Work permit limits extended and eased

Which foreign workers received a four-year stay extension and a wider choice in job roles?

Unskilled Work Permit Holders (WPHs) from Non-Traditional Sources (NTS) and the People's Republic of China will be granted a new maximum employment period of 10 years, up from 6 years, announced the Ministry of Manpower (MoM).

MoM is also formulating rules that may soon the occupational restrictions for these same cohort of permit holders, allowing firms to assign and even retrain them to fill in other work assigments.

These changes, which were proposed as a means to help firms adapt to shrinking foreign worker allotments, will take effect beginning July 2012.

Here's more from MoM:

With effect from July 2012, MoM will extend the maximum Period of Employment for unskilled Work Permit Holders from Non-Traditional Sources and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the current 6 years to 10 years for all sectors.

NTS include Bangladesh, India, Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

MOM will also consider allowing businesses greater flexibility in the deployment of their existing foreign workers across job duties within the same firm, to boost efficiency and productivity. A pilot run will be carried out later this year for the Hotel industry.

Extension of Maximum Period of Employment of Work Permit Holders
The current maximum POE for unskilled WPHs from NTS and PRC is 6 years. There has been feedback from many companies, especially those in the Construction sector, for the POE of unskilled workers to be extended to help businesses retain their trained, experienced, and, therefore, more productive WPHs for longer periods. MOM will extend the maximum POE of these workers’ WPHs to 10 years.

The extension of the maximum POE for unskilled WPHs from NTS and PRC will not lead to an increase in WPHs in Singapore as businesses are still required to keep within their sectoral DRCs. This measure does not impact WPHs from Malaysia, North Asian Sources and foreign domestic workers as they do not face a POE restriction and can work up to age 60.

Greater Flexibility in Deployment of Work Permit Holders to different job functions within the same firm in Specific Industries
Previously, MOM has been strict on the occupational roles of foreign workers i.e. deployment to a different job functions within a firm is prohibited. In our dialogues with the industry, business chambers and associations, there have been requests to allow more flexibility for this. Sectors, such as the hotel and F&B industries, could utilise their staff for other functions when they have the capacity to do so, which would translate to a meaningful boost in efficiency.

MOM will consider allowing this, starting with a pilot run to relax the occupational restrictions in the hotel sector. If successful, this could be later extended to other Services industries. MOM will be working closely with our tripartite partners to set the criteria and conditions for this pilot and aims to implement this programme by the second half of this year.