Restrictions or quotas for LTVP applications for foreign spouses and breakdown of approval and rejection rates by nationality over past five years

Question:

Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether there are nationality-based restrictions or quotas for Long-Term Visit Pass applications for foreign spouses; and (b) what are the approval and rejection rates by nationality over the past five years.


Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. For Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) applications for foreign spouses of Singapore Citizens (SCs) and Permanent Residents (PRs), several factors are taken into account, including the length of marriage, whether the couple has children from the marriage, the a bility of the sponsor to support the family, and the presence of adverse records.

2. We do not publish detailed criteria either for the above applications or other applications for residency. Publishing such criteria could affect our international relations. Second, it might also help people game our system.

3. For similar reasons, we do not publish approval and rejection rates by nationality, as this could cause bilateral sensitivities and is not in our national interest.