About 500 to 600 overstayers in Singapore yet to be arrested

In the past two years, about 450 overstayers in Singapore were arrested each year.

But around 500 to 600 foreigners here have overstayed after their visit passes expired and have not yet been nabbed by the authorities.

Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam revealed this on Nov 11 in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC).

The minister said this figure is less than 0.001 per cent of Singapore’s annual visitor arrival numbers.

The Straits Times understands that the number of overstayers yet to be arrested is typically calculated from entry and exit data at the checkpoints.

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Minister for Law, wrote: “Some may have inadvertently stayed past the validity of their issued pass, while others do so intentionally for reasons such as to seek employment.”

He said it is not always possible to immediately arrest overstayers as they may have changed their contact details or residential address from the details previously declared to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Ms Lim had asked for the average number of overstayers in each of the past two years, and the total number of overstayers who have not yet been arrested.

Mr Shanmugam said that of the 450 overstayers arrested each year in the past two years, about 270 of them held a short-term or long-term visit pass.

According to data from ICA, the number of overstayers arrested saw a 52 per cent increase from 357 in 2022 to 542 in 2023.

However, this figure is still lower compared with during the pre-pandemic years, which saw 940 overstayers arrested in 2018, and 804 in 2019.

An ICA spokesman told ST that the law treats overstaying as a serious offence and the penalties are severe.

Those who overstay in Singapore for more than 90 days can be jailed for up to six months and given at least three strokes of the cane.

Men above 50 years old and women cannot be caned. They will face a fine of up to $6,000 in lieu of caning.

Two women who overstayed in the last two years were given the maximum jail term and fined.

Chinese national Chen Yueying, 54, was sentenced to six months’ jail and fined $4,000 on Sept 27 for overstaying in Singapore for over 18 years.

This was not her first brush with the law. In September 2005, she was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail and fined $3,000 for remaining unlawfully in Singapore for over 90 days.

When she left prison, she was issued a special pass by ICA to be a prosecution witness for a police case. Court documents did not mention what case this was.

The pass expired in November 2005, but Chen did not report to ICA for her repatriation as she wanted to remain in Singapore to work.

Then, on Sept 24, Chen surrendered at a police station.

Court documents did not state what she worked as, or what prompted her to surrender herself.

In the other case, a 48-year-old Chinese national overstayed in Singapore for seven years.

She was issued a long-term visit pass in March 2015, which was valid till April 2016. When it expired, she was given a 62-day visit pass.

She was supposed to leave Singapore in June 2016, but overstayed and was arrested on Aug 1, 2023, at a Housing Board block in Yishun Ring Road.

The woman was sentenced to six months’ jail and fined $2,000.

The ICA spokesman said the authority conducts rigorous and regular in-land enforcement checks with other agencies such as the police to arrest overstayers.

The authority urged the public to do its part to deter overstaying.

Employers and home owners must ensure that prospective foreign employees’ or tenants’ status in Singapore is legal, before offering employment or renting out their premises to them, said the ICA spokesman.

This includes checking their original immigration or work pass, cross-checking their particulars on their pass against their passport, and verifying the pass’ validity through the issuing authority’s website.

Harbourers or employers of immigration offenders can be jailed for up to 24 months, fined up to $6,000, or both.

Members of the public should report suspected cases of immigration offenders to ICA at go.gov.sg/icafeedbackio