Singapore Raises Salary Requirement for Financial Sector Work Visa

Source: Regulation Asia Manesh Samtani, Regulation Asia 2020-08-28

MAS officials have recently said protecting Singaporean jobs was a “top priority” and that financial sector employers must “commit to growing the local talent pool”.

Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower is raising the minimum salary requirements for foreign workers to obtain work passes in the city-state, specifically the financial sector.

The minimum monthly salary for foreigners in executive, managerial or specialised roles to obtain an ’employment pass’ was previously set at SGD 3,900.

This has been raised to SGD 4,500, except for the financial sector, where it has been raised to SGD 5,000. This is the first time salary requirements have been set higher for a particular industry, the Ministry said.

“Salaries in the Financial Services sector have been consistently higher than in other sectors. The sector also continues to hire and has been attracting strong interest from local jobseekers with good qualifications.”

For employment pass holders in all sectors, those 40 years and older will need to earn “around double” the minimum qualifying salary for the youngest workers.

For mid-level technical staff (‘S pass’), the threshold has been raised from SGD 2,400 to SGD 2,500.

The new thresholds will take effect from 1 September (1 December for the new financial sector threshold). For renewal applicants, they will come into effect from 1 May 2021.

“These changes will complement MAS’ [Monetary Authority of Singapore] efforts to encourage and support financial institutions in developing a strong local pipeline of talent,” the Ministry said.

Last week, MAS managing director Ravi Menon said protecting and growing Singaporean jobs was a “top priority”. A week earlier, MAS deputy managing director Jacqueline Loh said Singapore will continue to welcome global talent, but that employers must “commit to growing the local talent pool”.

In evaluating applications for both types of passes, the Ministry will consider whether the employer has kept up support for hiring local professionals and whether they have been responsive to government efforts to recruit and train them.

MAS said in a statement it supports the changes for work passes in the financial industry, saying they will “continue to allow financial institutions to complement their local workforce by tapping on a global talent pool for the specialised skillsets that the financial sector needs.”

The Ministry’s statement is available here.

MAS

Singapore Raises Salary Requirement for Financial Sector Work Visa

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!