S'porean man, 37, weds Vietnamese woman, despite knowing she was already married, jailed

A 37-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to four months and six weeks in jail after falsely declaring his Vietnamese wife’s marital status to bring her into Singapore.

The Vietnamese woman was still legally married to another man when she married the Singaporean, Zaobao reported.

The identities of the man and the woman were not disclosed.

Bigamy

In October 2013, the 37-year-old married the Vietnamese woman in Singapore.

Between 2014 and July 2015, the man repeatedly submitted false information to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) regarding the woman’s marital status when applying for her permanent residency and long-term visit pass.

According to Zaobao, the woman only divorced her previous husband in 2021.

In 2023, the woman obtained Singaporean citizenship, with the man concealing her prior marriage during the application process.

Student pass

The 37-year-old’s actions came to light when the woman’s ex-husband applied for a student pass for his son at the end of 2025.

Authorities then discovered that the woman had been legally married before her marriage in Singapore.

Charges

The accused faced five charges, including abetting bigamy, providing false information to ICA under immigration laws, giving false information in marriage registration under the Women’s Charter and supplying false information to assist in a citizenship application.

He pleaded guilty to three charges, with the remaining taken into consideration during sentencing.

The 37-year-old was sentenced to four months and six weeks in jail.

The judge noted that compared to other bigamy cases, this offence was serious as not only did the man falsify information to secure immigration benefits such as permanent residency and citizenship, but also due to its wider impact.

Authorities may impose stricter checks on genuinely eligible applicants in the future to prevent similar cases.

Although the woman separated from her ex-husband early in her previous marriage and officially divorced in 2021, the judge pointed out that this did not mitigate the severity of the offence.

Children

The judge did not disclose the current situation of the woman and her two children.

The judge said the two children, 7 and 9, will bear the label of "illegitimate children" due to their parents' negligence, and due to their parents' actions, will face inconveniences in life.

According to Singapore's Constitution, children born out of wedlock can only automatically acquire citizenship if their mother is a Singapore citizen.