Our government treats its citizens’ foreign spouses worst off than non-citizens?

15th January 2013

10,000 foreign spouses of Singaporeans denied stay in Singapore last 5 years?

4,300 foreign spouses rejected for PR yearly

I refer to the article “4,300 foreign spouses rejected for PR yearly” (Straits Times, Jan 15).

It states that “These rejected applications from 2007 to 2011 were sponsored by Singaporeans.

480 foreign spouses rejected as citizens yearly

In the same period, about 480 applications by foreign spouses to be citizens were rejected each year.

He did not say how many applications were received.”

Rejection rate?

Without the number of applications, how do we know the success rate of applications?
2,000 foreign spouses rejected for LTVP yearly

As to “there were 13,500 Long-Term Visit Pass applications each year on average from foreign spouses of Singaporeans, between 2007 and 2011.

Success rate for PRs higher than citizens?

Of these, about 11,500 were approved each year” – This means that the success rate is about 85 per cent.

Since “there were 4,300 Long-Term Visit Pass applications a year on average from foreign spouses of PRs.

About 4,000 were approved each year”, the success rate is about 93 per cent.

Why is it that the approval success rate for PRs is higher than citizens?

10,000 foreign spouses denied stay in Singapore?

Does this mean that about 10,000 foreign spouses of Singaporeans were not allowed to stay in Singapore with their Singaporean spouses, over the last five years?

How many have children?

How many of such rejected foreign spouses have children born by their SIngaporean spouses?

Financial burden for Singaporean spouses?

The financial burden of Singaporeans whose foreign spouses’ applications for Long-Term Visit Passes, PR or citizenship were unsuccessful, may be greater as there are less benefits, like LTVPs having to pay up to five times more than citizens for healthcare fees.

Percentage of LTVP-Plus?

What percentage of LTVPs are on the LTVP-Plus which have a longer duration and better benefits than LTVPs?

Why do we discriminate against the foreign spouses of Singaporeans into LTVPs and LTVP-Plus? Why do we give LTVP-Plus to foreigners’ and PRs’ foreign spouses, which are better than LTVPs for some SIngaporeans’ foreign spouses?

How many LTVPs and LTVP-Plus have been given to the foreign spouses of foreigners who are not PRs?

By the same token, is it equitable to have policies which make SIngaporeans’ foreign LTVP spouses pay more for healthcare than PRs or foreigners on LTVP-Plus?

Some citizens’ foreign spouses worst off than non-citizens?

Putting aside the residency status or pass granted, as a matter of principle, shouldn’t the foreign spouses of SIngaporeans be given equal instead of inferior treatment compared to non-citizens (PRs), their foreign spouses or foreigners’ spouses on LTVP-Plus?

Are there any developed countries in the world that treat their citizens’ foreign spouses worst off than non-citizens?

Perhaps we may have lost our sense of proportion somewhat, as it seems that we may be more liberal in granting 259,040 PRs, 92,310 new citizens and an unknown number of LTVPs to foreigners’ foreign spouses over the last five years, than residency status to the foreign spouses of Singaporeans.

This may arguable underscore a general lack of respect for the rights and priviledges of citizenship in Singapore, which most developed countries accord to their citizens, whether by way of foreign spouse residency, employment, etc.

article written by Leong Sze Hian