Stricter Registration Requirements for Work Pass Holders

At a Glance

Effective December 23, 2020, all work pass holders, including Work Permit, S Pass and Employment Pass holders, must update their residential address or mobile number within five days of any change; previously, they had 14 days to make such changes.
To facilitate tracking of such changes, by December 23, 2020, all Work Permit and S Pass holders must download the FWMOMCare mobile application to register their details. Employment Pass holders must update their details through their existing account on the Employment Pass Online website. All pass holders will subsequently make all mobile and address changes within the new shortened timeframe through these respective platforms.
The shortened time frame will facilitate faster government communications with work pass holders, which is especially important for COVID-19 contact tracing purposes. Foreign nationals who fail to comply with the new requirements may have their work passes revoked.

The situation

Effective December 23, 2020, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will start requiring all work pass holders, including Work Permit, S Pass and Employment Pass holders, to update changes to their residential address or mobile numbers within five days of any change; previously the reporting deadline was 14 days of the change.

A closer look

Work Permit, S Pass and Employment Pass holders will be required to update their information on different online systems depending on their work pass status.

Work Permit and S Pass holder process. All Work Permit and S Pass holders must download the FWMOMCare mobile application and register their details by December 23, 2020.
Employment Pass holder process. Employment Pass holders must update their details through their existing Employment Pass Online system by the same date. Registration on this system is mandatory during the beginning stages of the Employment Pass application process.

The registration will allow work pass holders to make future changes to their details within the new, shorter deadline of five days of the change through the respective platforms.

Impact

Faster government communications. The shortened time frame will facilitate faster government communications with work pass holders and promote better contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Penalties. Foreign nationals who do not comply with the new registration regulations may have their work passes revoked and non-compliant employers could have their ability to sponsor work passes revoked, although this is rarely seen in practice.
Additional registration requirement. All work pass holders should be aware that they will still be required to update their address through the Online Foreign Worker Address Service (OFWAS), in addition to the new reporting requirements listed above, as the new systems are not integrated.

Background

These reporting requirements are part of foreign nationals’ work pass conditions under the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations (EFMR), the law that outlines responsibilities of employers and rights of foreign national employees relating to work passes, including applications, cancellations, requirements and benefits, among others.

Looking ahead

The Singapore government will continue to move more processes online and have faster turnaround times for required information through government websites and mobile phone applications. Required updates will continue to be mandatory until the information in government applications, tools and online portals become integrated.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].

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