SINGAPORE: In order to enter Singapore to look for work, a woman used a fake name and passport.
Using the assumed identity, she married a Singaporean man, who then sponsored her long-term visit passes from 2013 to 2018.
Liu Xueyuan’s offences were discovered when Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers found a discrepancy in her travel documents when she tried to leave Singapore on Jan 16.
The Chinese national, 66, was sentenced to three months and six weeks’ jail and fined $1,500 on May 15, after pleading guilty to four charges, including entering Singapore without a valid pass and making false statements in a disembarkation form.
On June 29, her husband, Singaporean Low Han Song, 68, was handed a five-week jail sentence for making false statements in a long-term visit pass application.
Liu had entered Singapore using passports bearing her real name and date of birth in 2005 and 2012.
After she returned to China in 2012, she assumed a new identity and obtained a passport with the name “Yue Yinfang”, to find a job in Singapore.
She was issued a passport with the fake name in November 2012.
Liu returned to Singapore on July 5, 2013, and used the passport with the fake name for immigration clearance.
She declared on her disembarkation form that she had never used a passport under a different name to enter Singapore.
The immigration officer at the airport, who did not know that the passport was fake, issued her a visit pass which was valid till August 2013.
On July 26, 2013, Liu used the name “Yue Yinfang” to apply for an extension to her visit pass, which was approved on the same day.
While in Singapore, she became acquainted with Low, who later proposed to her. He did not know that Liu had been using a fake name.
The pair solemnised their marriage on Aug 30, 2013. As her spouse, Low sponsored Liu’s long-term visit passes from 2013 to 2018.
Some time between 2018 and 2019, the couple’s relationship began to sour, and Liu moved out of Low’s flat.
They seldom contacted each other, until Liu needed Low to sponsor her long-term visit pass renewal in December 2020.
On Dec 2, 2020, Liu and Low submitted a long-term visit pass application form on ICA’s platform, with Liu’s fake identity. They also falsely declared that they were still living together.
Liu’s long-term visit pass was cancelled on Dec 19, 2025, and she was issued a short-term visit pass, which was valid till Jan 18.
As she wanted to return to China, Liu went to the Chinese Embassy in Singapore to apply for a travel document as her passport had expired.
The embassy issued her a one-time travel document bearing her real name, which she presented at Changi Airport on Jan 16. That led to the discovery of her offences.
For making a false statement to obtain entry into Singapore, an offender can be fined up to $4,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
