To date, the specifics behind the assessment of a Singapore Citizenship application remain a mystery. Other than the basic information available on the internet, nothing much has been unveiled regarding the decision-making process. The lack of transparency is designed to dissuade people from gaming the system, but it can also put genuine applicants at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, though the review process isn’t something that we can control, there are achievable ways to maximise your chances.
Here at Paul Immigrations, we can offer you a myriad of tips to solidify your Singapore Citizenship application. Project yourself in a better light with just a few of the tips that we share with our clients.
Including All Vital Additional Documents
The first thing you’ve got to think about is making your application stand out — each year, thousands apply for Singapore Citizenship. To make yourself look better than the rest, do it by including the following additional documents:
- Cover letter
- Resume
- Letters of recommendation
Although their inclusion is not mandatory, they undoubtedly give you an edge over other applicants, while strengthening your application. These additional documents provide more information about your strengths and skills, giving the assessing officer a clearer picture of you in an otherwise plain, mundane submission.
Let’s delve deeper into this aspect of your application with further insight into why the following documents should be included with your final submission:
1. An Impressive Cover Letter
A cover letter essentially is an overview of your qualifications, abilities, career, and personality. You might be familiar with them from your experience with job hunting — the same applies here. Including a cover letter in your Citizenship application introduces you to the officials in a memorable way, building a lasting impression on the official assessing your profile. A good piece can highlight your strengths, talents, and positive contributions to this society, effectively making your application stand out amongst the rest. You might also like to double up your cover letter with a resume. A well-crafted, detailed cover letter will expand on the information listed in your resume, guiding the reviewer on milestone achievements in your career and life. To make your submission seem less dubious and add more credibility, be sure to provide key details of all your career and life achievements backed by letters of recommendations and certificates.
2. Professionally Written Resume
Including your resume gives the assessing officer more information about your career growth. This will provide them with a clearer insight into your qualifications as well as educational and career background, helping them understand your value as a candidate for a Singapore Citizen. Here’s an insider tip: be sure to highlight your experience in a local niche industry or an untapped niche industry like research and development. The same goes for those in other areas that are in high demand on this island. Your unique talent and professional experience in those areas could potentially make you a better contender amongst the fierce competition.
3. Positive Letters of Recommendation
Lastly, go all out to complement your resume and cover letter with positive letters of recommendations. Reach out to your previous bosses, close acquaintances in high positions of power, and community leaders. Their letters about you might turn the tide and increase your chances of becoming a Singapore Citizen. If you’ve contributed to the society via various associations like volunteering groups, neighbourhood cultural celebrations, or resident clubs, consider getting letters from those heading these activities, too. These letters will not only provide a third-person perspective of your abilities, but they’ll also stand in as testaments to your professional background and skills. Be sure that the letters include the contact details of the persons endorsing your document for verification purposes. Always remember to give credibility to your documents.
Being Well-Prepared for Online Submission
The entire online Citizenship process is time-sensitive. Though the e-System is highly efficient, it has one major disadvantage— you’re only granted a stipulated period of a week or just 168 hours to complete the entire online submission.
You would have to fill in all fields and upload every required document within this duration. If you’re unable to complete the application within the given time frame, you risk rejection and be forced to start all over again. Therefore, to avoid any major hiccups, you would need to be extremely prepared for the submission phase. Here are some suggestions:
1. Create A Checklist
An important task for all applicants is to come up with an exhaustive list of the required documents. This document checklist may vary based on your eligibility pathway. Therefore, remember to check which documents apply to you while including the above-mentioned additional documents. If it helps, print this checklist out and check an item off once it is ready for inclusion in your application as per ICA’s requirements. Do take note that some documents need to be verified before you begin uploading them onto your e-Service application.
2. Have A Time Schedule And Stick To It
Preparation takes time. Therefore, create a personalised timeline of the process and stick to it. From the day you create a checklist to the day you submit the application, have it stamped in your timeline. This way, you minimise any chances of derailment, missing out on vital steps, or failure to submit a proper submission. You might like to include the following steps in your schedule too:
- Hire an immigration specialist
- Create checklist
- Research
- Time to prepare and pick up every documentation
- Digitising documents
- Translation of documents
- Submission phase
- Double-check submission for errors
3. Do Not Leave Anything Blank
Another matter to note is to avoid leaving any blanks when filling in the fields in the e-System. Instead, indicate ‘N.A’ for any sections that do not apply to you. This applies to all sections, including those that require you to add the required documents. Do also indicate valid reasons for leaving out any mandatory documents. You can do this by checking that you have selected ‘I do not have the document’ and noting down your reasons under ‘Reasons’.
4. Constantly Review All Inserted Information
While filling in the submission, the e-Service system will intermittently prompt you with an option to review the details and documents you’ve inserted in the previous sections. Seize this opportunity. Double-check every single section, document, word you have entered. Never rush through your application form since even a small error due to hindsight could risk you facing rejection. Once you are done, submit the application and save a PDF copy in your drive. It will also be wise to print a copy of it for your personal record. This way, when a major change happens in your life and you are sure that it will positively influence your approval chances, you can easily back-track what you’ve mentioned in your submission to notify ICA accordingly.
Ensuring That All Documents Are Formatted Correctly
Besides compiling hardcopies of your essential documents, you will need to digitalise them in the correct format, set for your submission online.
1. Why Is It Important to Format Correctly?
Your Citizenship application is filled online, so you would need to upload the accompanying documents to the system. For this, ICA has set clear format requirements. Not uploading the documents in the correct format or skipping any documents may end up with non-acceptance of your submission. To avoid last-minute panic episodes or missing out on any documents, follow your checklist closely. One by one, digitalise all your paperwork accordingly in order. This will help you keep track of your digitised files.
2. What Is The Correct Format for Your Documents?
Save all your documents as PDFs and images such as your passport photograph as JPEG files. Make sure the image files are smaller than 2MB. One quick method to accomplish this is to pre-set your mobile phone application, scanner or image-capture devices to save all your documents in the correct format. This ensures that the files are already in the right format without the need to run them through a converter afterwards, inviting more errors. Furthermore, avoid saving your scanned hardcopy documents as image files like PNG files as they are usually larger in size. Instead, save them as JPEG or PDF. Lastly, it’s important to double-check the legibility of your scanned documents. They must remain easy to read for the officers to read the contents of your application and documents. Therefore, don’t take any risks by compromising their quality too much.
3. What Is The Correct Format for Your Passport Photograph?
Finally, the size requirement of a Citizenship application’s passport photograph differs from the rest. Ensure that your photograph is digitised and is in either a JPEG or PNG image file format. Furthermore, check the format’s download size — it must be under 1MB. If it’s too large, the system will reject it.
Receiving Guidance From Immigration Experts
And the last but most important tip: appoint an immigration specialist like Paul Immigrations to assist you with this entire application process. There are multiple benefits when it comes to having an industry expert guiding you through this arduous process. Here are some of the numerous advantages of working with an expert on your application:
1. Walk The Application Journey With You
The Citizenship application process isn’t easy or quick. It takes significant effort to complete an accurate submission. Living in a fast-paced country like Singapore, your tight schedule may interfere with your preparation and delay your plans to apply for Citizenship. This is when engaging professionals help. A professional can turn the process into a seamless one by assisting you with preparing for your application, regardless of how long it takes. From the moment you approach Paul Immigrations for a consultation session, our team of experts will guide you through your journey. We will provide you with a wealth of insider tips, collate all documentation, and clarify any doubts along the way, ensuring that your application is indeed an edge over the competition.
2. Take Care of Paperwork
Considering the number of documents deemed mandatory by the ICA, it may be extremely tedious for you to collate and organise them. A specialist who is very familiar with the entire process can help you take this task off your shoulders easily. This way, you would feel much more relaxed without being panic-stricken. Our immigration experts at Paul Immigrations offer this service for all our clients. With us, you would not need to worry about missing anything out or sifting through all your documents for this application — we’re here to help. If you are time-starved, worried about leaving out key documents, or have trouble organising paperwork, we can take these concerns off your hands.
3. Craft An Outstanding Cover Letter
Lastly, if you have any difficulty crafting a good cover letter, fret not. Crafting a cover letter takes more than putting pen to paper, but professionals like us have the necessary know-how to create an outstanding cover letter. Here at Paul Immigrations, we have in-house writers with multiple years of experience, poised to highlight your strengths, skills, talents, career growth, and societal contributions in the perfect cover letter. You can then include this key document in your application to provide the reviewer with a clearer picture of yourself as a potential Citizen.
Final Takeaway
Taking all of these above tips will help you become one step closer to achieving your greatest dream of becoming a Singapore Citizen. Of course, a successful Singapore Citizenship application takes more than the mere contents of this article. To truly solidify your chances of becoming a Citizen of this Lion City, book a consultation with us at Paul Immigrations. Our team of dedicated specialists will then reach out to you to assess your chances as soon as possible. We can personally guide you through your journey to increase your chances of attaining the highly coveted pink NRIC status. Rest assured that we will do our best to put your best case forward.