About 500 to 600 overstayers in S'pore yet to be arrested: Shanmugam

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

- Christine Tan

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 Sunday 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.