Singapore Expats

So I have a job offer for march next year. Employment pass and medical coverage will also be taken care of by the employer. Salary is well above 8000 SGD per month.

I want to take my girlfriend with me. We are both EU citizens.
Obviously she wants to find work in Singapore as well, but truth be told we do not expect her get an amazing job applying from overseas.

What are the options we should consider to make her stay and jobsearch as easy as possible.

-Getting married for the law now, in our EU country. Then applying for dependant's pass.

This to me sounds a bit shady and I would rather not

-Leaving the country every 90 days to avoid VISA overstay.

Also not ideal, plus it will not help with the job search

-Landing a well paid job already from overseas, including her own employment pass

Ideal, but not likely given her education/experience


Other possibilities we should consider?

IF, and only if, your home country recognizes common law marriages (aka defacto relationships) AND if, and only, if, your lazy ass embassy staff are willing to write a letter stating that you are in a relationship recognized as such by your home country laws you can apply for a DP on the basis of common law marriage without an offical marriage cert.

Lots of "if then". I don't think France or the UK do this now but I can be wrong as my wife once claimed.

Good luck with leaving the country every 90 days...under COVID environment, too much risk for quarantine imposition upon sudden re-emergence.


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BBCDoc wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 7:42 pm

Good luck with leaving the country every 90 days...under COVID environment, too much risk for quarantine imposition upon sudden re-emergence.


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Hmm fair point. Although we are talking about march next year,.... this Covid thing might disappear very quickly after the US elections.

PNGMK wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 5:10 pm

IF, and only if, your home country recognizes common law marriages (aka defacto relationships) AND if, and only, if, your lazy ass embassy staff are willing to write a letter stating that you are in a relationship recognized as such by your home country laws you can apply for a DP on the basis of common law marriage without an offical marriage cert.

Lots of "if then". I don't think France or the UK do this now but I can be wrong as my wife once claimed.

Thanks will have a look into that.

If we can't arrange anything, she can still join me on a 90 day visa for EU citizens I suppose? Or can she not even enter without a job/legal reason to enter?

PNGMK wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 5:10 pm

IF, and only if, your home country recognizes common law marriages (aka defacto relationships) AND if, and only, if, your lazy ass embassy staff are willing to write a letter stating that you are in a relationship recognized as such by your home country laws you can apply for a DP on the basis of common law marriage without an offical marriage cert.

Lots of "if then". I don't think France or the UK do this now but I can be wrong as my wife once claimed.

Common law marriage can only get LTVP, not DP. UK does not recognize common law marriage... there is a thread around here somewhere on that subject.

In 1999, France enacted a law of cohabitation. "In France, the common law provides no obligation to cohabitants does not provide protection of one by the other, no joint liability of expenses on everyday life."

In other words, it provides no legal protection. I would be surprised if the French authorities would provide a common law marriage declaration, because that implies the same sort of marital contract as a legal marriage.

I thought I made a mistake once. Turned out I was wrong. Wife pointed it out to me.

ALLIN wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 4:38 pm

-Leaving the country every 90 days to avoid VISA overstay.

Generally visa runs won't work in the long term. The visa is for tourism and most tourists don't spend that long in Sg and don't return frequently. ICA will catch on pretty quickly and she may eventually be barred from returning.

However there are exceptions and it is often country dependent. I did know a guy that lived here for about 3 years doing just that. He was from Europe.

ALLIN wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 10:28 pm

BBCDoc wrote: ↑

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 7:42 pm

Good luck with leaving the country every 90 days...under COVID environment, too much risk for quarantine imposition upon sudden re-emergence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hmm fair point. Although we are talking about march next year,.... this Covid thing might disappear very quickly after the US elections.

Unless the virus burns itself out (which is possible, but seems unlikely given it's been going around for almost a year now), covid seems unlikely to "disappear" for a couple of years.
Even if the vaccine is successful by the year-end, getting it produced and distributed is going to be extremely challenging. This will be the fastest and largest vaccine production in history from what I've read.

Just get married, elope over a weekend or something. We did, no regrets at all, makes everything easier, no BS, no explanations, no asking for forms or waivers.

TropicalExpat I think Allin may be alluding to a theory in some circles right now that the virus is a hoax or is being spread on purpose specifically to skew the US election. I don't get it personally, but whatevs. I could be wrong too, and I apologize Allin if I am and I offended you in some way, not my intent here at all. But its a huge point of contention right now for many people.