It is now more important than ever before for expats who are already working in Singapore or working at a local company to submit their Singapore PR application, if they want to live in SG for the long term and also have more stability in their career.
Let us raise a local example. With international travel being at an absolute minimum since commercial airlines were invented, the airlines and tourism industry has been decimated in most countries. Even though SG has pretty much reopened locally, it is still far from the case for other countries, and even more so for international travelling. Our national airlines was not spared from this. As a result, it was recently reported in September 2020 that Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be firing approximately 2,400 staff globally, vast majority of whom will be non citizens and PRs.
There were horror stories of pilots’ whole families who were forced to return to their home countries due to the above retrenchments. That is because them losing their job also resulted in them losing their work passes – which is tied to a particular job, and hence unable to stay in SG for long. The LTVP that their immediate family members had will also be voided as it is tied to the main applicant. This usually means a complete disaster as their kids will also need to adapt to a completely new environment – and likely be treated as a foreigner in their own country as most of them grew up in Singapore.
It is increasingly important that if you want to live and work in our country for the long term, then it is absolutely essential that you convert your work pass to a permanent residence in Singapore, so that you can live and work here indefinitely – even if the industry you are working in right now may be negatively impacted. This is because a permanent resident status is not tied to any particular employment – it is tied to you, the individual. Additionally, if you are one, you can apply that for most of your immediate family members too. In the unfortunate event that something untoward like the above ever happens to you, you will have a back up plan. Being a Singapore PR will enable you to be able to still live and stay in the country indefinitely while you look for a new job. In the meantime, you also need not worry about your child’s education as they can still freely continue their schooling here.
Keep in mind that to ensure that your approval chances are at its highest possible, to be thorough with the documents you submit to ICA, including the testimonials from your previous employer, academic qualifications and certifications and more!