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Oral Answer by Minister for Manpower on Employment Pass and S Pass holders who submitted fabricated or forged education qualification certifications in the past three years in the ICT industry

Foreign manpower Work passes and permits

NOTICE PAPER NO. 559 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 28 JULY 2021
QUESTION NO. 1441 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Gan Thiam Poh

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many Employment Pass and S Pass holders have submitted fabricated or forged education qualification certifications in the past three years in the ICT industry; and (b) whether the Ministry will review and work with only reputable overseas educational institutions with a proven track record for approval of both Employment Pass and S Pass applications.

Answer


From 2018 to 2020, 11 Employment Pass and S Pass holders working in the Infocomm Technology (ICT) industry were found to have submitted false qualifications to MOM. Their work passes were revoked and they were permanently barred from working in Singapore.

2 Employers have the primary responsibility to ensure the authenticity and quality of their candidates’ qualifications when submitting work pass applications.

3 MOM also conducts additional checks by screening the qualifications submitted through our database of institutions. This database is regularly reviewed through our scan of open source reports and research from third-party screening organisations. For applications containing qualifications from institutions not in our database, we require employers to submit verification proof from third-party screening organisations to ensure the qualifications submitted are accredited. We will reject applications containing fake or unaccredited qualifications.

4 MOM takes a firm stance against foreigners who submit false qualifications to fraudulently obtain work passes. Besides revocation of work passes and debarment from employment in Singapore, we may also prosecute offenders for false declaration under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which carries a fine of up to $20,000, up to two years’ imprisonment, or both.