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As Singapore enters a post-Covid era, the city-state’s leaders are busy updating rules on hiring foreign workers while dismantling coronavirus restrictions, citing intense global competition for talent.
Five-year visas and the repeal of a law banning sex between men grabbed headlines, but Singapore rolled out a slew of measures aimed at helping it leapfrog other financial hubs and attract talent in next-generation industries such as computing, aviation and even the arts.
“Singapore remains a global city,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech last month in which he vowed to upskill the nation’s workforce. “We couldn’t survive any other way.”
Here’s everything we know about how Singapore sees the battle for foreign workers and what it’s doing:
Contest
Political stability, safe, efficient healthcare and public transport have long been part of Singapore’s pitch to the world. But city leaders say that’s not enough.
It’s not just Hong Kong that is competing: Lee specifically mentioned Germany in his National Day speech, which would allow some workers to enter the country before they can find a job, and Britain, which offers special visas for graduates from Hong Kong. Top 50 universities in the world —) Two of them are in Singapore.
Then there’s Thailand, which just unveiled its own 10-year visa scheme for foreign workers, and the United Arab Emirates, which will allow some expats to get work visas without corporate sponsorship.
The Compass System: Education, Skills, Salary
From 2023, Singapore will establish a points-based system for visa candidates – assessing how education, skills, salary and nationality contribute to the diversity of their companies. The “compass” system mimics similar procedures in the UK and Canada.
In the Singapore program, applicants need to score at least 40 points in six categories to compete, with the possibility of scoring 0, 10 or 20 points in each category. Have a Harvard degree? Twenty points for you.
visa period
In the biggest shift, Singapore will offer a five-year work visa for those earning at least S$30,000 (US$21,300) a month – the Overseas Network and Expertise (ONE) pass, compared to the two-year pass many foreign workers have There was a leap. .
Pedestrians in Singapore’s central business district. (Brian Vanderbeek/Bloomberg)
The new visas also allow workers’ families to look for work and open doors for good candidates in sports, arts, science and academia who don’t meet wage standards.
Here’s how the ONE pass compares to some of the other recently tweaked passes:
Hire a local
Singapore’s fair consideration framework aims to ensure that local candidates are given a fair chance even in companies with international recruitment targets.
With unemployment soaring during the pandemic, the government focused on supporting the domestic workforce and policy tightened. Some of those rules were relaxed last month.
Job advertisements must now be posted for 14 days, down from 28 days at the peak of the pandemic. From 1 September 2023, jobs with a monthly salary of at least S$22,500 will be exempt from the job advertisement requirement. This salary threshold will be reviewed periodically. Companies with fewer than 10 employees are also exempt.
LGBTQ+ community
To modernize the city-state’s social framework, Prime Minister Lee announced plans to repeal colonial-era laws criminalizing sex between men, but said the government would also amend the constitution to prevent marriage from being defined as between men. and a woman challenged in court. The move means parliament will finally decide the debate.
Lee’s statement — which means a compromise between the majority of citizens who oppose changing the definition of traditional marriage and those pushing for expanded rights — puts businesses in a tough spot when looking to recruit LGBTQ+ candidates from abroad.
The biggest risk to hiring managers: Singapore does not recognize visas and worker qualifications for married LGBTQ+ talented spouses. Administration officials said they deal with these situations on a case-by-case basis.
Industry Favorites
As Singapore further opens its doors to international applicants, a variety of technical roles are in demand.
Singapore’s 2020 launch of “Tech.Pass” remains attractive to tech leaders — provided their companies have accumulated a valuation or market capitalization of at least $500 million. The plan may be reviewed after ONE is passed and other changes take effect, The Straits Times report.
Singapore’s Minister of Manpower and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Tan Siling speaks during an interview in Singapore. (File photo, Bloomberg)
Singapore has made no secret of its desire to enhance its appeal to green energy and green finance roles, aiming to build on the reputation of the garden city envisioned by its founding leader, Lee Kuan Yew.
Ministry of Manpower Minister Chen Siling said the ministry was asked to be more specific Bloomberg Specialists in fields such as photovoltaic cells, energy storage systems and mRNA technology will be particularly attractive. But he said he didn’t want to go into too much detail because “everyone will go after” the same people and bidding wars could ensue.
low income worker
Singapore’s latest approach to expats noticeably lacks incentives for those at the lower end of the income ladder. Despite widespread labour shortages during the pandemic, Minister Chen said he believed the crunch in construction, marine processing and shipyard jobs would ease in the coming months.
Likewise, the labor market for low-wage jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry and food and beverage industries is particularly tight. But over the years, authorities have favoured digital and automated solutions – except for roles that may be filled by local employees – rather than attracting more low-paid workers from abroad.
living cost
Perhaps the biggest factor foreign workers have to weigh wherever they move is the cost of living.
Of the 30 cities surveyed by Savills, rental prices in Singapore rose the most in the first half of the year, up 8.5%. However, according to a March survey by ECA International, the city-state was only the 13th most expensive city in the world for expats to live. Hong Kong tops the list, with London, New York, Tokyo and Seoul all ahead of Singapore.
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