ICA change of address issue

• Xenthar1

  4 Jan 11, 12:40

  Me and my wife recently have had a very terrible experience with the Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA). We've been married for slightly more than a year and have been staying in a rental unit as we were waiting for our HDB unit to be build. This was also partly due to the lack of HDB units (Another HDB married couple unfriendly policy which I'm not going to go into here...) Imagine my suprise when after a year, I've received a letter from ICA telling me that I have to report my new change of address after 28 days or I would receive a few thousand dollars worth of fines. I was incredulous as: 1) I only received this letter in Jan and my own flat was already due in Feb. 2) They got the facts wrong and stated that I made a HDB transaction and indicated my my current rental address as my official address. 3) Asked me to report with official documents which was ridiculous. Since when did tenants renting units have officials documents except for the landlords. 4) My landlord including my friends have never heard of the legal requirement to report a change of address when staying in a rental unit. 5) Most of the people I know staying in rental have not receive this letter. (Maybe because I was "stupid" enough to update some of my government particulars like a good citizen) I then had to take leave from work just so that I could go down to settle the issues at ICA building with my wife. (It's not a surprise if employers don't like to hire married people if they are always forced to take sudden leave or time-off due to handle such situations.) When we arrived at the Change of Address counter, the female auntie did not even bother to look up at us until she finished whatever she was currently busy with. When we explained our problem to her, she just gave a very crude reply that this was the law. And to top it off, after making a mistake on their end assuming that we had the documents, she stated that she would now send us the necessary documents which would only arrive in a week. We were told to go home to wait for it and then return again with the document to repeat the whole process! Talk about inefficiency. This got both me and my wife very angry as they were the one that made the mistake in the first place. Apparently, she could not handle the stituation already after making a mess of it and went to look for her supervisor for help. To his credit, the supervisor at least explained the legal requirements nicely to us. He also used his discretionary powers to enable us to register our rental address on the spot and without making another repeated trip. It seems that while the government has already put in place the "No Wrong Door" policy, not every ministry staff is following it. However to my dismay, we were then told we had to make another separate trip to Singpost to arrange for my letters to be send back to old address (parents place). I then had to make my own arrangements to change it again in Feb when I get the keys to my unit. The best part, I had to pay for this out of my own pocket. I was told it was only $10 plus but I was charged at Singpost for $50 plus for two months. So after being forced to stay in a rental due to the short supply of flats for married couples by HDB, ICA makes life difficult for married couple leaving in rental units by wasting their personal time, affecting their work and eating into our finances. Well done! Last but not least, the best part was that the Supervisor said the change of address was meant to deal with loanshark activities. I don't blame him as it might probably be some sop line given by the management. But this system is seriously flawed as it is basically "supporting" the activity that it is trying to stop. 1) The form doesn't capture the reason for people's change of address. People who borrow from loansharks are also not stupid enough to volunteer such information. 2) The update to the IC address is a piece of sticker that can be torn off anytime. 3) The loan sharks won't know the change of address and will harass the wrong people. Unless somehow they do know. Given the recent SLA cases then this going to be a worrying train of thought... 4) BEST PART! This is going to "help" the loansharks as people can simply make use of this system to borrow money first and then change their address. Therefore I can't see how this system is meant to "deal" with loanshark activities besides making life difficult for married couples. For ICA' sake I hope they better revamp their system before any people or loansharks decide to "test" it and make married life a little easier in Singapore for all married couples out there with our same problem.
• sbst275

  4 Jan 11, 12:41

  blame ICA

  dun you know it's an offence not to update your address should you move house within a certain period?

  as for e loan sharks, report to police. those loansharks only recongise address, dun recongise ppl.

   

• ditzy

  4 Jan 11, 12:55

  What I cannot understand from the long story above is how ICA got his rental address and sent him the letter.

• Xenthar1

  4 Jan 11, 12:57

  Then I guess there are a lot of "offenders" out there renting places. The only reason they knew was that I went to update my particulars. They then made assumptions about my status and got the info wrong. Of course I blame them.

  Originally posted by sbst275:

  blame ICA

  dun you know it's an offence not to update your address should you move house within a certain period?

  as for e loan sharks, report to police. those loansharks only recongise address, dun recongise ppl.

   

  
  
• dabade

  4 Jan 11, 13:04

  I have a lirttl

• dangerboi

  4 Jan 11, 14:09

  Originally posted by ditzy:

  What I cannot understand from the long story above is how ICA got his rental address and sent him the letter.

  It's a very simple answer....