PR rejection - looking for reasons

[Guest2017]

Hi,

My PR was recently rejected after a >15 month wait time and a family CV check. I'm pretty gutted and am trying to work out why. Without sounding over-confident, I felt like (and was told by others) that my profile was very competitive and, given how long I had waited, was likely to get a "Yes". Want to gather thoughts on potential reasons so I can decide whether to give it another try or to cut my losses and move somewhere else.

Background
- 27 yo, M
- Natioanlity: Hong Kong (ethnically Chinese)
- Status: Single/unmarried
- Length of stay: 2 years at application, 3 years at rejection
- Education: Top-tier Ivy League / Oxbridge
- Profession: Consulting / financial services
- Salary: ~SGD140K p.a.

Potential reasons I could think of
1. Travel schedule: I've been travelling on a near-weekly basis for work since I lodged my application, but have made sure I came back to SG for at least 2 weekends a month
2. Missed tax payment: In my first year here, I'd missed my tax notice and only paid up after receiving a "final ultimatum" from IRAS
3. No cover letter?

Let me know if you guys think any of the above (or other reasons) could have contributed to the rejection, and do you think they will continue to be a problem if I apply for round 2?

[nelyanne]

2 main reasons:
- being single and childless
- short stay

[Addadude]

I think you'll find that the starting point to answering your question is in the status itself: "Permanent Resident." As in you want to make Singapore your permanent home.

So, the determining factor for ICA is how serious you are about living here permanently - with the ultimate goal of becoming a Singapore citizen.

On the plus side, you are of the (unspoken) desired ethnicity and, with your HK background, integration into Singapore society should not be an issue.

But on the negative side, you have only being here 3 years, (and just 2 years at your time of application). Also, your consulting/financial services profession is by its nature highly mercenary and mobile. It is not unusual for people in your role to move to a different country at the drop of a hat for a bigger salary. And in fact your hefty travel schedule, which seems to indicate that you have spent longer outside Singapore than in it, underlines how easily transferable and therefore 'temporary' you are.

You will need to show that you are committed to living here and establishing roots.

You should first ask yourself why you want to become a permanent resident. Then how serious you are about it. Because, if you are serious about it, you will probably need to change your travel schedule and limit the amount of time you spend away from Singapore. Then after a couple of years of that, apply again.

(And yes, marrying a Singapore citizen, and having a kid (preferably NS cannon fodder) will go a long way towards 'proving' your willingness to integrate.)

[MOCHS]

Coming back to SG 2 weekends a month is about 48 days a year which doesn’t show a strong indication of living here permanently in SG.

I agree with Addadude. Change your travel schedule to ensure you are in SG majority of the time.

[raptor_from_vietnam]

Anecdotally, I heard that finance/consulting is a very competitive field for PR application. I have only heard of one single successful case within my circle of friends who are in finance. On the contrary, lots of my friends who work in tech got it. I think the gov has identified certain sectors as "favorable" and some as "unfavorable". They may think that there is a shortage of local talents in tech sector, but there is no similar shortage in finance. Being a Chinese from Hong Kong is surely better than being a non-Chinese, but it is also not the 1st tier in terms of preference. It goes like 1 - Malaysian Chinese, 2 - Indonesian Chinese, 3 - other SEA Chinese, 4 - mainland Chinese, 5 - HK/TW Chinese, 6 - people from the West who are of Chinese descent.

[Strong Eagle]

Too much travel... do you have a permanent residence in Singapore? Looks like you don't live on the red dot, at all and could get weekend hotel rates. Like MOCHS said, 48 days is nowhere near "permanent".

Single - to easy for you to uproot for the right opportunity - no staying power.

Short stay - only 2 years to apply - they did vet you, though, since it took a year. You are on EP, right?

Wrong profession - financial services - too much mobility in this field, you could get transferred tomorrow

Cover letter is useless

Missed tax payment probably didn't help; you don't follow the rules.

My guess is that it will be a waste of time to appeal or to apply again in a short period of time. You need to check some boxes that would show that you would actually be a long term PERMANENT resident... so far, you have zero boxes checked.