My 5 year plan

[malcontent]

While it still feels like we just moved away from Singapore, there is a high chance that we will move back 5 years from now. We’ll be in our late 50’s and our kids (both born in Singapore) will be in their early/mid-20’s.

Here is our fact pattern:

Me: EP since 1997 (cancelled in 2025)
Wife: PR since 1990’s (family ties / GIP)
Daughter: PR since 2011 / local school
Son: DP (left at age 16) / International School

I would presumably get LTVP, but would want to apply PR.

Wife has PR but wants Singapore citizenship.

Our daughter has PR. She might apply for citizenship eventually, probably depends who she marries.

Our son will have a STEM degree from a Tier 1 university (for COMPASS). I believe EP should be no issue, but dare I even ask about PR? What if he marries a local?

Curious what everyone thinks?

@MOCHS — you usually have a good read on this stuff, what is your assessment?

[MOCHS]

SC for your wife:
Depends if ICA offered SC to her years ago.

If yes but she rejected back then, ICA probably won’t approve the SC.

If no, hard due to age even if she’s still working.

Quite sure PR is approved via one scheme, not more than one scheme. Either she was approved via FTS or GIP, not both. Which scheme was her PR approved on?

SC for daughter:
Should be okay if she applies while young and living & working in SG. If rejected as a single, higher chance if married to SC.

PR for son:
Big question mark when ICA looks at the family history of mum & sis being PR but not him.

Would not be surprised if there is a rejection but if got money to spare for PR application, just treat the application fee as donation.

LTVP for you:
Assuming your wife is the sponsor and she is still working, should be okay.

If rejected, then your PR daughter has to be sponsor once she starts working.

PR for you:
Another big question mark on ICA’s part since you lived here for over 20 years, they can see your family history of wife and daughter having PR but son no PR, which can make it obvious why you didn’t wanna apply PR.

Also would not be surprised if there is a rejection but if you have money to spare, can try.

[malcontent]

SC for your wife:
Depends if ICA offered SC to her years ago.

If yes but she rejected back then, ICA probably won’t approve the SC.

If no, hard due to age even if she’s still working.

Quite sure PR is approved via one scheme, not more than one scheme. Either she was approved via FTS or GIP, not both. Which scheme was her PR approved on?

SC for daughter:
Should be okay if she applies while young and living & working in SG. If rejected as a single, higher chance if married to SC.

PR for son:
Big question mark when ICA looks at the family history of mum & sis being PR but not him.

Would not be surprised if there is a rejection but if got money to spare for PR application, just treat the application fee as donation.

LTVP for you:
Assuming your wife is the sponsor and she is still working, should be okay.

If rejected, then your PR daughter has to be sponsor once she starts working.

PR for you:
Another big question mark on ICA’s part since you lived here for over 20 years, they can see your family history of wife and daughter having PR but son no PR, which can make it obvious why you didn’t wanna apply PR.

Also would not be surprised if there is a rejection but if you have money to spare, can try.

ICA has never offered my wife SC. She got PR via FTS, but because her parent’s got it via GIP back in the 1980’s, they still seem to look at her through the GIP lens when they renew her REP (or even approve our daughter’s PR last time).

I once got a survey from the government asking why I still stayed on EP and didn’t apply for PR or leave SG. The answer was simple, I didn’t leave SG because of family ties, and didn’t apply for PR because I would have been worse off financially due to my employer’s compensation practices. I wouldn’t mind LTVP, but I might want to work just to keep myself busy.

I was thinking if our daughter got SC the elderly parents scheme might help my wife get SC.

[MOCHS]

She got PR via FTS, but because her parent’s got it via GIP back in the 1980’s, they still seem to look at her through the GIP lens when they renew her REP (or even approve our daughter’s PR last time).

To be on the cautious side, we shall default to your wife and daughter getting PR via FTS instead of GIP.

I was thinking if our daughter got SC the elderly parents scheme might help my wife get SC.

Even though this scheme exists, I haven’t seen anyone post on this forum that they successfully got SC via this scheme.

Or the applicants just don’t use forums in general to share a datapoint.

A pity ICA doesn’t publish a breakdown of what schemes the % of successful applicants apply under.

[malcontent]

I too believe that PR for myself will be a challenge, perhaps more so for my son. One close friend of mine who is Malaysian Chinese was in a similar boat (PR mother, schooled in Singapore but never a PR himself) and he was able to get PR successfully, although this was back in the late 1990’s (I know… times change). I recall he had to go down in-person to settle the issue of him being a son of a PR but not having done NS, but he managed to get it resolved since he never had PR and his father was a Malaysian who never had PR either. Definitely no guarantees, but at least not zero. However, LTVP for me and EP for my son would still be a win. I think the longer we stay in SG after that also plays a part in the chance of success.