Is MOM rejecting new EP pass for higher salary reason?

That’s not true. My colleague who is an IT professional got a new job and the new pay is double of what he is getting now. He got his new EP approved within a month in June.

I faced the same situation . I am on DP and applied Eap twice and got rejected . An appeal had been submitted

My increment was 14.5%

theExpat: If you are in Singapore and applying for jobs/ interviewing as an Expat seeking sponsorship for work permit, I am certain that you would have realised that you are getting lesser responses from companies at the onset, or cold shoulders after the initial round or two. This is because the local talent pool is battling with high unemployment numbers.

Having said that, if you possess unique skills (analytics, other technical skills that are too rare), you may get a job but yes there is additional scrutiny on why you, over a local and checks around fair hiring practices. Salary is being looked at to ensure you aren’t defying the industry standards too.

A simple way of looking at it, if you drawing X, next job is 2X, why did you settle for X all this while? You shouldn’t have settled for a lesser pay if your credentials indeed fetch you more.

Everything has to be justified well, with supporting documents. For instance, you may have acquired relevant certs in the past few months, learnt a new skill that’s rare- that justifies the bump now, makes sense?

Recruitment agencies have been chanting the same lines to us as job seekers, can’t do beyond 15%, but that’s not a norm or impossible.

Hope that helps.

mushroomtoto wrote:

That’s not true. My colleague who is an IT professional got a new job and the new pay is double of what he is getting now. He got his new EP approved within a month in June.

It ain’t true nor false, talking from experience and not hear say.

If you speak to job consultancies, they will all mention the same. 10-15% is their pitch. Read my comment above.

The "15%" probably comes from the fact that, above a certain salary jump (whether it is at 15% remains unclear, as MoM does not publish anything about their criteria) there is more scrutiniy during the approval process. That does mean it is more difficult, but not impossible to be approved - key is a good justification (e.g. more senior job, more responsibility) and staying withing the (MoM-defined, but again unpublished) standard market range of pay for such a job. An experienced employer/HR knows this and will handle it well, others (e.g. agents) might screw things up.

My EP got rejected with a high salary but the increment was 9.7%, I fail to understand this reason or it is just a cover-up a reason to hide some other like bad company experience of handing EP %, etc?

Anyway, HR said that they are going to appeal this but haven't shared the justification they are going to give in the appeal yet. but the question is, should i keep any hopes on this now? Whats the % of appeal success? Feel sad not because of $ jump but I really like the other role

Good justification should do the works, 9.7% ain’t much.

Thanks for the reply. yes, I hope HR provides some good justification.
Have you seen here any appeal is accepted after rejection due to high salary(without reducing given salary etc) ?

How many days for rejection it took after your ep was applied ?

I dont think High salary is the issue or the real reason or the justification as 10% hike in salary is not even Out of norm hike !
Have come accross some example where salary was resuced and appealed/re-applied and also got rejected!
After salary hike they may also ask for Organization revenue details , Education cert verification so how all these 3 reasons for rejection doesnt hold good for one rejection.

Yes, a few and my personal experience as well. Justification works

I believe that the issue is not normally the salary hike (although an unusually high increase might trigger more scrutiny), but that MoM thinks the pay is too high (or too low) for the job offered.
In any case, the key is a good job description and justification by the employer.

Thanks for replies.

Timeline as requested above:
21/06 ep applied
04/07 ep rejected

One of the other person by same employer has had his ep rejected couple of weeks back (appeal too) but I think his is more than 20% increment.

HR will be applying for appeal this week. Will update the outcome here. Fingers crossed 🤞

Look at it this way, if an applicant is going to fetch a 50% increment in the next job, if I were a reviewer/ approver/ MoM officer, I want to know what commands that 50% bump.

1. Did the applicant acquire some new skills?
2. Are they taking up more responsibility, managerial remits as opposed to an individual contributor?
3. Are they going to handle a larger regional/ geographical role?

Not exhaustive, but this is key.

If you/ your credentials command more, i.e. 50% hike, how were you sitting ducks/ comfortable with what you were previously/ currently fetching as a salary?

Hi Loic,

I'm in the same situation as you. Have you heard back from MOM on the appeal yet?

Hi All,

The forum has been very helpful to get insights. Today I want to share my recent experience.

MS from NUS - Computer Science, 8  years experience, Lead Role - AI and IT, Salary 8K when applied. 
1st EP Applied in 2019 - Approved in 10 Days

Ep Renewal:
- Applied on 5th May 2021
- More Info Asked by MoM on 11 Jun 2021
- EP Rejected 29 Jun 2021 - Reason: Company has not updated their turnover
- 1st Appeal with updated information, cover letter etc.
- Appeal Rejected - 5th Aug 2021, Reason: Salary is not justified by the company. New salary was about $2K more.

The current EP expires on 30th Aug. No other option, cannot get a job very easily. In total whole process took ~90 days with unfavourable outcomes in the last timeline. Right now I am in a situation where I have to pack bags, break my rental contract and move out.

Good Luck to all in getting their EP.

If ok, can some please share a sample of justification letter to my email id for Rare technology case as my ep got rejected due to high salary comment..am quite doubtful on HR side for this..

@Rajesh8812

That's sad to hear. Since your 1st EP is in 2019, I guess you got the MS in the same year. Did you take MOE bond for your MS at NUS? For local uni grad with bond, there is a LTVP of 1 year for bond holder to stay in Singapore and find job.

8k for someone with 8 years experience in hot IT field is not a very high salary, we saw ppl here with less experience, higher salary, no local degree still got EP approved. So confusing about the salary criteria. 😪

Hi @Alice .. No I do not have bond.
New salary was 10K, not sure if that is considered still too high?

Alice Ngoc Anh wrote:

@Rajesh8812

That's sad to hear. Since your 1st EP is in 2019, I guess you got the MS in the same year. Did you take MOE bond for your MS at NUS? For local uni grad with bond, there is a LTVP of 1 year for bond holder to stay in Singapore and find job.

8k for someone with 8 years experience in hot IT field is not a very high salary, we saw ppl here with less experience, higher salary, no local degree still got EP approved. So confusing about the salary criteria. 😪

The number of years does not determine your salary I guess, in the IT field, if you got real talent, 18 years old with 12k   is a normal thing.

Rajesh8812 wrote:

Hi @Alice .. No I do not have bond.
New salary was 10K, not sure if that is considered still too high?

Hi Rajesh8812,

Is 10K your SAT minimum? If not canI know  your SAT minimum (Trying to see the rejection criteria for salary) ?