Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just a quick question to the Minister of State vis-a-vis her response to the hon Member Mr Yip. For the GIP individuals who are PRs, does EDB or the Ministry track how many of them transit to being citizens in view of her reply to Mr Yip’s question on rootedness?
Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition Mr Pritam Singh for his question. As I have shared in my answer to the Parliamentary Question earlier, over the past three years, 2020 to 2022, we approved about 200 GIP investors to be under the PR scheme. I would like to share with him and the House that 200 is over three years. As you can see, we are very selective about the GIP investors. The EDB evaluation process is very stringent and very robust. We will look at their economic commitments as well as residency commitments.
As for his question on Singapore Citizenship, I can say that a very, very low percentage of the PRs under the GIP has been granted citizenship.
I want to use this occasion to just elaborate on what I have mentioned earlier about us requiring the GIP investor to submit documentary evidence and EDB mounting site visits to validate the numbers. I want to say that the PRs in GIP who do not meet the GIP economic and residency commitments as well as other renewable criteria, will not have their re-entry permit renewed.
I think all Members in the House would know this is serious because once your re-entry permit is not renewed, this means that when the GIP PR subsequently leaves Singapore or if he or she remains overseas without a valid re-entry permit, their PR status will lapse; they will lose their PR status.
Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh: Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for the helpful reply. Can I just confirm if the small percentage that the Minister of State speaks of is a number that she has on hand? And would the Government be prepared to release that number?
Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, I would like to thank Mr Pritam Singh for his supplementary question. I would elaborate and say that the interest in the GIP has remained stable since its launch. GIP investors who are approved as PRs are much lesser than 1% of the total number of PRs approved each year. On the question about Singapore Citizenship, like I have mentioned, the number of GIP PRs granted citizenship is even much lesser, as the Member can see from the PR numbers that have been granted over the past three years.
Ministry of Trade and Industry
23 February 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3081
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 