I have stayed away from commenting too much on Singapore policies, Politics and Government so far, but this particular topic is close to my heart, so I am going to pen it down.
The immigration policy in Singapore desperately needs reform.
There, I said it. Now, let me elaborate.
For what I understand, this is the context behind Singapore's Immigration efforts - Birth rate is too low and aging fast. Singapore desperately needs immigrants to maintain the balance. There is a debate over talent based immigration, but the verdict on that is still not out - Singaporeans believe the talent is there and the Govt., along with some foreigners, feel the need to import talent. Together with these reasons, Singapore went on an immigration promotion spree and it brought in PRs by truckloads in the few years leading up to 2009. Then, the issue got a lot of media attention, the public got angry about crowded trains and the ICA has done an about turn - made it very hard for anybody to get PR now.
As you observe, I have not presented arguments to either increase of decrease immigration numbers, but all I am suggesting is streamlining the policies to benefit the long term good of the society.
The immigration policy in Singapore desperately needs reform.
There, I said it. Now, let me elaborate.
For what I understand, this is the context behind Singapore's Immigration efforts - Birth rate is too low and aging fast. Singapore desperately needs immigrants to maintain the balance. There is a debate over talent based immigration, but the verdict on that is still not out - Singaporeans believe the talent is there and the Govt., along with some foreigners, feel the need to import talent. Together with these reasons, Singapore went on an immigration promotion spree and it brought in PRs by truckloads in the few years leading up to 2009. Then, the issue got a lot of media attention, the public got angry about crowded trains and the ICA has done an about turn - made it very hard for anybody to get PR now.
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| (Image reference: http://asiasingapore.blogspot.com/2011/03/best-time-to-apply-for-pr-in-singapore.html) |
Now, that's the straightforward context. Here are the specifics of the reforms in need:
Guidance: A country can't have a on-off immigration policy. Immigration has to be a long term commitment - because everybody can then structure accordingly - the population, Government, public agencies and most importantly - the Industry. Right now, Singapore has no transparency on this - it doesn't give a guidance on expected immigration for the next decade. If you don't give a guidance, how will the public agencies build up infrastructure? If you don't want immigration, for whatever reason, then say it, squash the speculation and move on. Foreigners who are not given PRs will chose what to do - some will stay (as most do in Gulf countries, despite having no PR program) and some will move on.
Required Reform: Announce that Singapore will have xxx number of immigrations every year for the next 10 years or something similar.
Transparency: Till 2008, people with family monthly income of $3500 and perhaps a bachelors degree were being PRs. Now, anybody less than $12,500 and a PhD doesn't get a PR. The trouble is that neither the economy nor the talent pool requirements have changed so drastically in the past 4 years. Essentially, the ICA didn't tell the world what their logic for acceptance was yesterday and what it is today and it has clearly changed a lot. What this has resulted in is that well talented, well paid people who came in during 2010- 2012 won't be retained as members of the society, but lower paid, lower talented people who came in 2006-2009 will be. I am not really sure how this helps Singapore.
Required Reforms: Make the selection criteria public and stick with it in the medium term, minor adjustments being the exceptions - Canada, Australia & NZ do this and they haven't done badly for themselves.
Specificity: You can't have the same immigration policy across all sectors and industries. Talent in the banking and financial sectors is abundant and the willingness of the local population to adopt these industries is high and hence these industries don't need quite as much immigration. On the other hand, there are not even a handful of local graduates in a graduating batch of computer science students from NUS or NTU and I am told that the same is for other Engineering disclipines. How exactly will those industries hire and grow? The MDA/IDA has been aggressive about wanting to establish Singapore as a tech startup hub and that effort will face a lot of inertia (or extensive outsourcing) unless you can fix the talent pool problem. Locals, by and large, don't want their children learning engineering - they prefer "execs" and finance - so where will all those engineers come from?
Required Reform: Set up a list of industries where immigration will be easily allowed and others, where it will be harder. If there is an Industry where locals don't train in, and if it is still strategically important to support and promote, then let the immigrants come in - you got no choice.
As you observe, I have not presented arguments to either increase of decrease immigration numbers, but all I am suggesting is streamlining the policies to benefit the long term good of the society.
In some aspects of policy and governance, like immigration, things are discretionary and opaque, and as Singapore continues on it's path to become a regional leader, it's time the policy makers show some more responsibility in policy and governance.
