Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Applications for Citizenship Permanent Residence and Long-Term Visit Passes by Foreigner Spouses of Singaporeans by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

727. Mr Zaqy Mohamad : To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in each of the last five years, how many foreign spouses of Singaporeans have applied for citizenship, permanent residence and long-term visit passes respectively; (b) what is the success rate; and (c) what proportion of these applicants for permanent residence and citizenship who have Singaporean spouses or children were not successful.

Answer:

1. From 2012 to 2016, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority received an annual average of about 6,600 Singapore Citizenship (SC), 8,700 Permanent Residence (PR) and 16,600 Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) applications from foreign spouses of Singaporeans. Over the same period, an annual average of 4,500, 4,300 and 13,900 foreign spouses of Singaporeans were granted SC, PR and LTVP respectively. The corresponding success rates were around 68%, 49% and 84%.

2. ICA is unable to break down the data by whether these individuals had any Singapore Citizen children.