Visa for Girlfriend

[rosbif71]

I am looking at moving to singapore in a few months. I exect to get a job offer next week.

Will it be a problem that my Girlfriend is Kazakh? I of course want her to come with me and she would want to work. She has experience in the hotel industry in reservations.

what options are available for her visa-wise?

I will be on a reasonable salary and am postgrad educated (if that makes any difference to my employment pass?)

[LTSVP]

The only visa she would get is a SVP, posibly an LTSVP but nothing else.  Only a spouse is entitled to a DP

[rosbif71]

so it looks like either I'll have to ask my future employer (if they offer me the job) to sponsor her for LTSVP or marry her!

she wants to work but I dont want to risk her coming over and having to rush into the first job she can find.

[rosbif71]

sorry if I seem to be asking stupid questions. I have looked through the site but didnt really find the answer.

I will be on either a P1 or P2 pass (my basic salary will approx 15k, have 3 postgrad qualifications and 12 years professional experience)

Am I right in thinking that I will probably not be able to sposnsor my girlfriend for an LTSVP as we have not lived together? we will have been together 9 months by the time we move but have not lived together.

If that is then case then to get an LTSVP I would need my potential future employer to sponsor her. Is that correct?

I don't think it would be fair of me to ask her to move witout an LTSVP as I don't think getting a new SVP would be as simle as crossig into Malaysia in her case (Kazakh Passport)

thanks in advance

[LTSVP]

All the info you need is on the ica website, go look

[rosbif71]

I have had a look but was looking for advice from someone with experience.

I have helped a lot of people moving to Dubai on a forum I actively participate in, as actual experience of how things work is not always the same as the official line according to government websites.

[eena mode]

You're moving to Singapore - get used to things being followed to a T, sometimes to a point of idiocy.

[LTSVP]

This is Singapore, not Dubai or anywhere else.  The details on the ica website are the only thing that matters.  You follow the instructions to the letter.  You dont, you fail.  Their word is final on all matters.  As you have already looked you will see that your girlfriend comes from a country that needs a visa prior to coming to Singapore and the conditions attached to it.  Suggest you call the ica and discuss things with them, any other info you get could be wrong and you potentially put your whole future here at risk. The hotel industry here can only recruit from specific countries if the wage is below EP level, and they cannot employ a Kazakh.  It may be different if she is on a DP, but, again go to the relevant government agency (mom is this case) and check

[rosbif71]

thanks for the replies!

have to hope that russian speaking hotel reservation staff will be required. I would imagine that there are now huge numbers of russian/cis tourists visiting Singapore as they do in Dubai.

[Igor]

The are not huge amounts of Russian visitors, they are very much in the minority, so much so they dont even register on the scale of people coming to Singapore and reported by the STB.  Top visitors are from Indon and China - which is why the IR is being built. 

You really do need to do some research..........

[rosbif71]

well the Straits Times seems to think otherwise!

Russian tourists spend big in S'pore 
Their numbers are also rising fast; tourism board to set up office in Moscow later this year
By Bertha Henson, Associate Editor 
THIS is the Russian visitor to Singapore: about 36 years old, usually here with his better half to escape the Russian winter - and ready to blow at least $1,800.

Russian visitors to Singapore may have numbered just 44,000 last year compared to the 500,000 Britons who visited the country, but they are the biggest spenders among Europeans and spend more than the Briton's $1,200.

The figure is pulled up by the big spenders who splurge on suites in top-notch hotels, staying weeks at a time.

At Sheraton Towers Singapore, for example, Russians are known to prefer suites to standard rooms.

The hotel has seen a 50 per cent jump in such guests over the last three years, said its spokesman.

At Raffles Hotel, up to 10 per cent of the guests are Russian, many of whom do not blink at paying $8,000 a night to stay in the presidential suite, said Raffles Hotels and Resorts president Diana Ee-Tan.

The average Russian tourist is no Scrooge either.

Mr Victor Yam, who specialises in bringing in Russian tourists to Singapore, said more than seven in 10 of his customers go for five-star or better hotels, with the rest settling for four-star ones.

These are the big spenders the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) wants to lure over, its regional director for Europe, MrOliver Chong, told The Straits Times.

 

[eavesdropper]

I hear russian-speaking tourists around Singapore very regularly. They are definitely a growing market sector.

[rosbif71]

they are a growing sector in all the desirable tourist locations of the world.
here in Dubai the best 5 star hotels are full of russians.

[stoli]

heard that its getting more and more russians girls coming here from macau wondering around geylang and orchard offering their skills.

[rosbif71]

well she is not looking for that kind of employment