SHAM MARRIAGES - More cases in Singapore in 2024, with most exposed via public tip-offs

Increase due to more foreigners wanting to extend visit passes to stay and work here

- Nadine Chua

According to marriage documents, a man living in a Bukit Batok flat had been married to a Vietnamese woman for several years and was living with her there. But the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) got word that it was a sham marriage.

On Dec 11, ICA officers raided the Singaporean man's flat. When they entered the room of the 33-year-old, they found no evidence of a married couple living there. There were no women's clothes, and his mother told ICA officers that she did not know her son was married.

When queried, the man claimed his wife was living with him, and that her clothes were elsewhere. He was arrested for allegedly making false declarations in applications for immigration facilities.

His wife, 31, was also arrested that morning during a raid at her residence in Potong Pasir.

Between January and September in 2024, there were 32 cases of marriage of convenience, up from four cases during the same period in 2023.

A marriage of convenience is when two people tie the knot for the sole intention of acquiring an immigration advantage.

Before the raid at the man's Bukit Batok flat, which The Sunday Times was invited to, a briefing was conducted at the ICA Building in Kallang to discuss the identities of the couple and locations to be raided.