offices to register marriage. So there you go, as long as you are a Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident, and you have a marriage certificate issued by the authority, your spouse can apply for PR.

Today I checked again and it's still pending, it's already more than 6 months and I wonder how long more do we have to wait, I read in forums some people waited for 7 or 9 months! But I think ICA guys are really busy, so many foreigners so many applications of course they will take forever to process. I also read somewhere that they receive a few hundred thousand PR applications a year! I wonder they manage, do they have a team of people going through each application one by one? I really hope one day I get to work on their system so I know how they process PR applications. Actually if they have a list of criteria, why not just use a software to run through every application, wouldn't it save time? Sigh, I can only guess, sometimes I feel that ICA is like a secret organization, everything so secretive, why be so afraid of people manipulating the system when ultimately they are the authority and they can reject an application if they find it to be manipulating the system?

My wife is a housewife so she mostly stays at home to do the chores, I was thinking maybe she could earn some income by babysitting at home, I spoke with her regarding this and she doesn't seem to reject it so I decided to explore this possibility. The idea came to me when I visited the Singapore Babysitter Connect forum at mummysg.com and realized that there are plenty of residents here looking for babysitters, so I thought why not, but before I act on anything, I checked with MOM regarding the legality because I feel that it's quite a grey area as in there's no fixed employer, it's like a casual job, can't expect all the parents to apply letter of consent for her right. But to be sure, I dropped MOM an enquiry, today they got back to me, the lady on the line made it clear that LTVP+ is meant for my wife to stay here only, so that means if she wants to work or even babysit at home, she would need a letter of consent. I also confirmed that unless she is babysit

I went for the appointment with my wife on 08 Oct 2013, until now it's almost 6 months and still no news, the application is still shown as Pending in iEnquiry. Permanent Residence Pending Wonder when I can get some update...

Today while thinking about my future and suddenly I thought maybe someday I can move to Thailand, then I found this very interesting blog , it is about a young American couple who gave up almost everything and moved to Thailand, wow, I must say they are really brave, I know it is not an easy decision because there are many things to take into consideration, seriously, I don't think I have the guts to do something like that, furthermore I just committed myself to a HDB flat, maybe in 5 years time I might consider again. Anyway, as a number person, first thing I did was go to their budget section, I found a budget that they did last June and seems like they were spending $1180 USD ($1503 SGD) each month, note that the amount is for Chiang Mai and for two adults, now that lead me wondering what my budget will be if I am to stay in Udon Thani, let's compare! By the way I got the Udon Thani numbers from my wife, very rough estimates though, also for two adults, and

Earlier on, Singapore Thai embassy informed my wife that her passport is ready for collection , so yesterday she went to collect but I forgot to tell her that she also need to update her passport details to ICA as it is a terms and condition of long term pass, Terms & Conditions of Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) "You are required to notify ICA if there is any change in your passport particulars or place of residence within 14 days of the change . You can report a change of address online through your local sponsor via e-Update of Address." And seems like I can only update address online, can't find any function to perform passport update, so I accompanied my wife to ICA today. The process is very simple. 1. Photocopy both the old and new passports' page with photograph, and also photocopy front and back of the LTVP/LTVP+. 2. Proceed to the counter at Level 4 Visitor Services Centre, go to the left side where there is a blue uniformed officer, only that offic

She went to renew her passport at the Singapore Thai Embassy on 23 Dec 2013, so after about 18 days, which is today, she received a phone call from the embassy saying her passport is ready for collection. I think it was quite fast because with the protests going on in Bangkok and news of shutdown, I thought everything would be slower, I was even a bit worried her passport would not be processed if the Thai government got shut down, but luckily it wasn't that bad. My wife also said the staff at the Thai embassy are very rude, I went there once and the lady who attended to us was really rude, it's like she hated her job and she's still got to do it anyway kind of attitude, I thought government staff should be more well trained in terms of attitude since they are representing their country, strange, even weirder is Thai people you meet on the streets in Thailand are much more friendlier.

She took taxi back and fro (damn expensive, $23 to and $25 back!), the process seems to be very straightforward, print out one form, fill it up, bring along Thai ID card, passport, long term pass with a photocopy each and $58, submit and wait for 2-4 weeks (according to the official there). Their operating hours is a bit strange though, can only submit application from 9.15am to 11.30am, collection is only from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. For more details you can check out this link . So if you are planning to travel, please remember to renew your passport before booking any air ticket!

The whole process is exactly the same as LTVP, only difference is when completing formalities, they will say whether it's 1 year or 3 years, it's that simple. Well, 3 years is good, no need to keep renewing every year, can save some money. Oh and the card also looks exactly like LTVP, only difference is there is the word PLUS behind. Next is PR, still waiting for the update, hope they approve it so I can apply BTO, sigh.

I submitted my wife's LTVP renewal on 10 Nov 2013, today 29 Nov 2013, she received the In-Principle Approval, nowadays ICA is really efficient, the first few times it took 4-6 weeks. Now I'm wondering whether she's getting the normal LTVP or the LTVP+, they didn't indicate anywhere, only show Type: Long Term Visit Pass (Renewal), but whatever, still can't buy BTO even if she gets LTVP+, perhaps the only benefit is lower consultation and medication charges when she visits polyclinic to get her Warfarin, and I'm not going to let her see the doctor here if she is pregnant again, even with subsidy, the healthcare charges here is ridiculous, might as well fly her to Thailand, it's way cheaper there. Update: I just remembered one of my visitors mentioned that the time when we will know whether we are getting LTVP or LTVP+ is during the completion of formalities, can refer to following: Link to the post with following comment Contributed by richelle

When you are filling up the form for LTVP or PR application, you will see this section, I always thought because it says "by the present marriage", it means since my wife is married to me, so her parents by the present marriage should be my parents, boy was I wrong, the correct reference should be my wife's parents, not my parents! I confirmed this when I submitted my wife's PR application last month, the officer who attended to us told me very clearly that I should fill in the details of my wife's biological parents, not my parents, and I realized I have been filling in the wrong info all along! Actually when we tried to apply PR for the first time, the officer did tell me that it was wrong, but I asked since that section was referring to my wife's parents, then why put "by the present marriage" behind, I don't remember getting an answer from her and she accepted the application anyway, I hope they didn't reject the PR application because

No hiccup, everything was smooth and we didn't wait too long until our turn, the officer said to wait between 4 to 5 months, I really hope my wife can get PR this time, if reject again, I will definitely appeal, I will want to know why, I will not allow them to happily reject me without giving any reason again. While at ICA, saw quite a few Singaporean guys with their foreign spouse also applying for PR, have Chinese, Vietnam, Indonesian, Thai, and also saw many foreign families applying for PR, Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, I wonder who will be the lucky ones, almost felt like entering a lucky draw. Looking back, this is the second time my wife is trying for PR, last time we tried was in May 2011, that time I was earning S$2850, now S$3480, my salary has increased about 18.1% over the course of 2 years and 5 months, I really hope this helps because this shows that financially I have no problem taking care of my wife, what else would I need to prove? If talking about years of re

The first time I tried, our PR appointment was on 23 May 2011, it was right after the 2011 Singapore General Election (held on 07 May 2011). At that time, anti-foreigner sentiments was strong so our government had to do something about it because the election results was shocking, they lost Aljunied GRC to Worker's Party, overall votes for the ruling party was lower when comparing to previous elections, obviously more people were unhappy with the government. After the GE, they implemented several changes so as to pacify the people, one of it was to reduce the number of foreigners in Singapore, reject immigration and work passes, I'm sure you felt the impact regardless of whether you are a Singaporean or foreigner, I think my wife's application was rejected due to that, otherwise I can't think of any good reason why it would be rejected. At that time, my salary was S$2850 thanks to a full-time employment in a good company i.e. I had a stable job, my wife doesn't

Source First of all, either the father or mother must be a Singaporean. Next you need to know the type of Singaporean the father or mother is. Singapore citizen by Birth - born and raised in Singapore. Singapore citizen by Registration - converted from PR to citizenship. Singapore citizen by Descent - born outside of Singapore and acquired Singapore citizenship. If the Singaporean is father, he must have a lawful marriage before the child is born no matter what type of Singaporean he is. If the Singaporean is father and he was a PR converted to Singaporean, the child must not acquire citizenship of the country he/she was born in. If the Singaporean is mother and she was born in Singapore, the child must be born on or after 15 May 2004. If the Singaporean is mother and she was a PR converted to Singaporean, the child must be born on or after 15 May 2004 AND the child must not acquire citizenship of the country he/she was born in. If the Singaporean is father OR mother

So today a lady from ICA named Nabila called me, she explained that there could be a miscommunication, she asked me what was said to me by my wife, I told her when my wife tried to surrender her LTVP at the immigration counter, the officer asked my wife to provide a cancellation form, my wife then called me while I was on my way back home, and I had to rush back to the departure area, I think I told her almost the whole story which I wrote in my last post , except the part where I tripped and fell at the escalator LOL. After I finished with my storytelling, Nabila sounded very sorry and she apologized, she then said the officer at the counter should have clearly informed my wife on what to do. She said the procedure for surrendering LTVP is to go to the DO Counter (DO for Duty Officer), there my wife will need to fill up a cancellation form to surrender her pass, but this has not been conveyed to my wife. She also said the officer who attended to my wife is her junior and she has spo

My wife left for Thailand today to follow-up on her pregnancy, I read a clause in the Terms and Condition for Long-Term Visit Pass that states the following, Under regulation 8(5)(f) of the Immigration Regulations, should you intend to leave Singapore and return only after the expiry of the Pass issued to you, you are required to surrender this Card to the Immigration Officer at the Checkpoint at the time of your departure . The "you" in the clause refers to the holder of the LTVP i.e. my wife. Her pass is expiring on 31 Dec 2013, and she will return after that date because her expected period of delivery is around Feb 2014, so that means she will have to surrender her pass. But when my wife tried to surrender her pass at the immigration counter, the officer told her to provide a cancellation form, my wife then called me and I rushed back to the departure area, I tripped and fell at the escalator, how clumsy of me. I was panicky because her flight was at 10.55am, by

Source SINGAPORE: A Vietnamese woman and a Singaporean man have become the first couple to be prosecuted under a new law aimed at deterring marriages of convenience. 31-year-old Vietnamese, Tran Thi Kim Phuong, met a Singaporean man in 2009 while on holiday in Singapore and they were said to have fallen in love. But the man was already married. Between 2009 and 2011, Tran travelled to Singapore to be with him. Desperate to stay in Singapore to be with the married Singaporean, Tran agreed to enter into a marriage of convenience with another man - 47-year-old Singaporean Theong Peng Nyuk. Theong was promised a sum of S$5,000 and S$300 for every successful visit pass extension he helped to sponsor. The couple subsequently "registered" their marriage on 31 January 2013. After the solemnisation, they went their separate ways. The couple would only meet up at the ICA Building when Tran needed to extend her Visit Pass. Unknown to them, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

I've been thinking about this question a lot lately, there are thousands of LTVP applications rejected yearly and our fear is not without reason, and from what I know, it's usually because of income, but how much is enough? Just think about this, if the foreign spouse is not able to stay in Singapore and has to stay in his/her homeland, I think it really puts a strain on their relationship and it also puts a strain to both of them financially as they have to travel in order to be together. But in the first place, if it's due to income, then why allow them to marry? Why let them marry and then break them up? If stopping them from marriage is a violation of human rights, then how about stopping a married couple from being together? It's not as if the foreign spouse cannot find employment in Singapore to increase their household income. And foreigners with high salary can easily get a PR, but Singaporeans with low income have to be afraid.