It is exciting to become a Permanent Resident (PR) of Singapore. As a PR, you are eligible for many amazing benefits. However, the application process can be quite tedious at times and, frankly, quite time-consuming at times. To increase your chances of approval, you should do your research thoroughly and practice enough due diligence when you go through the application process.
I created this PR Application Checklist to make it easier for people to navigate through these steps. You can print this and complete these sections one at a time. Follow this checklist in the given Order to manage the entire process with a seamless experience.
The first question obviously is, are you qualified to apply for Singapore PR? All foreigners in Singapore can not apply for PR. Only people on specific visas and statuses are allowed to apply for PR. You are eligible to apply for PR if you are ;
Have you met one or more of the criteria above? Great! Let's move on.
The next question now is to decide whether you want to apply for PR. This question might appear unusual to some. However, certain disadvantages come with Singapore PR. This we have covered in another document on our site. Do go through that list and carefully consider the drawbacks.
There are a large number of benefits that you can enjoy after becoming a Singapore PR. As a Singapore permanent resident, you get the right to live, work, and socially integrate, just like a Singapore citizen; there are no visa restrictions. Other huge advantages include visa-free travel, family proximity, and career flexibility. Your children get priority placement in public schools of Singapore, and you also enjoy medical and housing perks. The Singapore government also offers various tax relief schemes to PRs. Becoming a PR also means that you are on the road to becoming a full-fledged Singapore Citizen.
There are not many disadvantages, and most of them are subjective. However, from an unbiased or neutral point of view, there will be disadvantages if you choose to renounce your PR status. Singapore has a lean population, and thousands of talents are attracted to gain PR status here. If you abandon your Singapore permanent residency, it will be harder for you to acquire it again. Another disadvantage with your PR status is that all your healthy male children must serve the Singapore National Services once they reach the required age.
Consider all the aspects of the decision and then conclude. If you have decided to apply for Singapore PR, then great! Let's move ahead.
Once you have compiled all the necessary documents, the next step will be to download and fill out the application form.
To access the Singapore PR Application form, you first need to log in to the ICA website 🠞 Pass holder 🠞 Apply PR section. After logging in, you will be then presented with an option which is as shown in this image.
You can download the Singapore PR Application Form 4A in PDF format, fill up all the details in that PDF form and then upload it for further processing. The other option is to fill in the details directly in the ICA system. The recommended way by ICA themselves is to follow the PDF method.
The details required for the Singapore PR application are quite extensive. If you are applying with family and have an extensive work history, you will be preparing details that may span over 10-12 pages. This is a lot of material. Therefore it is not recommended to enter this directly in the system. It is better to fill up these details in the PDF and upload them.
After downloading fill-up form 4A using adobe acrobat reader, this process will take some time as ICA has asked a lot of details in it. After completing the form, do check the details again.
To apply for PR, you need to compile all the required documents once you know you qualify. Since this topic has already been covered in great detail in another article on our website, we will not go into considerable detail here, but these are the general documents (scanned copies) you will need to prepare for the PR application. This article focuses on the PTS documents since most people apply under the PR-PTS scheme.
Now check each of the documents for the below questions. If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you may need to take some corrective actions for the same.
If there are issues with any documents, you may need to carry out some additional steps to obtain a complaint document.
When you have completed the PDF and are ready to start the filing process, you will need to use the "Upload form" option to upload your completed file to the e-PR system. Once you upload the form, the ICA e-PR system will extract all the details from the form and present it to you for confirmation.
The ICA system will ask you to confirm all the details after you upload form 4A. Here you will confirm whether the details of each person are correct. These details are extracted from the PDF form you have uploaded.
Your next step will be to upload the required copies of the documents one by one. The ICA e-PR system determines which documents must be uploaded based on the information you provide in your PR application form. The average family of four uploads approximately 50 scanned copies of documents.
Upon uploading your documents, you will have to pay a fee of 100 SGD per person included in your application.
Once you have completed all the above steps, you have completed the process. The average waiting time is between 6 months and 15 months.
ICA should be notified immediately if your profile undergoes any significant changes during this period.