Authorities remove recruitment question from Employment Pass application

IMPACT – LOW

What is the change? The Ministry of Manpower has removed a question from its Employment Pass Online application related to the Fair Consideration Framework recruitment practices.

What does the change mean? The question asking employers to indicate the number of applicants who have applied for jobs—and to provide a breakdown of Singaporean, permanent resident, and foreign applicants–has been removed.

• Implementation time frame: Ongoing.
• Visas/permits affected: Employment Passes.
• Who is affected: Employers completing the mandatory Fair Consideration Framework recruitment questions when applying for Employment Passes.
• Business impact: The ministry has confirmed that the question was intentionally removed, but has not indicated what the long-term impact will be.

Background: Last November, the ministry added several detailed questions regarding recruitment practices to its application process for Employment Passes. The changes are consistent with policies aimed at promoting the local workforce and encouraging companies to upskill and hire Singaporean job candidates over foreign workers whenever possible.

BAL Analysis: Although MOM authorities have not revealed the reason for the unannounced change to the questionnaire, it could signal that more changes are coming. BAL will continue to monitor and will provide an update once available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group in Singapore. For additional information, please contact singapore@bal.com.

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