China News Service, July 27. According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority opened in October last year to allow Singaporeans to apply for entry for their overseas boyfriends or girlfriends. Enforcement operations.
Minister of the Interior and Attorney General Shan Mugen pointed out that Singapore has banned the entry of short-term visitors since March 2020, which has caused many Singaporeans to be separated from their overseas partners for a long time.
As a result, the Immigration and Checkpoints Bureau has received requests from many Singaporeans and members of parliament to allow overseas partners to enter.
With the gradual improvement of the epidemic and the gradual recovery of cross-border tourism, the authorities introduced a flexible policy in October last year to allow Singaporeans to reunite with their overseas partners.
Singapore also unilaterally opened its borders to low-risk countries and regions, including Vietnam.
However, after the outbreak in Vietnam worsened, the government announced in February this year that it would suspend the border opening to Vietnam. The Immigration and Checkpoints Bureau then began to receive applications from many Vietnamese requesting entry as a Singaporean’s boyfriend or girlfriend, making the authorities suspicious.
Shang Mugen gave an example: "A Vietnamese applicant has multiple Singaporean guarantors who claim to be boyfriends to assist in entering the country, and a Singaporean guarantor assists multiple girlfriends in applying for entry at the same time."
In addition, some Singaporean guarantors who assisted Vietnamese women in entering the country as girlfriends already have families, while others could not prove their relationship with the applicant.
The Bureau of Immigration and Checkpoints therefore swiftly suspended this plan in March of this year and took immediate action, including withdrawing approval, barring applicants from entering the country, and prohibiting these applicants and guarantors from submitting applications.
Shang Mugen said that foreigners can enter the country through other channels during the epidemic, including the work pass channel of the Ministry of Manpower and the student pass channel of the Ministry of Education, but they must meet the review of these departments.
As for other short-term pass holders who are already in Singapore, the Immigration and Checkpoints Bureau will assess whether to approve the extension of the pass based on the situation.