Immigration to Singapore

Singapore is an attractive destination especially in the region as it is a country with a strong currency that offers high living standards, including in education, work, wages and safety as well as an overall far higher quality of life compared to its neighbours.

Immigration is historically the main impetus for population growth in the country since the founding of modern Singapore in the early 19th century due to its strategic location.

During the 19th to 20th centuries, Singapore developed into a thriving and major entrepôt as immigrants and merchants from all over Asia were attracted by its free trade policy.

This time, the initial strict controls on immigrant workers were relaxed as demand for labour grew with increased industrialisation.

[2] The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) publishes a number of criteria for eligibility for anyone who wishes to reside, study and work in Singapore.

[3] The demographics of Singapore mainly consists of ethnic Chinese, Malay and Indian, who collectively make up virtually the entirety of its citizen population (98.4%).

The founding of colonial Singapore as a free port led to a rapid influx of people, initially mostly Malays, quickly followed by Chinese.

Chinese migrants started to enter Singapore from the Straits area and southern China to trade just months after it became a British settlement.

[12] Change in social attitude in the modern era also meant that Chinese women were freer to emigrate from China, and the sex ratio began to normalise in the 20th century, which led to a much greater number of people being born in Singapore.

This and increasing job opportunities in Malaysia meant that the previous high level of movement of people between the two countries fell significantly.

However, a lower rate of natural growth in population and the need for low-skill labour resulted in a deliberate shift in policy by the Singapore government to allow more foreigners to live and work in the country, and net migration increased in the 1980-1990 period to nearly 200,000.

Malaysia is the main source of immigrants in Singapore (386,000 in 2010), followed by China, Hong Kong, and Macau, then South Asia, Indonesia, and other Asian countries.

[18] According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2020, the total number of foreign born individuals in Singapore was standing at a population of 2,523,648.

The majority of them come from places such as China,[20] Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, as part of bilateral agreements between Singapore and these countries.

On 24 July 1998, the Singaporean government first constructed a system under which different types of employment passes (EP) are issued to migrant workers according to their qualifications and monthly salaries.

In 1981, the government even announced its intention to phase out all unskilled foreign workers by the end of 1991, except domestic maids and those employed in construction and shipyards.

[26] The levy and the "dependency ceiling"[27] have remained the two instruments with which the government has regulated worker inflow in line with changes in domestic labour-market conditions.

From 1 September 2012 only foreign workers with earnings of at least SG$4,000 (US$3,150) per month can sponsor their spouses and children for their stay in Singapore and some of them are also not allowed to bring their parents and in-laws on long-term visit passes.

The new regulation also impacts those who switch companies on/after the date, but foreign workers whose families are already in Singapore won't be affected.

[32] The motion was passed[33] albeit after amendments made to leave out "population policy" and add focus on infrastructure and transport development.

[34] Member of Parliament Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party of Singapore had criticised current measures of increasing the fertility rate, claiming that the high cost of living and lack of family and social support discouraged young couples from having babies.

[43][44][45] The government have also spoken out against a rising anti-foreigner sentiment after Singaporeans expressed outrage at disparaging statements made by foreigners residing in Singapore.

[49][50][51][52] British national Anton Casey had posted comments on Facebook which had abused, variously, a taxi driver and Singaporean commuters on public transport in general.

[53] Casey comments also made headlines on various news outlets in his native country of the United Kingdom, with other Britons criticising his behaviour and that he should be deported.

He was eventually fired from his job as a nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and sentenced to four months imprisonment at the State Court for his various seditious posts and lying to the police, with the judge adding that not only did he incite "public disquiet and impassioned responses", but also potentially harmed relations between Singaporeans and Filipinos, especially when local-foreigner relations are a "challenging fault line in society".