The Ministry of Manpower, Singapore, has announced long-term work visas to attract and retain foreign talent. This announcement is in line with the revision of rules related to work visas and will come into effect from January 1, 2023.
The changes will allow international workers earning monthly SGD 30,000 to apply for a five-year work visa, while their dependents can also get employed in Singapore. The visa has been named Overseas Networks and Expertise (ONE) pass.
International individuals who do not satisfy the monthly income requirement, but have showcased exceptional talent in sports, arts, science, and academics can also apply for ONE pass.
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Tan See Lung, Minister of Manpower, commented that as businesses and talent, both are in search of opportunities, Singapore can use this situation to make itself the global hub of talent, productivity, and innovation.
Countries all over the world, including Singapore, are facing huge labour shortages and working on strategies to overcome the same. The UAE recently allowed expatriates to find jobs by abolishing the need to get sponsored by any employer. The country shifted to a five-day week, with a Saturday-Sunday weekend, making itself more relevant to the global market.
Recovering from the Covid-19 economic setback, Singapore finds itself in urgent need to revive the hospitality, food and beverages sector. While the labour supply in manufacturing and construction industries are reviving to pre-Covid-19 levels, the high-end income job profile is still facing an issue. The country desperately seeks to iron out this imbalance.
Singaporean businesses, in a bid to attract more foreign workers, have been offering high remunerations to white-collar international workers. This has resulted in pushing the National Inflation rate to a 14-year high. On the other hand,the Central Bank has been pushed to revise and tighten monetary policy to cope with high interest rates, inflation, and wage-cost escalation.
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Singapore has witnessed the highest workforce demand and supply gap since 1998. The gap is expected to affect the national productivity growth rate to fall to 3-4% this year in comparison to 3-5% last year. If so, it will be the slowest national productivity growth rate among all Southeast Asian nations.
There are also plans to exempt the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) for job profiles held by the top 10% of Employment Pass holders from September 1, 2023. The FCF rules require employers to locally advertise the job for a certain time period before they start accepting applications from foreign workers.
Singapore expects the policy changes to help take the country a better stand against its competitors, such as Hong Kong, UAE, Australia, and the UK.
Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister, addressed the issue in his National Day Rally speech on August 21, 2022. He stated that in the present era, talent makes all the difference to a nation’s success. He further divulged a need to focus on attracting and retaining the best talents just like investments.
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Source: NDTV