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Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam clarified in Parliament that the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) does not collect information on Singapore citizenship applicants' wealth or net worth.

Shanmugam highlighted that it is “not a primary criterion for assessment”.

This is in response to Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Leong Mun Wai’s parliamentary question on how “ultra-high-net-worth” individuals and families obtain their citizenships in Singapore.

MHA's response to media reports

Shanmugam pointed to a Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) statement issued on Apr. 25, 2023, in response to various media reports on the subject.

The reports are based on a media interview with Andrew Amoils, head of research at wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth.

It was reported that he said that the majority of the 3,500 high-net-worth individuals expected to become Singapore citizens in 2023 will be from China.

Shanmugam reiterated that they do not know how the researcher from South Africa arrived at the figures as the grant of Singapore citizenship for the rest of 2023 has not been decided yet.

Zaobao noted in its latest article that its report had inaccurately misquoted Amoils as saying that 3,000 to 3,500 high-net-worth individuals would become Singapore citizens, when he had in fact said that they would be migrating here.

Researcher claimed he was misquoted

Shanmugam added that after the MHA statement was issued, the researcher wrote to the ministry that he had been “misquoted by the media”.

Shanmugam read out parts of what the researcher wrote, “He said, and I quote, this was simply untrue, and not at all what was said in the interview. He said he had never said anything about citizenship.”

Shanmugam said the researcher clarified that he did not track citizenship in his research and that his “projection” referred to high-net-worth individuals moving to Singapore “in general" and explained that they might be expatriates or work transfers and not necessarily people who applied and became citizens.

Broad range of factors to consider for applicants

Shanmugam emphasised that having a high net worth does not guarantee Singapore citizenship, and people applying for one will be assessed on a broad range of factors, which include their ability to contribute to Singapore, the number of jobs that the applicant or their businesses may create in Singapore, their special skills and education.

This is also on top of their family ties to Singaporeans, the ability to integrate, and their commitment to “sink roots” in Singapore.

He also pointed out that different criteria may apply to different applicants depending on their backgrounds and circumstances.

He raised the example of how someone applying as a spouse of a Singapore citizen will be considered differently from someone applying based on having stayed in Singapore for a period of time and has contributed to employment creation.

Top image via Unsplash