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Oral Answer by Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Minister of State for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on employment screening process for foreigners applying for a work permit

Work passes and permits

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1520 OF 2019 FOR THE SITTING ON 18 FEB 2019

QUESTION NO. 2571 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Er Dr Lee Bee Wah

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the employment screening process for foreigners applying for a work permit; and (b) in the past three years, how many applicants have been rejected because of their unsatisfactory records.

Answer

  1. Apart from assessing work permit applications on whether they meet our  work pass rules such as dependency ratio and source, the applicant will also be screened for any security antecedents and adverse records. This screening of applicants helps to minimise incidence where undesirable persons are inadvertently allowed to work in Singapore. Between 2016 and 2018, around 8,400 applicants were rejected per year, on average, as a result of this screening.