Working Permit / Employment Pass

[miss enquisitive]

Is obtaining a work permit / employment pass difficult, or is this a fairly simple process?

i.e. if you have a company sponsor in Singapore and you are likely to earn S$120k plus per annum will you be home and dry?

Do the Singapore government check info with your home country....e.g. credit history, criminal records etc.

   

[also inquisitive]

Miss Inquisitive......I too would be interesed in replies to your posting. Especially whether the Singapore government check with your home country regarding police records.

I have a minor offence on my record about 17 years ago!

[veryinquizitive!]

what did you do?

[EP holder]

Hi inquisitives...  

First, working permit is just for unskilled workers, like construction workers etc. Doesn't look like anything for you.

An employment pass is more likely.

In order to get an employment pass, you HAVE to have a company sponsor, ie be employed. For an EP the minimum salary is S$2,000 per month (with 120K per year you are eligable for the highest category!)

The procedure is very easy. You can find a step-by-step guide, together with a lot of other information, at this site:
www.contactsingapore.org.sg

As for your criminal record,the question will be asked in your application and you are better off being truthful about it. At most, they'll call you in for an interview before approving, but with a proper documented education, company sponsor and high salary, I doubt it will have any impact...  

[EP holder]

Oh, by the way, they might check your criminal record (if they are suspicious), but not credit history and such.

Good luck!

[Gromit]

No way they can check your criminal records. It is a confidential information, isn't it? So how can any foreign government access this kind of info in your home country, unless you are wanted by CIA?
BTW: another option to get an EP is to establish your sole propriety business, but you still need a sponsoring company (probably the one that will buy your services / products) and a local manager. This can be SG citizen, PR or EP holder. After you get your EP you can get rid of him. That's what I did.

[Bewildered]

Not sure about Singapore, but when I moved to Australia they definitely checked criminal records (yeah I've heard the joke). Put it another way, they required a certificate from the police confirming that you haven't got a criminal record.

[Bleys]

Could anyone help me with the following related question - a friend of mine has been offered a good position in Singapore but is a concerned she might not be granted an EP because she has a single conviction for possession of a very small amount of cannabis from 17 years ago for which she got fined $AUS 120 - does anyone know if this would automatically exclude her from getting an EP, given the seriousness that Singapore authorities treat all things drug related. She would probably otherwise qualify (10K Singapore $ per month), thanks.

[AnXXieTy]

gromit, please tell us more about that sole proprietorship...

[Captain Marvel]

I believe the situation regarding EPs is as follows. On the EP application form you are asked if you have a criminal record. If you reveal you have a drugs offence I suspect it is highly likely that your application will be turned down. If you do not reveal it, I think it is highly unlikely that SIR would do any independent checking in your home country. Nor do you need to furnish any kind of certificate confirming that you do not have a criminal record. In summary, best not to reveal it. If they do check and find out you are lying, your EP will not be granted. But if you reveal it I suspect it will not be granted either. The chance of the former is much lower than the latter.

[Ronnie Biggs]

Yes but does anyone have actual experience of claiming no criminal record and being caught when they checked? Otherwise all this is only speculation, and is pretty risky as lying on an immigration form is in itself a criminal offence.

[cs]

Checking a criminal record is probably one
of the easiest checks to conduct. All that SIR needs to do is to get in touch with their counterpart of the country you are from. The reason why approvals very often get dealyed is because the counterpart that SIR has written to has not replied.

[Ronnie Biggs]

Thanks for that, CS

Can I ask how you know about this? Also do they check only your country of birth, as the form asks for your addresses for the past 5 years, which may include different countries. I think Oz checks for background going back 10 years.

Can you help with this? Thanks

[cs]

I got this from a senior officer from SIR with regard to an immigration matter.

What SIR does during the 3 months that it takes to process an EP, PR etc is to write to the various parties as listed in your application. Needless to say, the most basic of these checks is to confirm that you have no criminal record.  

If everyone replies and everything is OK, the application can then be sent for approval. If however some of the parties do not reply, the application has to be rejected.

To give more time for the replies to come in, you can appeal. What happens is that SIR would keep the case open. If a late reply comes in and it is OK, the case can then be sent for approval.

Of why the addresses for 5 years, I can only speculate. I believe it is to make it easier for SIR to contact the relevant parties so that they can confirm what you claim in your application. For example if you have spent a significant of time in one place, they might want to check to see if you commited any crime while you were there. To make sure you don't leave out any key details, they would of course probably tally this with the stamps on your passport. Hence unless you have something to hide, it is to your advantage to be as specific as possible. This is because it would take lot more time to verify you if you give vague, uncertain answers. This works to your disadvantage as if they cannot confirm things about you, they would reject your application.  

[Captain Marvel]

I'm not sure it always happens like that. Firstly in my case the EP was approved in 3 weeks not 3 months. Secondly many countries have no centralised criminal record database, thirdly unlike Singapore many countries do not have IC cards for the population and many people share the same name. There will be hundreds of "John Smiths" in the UK with criminal records but ascertaining which one (if any) relates to the John Smith who is applying for an EP is no easy task, fourthly in many places the information is confidential. When I emigrated to Australia from the UK the Australian immigration service required me to obtain a certificate from my local constabulary that I had no record as the police were not able to release this information to third parties. I suspect in the case of PR application in Singapore you would have to do the same. In the case of EP applicants I suspect  that criminal record checks are done on an exception basis only and where they are done it is the applicant himself who is asked to provide a certificate proving he has no record.
I admit that all the above is an assumption. I have no inside knowledge of how SIR works in Singapore.