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Immigration to Singapore is historically the main impetus for population growth in the country since the founding of modern Singapore in the early 19th century. Immigration and immigrant workers in Singapore have been closely associated with the Singapore's economic development. For a long period after its founding the majority of its population were immigrants; it was not until around the 1930s that the number of native births in Singapore would overtake net immigration. After its expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, immigration laws were modified in 1966 to reinforce Singapore's identity as a sovereign state. However, the initial strict controls on immigrant workers were relaxed as demand for labour grew with increased industrialisation. Immigration would again become the largest contributor to population increase in Singapore in the late 20th century and early 21st century.

The Ministry of Manpower (MoM) has a semi flexible law for immigration that starts with procuring an employment pass (EP) ^[1]. In colonial times, British merchants and others moved to Singapore and helped develop the region. The large flow of migrants into Singapore in more recent times however has raised concerns and curbs on immigration have been introduced Early population figures show that, for a long period, the growth of population in Singapore was fuelled by immigration that started soon after Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819. The founding of colonial Singapore as a free port led to a rapid influx of people, initially mostly Malays, quickly followed by Chinese. It was estimated that when Raffles arrived in Singapore in January 1819, Singapore had about 120 Malays, 30 Chinese and some local tribes such as the Orang Laut. Another estimate put the total population of Singapore at 1,000, mostly of various local tribes.^[4] By 1821, the population was estimated to have increased to 4,724 Malays and 1,150 Chinese.^[5] Javanese, Bugis and Balinese also began to arrive. In the first census of 1824, out of the 10,683 total, 6,505 were Malays and Bugis constituting over 60% of the population. The total population of Singapore then increased to 16,000 by 1829, 26,000 five years later, and 60,000 by the beginning of 1850.

Chinese migrants started to enter Singapore from the Straits area and southern China to trade just months after it became a British settlement. Later migrant workers from China would also increase considerably to work on the pepper and gambier plantations, with 11,000 recorded in one year.^[6] Indians migrants also arrived, mostly from Bengal and the Coromandel Coast. Singapore became one of the entry and dispersal points for large number of Chinese and Indian migrants who came to work in the plantations and mines of the Straits Settlements, some of whom then settled in Singapore after their contracts ended. By 1860, the total population had reached around 90,000, of these 50,000 were Chinese, and 2,445 Europeans and Eurasians. The first thorough census in Singapore was undertaken in 1871, and it showed that Chinese were the largest ethnic group at 57.6%.^[7] In 1901, the total population of Singapore was 228,555,^[6] with 15.8% Malays, 71.8% Chinese, 7.8% Indians, and 3.5% Europeans and Eurasians. The Chinese population of Singapore has stayed at over 70% of the total ever since.

The early population figures show that Chinese immigrants of the period were overwhelmingly male. The 1826 figures give a total population of 13,750, with 5,747 Chinese males and only 341 Chinese females, compared to 2,501 Malay males and 2,289 Malay females.^[8] The sex ratio of Indian migrants was similarly distorted. The imbalance of the sexes of the immigrant communities continued for a long time with the continual flow into Singapore of male migrant workers who were either single or had left their wives and children behind in China or India, for example the 1901 census figures show that there were 130,367 Chinese males and 33,674 Chinese females.^[9] Most of the early Chinese immigrants did not intend to settle permanently to raise their families there; they worked to send money back home, and many would return to China after they had earned enough money. For over a hundred years, the great proportion of the Chinese in Singapore were immigrants – by the late 1890s only around 10% of the Chinese population were native born in Singapore. Later an increasing number would also choose to settle permanently in Singapore, especially in the 1920s when more chose to remain in Singapore rather than leave.^[10]Change in social attitude in the modern era also meant that Chinese women were freer to emigrate from China, and the sex ratio began to normalise in the 20th century, which led to a much greater number of people being born in Singapore.^[11] Immigration would continue to be the main reason for the Chinese population increase in Singapore until the 1931–1947 period when the natural increase in population would surpass the net immigration figure

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