Singapore – Changes In Work Pass Requirements.

In 2016, the Ministry of Manpower (the “MOM”) announced its broad policy to build a Singaporean core in the employment landscape. This year, in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, stay-at-home orders and lockdowns have been implemented at various levels internationally, resulting in a global economic standstill. While most sectors in Singapore have re-opened for business, economic outlook remains uncertain.

In response, the MOM has accelerated its efforts to strengthen the Singaporean core. As part of these measures, the minimum qualifying salary for two classes of work passes, the Employment Pass and S Pass, were raised during the first half of 2020. In its latest instalment of policy changes, the MOM has announced further tightening of work pass requirements for foreign employees in Singapore.

This client update summarises the key changes in work pass requirements under MOM’s press release of 27 August 2020 (the “Announcement”).

Brief overview of work passes in Singapore

Broadly speaking, all persons who are not citizens or permanent residents of Singapore are required to obtain a valid work pass before commencing work in Singapore. The main work passes are as follows:

• –  Employment Pass for eligible foreign professionals, managers and executives;

• –  EntrePass for eligible foreign entrepreneurs who wish to start a new business in Singapore

• –  S Pass for eligible mid-level skilled foreigners; and

• –  Work Permit for Foreign Worker for eligible semi-skilled foreigners in the construction, manufacturing, marine shipyard, process and services sectors.

   

Changes to Employment Pass

Minimum qualifying salary

The table below sets out the changes made to the minimum qualifying salary of new Employment Pass applicants pursuant to the Announcement. These changes apply regardless of the industry sector in which the applicant intends to work in.

To address the consistently higher salaries of employees in the financial services sector, new Employment Pass applicants who are seeking work in such sector will also be subject to the following changes:

For existing Employment Pass holders who are seeking to renew their work pass, the foregoing changes will take effect from 1 May 2021.

FCF job advertising requirement

Pursuant to the MOM’s Fair Consideration Framework (“FCF”), employers submitting Employment Pass applications must first advertise the vacant job position on MyCareersFuture.sg (“Jobs Bank”) for localvjobseekers to apply and be considered for the position fairly. The aforementioned FCF job advertising requirements must be met before employers are permitted to submit an Employment Pass application on behalf of a foreign candidate.

• –  whether the employer has kept up support of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (“PMETs”) in their employment; and

• –  whether the employer has been responsive to government efforts to help them recruit and train more Singaporean PMETs.

   

FCF Watchlist

To avoid an overconcentration of Employment Pass and S Pass employments, the MOM has also made its first public announcement that it will maintain a watchlist (“FCF Watchlist”) of employers whose PMET workforce profiles suggest bias against locals. Such employers include those with a weakening Singaporean core workforce as well as those whose Employment Pass and S Pass workforce are overly concentrated from a single source. Employers who may potentially be placed on the FCF Watchlist will be given a chance to review their hiring practices before they are placed on the FCF Watchlist.

Potential measures

In response to the Announcement, Members of Parliament have raised a number of suggestions, including:

• –  extending the higher qualifying salary requirement for the financial services sector to the infocomm technology sector and the professional services (including law, accountancy and consultancy) sector;

• –  requiring companies to publish their selection criteria for jobs;

• –  requiring more transparency from employers who employ foreign professionals, managers and executives

  under intra-corporate transfer exemptions to the FCF job advertising requirements;

• –  enacting fair employment or anti-discrimination legislation in Singapore; and

• –  subjecting Employment Pass holders to the DRC.

   

While the MOM has not commented nor adopted these suggestions, employers may wish to prepare themselves for future work pass tightening measures since the MOM has taken on board certain parliamentary suggestions in the past.

The full Announcement may be found here.