Recently, Singapore's economic development bureau announced new investment immigration regulations, greatly raising the investment threshold for Singapore's permanent residency through the global investor program (GIP), and significantly increasing the number of people who must employ Singaporeans. The new regulations came into force on March 15th. According to the Economic Development Bureau, the adjustment of the investment and immigration policy will support the development of local emerging enterprises and the financial industry, and create more high-quality jobs for Singaporeans. Statistics show that from 2011 to 2,022, the global investor program has created 24,699 high-quality jobs for Singapore.

The economic development bureau pointed out that many jurisdictions in the world are competing to attract high-quality business owners and investors with capital. The government has made policy adjustments to selectively attract entrepreneurs and investors who are able to bring more economic benefits to Singapore and who intend to take root in Singapore.

In recent years, global investors have invested in Singapore, bringing huge investment income and employment to Singapore. At the same time, the government and some people have different opinions on this issue. Although the government believes that the advantages of a large number of foreign investment immigrants far outweigh the disadvantages, some people believe that the influx of foreign investors has pushed up house prices and inflation, affecting the employment and life of local ordinary people. In addition, some foreign investors do not really invest in Singapore, but use Singapore as a springboard for transferring funds. It is based on the above factors that the Singapore government decided to make further amendments to the Ordinance.

Under the new global investor plan, the government will provide three options for foreign investors. Foreign citizens can choose one of the three schemes to invest in Singapore to obtain a residence permit according to their own conditions.

According to the new regulations issued by the Singapore Economic Development Bureau, foreign applicants who choose scheme I must invest at least 10 million Singapore dollars (including paid up capital) to establish a new commercial entity or invest in the business already in operation. The new investment amount standard is significantly higher than the previous standard of 2.5 million new yuan. At the same time, the new investment immigration policy also requires that if a foreign investor wants to renew his re-entry permit after the expiration of the first 5 years of long-term residence, the enterprise must employ at least 30 employees, of which at least half must be Singaporean citizens and 10 must be new employees. The original rule is that if foreign investment immigrants want to renew their re-entry permit to Singapore, the applicant's enterprise only needs to employ at least 10 new employees, half of them are Singaporeans, and have a total business expenditure of S $2 million.

Foreign applicants who choose scheme two to invest in Singapore must invest S $25 million in the fund selected by the "global investor plan", and the investment amount is greatly increased to 10 times of the original provisions.

Plan three is aimed at foreign investors who intend to set up family financial offices in Singapore. Previously, foreign investors only needed to invest $2.5 million in a single family office with an asset management scale of at least $200 million. Under the new regulations, foreign applicants must set up a single family financial office with an asset management scale of at least s $200 million in Singapore, of which at least s $50 million must be invested in four designated categories and completed within 12 months from the date of the Singapore government's approval letter.

The four investment categories are: first, companies listed on exchanges authorized by the monetary authority of Singapore, such as companies listed on the main board and Kaili board of Singapore Exchange. Two are eligible debt securities, including bonds, bills, commercial papers and certificates of deposit. Three are funds issued by managers registered in Singapore. Four is to invest in non listed enterprises in Singapore in the form of private equity.

The Economic Development Bureau noted that the above amendment will encourage foreign investors to invest more money in the local financial industry and create more jobs for Singaporeans, including financial, tax and legal professionals and fund management jobs.

The last time the economic development board of Singapore revised the global investor plan was in March 2020. At that time, it was mainly aimed at new investors, including founders of fast-growing technology companies and heads of family financial offices. From 2020 to 2,022, an average of 60 investors obtained Singapore's permanent residency status through the global investor program every year.

Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, investors from all over the world have aimed at Singapore's stable and excellent investment environment and poured in to seek new business opportunities for development. According to the data of the monetary authority of Singapore, the number of local family financial offices increased from about 400 at the end of 2020 to 700 at the end of 2021. By the end of 2022, the number of family financial offices had increased to more than 1,500.

As one of the global financial centers, Singapore will continue to explore growth opportunities in the wealth management industry in the future, including supporting the development of local family financial offices.

According to media reports, Huang Xuncai, Deputy Prime Minister and finance minister of Singapore, recently called on investors who set up family financial offices in Singapore not only to start from the perspective of investment or income, but also to pay attention to the positive impact on local society.

Huang said Singapore hopes to establish a stronger long-term partnership with the local family office group. Investors in family financial offices are also important partners in national construction. They should help Singapore's economy achieve inclusive growth through three ways: supporting innovative enterprises, promoting climate transformation and promoting the development of charity.