Immigration to Singapore


Immigration to Singapore is the human migration of foreign nationals to Singapore for the purpose of residing there. Under Singapore nationality law and immigration law and policy, the jurisdiction offers permanent residency and citizenship to foreigners. Pull factors of Singapore include its strong currency, high living standards, high quality of life, low tax rates, and ease of doing business.
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 across Asia were attracted by its free trade policy. For a long period after its founding, the majority of Singapore's population were immigrants. These immigrants also formed the bulk of the modern Singaporean population today. In the 1930s, the number of native births in Singapore overtook net immigration.
After its separation and independence in 1965, immigration laws were modified in 1966 to reinforce Singapore's identity as a sovereign state. Initial strict controls on immigrant workers were relaxed as demand for labour grew with increased industrialisation. Immigration would again become the largest contributor to population increase in Singapore in the late 20th century and early 21st century. These recent immigration and immigrant workers in Singapore have been closely associated with the development of the economy of Singapore. At the same time, rates of immigrants into Singapore after the 1990s raised concerns and discontent among citizens, and curbs on immigration were introduced, resulting in a more stringent immigration policy since the 2010s. In 2022, the government introduced a points-based immigration system for skilled applicants who wish to work in Singapore.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority publishes a number of criteria for eligibility for anyone who wishes to reside, study and work in Singapore. Additionally, immigration is controlled to maintain the relative demographics of race in Singapore within the at roughly 75% ethnic Chinese, 15% Malay and 7% Indian, with a remaining 1–3% belonging to "other races".

History

Early immigration

Early population figures show that, for a long period of time, the growth of population in Singapore was fuelled by immigration that started soon after Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819. The founding of colonial Singapore as a free port led to a rapid influx of people, initially mostly Malays, quickly followed by Chinese. It was estimated that when Raffles arrived in Singapore in January 1819, Singapore had about 120 Malays, 30 Chinese and some indigenous Orang Laut tribe members. Another estimate put the total population of Singapore at 1,000, mostly of various local tribes. By 1821, the population was estimated to have increased to 4,724 Malays and 1,150 Chinese. Javanese, Bugis and Balinese also began to arrive. In the first census of 1824, out of the 10,683 total, 6,505 were Malays and Bugis constituting over 60% of the population. The total population of Singapore then increased to 16,000 by 1829, 26,000 five years later, and 60,000 by the beginning of 1850.
Chinese migrants started to enter Singapore from the Straits area and southern China to trade just months after it became a British settlement. Later migrant workers from China would also increase considerably to work on the pepper and gambier plantations, with 11,000 recorded in one year. Indian migrants also arrived, mostly from Bengal and the Coromandel Coast. Singapore became one of the entry and dispersal points for a large number of Chinese and Indian migrants who came to work in the plantations and mines of the Straits Settlements, some of whom then settled in Singapore after their contracts ended. By 1860, the total population had reached around 90,000, of these 50,000 were Chinese, and 2,445 Europeans and Eurasians. The first thorough census in Singapore was undertaken in 1871, and it showed that Chinese were the largest ethnic group at 57.6%. In 1901, the total population of Singapore was 228,555, with 15.8% Malays, 71.8% Chinese, 7.8% Indians, and 3.5% Europeans and Eurasians. The Chinese population of Singapore has stayed at over 70% of the total ever since.
The early population figures show that Chinese immigrants of the period were overwhelmingly male. The 1826 figures give a total population of 13,750, with 5,747 Chinese males and only 341 Chinese females, compared to 2,501 Malay males and 2,289 Malay females. The sex ratio of Indian migrants was similarly distorted. The imbalance of the sexes of the immigrant communities continued for a long time with the continual flow into Singapore of male migrant workers who were either single or had left their wives and children behind in China or India, for example the 1901 census figures show that there were 130,367 Chinese males and 33,674 Chinese females. Most of the early Chinese immigrants did not intend to settle permanently to raise their families there; they worked to send money back home, and many would return to China after they had earned enough money. For over a hundred years, the great proportion of the Chinese in Singapore were immigrants – by the late 1890s only around 10% of the Chinese population were native-born in Singapore. Later an increasing number would also choose to settle permanently in Singapore, especially in the 1920s when more chose to remain in Singapore rather than leave. 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. Immigration continued to be the main reason for the Chinese population increase in Singapore until the 1931-1947 period when the natural increase in population surpassed the net immigration figure.
Immigration from China and India to Singapore stopped during the years of Japanese occupation. After the Second World War, the immigration pattern shifted from the influx of migrants from other countries to movement of people between peninsular Malaya and Singapore, with a significant number of net migrants moving from Malaya to Singapore. However, after the declaration of independence of Malaya in 1957, the migration of people from Malaya began to fall.

Post-independence immigration

When Singapore became an independent nation in 1965, it signalled the end of free movement of people between Malaysia and Singapore. This and increasing job opportunities in Malaysia meant that the previous high level of movement of people between the two countries fell significantly. Net migration in Singapore dropped to 24,000 in the decade of 1970-80 due to tighter control of immigration from Malaysia and other countries. 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. By the decade of 1990–2000, the net migrant number of over 600,000 had surpassed the natural growth of the population, and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the population increase. The same high level of immigration is also seen in the next decade with 664,083 net migration recorded. Curbs on immigration however began to be implemented in the 2010s to ease increasing social issues arising from the high level of immigration.
The high level of foreign migrant workers in late 20th and early 21st centuries meant that Singapore has one of the highest percentages of foreigners in the world. By the middle of the 2010s, nearly 40% of the population were estimated to be of foreign origin; although many have become permanent residents, most of them were non-citizens made up of foreign students and workers including dependants. Between 1970 and 1980, the size of the non-resident population in Singapore doubled. The numbers began to increase greatly from 1980 to 2010. Foreigners constituted 28.1% of Singapore's total labour force in 2000, to 34.7% in 2010, which is the highest proportion of foreign workers in Asia. Singapore's non-resident workforce increased 170% from 248,000 in 1990 to 670,000 in 2006. By 2010, the non-resident workforce had reached nearly 1.09 million, of these 870,000 were low-skilled foreign workers in Singapore; another 240,000 were skilled foreign worker, better-educated S-pass or employment pass holders. Malaysia is the main source of immigrants in Singapore, followed by China, Hong Kong, and Macau, then South Asia, Indonesia, and other Asian countries.
As of June 2014, the total population of Singapore stands at 5.47 million: 3.34 million citizens and 0.53 million permanent residents, with 1.60 million non-residents with work passes and foreign students.

Statistics

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, there were 2,841,665 foreign-born individuals living in Singapore in 2024.
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Policy

In Singapore, migrant workers are classified into foreign workers and foreign talent. Foreign workers refer to semi-skilled or unskilled workers who mainly work in the manufacturing, construction, and domestic services sectors. The majority of them come from places such as China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, as part of bilateral agreements between Singapore and these countries. Foreign talent refers to foreigners with professional qualifications or acceptable degrees working at the higher end of Singapore's economy. They mostly come from India, Australia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Western Europe, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.
On 24 July 1998, the Singaporean government first constructed a system under which different types of employment passes are issued to migrant workers according to their qualifications and monthly salaries. The "P, Q, R" employment pass system was put into practice on 1 September 1998; a new "S" type employment pass was later introduced on 1 July 2004. The government has also set different policies on recruiting foreign talent and foreign workers.
In 2014, the Ministry of Manpower did away with their pass type category, however, the criteria remains the same. From 1 January 2017, new EP applicants will have to earn a fixed monthly salary of $3,600 or more, depending on their qualifications and experience.
The different policies towards 'Foreign workers' and 'Foreign talent' in Singapore have led some people to feel that their contributions toward Singapore's development are valued differently. However, Singapore government has argued in strong support of the importance of migrant workers to Singapore's economy and development. Then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in his 1997 National Day rally speech that the government's lack of restrictions on the recruitment of foreigners did not extend only to top-rung prestigious positions, but also to middle-level management, skilled worker and technician positions.