EP renewal - rejection and appeal

There are many possible reasons your renewal was rejected, some solely in the employer or general labour market (read about them on this forum and elsewhere!).

What did your company submit with the appeal to remove the reason(s)? If nothing, it is better you look for another employer or make plans to leave the country.

My company not telling me anything. I suspect they need me otherwise they wouldn't appeal. Many of us waiting to see the outcome as this will affect the morale in the company. Many of my friends will start looking out if my appeal fails. Noone wants to face the situation that I am in.

What if MOM is unhappy with my company? Will they still allow appeal to be put up and reject it later? Or simply disallow the company from appealing/applying?

Any rejection can be appealed against - and will be decided on by MoM after another round of processing.

my Ep applied on -5-12-2024

status Invalid on 16-12-2024

             —- I asked to my employer he say mom ask to submit documents like salery justification and company bank statements

same day (16-12-2024)employer appealed with attached company bank statements and submit reason for salery justification

now I’m waiting

status showing pending

is there any chance of my application approval

@Chefamit841509 If the company can, in their appeal justification, dispel MoM‘s doubt - and no other rejection reason is found in the further process - then there is a chance of approval. Otherwise not.

My company has been contributing CPF for Singaporeans that are no longer in employment. CPF Board is investigating. Heavens knows how this will affect my EP renewal.

Let’s hope for the best

Anyone knows what MOM does to companies that contribute CPF for non-employees in order to receive better treatment in workpass applications?

@Whye choo I have never heard of companies voluntarily paying more than necessary. But if it is with criminal intentions, the results will be harsh.

Better look for a job at a more honest employer!

This is actually very common. Many welfare schemes and EP numbers are based on amount of cpf contributed. At some stage, the rewards are worth the risk.

In Singapore, the risk (of sooner or later being found breaking the rules) and the consequence (very harsh penalties) is always higher than the potential reward. In a word: DON‘T!

When caught, companies just pay the penalty. Noone goes to jail. Other times companies just profess the ignorance of rules and get away with a fine. I have seen far too many of these cases. I won't do it but for others, I don't know.

EP renewal appeal rejected even when I scored 50 on COMPASS. I really suspect now that the company's hanky panky is causing me so much trouble.

Company now tells me that they will apply s-pass for me. No clue if it will get approved.

As I wrote above: You better look for a new job at a more honest employer!

(I am serious about this, as your dismissal of rule-breaking as "common" is simply unwarranted!)

Besides: Why would you agree on being downgraded to S-Pass?

@Whye choo

This looks so similar with your case:

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ … ons-to-mom

@ajosshi

So I am in good company, lol

How commonly do employees change their pass type while working for the same employer? This person I know  was on EP but now has moved to S-pass. He is working for the same employer. He told me that there was some riffraff between his employer    and MOM and this was a solution everyone is happy with. I think this is a way MOM can get more revenue in the form of levy as well.

Any inputs are welcome.

EP and S-Pass are not interchangeable - they have different requirements and rights (notleast when you want to bring family members). Read about this on the MoM webpage!

Since S-Pass is lower than EP, I think an employee should not agree to such a downgrade without sufficient compensation in other ways. What did your company offer?

There is really no "downgrade" for the individual. S-pass has a lower minimum salary than employment pass. Otherwise these are very similar. If you have a decent salary, you can get dependents on s-pass as well. There really is no difference in the passes as far as the pass-holder goes.

These passes are not interchangeable but it appears that some company and MOM specific factors are at work.

By forcing the company to get s-pass instead of EP, MOM is forcing the company to shell out a levy (which adds to the cost of the employee for the company and gets some income for the government on the side). S-pass is exempt from COMPASS but quotas apply. Perhaps companies that are scoring poorly on COMPASS are being offered this choice - pay levy if you want to hire foreigners.

Those on this forum who know better may be able to offer insights.

I checked the MoM and ICA webpages and found that Whye Choo is correct here:

The former distinction between EP and S-Pass in terms of possibilities and rights for the pass holder has almost completely disappeared - and the main difference is now the required salary and educational level (with S-Pass being lower, of course) and the levies for the employer (which exist only for S-Pass, not EP).

Sorry, I did not know about this development - and now wonder how long the distinction between these passes will still exist at all.