PERMANENT RESIDENTS AND CITIZENS BETWEEN 1983 AND 1992

Mr Chia Shi Teck asked the Minister for Home Affairs, for the years 1983 to 1992, what is (i) the number of foreigners granted permanent residence each year, (ii) the number that subsequently took up citizenship each year, (iii) the number that surrendered their permanent residence status and left Singapore, and (iv) the number that continue to be permanent residents and have not accepted citizenship when this was offered to them.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: The number of persons granted permanent residence (PR) and the number of PRs granted citizenship during the period 1983 -1992 are given in rows (i) and (ii) respectively of the table below. The number of persons who gave up their PR status between 1987 and 1992 is in row (iii) of the table. (Information for the period before 1987 is not available.) As for part (iv) of the question, the Registrar of Citizens does not offer citizenship. Those who are eligible have to apply for citizenship. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ (i) Number of 7,158 7,325 5,824 4,973 6,988 8,823 13,203 22,875 21,713 22,982 Foreigners Granted Permanent Residence (ii) Number of 6,413 4,923 4,721 3,893 4,607 6,548 7,893 7,302 7,124 7,199 Foreigners Granted Singapore Citizenships (iii) Number of n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 227 457 491 407 398 416 Singapore Permanent Residence Renounced ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Note: Figures on Permanent Residence Renounced prior to 1987 are not available.