Dear TRS,
I've recently submitted an application to Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to ask for an approval to marry my fiancee who is a ex work permit holder but got rejected because she is pregnant. Almost 90% of the society knows that if you are under work permit & are currently working in Singapore you are not allow to get pregnant, perform any indecent act or break up a family. i believe majority of the people in the society don't know that this rules also apply even after the work permit is terminated or expired. i myself didn't know that this rule existed so i went on to apply for marriage from MOM and get rejected. Now, my fiancee and i are feeling so lost, we don't know what to do. She is currently 2 months pregnant & we are going to keep this child no matter what. Please also note that the child is conceived after her work permit was cancelled.
We did many research on the internet and found a similar case as us. This couple a Malaysian plumber & a Singaporean women applied for marriage through MOM but also got rejected because the girl was pregnant. During this period of time the guy is still working in Singapore but was immediately sent back to Malaysia and got banned from entering Singapore. A baby girl was born and after weeks of appealing through Prime minister & MPs, finally MOM approved of their application and even allow the guy to apply for a work pass again if he found a employer. If you compared their case to mine, we have a much more minor case than theirs because my child is conceived only after her work permit was cancelled and she is just now ex work permit holder. Why they are able to get approval when they made a serious offences than us? What will others think of us in the future? They will ask me why didn't i marry in Singapore why did i choose to marry in Philippines? How should i reply them? Oh because my Government don't allow us to marry in Singapore?
I fully understand why WP or ex WP holders have to go through MOM to get approval for marriage but i also understand that the reason why they implement this system is to prevent low skilled workers from settling down in Singapore. For your information, my fiance holds a bachelor in Science Agricultural Degree and how is that low skilled? i sympathize those group of foreigners who are well educated but under certain circumstances they are forced to go for a lower paid job & work overseas to support their families. Now, because they used to hold a work permit card, they are tied down to MOM. They could not even fall in love and get pregnant with a Singaporean even after they have stop working in Singapore. My fiancee who is currently 2 months pregnant have been living with me for the past 3-4 months have been to KKH for check up twice and have more up coming appointment scheduled until April but now MOM inform me that she will be ban for a period of time from entering Singapore because she gets pregnant. i am a Singapore citizen not other foreign workers who just out for fun and make other girls get pregnant. my fiancee and i fell in love with each other and the child was conceived in the process of our love. Why is MOM so keen to break us up? Rules is created by humans,some times we have to be flexible, rules are dead human is alive. Based on different situation, we have to be flexible even if it means breaking the rules. No one in this world is perfect.
Now, my fiancee and i are going to get separated and she is banned from entering Singapore. i am trying all my means to appeal for our application to get approve. i even sent emails to Prime Ministers and some MPs to seek their help. One of the MPs have so far volunteered to help me to appeal to ICA so that she wont be ban from entering. We wish that she could continue her check up in KKH and also deliver our baby here in singapore. All we wanted was to get a approval and have a legitimate marriage and settle down in Singapore with our child. Why are they pushing us to the corner? Worse come to worse we have no choice but to marry in Philippines because since she is already banned now , what's the difference if we marry overseas? At that point of time, MOM will push all the blames to us why we marry without seeking an approval from them? They are the one who left us with no other alternatives yet all the blame shall fall on us because we are just a common citizen who have no right to have any says. Who will prefer to marry overseas than in his/her homeland? Remember she is 2 months pregnant so both of us is racing against time to get the approval fast. No matter what i am going to marry her before she give birth in a few months time so we have only a couple of months left.
I wish that readers can understand how i as a future father is feeling right now? i am desperately doing every single thing in hope of getting an approval from MOM. i do not want to be separated with my fiancee and child. Its not easy to have a family abroad where i could hardly visit them each year due to my work in Singapore.
We are deeply in love and wish to get married in Singapore and bring up our child here. Please don't force us to go aboard.
Yours Sincerely,
Malotin
TRS Contributor