Singapore immigration to get tougher for mid-level expat executives

Aug. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- In the National Day Rally given by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, there was mention of further tightening of Singapore's immigration policies. The policies are set to be more stringent at the middle level where Singapore has talented professionals who can fill the gaps. Lately there has been repeated misgivings from citizens on the lack of opportunities that would enable Singaporeans to climb the employment scale largely due to the availability of a growing professional expat pool.

The “Global City Competitiveness Index”, a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), for the year 2012, rated Singapore as one of the best cities to live in, (Number 3 on global rating scale) and this makes the city state a prime contender for talented professionals to live and work in. Over the year 2012, it has been noticed however that Singapore's immigration has been tougher and streamlined to only allow professionals from certain backgrounds holding certain specific skill sets or educational qualifications to enter Singapore on an employment pass.

As immigration rules are tightened up it is expected that professionals and mid-level workers from certain countries like India may find it increasingly challenging to secure a job in Singapore. This does not mean that Singapore has closed its doors to talented professionals who are experienced and are experts in their relative fields. A professional firm Servolve that has been particularly successful in procuring employment passes and work permits for expat professionals in Singapore have found through in house research that Singapore is still open to inflow of expats who have unique skill sets. Professionals who have more than 8 years of experience and have sponsoring companies have a good standing in Singaporean society has been particularly successful.

Professionals who have experience lesser than 3 years who are generic degree holders would find it difficult to secure work passes, and this situation is not likely to change in the near future. Singapore has been facing the problems associated with declining population growth and relies heavily on expats to bridge this gap, but it has been clearly identified by the government that the view this only as a “temporary solution”. The long term answer to the problem is for Singaporeans to be more family focused and younger Singaporeans to embrace family life as early as possible.


Source - News Article in The Economic Times Online
Text of the National Day Rally Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong And Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew