Understanding the Visa situation

MoM or ICA recognises common law marriage but you may follow this:

the LTVP is catered for common law spouses. in order to apply, you may require:
1) a local sponsor that can be a company (yours preferably) or an individual (has to be PR or citizen)
2) a letter from your embassy/high commission to recognise your relationship as a legal one
3) a statutory declaration from you to acknowledge your relationship with your g/f, preferably stating length of relationship and living together.

I would suggest to engage with a lawyer to make up a document stating your relationship status/duration etc and submit along with other documents at the time of submission.

Check with your employer if they can apply it online. Good luck

1. In most countries that have both, the legal difference between marriage and registered (common law) partnership is small - so I wonder why you consider one and rule out the other.
Both a marriage and a registered partnership (from a country that issues them) entitle her for an LTVP or DP.

2. If she is hired, the employer would have to apply for her work visa - same as in your case. She cannot apply herself.

3. 89 days extensions are granted only very rarely, if there is a good reason to stay that long. Job search is not a good reason.
There is no clear rule about how long to stay away before getting a new tourist visa. Anything looking fishy to the immigration officer can lead to a rejection. A general rule of thumb is to stay away at least as long as you were in the country, for short stays at least a week.

4. Difficult, but it depends of course on her education, work experience and how sought-after her skills are in the Singapore employment market.

surya2k wrote:

MoM or ICA recognises common law marriage but you may follow this:

the LTVP is catered for common law spouses. in order to apply, you may require:
1) a local sponsor that can be a company (yours preferably) or an individual (has to be PR or citizen)
2) a letter from your embassy/high commission to recognise your relationship as a legal one
3) a statutory declaration from you to acknowledge your relationship with your g/f, preferably stating length of relationship and living together.

I would suggest to engage with a lawyer to make up a document stating your relationship status/duration etc and submit along with other documents at the time of submission.

Check with your employer if they can apply it online. Good luck

Thanks for the response.

So even if I am the EP holder, a letter from her (non EP holder) high commission would be enough to qualify her as a LTVP? I can't get one from my Embassy (me being the EP holder).

That's great news, it would certainly help with timing for her to progress to an S or EP in her own merit

beppi wrote:

1. In most countries that have both, the legal difference between marriage and registered (common law) partnership is small - so I wonder why you consider one and rule out the other.
Both a marriage and a registered partnership (from a country that issues them) entitle her for an LTVP or DP.

2. If she is hired, the employer would have to apply for her work visa - same as in your case. She cannot apply herself.

3. 89 days extensions are granted only very rarely, if there is a good reason to stay that long. Job search is not a good reason.
There is no clear rule about how long to stay away before getting a new tourist visa. Anything looking fishy to the immigration officer can lead to a rejection. A general rule of thumb is to stay away at least as long as you were in the country, for short stays at least a week.

4. Difficult, but it depends of course on her education, work experience and how sought-after her skills are in the Singapore employment market.

Thank you, Beppi.

So a certificate from her Embassy is enough to qualify her under my EP? The reason we don't want to rush marriage because of her religious beliefs. I'm ok with waiting. Maybe it will happen soon, maybe later. For now I'm working on the basis we will move to Singapore in a relationship recognised by her Government as common law marriage. If this is enough for a LTVP that's fine!

2. Perfect, thought so!

3. Oh, thanks for the rule of thumb. Makes sense!

4. Understood, thanks. I think she would do fine, just will be harder than me who has the luxury of having someone sort it for me. I'm not worried about me being rejected, we're one of the largest firms in the city and have hundreds of people moving to/from singapore each year

MikkelE123 wrote:

surya2k wrote:

MoM or ICA recognises common law marriage but you may follow this:

the LTVP is catered for common law spouses. in order to apply, you may require:
1) a local sponsor that can be a company (yours preferably) or an individual (has to be PR or citizen)
2) a letter from your embassy/high commission to recognise your relationship as a legal one
3) a statutory declaration from you to acknowledge your relationship with your g/f, preferably stating length of relationship and living together.

I would suggest to engage with a lawyer to make up a document stating your relationship status/duration etc and submit along with other documents at the time of submission.

Check with your employer if they can apply it online. Good luck

Thanks for the response.

So even if I am the EP holder, a letter from her (non EP holder) high commission would be enough to qualify her as a LTVP? I can't get one from my Embassy (me being the EP holder).

That's great news, it would certainly help with timing for her to progress to an S or EP in her own merit

High commissioner office recognises your both relationship and writes a letter with the detailed duration of relationships and other information would be considered as valid and MoM & ICA do recognise.

It would be better your employer process this and apply for LTVP + ( it allows her to work in Singapore). Good luck

surya2k wrote:

MikkelE123 wrote:

surya2k wrote:

MoM or ICA recognises common law marriage but you may follow this:

the LTVP is catered for common law spouses. in order to apply, you may require:
1) a local sponsor that can be a company (yours preferably) or an individual (has to be PR or citizen)
2) a letter from your embassy/high commission to recognise your relationship as a legal one
3) a statutory declaration from you to acknowledge your relationship with your g/f, preferably stating length of relationship and living together.

I would suggest to engage with a lawyer to make up a document stating your relationship status/duration etc and submit along with other documents at the time of submission.

Check with your employer if they can apply it online. Good luck

Thanks for the response.

So even if I am the EP holder, a letter from her (non EP holder) high commission would be enough to qualify her as a LTVP? I can't get one from my Embassy (me being the EP holder).

That's great news, it would certainly help with timing for her to progress to an S or EP in her own merit

High commissioner office recognises your both relationship and writes a letter with the detailed duration of relationships and other information would be considered as valid and MoM & ICA do recognise.

It would be better your employer process this and apply for LTVP + ( it allows her to work in Singapore). Good luck

Oh so just to get this 100% clear - sorry to be a pain and thanks a million for your help:

If we go to the Canadian embassy here in London, and get some documentation that shows we've been in a relationship for the last few years, I can then use this proof with my employer who can request a LTVP for her? There is no issue at all that the embassy letter is from her nationality (not mine as the EP holder?).

I also didn't know that LTVP can work? I thought you needed a DP for work? Looking at MOM Website it says:
Holding LTVP or LTVP+
If you are holding a Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP or LTVP+) issued by ICA, you can work in Singapore if you get a Letter of Consent (LOC).

So she would need a Letter of Consent (from my company, or a new one? She wouldn't work at my company). And with this Letter of Consent she can get a job without getting an S pass or E pass?

Ok - Thanks again! Visa situations are always daunting and you read something 20 times and end up causing yourself to doubt! I'll raise this with my HR and legal contact when we start the process (I didn't want to start, and then find out she can't work and cancel wasting my time and everyone elses).

I don‘t think an embassy can register marriages and common law partnerships - usually this is done by the family registries of a country, not embassies if another country within it (otherwise this could cause confusing constellations where you are at the same time in and not in a partnership, from a legal standpoint).
Just an informal letter (from an embassy or whoever) saying that you have been tigether for a while is not enough, it must be a registered common law partnership or marriage!

DP and LTVP holders can apply for an LoC from MoM, which allows them to work.

beppi wrote:

I don‘t think an embassy can register marriages and common law partnerships - usually this is done by the family registries of a country, not embassies if another country within it (otherwise this could cause confusing constellations where you are at the same time in and not in a partnership, from a legal standpoint).
Just an informal letter (from an embassy or whoever) saying that you have been tigether for a while is not enough, it must be a registered common law partnership or marriage!

DP and LTVP holders can apply for an LoC from MoM, which allows them to work.

I'll work with legal at work because on some other reddit topics I've seen this:

CHECK LIST:

LTVP forms

Statutory Declaration made by EP holder signed by embassy

Letter from embassy signed by embassy

Any and all supporting documents (tenancy agreements, contracts, bills, whatever)

ID's (passports, partners EP, passport photo attached to LTVP)

That is what we did and my partner was approved in record MoM time - less than 24 hours. Hopefully you have success to.


We have all of the above, other than the declaration and embassy letter

Thanks again! I feel like I'm a confusing case

Please report back if it worked (and what kind of letter you got), so we can learn and advice future inquirers better. Thanks!

beppi wrote:

Please report back if it worked (and what kind of letter you got), so we can learn and advice future inquirers better. Thanks!

Will do, and thanks again for your help! I'll start working with HR and legal because I'm optimistic I can work it out!

I'll update you, but it will probably be in a few months. We're targeting August