Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Stateless Residents Residing in Singapore as of December 2020, by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the number of stateless residents living in Singapore as of December 2020; and (b) whether more can be done to assist the stateless persons to apply for Singapore citizenship and permanent residency.

Answer:

1. As at 30 November 2020, there were 1,109 stateless persons living in Singapore. 76% of them are Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs), and enjoy various benefits accorded to PRs such as in healthcare, housing and education.

2. When such persons apply for PR or Singapore Citizenship (SC), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) evaluates every application, on a range of criteria including length of stay in Singapore, family profile, economic contributions, education qualifications, age, and family ties to Singaporeans.

3. The ICA also takes into consideration the applicant’s circumstances, including the reasons behind the person’s statelessness. For example, some may have chosen to give up their foreign citizenship, while others may have lost their citizenship not of their volition, for example, deprived by their country of birth for offences committed. Others were born in Singapore but were not eligible for SC at birth as their parents were not Singapore Citizens and did not obtain citizenship for their children from their home country.