Singapore Permanent Residence Offer

I am pleased to have received some good news today. Firstly my application for overseas attachment to Shenzhen had been successfully withdrawn. Special thanks to Winnie for helping me to organize my letter into a professionally written rejection letter. This is probably the only time I'm happy with my Certificate of Identity, as it can be used to my advantage.

Secondly my student pass has been approved AGAIN!! Yeah, AGAIN!! It was much faster than anticipated, less than ONE working day. I'm simply impressed with the efficiency of civil service here! I can now proceed with the my application and medical check-up.

Lastly I received my letter of offer from ICA to be a permanent resident of Singapore for a second time. I didn't apply for the first offer as I wished to enroll in a local university degree then instead of commencing full-time employment - which is a requirement to obtain PR status.

I am elated! Probably I'll be submitting in my application before Christmas this year. Finally I can secure a legal status to stay and work in Singapore and get a new lease of life here. This is the first time I obtain some sort of legal residential status overseas by my own merits.

I'll cherish this offer as Singapore is like my second home. I practically grew up here, having spent almost a full decade on this island nation. It wasn't that easy to come to where I am now. Like some friends, I despaired and feel like giving up and returning home at some point in time. Somehow, I managed to go on.

Throughout the years, I came into contacts with many events I will never come across had I stayed on in Brunei - constant change in environments, betrayals, exposure, the need to exercise some self-discipline, planning my own budgets etc. I learn to strive for my own future and be someone more independent, responsible and cool-headed.

I have learnt to count my blessings. Had my cousin not set a precedence by coming to Singapore and Brunei's currency were not on par with Singapore Dollar and if Singapore had impose severe visa restrictions on my statelessness, I would never had been able to venture here. Best of all, Brunei and Singapore shares the same GCE system, thus I never face much problems with the education system here.

Life is not a bed of roses anyway, and with Singapore PR entails many 'repercussions' - taxes, CPF contributions etc. However, Singapore still has one of the lowest tax structures, though this can't be compared with a TAX-FREE Brunei. Nevertheless, I'm rather comfortable with the lifestyle here, having assimilated well locally (special thanks to those friends who help to facilitate my stay). I actually suffer a minor reverse culture-shock when I returned to Brunei, and much to the chagrin of my secondary classmates, I sometimes had to be constantly reminded that I am not in Singapore, haha....

It is rather ironic that my birth country is so reluctant to provide me with a nationality, and yet, Singapore offers me a PR with open arms. My birth certificate actually contains a horrid 'To Be Determined' phrase in the nationality column. For the meantime I am not going to contemplate the issue of whether to stay in Singapore or return to Brunei in the near/distant future, so please do not pester me with this question again whenever I return home, okay?