Question:
Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs for each year over the last 10 years (a) how many non-Singaporean spouses have applied for permanent residency (PR) and how many applications have been approved; and (b) which specific Asian and non-Asian countries are the successful applicants from, expressed as a percentage of the successful applicants.
Answer:
1. From 2009 to 2018, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority received an average of about 8,600 applications each year for permanent residency (PR) from foreign spouses of Singapore citizens. Of these applicants, an average of about 4,200 were granted PR each year. The average success rate was around 49%.
2. 45% of the successful applicants were from Southeast Asian countries, another 45% were from other Asian countries, and the remainder were from non-Asian countries.
