An Indian family decided to apply for Singapore Citizenship. Willing to renounce their US citizenship, they decided to move to Singapore to be closer to their family living in India.
Singapore Citizenship for Indian Family
Application Details
| Gender | Male – Applying for self, spouse, and 2 children (1 daughter, 1 son) |
| Country of Origin | India with USA Citizenship |
| Ethnicity | Indian |
| Education | Master Degrees |
| Occupation | Finance & Medical Professionals |
| Social Integration | Regular Donations + Volunteering |
| Number of Years in SG | 5.5 years as PR Holders |
| Reason for Application | Moving permanently from the USA to Singapore to be closer to family in India while at the same time, take advantage of career opportunities in Singapore. |
Citizenship Application Challenges: Age, Son’s Ineligibility to Renounce US Citizenship, Financial Portfolio
- The main applicant, in this case, the husband, is in his mid 50s while his wife is in her mid 40s. This is a concern for the client due to their perceived notion that Singapore prefers the younger generation.
- The couple’s son is only 12 years old and is unable to renounce his US citizenship. The couple worry this would be a hurdle in their Singapore citizenship application as a family and if it would affect their living arrangements due to certain circumstances such as an emergency.
- The couple’s financial portfolio including insurances and investments are tied up in the USA and they do not have a substantial portfolio in Singapore.
Profile Attractiveness Score – 71%
Disclaimer: Please note that this scoring system and analysis is only based on IASG’s knowledge, expertise, and past experiences handling client cases. This is in no way a standard metric to be used to gauge Singapore Citizenship approvals. IASG is not liable for any consequences of the usage of this scoring system and analysis by any person.
Talent & Industry Representation – 85%
The main applicant is a finance professional, the CEO of an asset management company that is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). With Singapore’s global financial hub status and the government’s recent announcement to attract more top global talents in the finance sector, the main applicant’s skills, knowledge, and expertise is very much welcomed.
The main applicant’s wife is in the medical sector, a talent that requires specialised skills. With Singapore’s emphasis on quality healthcare, medical professionals are always in high demand.
Financial Stability & Grounding in Singapore – 65%
Due to their position in career and respective specialisations, both the main applicant and his wife are high income earners. It is important to note that the Singapore government does not approve Permanent Residency statuses to high income earners only. However, income brackets may be indicative of the level of expertise that the applicants have in their respective fields. This is the aspect that the Singapore government tends to look at – skills and knowledge transferability to the local workforce, especially in focus and/or legacy industries such as finance and medical.
Both the applicant and his wife have a sizeable financial portfolio, however, they are in the USA. In Singapore, they do not have a portfolio that shows their financial standing to prove their commitment to live in the country long-term.
Social Integration Efforts – 85%
The main applicant and his family have been donating and volunteering at a local soup kitchen that provides daily meals to the elderly, the disabled, low income families, children from single parent families or poverty stricken families, and migrant workers in Singapore. Their active participation to help the Singaporean community proves their commitment to the country. The family also enjoys their time spent with locals where they could talk and have a good time together.
Age & Nationality Demographics – 50%
Coming from India, the main applicant knows that their chances to get their Singapore Citizenship approved is rather low. People of the Indian race belong to a minority group in Singapore and its makeup is to be maintained between 7 – 9% of the population.
Also, since Singapore is an ageing population, the main applicant and his wife feel that they have an even lower chance to get an approval since they are in their mid 40s and 50s.
IASG’s Case Analysis & Strategy
The main applicant came to IASG knowing that they have a slim chance of getting the Singapore Citizenship due to their ethnicity. They were also in their 40s and 50s and they knew Singapore has bee looking for younger foreign talent to join their ageing, local workforce. However, they wanted to have an immigration expert to assess their profile and advice on how they can strategise and submit their application. In short, they were willing to take the chance!
From the first consultation, the main applicant and his wife were impressed by our consultant’s knowledge about the immigration industry. Instead of focusing on their ethnicity and age, our consultant focused on their profile strengths and advised them on how to use this to their advantage. Initially worried, they became more hopeful after the consultation when we presented to them how we intended to showcase their respective achievements, education, investments, and future plans in Singapore. They thoroughly appreciated the insights that we shared in strategizing their application and presenting a wholesome profile for ICA’s consideration.
Another issue that the main applicant brought up was his son’s ineligibility to renounce his US citizenship before 18 years old. It is known that Singapore does not allow dual citizenship and while the main applicant and his wife are ready to give up their US citizenship, it is not so easy for their son. They have a daughter who is a couple years older than their son but she did not have a problem renouncing her US citizenship. The main applicant is worried if this would hinder their Singapore citizenship approval and how this will affect their lives in Singapore. However, we did not find this to be an issue because their son can still apply for Singapore Citizenship in the future, on his own merits where applicable, after being able to renounce his US citizenship.
Due to their busy schedules, both the main applicant and his wife were pleased that IASG’s document specialist team helped them collate and prepare all of their documents for submission. The guidance provided to them was invaluable and they thought that they would not have been able to prepare the documents on their own due to the intricacies involved.
Lastly, we also convinced them to submit their application within a certain deadline to take advantage of the quota surplus available from the lower approvals during the pandemic.
Singapore Citizenship Application Result: Approved within 12 Months!
The Singapore Citizenship was approved for the whole family within 12 months after their submission. IASG helped them navigate the detailed instructions that came with the IPA to go through the approval formalities.
Testimonial for Kenneth Kwek, IASG’s Manager, Lead Consultant
Kenneth has been a pleasure to work with since the very beginning! We learnt a lot from him on how to navigate through Singapore’s immigration policies and practices. We are very happy to have engaged IASG and highly recommend them to anyone looking for professional Citizenship application.
