Piecemeal Integration

This chapter delves deeper into Singapore’s contemporary migration regime. Migration is heavily differentiated from both above and below in Singapore. The state has created a mutli-tiered visa system which grants different classes of migrants varying benefits based on their value to the Singaporean economy. Lower-skilled workers are kept permanently temporary and are denied the right to settle in Singapore while higher-skilled workers are given the option to take up Permanent Residency and citizenship. However, not all in the latter group opt to put down roots in Singapore and some choose to be segregated from the local community. For those who do choose to call Singapore home the state invests heavily in their integration through community programmes including the naturalisation programme that relies heavily on Integration and Naturalisation Champions (INCs). This chapter ultimately paints a mixed picture of migration and integration efforts which is founded upon normative assumptions of who is more deserving of membership in the Singaporean community over others for whom citizenship is never an option.