Singapore Expats

Hi,

I could not find any information pertaining to this so, if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

I have a vietnamese girlfriend who visited Singapore for the first time on Sep 2 and stayed with me until Sep 30. I would like her to return again, but she is worried that she may be denied entry if she returns too soon. Is this likely to be a problem? If so, how long should she wait before she returns. She is not working or "working" in Singapore, but I do not know how to prove that.

If she's only been here once, she'll have no problem coming again. Even if she was daytripping to Johor and returning immediately, Singapore does not usually deny entry on arrival -- if they think you're pushing it, they'll normally give a last warning.

coming in via johor will only give you 1 week visa where as via changi is 1 month. also, if there is a pattern of her in and out of singapore for the purpose of renewal the visa, immigration might look into that at the checkpoint.

Thanks for both your replies. I ended up "risking it" anyway yesterday, and it seems both of your answers are in contradiction to what actually happened. I'll post it for what it's worth.

She flew to KL Tuesday night, stayed the night in KL and took a bus to Singapore (Aeroline) yesterday. On arriving at the Singapore side of immigration, she was questioned about what she was doing in Singapore due to the fact she had just recently spent almost a month here. She answered honestly that she was visiting her boyfriend. She was asked if she was going to work here, she said no. Eventually, they took both her thumb prints and asked her how long she intended to stay. She said around one month, and they gave her a one month stamp.

i wonder why immigration need her fingerprint?

shric wrote:Thanks for both your replies. I ended up "risking it" anyway yesterday, and it seems both of your answers are in contradiction to what actually happened. I'll post it for what it's worth.

And why is this in contradiction to what I said? She was let in for the full month and she wasn't given a "FINAL ENTRY" stamp either, right?

However, as durain said, coming in by land tends to invite additional scrutiny. I doubt they would even have stopped her if she had flown straight in.

As one who lived in Singapore for 11 years on a tourist visa, and 15 years as a PR, I can vouch for the fact that at some point immigration will have had their fill and will let her know that, on one of her trips out, that she will not be allowed back in, or she will be given only a 3 days entry visa to allow her time to collect her belongings and make arrangements to depart for good. I would suggest that you start making contingency plans for when it happens because happen it will. Fact.

Don't say you were not warned.......

jpatokal wrote: And why is this in contradiction to what I said? She was let in for the full month and she wasn't given a "FINAL ENTRY" stamp either, right?

Well, I consider being brought aside, questioned for a while and fingerprinted a "problem" on some level. She was quite scared for a while. Anyway, point taken.

jpatokal wrote: However, as durain said, coming in by land tends to invite additional scrutiny. I doubt they would even have stopped her if she had flown straight in.

I'll suggest she flies next time, thanks.

sundaymorningstaple: thanks, noted...

fly, walk, bus, car, boat - they all the same. immigration will know she is coming in and out for the purpose of renewing her visa. immigration has some excellent computer system.

[edit - cant spell coz going blind looking at red figures all over my screen!]

And some excellent photo recognition software to go with it as well. They've cought quite a number of Filippina's with different passports & names trying to return to Singapore that way.

Denisb - look, I might be dumb, which I am, but really. How are you helping anyone here?

Your post, if you are from some part of Immigration, should be deleted (and it should be anyway, mods), and given you have posted potential ways around immigration then I shall be seeking the IP address of where you posted this from.

Mods, I'll get that IP address from you please.

advising people how to cheat the system is defo a no-no, especially immigration!

Reckon the mods should get the IP addy and pass it on ...