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Singapore most “desired” by migrants, but who are they?
August 24th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/24/singapore-most-desired-by-migrants-but-who-are-they/
The Singapore media has predictably gone on a publicity overdrive about Singapore being ranked as “a top immigration hot spot for the second successive year in a global survey conducted by Gallup.”
“The city-state could see its population triple if everyone who wants to move here was allowed to, the poll released last Friday showed. It found that, in that case, Singapore’s population of 4.8 million would increase by 219 per cent,” proclaimed the Straits Times.
The ranking is based on Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index which simply showed that there are more people who are keen to migrate to Singapore than those who want to leave the country.
It does not tell us who the prospective migrants are. Is Singapore attracting first world migrants from first world countries like Australia, Canada, South Korea and Japan or second class migrants from third world countries like China and India?
According to Gallup, the results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with 347,717 adults, aged 15 and older, in 148 countries from 2007 to early 2010.
For most countries, aggregated sample sizes (across multiple years of surveys) range between 1,000 and 4,000 interviews. A total of 8,196 interviews were conducted in India, 7,561 in China, and 7,010 in Russia.
Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index is based on responses to the following questions:
Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country?
(If “would like to move permanently to another country”) To which country would you like to move? [Open-ended, one response allowed]
[Source: Gallup]
As we can see from the above, a disproportionate number of the interviewees in the survey came from China and India which contribute the bulk of the migrants coming to Singapore.
Since the Singapore government has been actively trying to attract migrants from these two countries, it will not be a surprise that there are more Chinese and Indians indicating that they are keen to move to Singapore compared to citizens from other countries.
Furthermore, the lax immigration policies of Singapore make it a much more attractive destination to prospective migrants who are desperate to leave their countries soon.
It is so much easier for a mainland Chinese to become a Singapore PR than to get a U.S. Green Card.
There are frequent reports in the media on PRC construction workers, beauticians, cleaners and even freelance prostitutes who are here on student passes being given Singapore PRs and citizenships.
One PRC lady from Beijing who is working as a Chinese language teacher here is given Singapore PR within two months of application.
Even in Hong Kong which is part of China, the mainland Chinese workers may not even be granted permanent residency status after many years if they are not qualified skilled workers.
The survey only reveals the “quantity” and not “quality” of the migrants relocating to Singapore.
In another poll conducted by Gallup last year, the top three immigration destinations for affluent, well-educated Chinese are United States (28%), South Korea (14%) and France (8%).
[Source: Gallup]
Singapore, despite the government rolling out the red carpet for Chinese immigrants, is not even featured among the top three.
There is no official data available on the origins of the Chinese immigrants in Singapore, but based on anecdotal evidence, the majority of them hail from the poorer inland provinces of China such as Liaoning, Hebei, Henan, Sichuan and Jiangxi rather than the rich coastal cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou whose GDP per capita income are fast approaching that of Singapore.
The government should come clean with Singaporeans on the place of origin, professions and monthly salaries of the new citizens to enable us to judge for themselves if its immigration policy is indeed rational and reasonable.
For example, of the 20,000 or so immigrants granted Singapore citizenship last year, what is the percentage holding white-collar, managerial jobs commanding a monthly salary of more than $10,000? What is the government’s criteria for a “foreign talent”? Are teachers, technicians and clerks “talents” which Singapore lack?
Are we getting real foreign talents or foreign thrash?
August 24th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/24/singapore-most-desired-by-migrants-but-who-are-they/
The Singapore media has predictably gone on a publicity overdrive about Singapore being ranked as “a top immigration hot spot for the second successive year in a global survey conducted by Gallup.”
“The city-state could see its population triple if everyone who wants to move here was allowed to, the poll released last Friday showed. It found that, in that case, Singapore’s population of 4.8 million would increase by 219 per cent,” proclaimed the Straits Times.
The ranking is based on Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index which simply showed that there are more people who are keen to migrate to Singapore than those who want to leave the country.
It does not tell us who the prospective migrants are. Is Singapore attracting first world migrants from first world countries like Australia, Canada, South Korea and Japan or second class migrants from third world countries like China and India?
According to Gallup, the results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with 347,717 adults, aged 15 and older, in 148 countries from 2007 to early 2010.
For most countries, aggregated sample sizes (across multiple years of surveys) range between 1,000 and 4,000 interviews. A total of 8,196 interviews were conducted in India, 7,561 in China, and 7,010 in Russia.
Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index is based on responses to the following questions:
Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country?
(If “would like to move permanently to another country”) To which country would you like to move? [Open-ended, one response allowed]
[Source: Gallup]
As we can see from the above, a disproportionate number of the interviewees in the survey came from China and India which contribute the bulk of the migrants coming to Singapore.
Since the Singapore government has been actively trying to attract migrants from these two countries, it will not be a surprise that there are more Chinese and Indians indicating that they are keen to move to Singapore compared to citizens from other countries.
Furthermore, the lax immigration policies of Singapore make it a much more attractive destination to prospective migrants who are desperate to leave their countries soon.
It is so much easier for a mainland Chinese to become a Singapore PR than to get a U.S. Green Card.
There are frequent reports in the media on PRC construction workers, beauticians, cleaners and even freelance prostitutes who are here on student passes being given Singapore PRs and citizenships.
One PRC lady from Beijing who is working as a Chinese language teacher here is given Singapore PR within two months of application.
Even in Hong Kong which is part of China, the mainland Chinese workers may not even be granted permanent residency status after many years if they are not qualified skilled workers.
The survey only reveals the “quantity” and not “quality” of the migrants relocating to Singapore.
In another poll conducted by Gallup last year, the top three immigration destinations for affluent, well-educated Chinese are United States (28%), South Korea (14%) and France (8%).
[Source: Gallup]
Singapore, despite the government rolling out the red carpet for Chinese immigrants, is not even featured among the top three.
There is no official data available on the origins of the Chinese immigrants in Singapore, but based on anecdotal evidence, the majority of them hail from the poorer inland provinces of China such as Liaoning, Hebei, Henan, Sichuan and Jiangxi rather than the rich coastal cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou whose GDP per capita income are fast approaching that of Singapore.
The government should come clean with Singaporeans on the place of origin, professions and monthly salaries of the new citizens to enable us to judge for themselves if its immigration policy is indeed rational and reasonable.
For example, of the 20,000 or so immigrants granted Singapore citizenship last year, what is the percentage holding white-collar, managerial jobs commanding a monthly salary of more than $10,000? What is the government’s criteria for a “foreign talent”? Are teachers, technicians and clerks “talents” which Singapore lack?
Are we getting real foreign talents or foreign thrash?
