Singapore to Grant Up to 40,000 Permanent Residencies a Year, Deputy PM Gan Kim Yong Says

(SINGAPORE) – Singapore said it will grant about 40,000 Permanent Residency approvals a year from 2026 to 2030, a higher intake that officials tied to demographic pressure and labor needs, while U.S. immigration authorities have imposed new holds and reviews affecting Nigerian nationals.

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced the target during the Budget 2026 Committee of Supply debate on February 26, 2026, saying: “We estimate an intake of about 40,000 PRs annually in the next five years, slightly higher than the 35,000 PRs we granted last year. We will also have to adjust our PR intake, as permanent residence is the pathway to work towards citizenship.”

The move gives a clearer signal on Singapore’s immigration planning than many countries offer. Officials set out an annual figure, named the economic sectors in focus, and linked the intake to longer-term population policy.

Gan’s statement came as Singapore confronts a record-low Total Fertility Rate of 0.87 in 2025 and an aging workforce. The government said the higher Permanent Residency intake forms part of its response to those trends.

Most applicants seek Permanent Residency through the Professionals, Technical Personnel and Skilled Workers scheme. The sectors identified as being in demand are Finance, Technology, including AI and Quantum Computing, Healthcare, Logistics, and Engineering.

That combination has drawn attention in Nigeria, where people looking for migration alternatives often use the term “Japa” to describe plans to leave for work or settlement abroad. Singapore’s policy is not nationality-specific, but the expanded intake has been framed in Nigeria as an opening for skilled professionals who fit those sectors.

The contrast with the United States sharpened at the start of the year. USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194 on January 1, 2026, expanding the list of high-risk countries subject to an immediate adjudicative hold, including Nigeria.

USCIS said in the memo: “Effective January 1, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is implementing an immediate ‘hold and review’ for applications from an expanded list of high-risk countries. including Nigeria.”

The adjudicative hold pauses pending benefit applications for Nigerian nationals, covering visas, green cards, and citizenship, until a comprehensive security review is completed. USCIS also began mandatory re-reviews of immigration benefits approved on or after January 20, 2021.

On March 30, 2026, USCIS released an update titled “Update on USCIS’ Strengthened Screening and Vetting,” confirming the policy remained in force. The agency said the measures were designed to “ensure that aliens from high-risk countries. do not pose risks to national security.”

Placed side by side, the two policies move in opposite directions. Singapore announced an expansion with a publicly stated annual intake of about 40,000 PRs, while the U.S. approach centers on hold and review procedures with no equivalent quota or intake target.

The dates also mark how quickly the divergence emerged. Singapore set out its expanded intake on February 26, 2026; USCIS had already put the Nigerian-related hold in place on January 1, 2026, then reaffirmed the tighter screening posture on March 30, 2026.

That matters in practical ways for skilled workers comparing destinations. Singapore has publicly identified labor demand in Finance, Technology, Healthcare, Logistics, and Engineering, and Permanent Residency remains the pathway officials described as leading toward citizenship.

By contrast, the U.S. policy described in the USCIS memo does not create a new admissions route or a new annual target. It pauses adjudication and reopens scrutiny for a defined group of cases tied to Nigeria and other countries on the expanded list.

Nigerian professionals assessing both systems face two very different official messages. One government said it wants a somewhat larger stream of new permanent residents over the next five years; the other said it is strengthening review and suspending progress on pending benefits for Nigerians while security checks proceed.

Singapore’s own language was direct about why it wants a larger intake. Gan linked Permanent Residency numbers to citizenship and to the country’s demographic outlook, presenting PR not as a temporary labor fix but as part of how the state plans population growth.

That point also helps explain why the increase from 35,000 PRs granted last year to about 40,000 a year over the next five years drew attention well beyond Singapore. A country with a tightly managed immigration system rarely states such a figure without signaling broader policy intent.

Verification of the policy is straightforward through the Singapore government’s own records. Gan’s speech to the Budget 2026 Committee of Supply appears in the population policy speech by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, and application routes appear in the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority guidance on Permanent Residency schemes.

The U.S. measures can likewise be checked through the USCIS newsroom update on strengthened screening and vetting. Travelers also track conditions through the U.S. State Department’s Singapore country information page, updated on March 9, 2026.

For now, the clearest official timeline runs from January 1, 2026, when USCIS expanded its hold-and-review policy to include Nigeria, to February 26, 2026, when Singapore raised its Permanent Residency target, and then to March 30, 2026, when USCIS reaffirmed tougher screening. Those three dates define a year in which one immigration system opened a wider door and another tightened its checks.