Singapore Immigration Guide

This article provides an introduction to Singapore's key immigration policies, current statistics and future trends. As a nation shaped by constant migration, about 40% of Singapore's total population are either migrants or descendants of early colonial period migrants such as the Chinese, Indians and Malays. 

Singapore Immigration: Foreign Talent vs Foreign Worker Policy

Singapore's immigration policy, according to a UNESCO paper can be described as one that "maximises the economic benefits of immigration while minimising its social and economic costs". For instance, early immigration policy emphasized a lot on the immigrant's potential economic contribution (of course this is still true today) but there was a exclusive criteria for selection of immigrants whose cultural background matched or were similar to that of the local Singaporean population (e.g. Malaysians). As the country's labour needs changed, so did its sources of foreign talent. Currently, skilled workers and professionals are sought from different parts of the world while unskilled workers are predominantly sought from the Asian region. 

Under the Singapore Employment Act, a foreigner must have a valid work visa to be able to work in Singapore. Today, foreign work force in Singapore is categorized into two broad groups: foreign talent and foreign workers. Foreign talent are skilled employees that have professional business or educational background, whereas foreign workers are the unskilled labour force. 

For information on types of work visas available for skilled professionals, refer to Singapore Work Visa page. Skilled professionals and entrepreneurs that are living in Singapore on a work visa are eligible to apply for a permanent residence in due course. A permanent resident status may be granted within 6 months to 2 years while citizenship eligibility may take up about 2 to 10 years of residence.

Unskilled workers on a work visa are permitted to work in Singapore for a certain period of time only and thereafter are expected to return to their home country. 

Singapore Immigration Welcomes Foreign Entrepreneurs

The World Bank report "Doing Business" has consistently ranked Singapore as the easiest country to conduct business, outranking the United States, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Testimonial to this is the fact that setting-up a business (incorporation) in Singapore takes close to 4 days and 4 procedures compared to the Asia-Pacific region's average time of 44.2 days and 8.6 procedures. The OECD countries' average is 13.4 days and 5.8 procedures. The ease of hiring and relocation in Singapore also leads the Asia-Pacific region and OECD countries by around 20 places.  

Table 4. Ease of Doing Business in Singapore Index (source: The World Bank - Doing Business Report)

Table 5. Starting a Business in Singapore Difficulty Indicators (source: The World Bank - Doing Business Report)

Table 6. Employing Workers in Singapore Difficulty Indicators (source: The World Bank - Doing Business Report)

Singapore welcomes entrepreneurs with open arms that have a successful track record of doing business. Foreign entrepreneurs and business professionals who are interested in doing business in Singapore have the choice of obtaining Entrepreneur Pass or Employment Pass. Successful applicants can also bring their immediate family members to Singapore on Dependant Pass. With a dependant's pass, your spouse can work in Singapore while your children can attend government or private schools and universities in Singapore. 

Brief History of Singapore Immigration

Singapore began as a migrant nation with Malay fishermen being the first settlers. Then, with the arrival of the British with Sir Stamford Raffles, the influx of migrants heightened in conjunction with new trade and commerce opportunities. They came from the Southern regions of China notably the Hainan province, neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, India and even from the Middle East. In this early period of the 1900s, there was little or no control on immigration. Foreign workers came and went according to service-demands while others decided to stay and eventually became naturalised Singaporeans.

Control was first enforced in 1919 in the form of the 'Passengers Restriction Ordinance' which sought to regulate the arrival of newcomers. However, foreigners born in Singapore and Malaya were not affected. Then in 1933, with the establishment of the Immigration Department, the 'Aliens Ordinance' was enforced introducing a fixed quota for alien immigration.

As Singapore gained independence from the British (1959), joined and separated the Malaysian Federation (1963-65) and finally as a sovereign state (9 August 1965), more comprehensive ordinances were enforced to foster better immigration control and security. For instance, in 1978, exit controls were set-up at all check-points (sea and air) island-wide to handle information of foreigners' movements in and out of Singapore. Singapore also expanded its missions and consulates overseas. Amended ten times since 1966, the Singapore Immigration Act is the all-encompassing statute for immigration in Singapore.

With the advent of computers and mass-travel of the 1980s and 1990s, a service-oriented immigration came into place. Singapore's immigration emphasized heavily on automation while maintaining security. Frequent travelers' fingerprints stored in smart cards were introduced in 1996 to facilitate faster and automated immigration clearance.

Singapore Immigration: Current Statistics 

Of the 4.8 million people currently residing in Singapore, about 478,000 are Permanent Residents (PR). The profile of these PR's include students, professionals and entrepreneurs who decided to stay in Singapore after finishing their studies, establishing their careers or own businesses.

Table 1. Singapore Population Overview (source: SingStat)

1January-June data; 2June data; 3refers to the number of persons aged 15-64 years per elderly person aged 65 years over.

Each year about 60,000 foreigners are granted PR status. In contrast, granting of a citizenship status is more stringent with only 15-17,000 approved yearly. Aside from Singapore's economic advantages, foreigners cite tax incentives and health and education benefits that come from being a PR or citizen as their main motivators to apply. 

Table 2. Persons Granted PR (source: SingStat)

Table 3. Persons Granted Citizenship (source: SingStat)

For more comprehensive information on topics related to Singapore immigration, work visas, permanent residence, and citizenship, refer to Singapore Immigration section of this website. 

Other Related Topics

Singapore Immigration | EntrePass | Employment Pass