Singapore granted fewer PRs and citizenships last year : Minister Wong
The Singapore Government will tighten its immigration policies to better
manage the pace of growth and overall numbers of permanent residents
and new citizens.
Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament that the government
has undertaken a review of the process of granting permanent residence
(PR) and citizenships.
Last year, the government granted 59,500 PRs and 19,900 citizenships.
That's about 20,000 fewer PRs and citizenships granted in 2008.
Moving forward the number of PRs granted will be reduced, although there
will be no absolute cap to this.
As for the number of new citizens - that will be up to 20,000 a year.
The number is derived from Singapore's low fertility rate of 1.23 -
among the lowest in the world.
"Immigration is a key source of population augmentation
which we cannot afford to do without. In a nutshell, we need 60,000
babies just to replace our resident population. But we only have about
37,000 babies per year. This is why we need about 20,000 new citizens
in order to keep our citizen core".
He said the government will ensure that those who sink their roots here
contribute to Singapore economically and integrate well into society.
The National Integration Council is already spearheading efforts for
that.
--938Live
Election is coming, it has to look good to locally born citizens to garner more votes. Figures can be altered easily.