SPass Application after EP rejected

Hi, I am a fresh grad from SIM. I am from Indonesia and have been studying in Singapore since secondary school (total 8years here). I just recently got a job and get paid $3300 as an assistant finance manager. My company is a startup and at first we tried to apply for EPass as my salary is qualified for EPass. However it was rejected, MOM said I am not qualified enough for EP. The company just recently got a quota, so they are now applying SPass for me. It has been two weeks with no news. We applied on the 8th Oct and they require more documents from me: bachelor degree cert and a consent form to be signed by me in order to do a background check with external agencies. I gave everything to them since 12th oct. Recently, I came to Singapore and was held in the immigration. They were questioning my purpose to visit Singapore; I just want to slowly collect back my things just in case I dont get the job. So instead of 30days, they grant me with 3days stay in Singapore. I feel that this is unfair from me as I have been here for very long and I have no bad records. I have around 3months internship experience and I graduated with 2nd class majoring in Accounting and Finance. Will this thing affect my SPass application? Please help.

ICA (and the individual immigration officer) is free to grant or reject your SVP (tourist visa) or give you a shorter duration for any reason they want. So the three days they gave you are o.k. - and since this is also meant as serious warning, you will not get another SVP again after these three days.
Since work visa are processed by MoM, not ICA, this does not necessarily have an influence on your S-Pass, although they can of course see it in your records.

Yes I am now back in my country until I get the approval for my SPass. I really hope that it won't affect anything in my application. I was asked for many documents from MOM regarding my studies; certification from school in which uni awards my degree, my bachelor degree cert. They also ask me to sign a consent form as they will check on me, the status said pending from vetting agencies or sth. I am just confused why do they need to check all that, I have been here for very long and I am sure they have my student pass records (my FIN number). Btw thank you for your information, really appreciate it.

This is indeed strange - records from within Singapore are not usually vetted (and even if, it doesn't take long).
Or did you study elsewhere first?

Nope, I only study in Singapore. I went to secondary school, did my olevels, went to JC and then to SIM UOL. My degree is from London though as it is Univeristy of London. For my EP application they did the same too (vetting agencies). We appealed after it was rejected and still rejected. Now the company just got a quota so they now are applying for SPass for me. Initially for the EPass application the HR misunderstood my degree that it was awarded by another uni in relation with UOL, however they did explain to MOM by writing a letter explaining the situation. On top of that I got a letter from school too to certify which uni award my degree. Still the EP was rejected. I just hope I can come back and work in Singapore. I grew up in Singapore and its like my home for the past eight years. I have spent so much effort and of course money to study there and it is really a waste if I cant work there at all. :(

Well then, good luck!
If all else fails, you can get some valuable work experience elsewhere first - it's easier to get an EP with that.

Hope u will get S pass, but something is missing in your earlier statements here. Unless until there is an issue, ICA should not give you 3 days visiting pass. Though u may not know but I strongly feel that there is something which ICA issued such 3days tourist visa and now MOM is asking so many things.

They required all those way before I was granted 3days entry. It doesn't happen after that, but way before that. Thanks for the wishes guys, really hope ill get the SPass.

surya2k wrote:

Hope u will get S pass, but something is missing in your earlier statements here. Unless until there is an issue, ICA should not give you 3 days visiting pass. Though u may not know but I strongly feel that there is something which ICA issued such 3days tourist visa and now MOM is asking so many things.


You get a (non-extendable) 30 days SVP after a work or student pass is cancelled. I assume the OP used this up and then left Singapore for a short time thinking she will get another SVP on return. Wrong: In such cases she can be glad to be given a few days.
But this does not necessarily have an impact on future work passes (unless she then overstays or does anything else illegally).

Hi Beppi.

I am new in this blog and was reading and following some topics regarding pass rejection and your advises really helps a lot.

To give you a little bit of my background, I was already working in sg for almost 4 years now with an spass. However theres a company who wanted to hire me and made a good offer so I resigned from my prev job. First the ep was successfull very smoothly on Sept 7. Two weeks after, due to company split up, they withraw the ep on the initial application and apply to new company entity which unfortunately was being rejected.

I have a hunch that the company anyhow apply my ep without posting the job to  Jobsbank - which i "guess" the reason for rejection so they post it to jobsbank again and apply for an appeal After two weeks. After two weeks the appeal is unsuccessful. :( also i have submitted my personal bank statement, my payslip from prev employer and my iras on the appeal.

The co. Informed me that they will call MOM for some clarity. What does this clarity means? Didnt mom provide rejection reason? What do you think of the chance of getting the approval assessing the matter i stated above? The company has not giving up yet but of course as a person I have personal needs esp financial needs.

Also, if i wanted to apply to other company, can I still have an spass(provided that other company has quota)?

I really appreciate your kind advise soon.

There is no need to apply for a new EP if the company is split, but you stay in the same job (in one of the two new companies). Something else is going on here - maybe the company wanted to get rid of you without firing?
Also, if you already have a valid EP for the job and the new one is applied for with the same details (same industry, job description, salary, your education and experience, etc.) then it would not have been rejected. So they did something different.
In any case it's their (company's) fault. If they want to, they can clear the mess up with MoM. If they don't want to, sue them for a good compensation (they didn't fulfill their part of the contract!) and move on to a more reasonable employer.

Hi Beppi,

Thanks for your timely reply. I am a new hire in this company, they said they have a separate entity now - as in separate pte ltd company and i can affirm to that. Thats is why they apply me to the new company and resend and resigned the contract for the 2nd entity.

Yeah, I agree that these are their fAult in not applying right for the first time. I already signed everything to them-contract and all but its just that i have not commence yet since the ep application was not successful even the appeal. Is it fine for them to give me even one time compensation for the inconvinience caused? I left my prev company bec of this and now i am in malaysia bec my svp already expire.

They are still doing what they can with mom.

With this scenario, worst case, i have a friend who will recommend me to their office. But i know i will be an spass, would that be ok? Do you think spass still be granted for me?

Thanks, beppi.

Your information is inconclusive (and if that was also the case with what you gave MoM, it might cause the rejection - they don't like imprecise or conflicting data).
- Was your company split up, or did they hire you for company A and now want to move you to company B? (Only in the second case an new EP is needed, so I assume this in the following.)
- Did you start employment with company A? In any case company A has to fulfill their contractual obligations, incl. giving you the job (and paying for it) until it is properly terminated.
- If all other information in the EP application was the same, the reason for rejection must be in company B. Is company B allowed to hire foreigners? Did they follow proper protocol?
Since company B obviously doesn't know what they're doing and screwed things up for you, you should insist that company A fulfills the contract, reinstates the EP that you already had (they can explain to MoM that it was their mistake and the EP should not have been cancelled).
If company A does not want to do that, you can sue them for the salary you would have gotten until the first possible termination, plus further expenses you had.

As for your chances to get an S-Pass at yet another company - nobody will know unless you try to apply.

Hi Beppi,

The company legally split up. My EP was approved in Co A, then re apply new ep on Co B with their own BRN.

May I ask if how many times can a company keeps appealing? Would there be any chance at all? They are complying though and submitting the documents needed its just that i am worried that it might uncessful again. Its so uncertain.

Thanks.

Only one appeal is possible against an EP rejection. Once the appeal is rejected as well, the decision is final.
But if your previous employment contract with company A was not properly terminated, you are still employed with company A.

Oh I See. So there will be no point on the 2nd appeal? Will they able to re apply after a month or two?

And i also get your point that the contract was not properly terminated on Co A. I guess this time I would ask them to compensate me for the inconvenience caused.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Beppi.

I'm Indonesian, previously studied in Monash Malaysia campus. Soon after graduated, I started working in Singapore. So far I've been working in Spore for 3 years as an auditor under Spass. Recently I've just gotten an offer from one of the big4 with higher salary than current one. They are applying either Spass/EP for me. Based on my previous 2 companies, my Spass application took about 7 working days till I get the result. However, now 8 working days have passed and it's still pending. May I know whats the average waiting time now? And whats the chance that my application will get approved? (Based on hearsay, I heard if MoM were to reject application, they will do it fast within 3-4 working days, not sure if its true).

Thanks.

EP processing time is getting longer - a month and more in many cases. 7 days was very short, you were lucky.
And the time it takes has no influence on your chance of approval.

Hi my friend, in my opinion, your spass should be approved and will be approved, mark it. But i dont know what you told them at the port that made them gave you 3 days, you should have been more tactical about how you answered  their questions. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Thanks.

hi
I am Jabbar from Bangladesh earlier this week my  company apply for me s-pass but mom rejected. if  possible may i know reason of  the rejected please.

U should ask ur employer to check with MoM to know the reason.

How come u r asking here? There could be many reasons to reject an application.

MoM does not usually tell the reason of rejection.
Nevertheless, your company can call MoM and ask, or try to get a personal appointment (to which you should come along!) - sometimes an understanding officer tells more.
If you tell us the exact wording of the rejection letter, and all details of your application, I can also try to interpret it based on my experience.

Hi ... I would like to ask .. wether it would be ok for me to enter singapore after my pass was rejected as a tourist ...

I have been in singapore while i was working in dubai but one time when i was there they ask me to only stay for a day and leave the country .. three years ago ...

Rejection of a work pass application has no influence on visit visa approval.
And the incidence three years ago (although you didn't tell us what caused it) is long enough ago to also have no impact any more.
But don't visit too often or too long!

Thanks very much .. so kind of you .. well three years ago I was in singapore as I was a fresh grad from philippines .. I pushed my luck way too hard ... I guess ..because I did also follow the advice of going to jb and come back .. it did work out for the next two months until they sent me back from the country i came from ..

So it would be ok if i visit for 5 days ?

Should be ok, show them your return ticket, hotel booking etc.