Quest for global talent to work in Singapore; A new work pass in 2023

News highlights

• Singapore is keen to bring in top foreign talent in areas like tech, sports, arts, and more.
• The city-state is planning to create a new migration track to attract top talent across various sectors to work in Singapore.
• The new Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass will allow its holders to work in Singapore for 5 years.
• Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass will have a minimum monthly salary of S$30,000 (US$21,400).

Singapore is a top career destination in Asia and now, it could get a lot easier for you to decide to work in Singapore. The country is setting its own ambitions higher with plans to rope in more top global talent. The reason? It knows that in this era, businesses follow talent as much or more than talent follows businesses.

Lee Hsien Loong said so!

The Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong was giving his annual policy address. On this occasion, he emphasized the importance of building a talent pool in the country that’s nothing less than world-class.

He also observed that world nations are already working on stepping up skilled immigration and Singapore couldn’t fall back in this essential process. This was seen happening more aggressively after the COVID-19 pandemic came under control and world nations opened up and went back to normalcy.

Also read: Singapore eases movement curbs for migrant workers

Targeted enhancements in Singapore

One thing that the government of Singapore has observed and acknowledged is that both skilled talent and businesses that employ them require stable and safe environments to sustain, invest, and function. It’s an advantage for Singapore that the country is exactly such a place.

As Singapore is planning targeted enhancements to the work pass framework, there are some significant measures it’s going to implement. The most prominent of them is the introduction of the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass.

What’s the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass?

The Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass will be introduced to attract top talent across various industrial sectors to work in Singapore in a score of occupations.

To be more accurate, the Pass will apply to those individuals who maintain a valuable professional network and deep skills and expertise. These elements when employed will be instrumental in ensuring the growth of Singapore.

Unlike a regular employment pass in Singapore, the new Pass will permit its holder to stay and work for as long as five years. A normal Singapore employment pass will have a validity of up to 2 years for first-time candidates and up to 3 years for renewed Passes.

If you want to qualify for the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, you have to earn at least SGD30,000 (USD21,400) as a minimum monthly salary. At this rate of monthly payments, you will be at a level with the top 5% of employment pass holders in Singapore.

The best part!

Let the salary criterion be a cause of concern for you. That’s just one factor in determining eligibility for the pass. Do you have outstanding achievements in your name across the fields of sports, arts and culture, research, science and technology, and academia? If yes, then you have the opportunity to apply for the Pass even if you don’t meet the salary requirements!

Wait! There’s more!

From September 2023, Singapore will offer a five-year pass meant particularly for some jobs in the tech industry. Currently, there are employment passes with two-to-three-year validity. The new pass will thus be a better deal than these current passes.

The decision on this five-year pass is to be finalized by Government agencies in Singapore in the coming months. To be eligible, workers would have to earn at least SGD10,500 (USD7,500) as a monthly salary.

In other measures, Singapore’s manpower ministry will bring down the time frame for business firms to advertise jobs. This period will be reduced from 28 to 14 days. The Singapore job market is currently a tight one requiring lot more workers. This calls for speeding up the processing of applications for employment pass from about 3 weeks to 10 business days. The purpose behind this is to ensure fair employment practices.

Also read: Jobs outlook in Singapore for 2022

What’s Singapore aiming at?

What Singapore’s Manpower Minister said summarises what Singapore aims at with the reforms the country is planning. He said that the new five-year pass will provide more certainty to experienced professionals in technology while making the decision to relocate to Singapore. The country will get the opportunity to anchor tech capabilities simultaneously with developing the local talent pool.

There’s consideration given to more areas than qualifications from prestigious universities when people are chosen to migrate to Singapore. This serves well in roping in a pool of skilled candidates to work in Singapore. These will be potential talents by virtue of their experience and expertise over and above academics.

If you seem to fit into the requirements of Singapore, you will be someday a part of the force that led to a quantum leap the country will make. This will be the realization of a grand plan of economic development in a span of 5 to 15 years into the future.

If you are willing to migrate to Singapore, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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