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FAQS – Changes to Administrative Fees for Work Passes (2013)
Section A: Background and Rationale
Section B: Timing of Changes
Section C: Transactional Matters
Section D: Change in Employers/Passes
Section A: Background and Rationale
Q1 Why are administrative fees charged for work passes?
A1 The Government incurs costs in delivering services to employers of
foreign employees. Administrative fees are collected from users of these
services to recover such costs.
Q2 What costs do the administrative fees cover?
A2 Application fees cover the costs incurred in processing an application
from the time of its submission to the time the customer is notified of the
application outcome. Example: the cost of maintaining online portals for
the submission of work pass applications.
Issuance fees cover the costs incurred in work pass issuance and
renewal. Examples: the costs for printing Work Pass Cards, and for
operating MOM’s Employment Pass Services Centre (EPSC) and Work
Pass Card Registration (WPCR).
Reinstatement fees cover the cost incurred to process reinstatement of
revoked or cancelled work passes. The effort needed to process a
reinstatement is similar to processing a work pass application.
Card replacement fees cover the costs incurred to replace a work pass
card. The fees for replacing lost work pass cards are charged at a higher
rate to discourage loss of cards through personal negligence and reduce
security issues.
Q3 What is the difference between work pass administrative fees and
the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL)? Why should there be administrative
fees when I am already paying foreign worker levy for my Work
Permit and S-pass holders?
A3 The FWL is a pricing mechanism to moderate the demand for foreign
workers and forms a part of the employers’ recurrent labour cost.
Administrative fees, on the other hand, aim to recover the operational
costs of providing work pass services to MOM’s customers (e.g., the cost
of processing an Employment Pass application submitted by an
employer). These are one-off transactions and costs, and are not related
to the FWL.
Section A: Background and Rationale
Q4 What are the main changes to the work pass administrative fees?
A4 The key features of the changes are:
Employment Pass, S Pass, Work Permit
i. Application fees for Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit
will be increased to $70, $60 and $30 respectively.
ii. Issuance fees for Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit will
be increased to $150, $80 and $30 respectively.
Other passes
i. Application fee of $60 and $30 will be introduced for Dependent’s
Pass and Long Term Visit Pass respectively.
Card Replacement
Replacement fee for lost Work Pass Cards will be increased to $100
(for first-time losses) and $300 (for subsequent losses).
Fees for other work passes will also be re-adjusted to align with the
changes to the Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit fees. For the
full list of changes, please see the press release.
Q5 What is the rationale for the changes to the work pass administrative
fees?
A5 MOM began charging administrative fees for the application and issuance
of work passes in 2005. This was so that users of public services (e.g.,
companies employing foreign manpower), instead of the public at large,
bore the cost of these public services,. Nevertheless, MOM set them at a
level that was substantially below cost recovery, to help employers
progressively adapt to the changes. On 1 Dec 2011, MOM implemented
another increase in administrative fees, as a further step towards full cost
recovery.
The upcoming fee increase on 1 Apr 2013 will bring us close to full cost
recovery, i.e., having users of MOM’s work pass services bear the cost of
operating these services, instead of the public at large. See Q2 for
examples of these costs.
Q6 Has full cost recovery been achieved with this round of increase in
administrative fees? If not, will MOM be making further changes to
the fees to achieve full cost recovery in the near future?
A6 MOM will achieve close to full cost recovery with the round of
administrative fee changes on 1 Apr 2013.
In the future, the cost of providing work pass services may change, due to
inflation and other factors. MOM will continue to monitor these costs, and
review our administrative fees on a regular basis.
Section A: Background and Rationale
Section B: Timing of Changes
Section C: Transactional Matters
Section D: Change in Employers/Passes
Section A: Background and Rationale
Q1 Why are administrative fees charged for work passes?
A1 The Government incurs costs in delivering services to employers of
foreign employees. Administrative fees are collected from users of these
services to recover such costs.
Q2 What costs do the administrative fees cover?
A2 Application fees cover the costs incurred in processing an application
from the time of its submission to the time the customer is notified of the
application outcome. Example: the cost of maintaining online portals for
the submission of work pass applications.
Issuance fees cover the costs incurred in work pass issuance and
renewal. Examples: the costs for printing Work Pass Cards, and for
operating MOM’s Employment Pass Services Centre (EPSC) and Work
Pass Card Registration (WPCR).
Reinstatement fees cover the cost incurred to process reinstatement of
revoked or cancelled work passes. The effort needed to process a
reinstatement is similar to processing a work pass application.
Card replacement fees cover the costs incurred to replace a work pass
card. The fees for replacing lost work pass cards are charged at a higher
rate to discourage loss of cards through personal negligence and reduce
security issues.
Q3 What is the difference between work pass administrative fees and
the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL)? Why should there be administrative
fees when I am already paying foreign worker levy for my Work
Permit and S-pass holders?
A3 The FWL is a pricing mechanism to moderate the demand for foreign
workers and forms a part of the employers’ recurrent labour cost.
Administrative fees, on the other hand, aim to recover the operational
costs of providing work pass services to MOM’s customers (e.g., the cost
of processing an Employment Pass application submitted by an
employer). These are one-off transactions and costs, and are not related
to the FWL.
Section A: Background and Rationale
Q4 What are the main changes to the work pass administrative fees?
A4 The key features of the changes are:
Employment Pass, S Pass, Work Permit
i. Application fees for Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit
will be increased to $70, $60 and $30 respectively.
ii. Issuance fees for Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit will
be increased to $150, $80 and $30 respectively.
Other passes
i. Application fee of $60 and $30 will be introduced for Dependent’s
Pass and Long Term Visit Pass respectively.
Card Replacement
Replacement fee for lost Work Pass Cards will be increased to $100
(for first-time losses) and $300 (for subsequent losses).
Fees for other work passes will also be re-adjusted to align with the
changes to the Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit fees. For the
full list of changes, please see the press release.
Q5 What is the rationale for the changes to the work pass administrative
fees?
A5 MOM began charging administrative fees for the application and issuance
of work passes in 2005. This was so that users of public services (e.g.,
companies employing foreign manpower), instead of the public at large,
bore the cost of these public services,. Nevertheless, MOM set them at a
level that was substantially below cost recovery, to help employers
progressively adapt to the changes. On 1 Dec 2011, MOM implemented
another increase in administrative fees, as a further step towards full cost
recovery.
The upcoming fee increase on 1 Apr 2013 will bring us close to full cost
recovery, i.e., having users of MOM’s work pass services bear the cost of
operating these services, instead of the public at large. See Q2 for
examples of these costs.
Q6 Has full cost recovery been achieved with this round of increase in
administrative fees? If not, will MOM be making further changes to
the fees to achieve full cost recovery in the near future?
A6 MOM will achieve close to full cost recovery with the round of
administrative fee changes on 1 Apr 2013.
In the future, the cost of providing work pass services may change, due to
inflation and other factors. MOM will continue to monitor these costs, and
review our administrative fees on a regular basis.
Last edited:
Annex A
