BORROW a child. And come to Singapore as a 'study mama'.
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Here's more juicy facts on PDMMs:
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BORROW a child. And come to Singapore as a 'study mama'.
That seems to be the latest scam by which some China women come here to work.
Four local recruitment agents who help bring in China students tell us how it works:
A recruitment agent in China matches a woman who wants to work with a child who wants to study here.
The woman pretends to be the child's mother, so she can get a long-term social visit pass.
A law passed in 2003 forbids study mamas to work in their first year here, but many ignore it and work anyway.
Documents, prepared to establish a 'mother-and-child' relationship, are submitted for approval.
As soon as the green light is given by the immigration authorities, the woman and her 'child' fly in.
So the child gets to be educated here and is cared for by a guardian throughout, while the woman finds work and makes money to send home.
And the China agent gets his commission - $3,000 to $10,000, according to local agents and study mamas.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) told The New Paper that it is aware of such scams.
A woman was jailed last year after she applied for a social visit pass on the pretext of being a study mama, though she is the aunt of the student.
Her lies were exposed when she tried to apply for permanent residence (PR) status after she got married to a Singapore PR. (See report on facing page.)
Under the current regulations, only mothers or grandmothers are allowed to accompany a student pass-holder. Fathers, aunts or other family members are not allowed to do so.
Reverend Edward Job, president of Christian Care Services Centre, said he knew of a woman who came here as a 'guardian' to two children.
He said the 31-year-old woman, from Fuzhou city in China's Fujian province, was not married. She arrived in March.
Rev Job said: 'She came here on a social visit pass and told us she was the study mama and guardian for two girls.
'So we guessed she could have lied about her relationship with the kids in order to get a pass here since only mothers and grandmothers are allowed to accompany the students.'
The woman worked illegally at a massage parlour in an HDB estate.
During a raid, she managed to slip away, but lived in fear of being caught by the authorities.
TURMOIL
Rev Job heard of her plight through another study mama.
He said: 'We got in touch with her and told her that she should go back for her own good, and bought her a one-way ticket.
'The woman's friend said the two girls went back shortly after she left.'
It is not clear how long this scam has been happening.
At the end of May, there were about 7,800 study mamas here.
The study mama community has recently been in turmoil, after the murder of one of them on 18 Jun.
Madam Yu Hong Jin was stabbed to death in the Ang Mo Kio massage parlour where she worked, allegedly by hawker Eu Lim Hoklai, 52.
Following the murder, strict new rules came into effect - all massage parlours must now hire only Singaporeans, Singapore PRs and Malaysians, and conduct the services offered in HDB estates in full view of the public.
An education consultant who helps bring in China students said she had heard of parents asking friends or distant relatives to accompany their children here to study.
The woman, who declined to be named, said: 'We hear from our clients that the student's real mother can't come because of family obligations, like looking after the young or aged, so they'll look for a guardian to take care of the child.
'The parents stay behind to work and put the child through school.
'It's a matter of finding the right match - no one will complain because all parties get what they want.'
Another education consultant, with 10 years' experience in bringing in international students, said some agents were willing to risk the child's education for the commission.
He said: 'These are the unscrupulous ones who don't care about the student's welfare. They encourage women and children to lie about their relationship in order to get a student pass.
'There should be more stringent laws to stop them, so that the study mama community won't have a bad name.'
FINE, JAIL
Madam Liu Qing, a study mama from Fujian, criticised such 'underhanded tactics'.
Said the 31-year-old, whose son is in Primary 2: 'I wouldn't entrust my son to someone else. How can anyone risk their child being sent back without getting a proper education?'
An ICA spokesman said: 'ICA will not hesitate to take action against such errant individuals.'
The penalty for making false statements to obtain or attempt to obtain an immigration pass is a fine of up to $4,000, or a jail term not exceeding 12 months, or both.
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She lies that she's mum of her niece
SHE came to Singapore as a study mama using her younger sister'sname and passport.
Then 42, she applied for a social visit pass in July 2004, riding on her niece's status here as a student.
She got to know a Singapore permanent resident, who later became her husband.
Two days after she arrived, the woman returned to China and then came back to Singapore again in August 2004.
This time, she used her own passport and name.
In October that year, she submitted an application for an entry permit to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) Permanent Residence Services Centre as she intended to live here permanently.
Up to the time of her application, she had to renew her social visit pass monthly.
She found it 'inconvenient' to do so - getting an entry permit would have allowed her to stay in Singapore indefinitely.
However, in assessing her eligibility for the entry permit, an ICA officer found that the woman had lied in her application form. how?
She declared that she had never entered Singapore using another passport or different name, and further stated that the particulars on the form were 'true and correct and that she had not wilfully suppressed any material fact'. How did ICA know she came in on another passport??
She was charged under the Immigration Act for making a false declaration in her permanent residence's application form.
An ICA spokesman said the woman was sentenced to two months in jail. -
too long didnt read.
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there are bound to be people who try to take advantage of the situation but not all are guilty.
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the question is:
how come SG side never verify with China Authorities the identities of those involved?
I personally know some China friends, and some of them I learnt that they came here through various means - lets juz say they're not entirely honest when they applied to come here... So there are many other ways to come here, many loopholes.
Why SG authorities being so lax in checking these details? becoz of wanna build good relations wif CN? Close one-eye? Huang Na's mother is one other example.
If SG gabramen thinks that these "professionals" will stay, it seems unlikely. All of my CN friends only treat SG as a stepping stone.
Not to mention we've already seen so many social issues involving foreigners in SG...
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any idea how much they pay to borrow a child or what is their arrangement back in China?
Hard to imagine anybody letting their son go to a foreign land with a stranger... -
for $$$, they'll do anything...Originally posted by sgheartland:any idea how much they pay to borrow a child or what is their arrangement back in China?
Hard to imagine anybody letting their son go to a foreign land with a stranger... -
Introduce DNA testing
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and you'll probably hear the civil rights fellas cry foulOriginally posted by oxford mushroom:Introduce DNA testing
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yes, i can already imagine the China govt frowning on this act of discrimination...Originally posted by the Bear:and you'll probably hear the civil rights fellas cry foul -
It's very true that all PRCs don't intend to stay in Singapore forever, no matter what freebies our govt can give them, except for some who happen to marry a Singaporean during the stay here. Most want to go over to USA and Europe eventually.Originally posted by sgquitter:the question is:
how come SG side never verify with China Authorities the identities of those involved?
I personally know some China friends, and some of them I learnt that they came here through various means - lets juz say they're not entirely honest when they applied to come here... So there are many other ways to come here, many loopholes.
Why SG authorities being so lax in checking these details? becoz of wanna build good relations wif CN? Close one-eye? Huang Na's mother is one other example.
If SG gabramen thinks that these "professionals" will stay, it seems unlikely. All of my CN friends only treat SG as a stepping stone.
Not to mention we've already seen so many social issues involving foreigners in SG...
I have personally encountered PRCs who are here on scholarships. Our gahmen give them PR status, sponsor their Masters/Doctorate education here, and even give them lotsa benefits (see www.irc.org.sg) to make them stay here and continue to contribute their talents to our community.
But then, hearing from the horses mouth, they want to go USA or return to China after they clear their bond here with our gahmen. These PRCs are fully aware that if they are good enough to get scholarships to come here for Masters or Doctorate at our NTU/NUS, they can also easily find employment in USA/Europe. -
kind of reopens old cases... eg is huang na's mom really her mom? we'll never know
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I know a few, and they all say our Singapore government is very naive, but they'll take advantage of it anyway, then move to the US. When I asked them why they didn't want to stay they all stated the same reasons:Originally posted by Honeybunz:It's very true that all PRCs don't intend to stay in Singapore forever, no matter what freebies our govt can give them, except for some who happen to marry a Singaporean during the stay here. Most want to go over to USA and Europe eventually.
I have personally encountered PRCs who are here on scholarships. Our gahmen give them PR status, sponsor their Masters/Doctorate education here, and even give them lotsa benefits (see www.irc.org.sg) to make them stay here and continue to contribute their talents to our community.
But then, hearing from the horses mouth, they want to go USA or return to China after they clear their bond here with our gahmen. These PRCs are fully aware that if they are good enough to get scholarships to come here for Masters or Doctorate at our NTU/NUS, they can also easily find employment in USA/Europe.
1. singapore too small
2. singapore too crowded
3. do not want their offspring to serve national service
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Make them pay for all the bus fares they short changed throughout their stay!!!
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Unbelievable lah...
Why don't, our gov WAKE UP to this China angkat practice??? -
but seriously.. which brainiac came up with this bloody policy?
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Coz they want to milk them mamas till they're dry.Originally posted by ShutterBug:Unbelievable lah...
Why don't, our gov WAKE UP to this China angkat practice??? -
Intelligent Scholars ? ?Originally posted by the Bear:but seriously.. which brainiac came up with this bloody policy?
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Some scholar I guess.Originally posted by the Bear:but seriously.. which brainiac came up with this bloody policy?
I wonder if the possibility of negative social repercussions due to this policy was even raised during the meetings. But I guess they decided to take the risk. I wonder if they will review and possibly abolish this policy? Nah, probably not.
One thing is for sure, if we're ever mobilised I'll not be very happy about having to defend these chinese leeches (not that I blame them really, heck if I were them I'd take advantage of the Singapore government's stupidity too! ) -
Totally agree ,Originally posted by the Bear:but seriously.. which brainiac came up with this bloody policy?
Letting mothers accompany child for study, entices them to leave their husbands at home , Breaking up their families in the 1st place . So they claims to be SIngle Parents.
Not allowing them to work protects the local workforce for 1 year ? They work illegally anyway since they are here.
They play with the Documentations of Marriage and Birth to fake documents to come?
They get what they want and leave. -
never mind lah, let FTs take away all our jobs. Then the citizens don't need to pay taxes and the whole street full of local beggers and road sweepers. You want locals to take the same pay as the FTs, can survive and start family or not?
If govt try to squeeze us some more, too bad lor, nothing to squeeze already... -
It is true to some extent some of the Chinese national planned to
make use of this country as launching pad to migrtate to another country.
I have heard some terrible remarks made by them on Spore. It seemed there is a degree of animosity between Chinese national n the local. They seemed to to be proud of having to ontribute something to Spore. I once told by a fren she had a lecturer loudly critizing local students for being stiff in learning n not knowing on applying what they learned actually. -
i don't think any of the locals have problems with foreigners studying here...
but back to the topic, i wonder about people who "borrow" children to come here to work illegally..
i wonder about the people who are willing to "rent out" their children...
and along with that, i wonder about that country which causes people to become like that...
and with that, i worry about nationals of that country.. and would look at them with suspicion
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It's well and fine crafting a niche for Singapore as an education hub. However, this does not mean in order to make ourselves more 'accomadating' to foreign students, we allow characters such as suedo-mothers into our country in persuance of their own vested interests. This makes a mockery of the system and to quote a chinese maxim, allows these individuals to see our country as one which is 'wu fa wu tian'.
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It is a open secret that many Chinese national are using the education scholarship here to act as a jumping board to USA. The point is why our govt still volunteer to be the carrot head to let them chop relentlessly? Statistics must have shown that many choose not to stay, but why still carry on this policy?
As for Chinese professor being snobbish and arrogant. I personally have met some veri proud PRC folks back in NTU. It is not their fault actually. But more of the high profile treatment as society elites crowned upon them by our govt that makes them fee "above all". Many of themare actually yr 3 students back in China, but the funny thing is why our govt let them enter as yr1 students. Of course a yr3 student have learnt more than a freshman, therefore, they usually "out-perform" local students. -
If nothing left to squeeze, then that's it.Originally posted by sgheartland:never mind lah, let FTs take away all our jobs. Then the citizens don't need to pay taxes and the whole street full of local beggers and road sweepers. You want locals to take the same pay as the FTs, can survive and start family or not?
If govt try to squeeze us some more, too bad lor, nothing to squeeze already...
They don't need you anymore, because they have new immigrants.