Last Sunday in his National Day Rally 2011 speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has told that Singapore Employment Pass criteria will become stricter for mid-level white collar workers. He has mentioned that Ministry Of Manpower (MOM) will soon announce the details. Singapore Employment is a Singapore work permit issued to white collar foreign employees which enables them to work in Singapore. Unlike S-Pass, Employment Pass is not subject to any quota system which limits the number of Employment Passes that can be employed in a company. There were around 142,000 Employment Pass holders as of December 2010. These foreign professionals are directly competing for the jobs with locals and many Singaporeans openly express their intake should be slowed.
Today in its press release, MOM released the details in its newsroom by the name "Enhanced Employment Pass Framework". New assessment criteria to take effect from January 2012:
MOM will tighten the educational qualifications requirements for Employment Pass Q1 "so that only those from good quality institutions will be eligible". The minimum salary requirement for this pass type is also increased to 3,000 SGD per month from 2,800 SGD per month. Older applicants will have to command even higher salaries to qualify for Employment Pass Q1. This seems to prevent
Minimum salary to qualify for Employment Pass P2 is also raised from $4,000 to $4,500 while the criteria did not change for the P1 pass which was recently raised to 8,000 SGD per month from 7,000 SGD per month.
All new Employment Pass applications will be subject to these new Employment Pass critera from 1 January 2012. How will these measures effect existing Employment Pass holders? For them, MOM announced transitional measures and it will phase in the new requirements over the next 1-2 years (depending on when their current passes expire).
"Existing EP holders whose passes expire:
Before 1 January 2012: receive a one-time renewal of up to two years based on the pre-July 2011 EP criteria.
Between 1 January 2012 and 30 June 2012 (both dates inclusive): receive a one-time renewal of up to one year on the existing EP criteria.
On or after 1 July 2012: The new EP criteria shall apply.
11. Existing EP holders who change employers after 1 January 2012 will have their applications considered under the new EP criteria."
Source : MOM - Enhancements to the Employment Pass Framework
The news for changes, as expected, echoed back in completely opposite ways from the different ways in the opposite sides of the force. Local employers will welcome it while local employers will feel it as a blow:
"DBS economist Irvin Seah said the policy change could encourage companies to have a closer look at and hire more Singaporeans. Business development manager Peter Toh, 45, said the changes would help to a certain extent. A formetr assistant general manager at a company in Hong Kong, he wanted to switch to the service industry but was unsuccessful even after sending more than 100 applications. Much still depends on individual employers and whether they are willing to hire older applicants, noted Mr. Toh, who is now with an accounting firm."
Source : The Straits Times - New rules offer hope to Singapore executives
And the employer side:
"Mr. Lawrence Leow, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) expects salary costs to "easily go up 2 to 3 per cent over a period of time" noting that Singaporeans will also expect a corresponding pay rise. The local service sector is expected to be most affected by the latest round of tightening measures, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also Manpower Minister, said yesterday."
Source : The Straits Times - SMEs feeling the heat of wave of changes
See Also : Singapore work pass salaries, foreigner intake and rents in 2011
Today in its press release, MOM released the details in its newsroom by the name "Enhanced Employment Pass Framework". New assessment criteria to take effect from January 2012:
MOM will tighten the educational qualifications requirements for Employment Pass Q1 "so that only those from good quality institutions will be eligible". The minimum salary requirement for this pass type is also increased to 3,000 SGD per month from 2,800 SGD per month. Older applicants will have to command even higher salaries to qualify for Employment Pass Q1. This seems to prevent
Minimum salary to qualify for Employment Pass P2 is also raised from $4,000 to $4,500 while the criteria did not change for the P1 pass which was recently raised to 8,000 SGD per month from 7,000 SGD per month.
| Minimum fixed monthly | |||
| Work Pass Type | Type of Applicants | Before Jan 2012 | After Jan 2012 |
| Employment Pass P1 | Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs | 8000 | 8000 |
| Employment Pass P2 | Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs | 4000 | 4500 |
| Employment Pass Q1 | Professional, Managerial, Executive or Specialist jobs | 2800 | 3000 |
All new Employment Pass applications will be subject to these new Employment Pass critera from 1 January 2012. How will these measures effect existing Employment Pass holders? For them, MOM announced transitional measures and it will phase in the new requirements over the next 1-2 years (depending on when their current passes expire).
"Existing EP holders whose passes expire:
Before 1 January 2012: receive a one-time renewal of up to two years based on the pre-July 2011 EP criteria.
Between 1 January 2012 and 30 June 2012 (both dates inclusive): receive a one-time renewal of up to one year on the existing EP criteria.
On or after 1 July 2012: The new EP criteria shall apply.
11. Existing EP holders who change employers after 1 January 2012 will have their applications considered under the new EP criteria."
Source : MOM - Enhancements to the Employment Pass Framework
The news for changes, as expected, echoed back in completely opposite ways from the different ways in the opposite sides of the force. Local employers will welcome it while local employers will feel it as a blow:
"DBS economist Irvin Seah said the policy change could encourage companies to have a closer look at and hire more Singaporeans. Business development manager Peter Toh, 45, said the changes would help to a certain extent. A formetr assistant general manager at a company in Hong Kong, he wanted to switch to the service industry but was unsuccessful even after sending more than 100 applications. Much still depends on individual employers and whether they are willing to hire older applicants, noted Mr. Toh, who is now with an accounting firm."
Source : The Straits Times - New rules offer hope to Singapore executives
And the employer side:
"Mr. Lawrence Leow, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) expects salary costs to "easily go up 2 to 3 per cent over a period of time" noting that Singaporeans will also expect a corresponding pay rise. The local service sector is expected to be most affected by the latest round of tightening measures, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also Manpower Minister, said yesterday."
Source : The Straits Times - SMEs feeling the heat of wave of changes
See Also : Singapore work pass salaries, foreigner intake and rents in 2011
To avoid any kind of rejection in getting the
ReplyDeleteSingapore employement pass, people who are going to apply for this need to take all the steps very carefully. Any ignorance can leads to rejection of application.