IPA to pass: practicalities

[AuntieMabel]

So, I submitted my other half's DP application manually. I logged on the other day to find it had been approved. In fact, it was approved over three weeks ago. They sent the IPA to my company.

That is, they literally sent it to Acme Plc - no name - at the company's registered address. I work for a very large multinational, so the chances that a letter relating to the dependent (ie someone not on their staff list) will ever make it to me are slim to none. We don't even have the same surname.

I contacted MoM, and they said they can't do anything - they can't send it to a named individual. They offered to fax it, but only to the fax number they have on file. I have no idea who, if anyone, this belongs to.

Has anyone experienced similar, and if so, how did you resolve? I am now in the slightly ludicrous situation of having a fully approved application but no way of actually turning this into a pass due to the MoM's lack of understanding that in an organisation of tens of thousands of people, their letter might be better addressed to a real human.

[Angelus]

Perhaps I misunderstood your situation, but might I ask why your "very large MNC" has an official mailing address with the government that noone will ever check? MOM just sent the letter to the address on file I presume. Why don't you check with your company if you can retrieve it?

[ecureilx]

Has anyone experienced similar, and if so, how did you resolve? I am now in the slightly ludicrous situation of having a fully approved application but no way of actually turning this into a pass due to the MoM's lack of understanding that in an organisation of tens of thousands of people, their letter might be better addressed to a real human.

That a large organisation (yours) can loose a letter is even more weird, before anything

Obviously any letter from MOM goes to HR by default if no specific person is mentioned

I have only worked for companies in Singapore with head count just over 3000, so I don't know how a 10000 company operates

Sure the mailing department knows what goes where at your end

Plan B, go to MOM personally with the Other half's PP and all and retrieve it

Have been done in the past, for missing IPA.

Mom is right in their process

Now why will your company have a non existent FAX # ?

If it does belong to your company I am sure the FAX will be routed to a pigeon hole if nobody's name is mentioned!!

[AuntieMabel]

> Why don't you check with your company if you can retrieve it?

Clearly, I have already tried this - been in touch with HR and Talent Acquisition to ask where these things would normally end up. No one can tell me.

The issue is that there's no way whoever receives the letter or fax will know who on earth it's intended for - it's got the name of someone they don't know on it. There isn't a person/team who normally deals with immigration, as they outsource this. At least if MoM could address it to a named person in HR, I could ask them to forward it to me. But there are hundreds of people in HR, so I can't ask each of them personally if they've seen it. So it's just lost in the ether.

I've contacted MoM. They can't re-send it by post to me, or to the named sponsor in the HR team. They can send it by fax to the number they have on file - but I have no way of knowing who out of >10,000 people this would go to. Again, no one in HR seems to know either.

I thought I'd saved myself $500 by doing a manual application, but it sounds like I might just need to apply all over again and use an agent.

[zzm9980]

Most large companies would be smart enough to route mail for an unknown person to HR, especially if it is from MOM. Someone in that company gave MOM the address for correspondence. Most likely you're just dealing with someone in HR who is clueless.

[AuntieMabel]

> Most likely you're just dealing with someone in HR who is clueless.

This describes anyone I have ever met who works in HR, in any company I've ever worked for. I think it's a qualification for the job. That and making ugly, unusable forms in Word.

[Angelus]

Do you have the Fax number? Can you send a fax to that number asking the person on the other end to contact you so you can explain your situation?

[ecureilx]

Do you have the Fax number? Can you send a fax to that number asking the person on the other end to contact you so you can explain your situation?

if it is an e-fax solution, good luck waiting

[AuntieMabel]

Do you have the Fax number? Can you send a fax to that number asking the person on the other end to contact you so you can explain your situation?

if it is an e-fax solution, good luck waiting

It is. So exactly.

BUT: I got to the bottom of the mystery! The IPA wasn't even sent to my company. They use an outsourced provider to manage global mobility. They dealt with my EP for me, but 'Because Policy' they couldn't do my husband's DP (my assignment is officially 'unaccompanied'). The talent team at the work did sign and stamp the DP application for me though.

MoM processed it and sent it to the outsourced provider. Who had no record of the person named in it, and didn't know who - or even which of their clients - it related to. Slow handclap.

I only found out by googling the fax number (MoM wouldn't give me the address they'd sent it to by post) and eventually finding a reference to the outsourced provider. I emailed the case officer that dealt with my EP, who managed to find it for me.

Still not entirely resolved - I have to make an appointment via EP Online (for which I'm not registered) - but at least I have the paperwork now.

A fascinating yet unwelcome insight into Singaporean bureaucracy

[ecureilx]

Maybe if your end wasn't so muddled up, it wouldn't have been so messy, I wouldn't blame SG Inc for your messy setup ...

Thousands of passes get processed, and rarely what you said happens

Ah, years ago, EP/DP and all used to take between 6 to 8 weeks .... or more and more