It could take three years or more for a PR visa to be granted compared to less than a year for better-qualified Singaporean men with foreign wives, the Sunday Times reported.

Most of these lower-qualified men have sought the help of their Member of Parliaments (MPs), but usually with little success, the report said.

There is no definite critieria for lower-qualified Singaporeans applying for PRs for their spouses, but a monthly income of more than S$2000 (US$1156) and monthly contributions to the state-managed pension scheme will help the application, the report said.

The findings were based on interviews of 15 MPs, sociologists and marriage brokers.

The application would also get a boost if the Singaporean man and his wife are capable of upgrading their skills, the report added.

R. Palakrishnan, President of the Law Society, said all citizens are equal under the eyes of Singapore law, and the Singapore Immigration and Registration (SIR) "can be taken to task" for its discriminatory immigration policy.

The SIR was not able to reply to its queries by press time, the report said.

According to the Ministry of Community Development and Sports, 3827 Singaporean men with non-tertiary qualifications wed foreign wives in 1998, compared with 445 men who had tertiary education.

And the majority of the foreign wives, numbering 3794, had no tertiary qualifications, data from the ministry showed.