About 40% of Singapore’s total population are either migrants or descendants of early colonial period migrants such as Indians, Chinese, and Malays. In addition, the arrival of the British immigrants later on heightened in conjunction with wide trade and commerce opportunities. As a nation shaped by constant immigration, there was little or no control over migration. Foreign workers came and went according to the demands of several industry. Company Incorporation in Singapore with Visa Express is easy now.
Control over migrants was primarily enforced in 1919 to regulate the gradual arrival of newcomers, hence, the Passengers Restriction Ordinance. Later in 1933, the Immigration Department was established and the Aliens Ordinance was enforced to introduce a fixed quota for alien immigration.
Amended ten times since 1966, the Singapore Immigration Act is an all inclusive law which focuses mainly on immigration in Singapore and distinctively define foreign talents and foreign workers:
§ Foreign workers are the semi-skilled or the unskilled workers whose jobs revolve alone in the manufacturing, construction, and domestic services sectors. The majority of this class comes from places such as, Myanmar, People’s Republic of China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Pakistan, as part of bilateral agreement between Singapore and these countries.
§ Foreign talents on the other hand, are the foreigners with qualifications and acceptable degrees working at the higher end of Singapore’s economy. These talents are usually from Australia, the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, Malaysia. Japan, Europe, Republic of Korea, United States and New Zealand.
The Singaporean government constructed a system which classifies the immigrant workers, (the foreign workers and foreign talents,) according to their qualifications and monthly salaries. The “P, Q, R” employment pass (EP) system was put into practice in 1998 and a new “S” type employment was later introduced in 2004. Presently, EPs are being issued under three categories:
§ P1: Employment Pass for the individuals with the monthly earnings of $8,000 and up.
§ Individual Employment Pass for whose monthly income ranges from $4,500.00 to $7,999.00.
§ Q1: Employment Pass for people with at least $3,000.00 of monthly income.
The government of Singapore introduces new immigration policy and set different rules in getting talents and workers which led to the conclusions of many that the contributions incurred by them over the nation’s developments were insignificant and trivial. Nevertheless, the Singapore government has always emphasized the significance of immigrant workers to its economy and advancements.
Apparently, the newly introduced immigration policy requires working visas for those who are non-residents but working in Singapore. There are different types of working visas: starting from work permits for the low-skilled workers, to P1 and P2 categories Employment Passes.
In 2012, only workers with at least SGD 4,000.00 (USD3,150) of monthly income may sponsor their immediate families for a ceratin stay in Singapore. This policy elicits the control over the influx of immigrants and overseas workers in the country. In most cases, relatives and the like are prohibited to access the sponsorship.
