Singapore man who married already-wedded Vietnamese woman to get 4 months, 6 weeks’ jail

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man who lied to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) concerning the status of the woman from Vietnam he intended to marry has been given a jail sentence of four months and six weeks.

As it turns out, he knew that the woman was still married when he married her in October 2013 in Singapore but submitted false information to the ICA in 2014 and 2015 when he applied for the woman’s permanent residency and long-term visit pass.

The truth came out only late last year, when the woman’s previous husband applied for a student pass for their son, according to a report in Lianhe Zaobao. The application led to the discovery that the woman was still married when she and the Singaporean man wed in 2013.

It added that the woman, who only got divorced from her former husband in 2021, actually became a citizen of Singapore in 2023.

After investigations were carried out, the Singaporean man, now 37, was charged with five counts, which include inciting another person to commit bigamy, providing false information to the ICA under immigration laws, providing false information to facilitate marriage under the Women’s Charter, and providing false information to assist another person in applying for citizenship.

The man pleaded guilty to three of the five charges, and the judge considered the remaining charges for his sentencing.

Neither the man nor the woman has been publicly named.

The couple has two children, aged 7 and 9. The judge on the case pointed out that these children will bear the label “illegitimate children” because of their parents’ actions, which will end up causing the children inconveniences.

The State Courts judge also underlined the seriousness of this particular case due to potential wider impacts, as the ICA may need to impose more stringent standards for those who wish to apply for Singapore citizenship in the future.

Even if the woman had obtained a divorce from her ex-husband in 2021, this fact did not mitigate how serious the offence is.

While the consequences the Singaporean man has received for his crime, the woman’s outcome has not been made known. /TISG

Read also: SG man & Vietnamese wife each fined S$3,500 for lying to ICA about living together; man charged woman S$1K monthly marriage fee