Marriage registration fees will go up from Saturday.
Foreigners will be the most affected by the hike, with their fees
increasing by nearly three times.
The Registry of Marriages (ROM) announced on its
website that couples where at least one party is a Singapore
citizen or a permanent resident (PR) will have to pay $42 for
registration, compared with the $26 they pay now.
Foreigners who now pay $128 on weekdays, $198 on
weekends and $298 on popular days will pay a flat $380 from July
1.
An ROM spokesman said the increase was to keep up with
rising operational costs, and to ensure that service quality is
maintained.
The last
review of prices was done in 2005.
When asked
about the steeper price increase for foreigners, the spokesman said
the priority for ROM is to ensure that marriage fees remain
affordable for Singapore citizens and PRs.
Most
Singaporean couples The Straits Times approached were not overly
perturbed by the price increase.
2005 The year the last review of ROM prices was
done.
Registered
nurse Samantha Jacob, 26, who is set to solemnise her marriage on
Sept 3, said she does not understand why the prices have risen by a
significant amount, but would pay the higher price anyway.
She said: "I
don't really get why it is such a big jump, but it is not outside
my budget, so I would just pay it."
Web developer
Stanley Lim, 28, whose solemnisation was in February, said the
price seems reasonable, considering inflation.
He said: "My
spouse and I feel that it is jus- tifiable as the cost of $26 has
been like this for at least 10 years."
Dr Mu Zheng,
an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the
National University of Singapore, said that the price increase is
unlikely to have any significant long-term effect.
She said: "For
people who already intend to get married, they will unlikely change
their minds because of a $20 or a $100 increase in marriage fees.
But it might affect the decisions of those where marriage is not a
certainty. They may instead choose to co-habit or have other living
arrangements."
Marriage rates
of Singaporeans have decreased since the 1990s - 41.1 females out
of 1,000 unmarried female residents aged 15 to 49 got married in
2015 compared with the 59.2 in 1990, while for males, the figure
went down to 44.2 from 52.2.
The ROM
spokesman said it has in place measures to assist couples who have
financial difficulties, and is prepared to waive fees on a
case-by-case basis.