2 China Women Seek Court Review for Right to Stay Here
They want High Court to order ICA to issue work and study passes
By K. C. Vijayan 5 January 2009
Two China nationals want the High Court to order the immigration authorities to issue them with passes to work and study here.
The moves by the two women, MsZhang Yan, 27, and Ms Xue Jin Zhou, 22, are believed to be the first time foreigners wanting to get such passes to stay in Singapore have gone to the High Court seeking a judicial review.
The two women are essentially asking the courts to see if the decision-making process by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to refuse to support their applications was flawed.
The crux of their cases is whether adverse records, if any, which could have influenced the ICA’s decisions against them, were valid reasons.
Shanghai-based Ms Zhang came here on a student pass last May to do business studies at a private school, but was arrested by the police about three months later at a KTV lounge.
She was suspected of working illegally as a lounge hostess but after the police investigation ended, no further action was taken against her.
Instead, her student pass was cancelled by the ICA.
She claims it was a case of mistaken identity and said she was at the lounge with a friend. She is now fighting to remain here and for her student pass to be be reinstated.
Separately, Ms Xue, who is from Heilongjiang province in northern China, secured a job here as a sales executive with a construction firm on a two-year contract. Last November, she obtained in-principle approval to take up the job here but the work pass was not issued apparently following ICA checks.
It is understood that she had previously studied English here at a private school on a student pass, but on one of her
return trips from China, she had entered Singapore on an expired social visit pass.
But she was granted an extension to stay and Ms Xue believes there is nothing adverse against her to date to block her work permit application.
Both women are represented by lawyer Leonard Loo.
A closed-door session was held last week in the High Court before Justice Judith Prakash, who adjourned the case to next month for further arguments to be heard.
Both Ms Zhang and Ms Xue are seeking to have anything adverse in their records removed and their pass status restored, according to court papers filed.
Lawyer Amolat Singh noted that it is more common for those in such disputes to appeal to the authorities directly, and the matter rests there whatever the outcome.
He recalled two cases where he appealed to the ICA on behalf of two China nationals who stood to have their passes revoked for breaching the conditions.
One was unsuccessful and her student pass was revoked when she was found to be working as a lounge hostess.
But the other, whose child studied here, was allowed to remain after her explanations were verified, Mr. Singh said.
She had been arrested in a raid at a hotel but it was later determined that she was there with a local man whom she was in a long-standing relationship with.
Mr. Singh said the courts do not have powers to intervene with the administrative decision itself but the courts can review the procedure to see if the applicant has been given a fair hearing.
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2 China Women Seek Court Review for Right to Stay Here
They want High Court to order ICA to issue work and study passes
By K. C. Vijayan
5 January 2009
Two China nationals want the High Court to order the immigration authorities to issue them with passes to work and study here.
The moves by the two women, MsZhang Yan, 27, and Ms Xue Jin Zhou, 22, are believed to be the first time foreigners wanting to get such passes to stay in Singapore have gone to the High Court seeking a judicial review.
The two women are essentially asking the courts to see if the decision-making process by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to refuse to support their applications was flawed.
The crux of their cases is whether adverse records, if any, which could have influenced the ICA’s decisions against them, were valid reasons.
Shanghai-based Ms Zhang came here on a student pass last May to do business studies at a private school, but was arrested by the police about three months later at a KTV lounge.
She was suspected of working illegally as a lounge hostess but after the police investigation ended, no further action was taken against her.
Instead, her student pass was cancelled by the ICA.
She claims it was a case of mistaken identity and said she was at the lounge with a friend. She is now fighting to remain here and for her student pass to be be reinstated.
Separately, Ms Xue, who is from Heilongjiang province in northern China, secured a job here as a sales executive with a construction firm on a two-year contract. Last November, she obtained in-principle approval to take up the job here but the work pass was not issued apparently following ICA checks.
It is understood that she had previously studied English here at a private school on a student pass, but on one of her
return trips from China, she had entered Singapore on an expired social visit pass.
But she was granted an extension to stay and Ms Xue believes there is nothing adverse against her to date to block her work permit application.
Both women are represented by lawyer Leonard Loo.
A closed-door session was held last week in the High Court before Justice Judith Prakash, who adjourned the case to next month for further arguments to be heard.
Both Ms Zhang and Ms Xue are seeking to have anything adverse in their records removed and their pass status restored, according to court papers filed.
Lawyer Amolat Singh noted that it is more common for those in such disputes to appeal to the authorities directly, and the matter rests there whatever the outcome.
He recalled two cases where he appealed to the ICA on behalf of two China nationals who stood to have their passes revoked for breaching the conditions.
One was unsuccessful and her student pass was revoked when she was found to be working as a lounge hostess.
But the other, whose child studied here, was allowed to remain after her explanations were verified, Mr. Singh said.
She had been arrested in a raid at a hotel but it was later determined that she was there with a local man whom she was in a long-standing relationship with.
Mr. Singh said the courts do not have powers to intervene with the administrative decision itself but the courts can review the procedure to see if the applicant has been given a fair hearing.
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