Advice needed : S Pass Withdrawn

[Haripak]

Hi All,

Very Informative forum, a big thank you to all contributors and mods.

I have read through the topics and couldn't find something that matched the situation i am facing, hence your valuable opinion is appreciated. I am a professional of 6 years exp aviation/ BPO and a Pilot license holder with work experiences in Indonesia, Hong kong and back home in India. My Partner is Indonesian and due to the fact that we plan to settle down next year i accepted an offer with a Singapore aviation firm (AM -Flight Operations) and proceeded on to the visa formalities, i took the online assessment tool to find out that i qualified for an S Pass and the employer duly applied for the pass stating that they are applying for S and EP (Salary SGD 4000 probation and 4500 on confirmation), and within a week the SP application was approved and the results were displayed on the web!, needless to say i was happy.

Today i received news from the employer that MoM had indeed given a call to them and had said that my application needs to be looked upon by an "underwriter" and would take around 2 months more to be processed!. I did an exhaustive search about this underwriting and couldn't come up with any information on it which makes me think i am not being given the right information by my employer. Are these instances common where MoM grants an S pass and holds it later on??. I checked application status today and to my surprise it says withdrawn!. I had printed the results out earlier to keep as reference as well. I am really hoping to get some clarity on the situation. Is the 2 months wait justified in this case?. Though i would like very much to stay in Singapore which puts me in close proximity to my partner, i still don't want to be in a position where i wait for 2 months and end up with nada and a mind full of frustration. This whole ordeal had me refusing an offer in the middle east and would have to go back to the drawing board as it took around 2 months of my time and pretty much stopped looking.



Please advise!

PS: sundaymorningstaple, ecureilx,beppi, BBCWatcher i would really appreciate your 2c on this!

Cheers,

Harry

[BBCWatcher]

First of all, please be aware that the fixed monthly salary minimum to sponsor a legal spouse for a Dependant's Pass (DP) is S$5000/month, still not guaranteed. At that salary level your legal opposite sex spouse (I assume that's what you mean by "partner") will not be able to move to Singapore with you or will need to qualify on her own merits for her own work pass.

What you describe is fairly rare but possible. The Ministry of Manpower simply wants some more time to vet you for whatever reason(s) known only to them. (Unless you already know why.) You and your employer will either have to wait or, if either/both of you cannot wait, you'll have to find another opportunity elsewhere. Your employer can politely ask MoM if there's any specific, additional information they would like to see in order to expedite their review, but MoM is under no obligation to provide such feedback.

Good luck, and we'd appreciate hearing the results.

[Haripak]

Thank you for your insight BBCWatcher, much appreciated!.

She doesn't have any intention ATM to move to Singapore, we are not married yet, hence my efforts to be close to her to accelerate things ( Job in Sg would really help the big push for the green light !). Employer understands this predicament and would like me to be in the team, told me they would keep me in the loop, however no further explanations to why this happened. I am just a bit perplexed with the turn of events at the 11th hour.

Moreover extended job gaps would really raise questions on the CV in the future is what i think!.

I will keep this forum posted about how things progress.

Cheers from the Big durian!,

Harry

[BBCWatcher]

Moreover extended job gaps would really raise questions on the CV in the future is what i think!.

Maybe. In that event you'll tell the truth, that you started employment after a visa processing delay beyond your and your employer's control.

It's probably a good idea to have, in your own mind, an idea of how much delay you can tolerate, and to have a "Plan B" if MoM takes longer to make a decision than what you can tolerate or if MoM's decision is negative.

You might think that MoM intentionally and deliberately makes it somewhat harder for a Singapore employer to hire a foreigner. You might be correct in your thinking.

[sundaymorningstaple]

How do you know that the MOM called the employer? Because the employer told you?

Today i received news from the employer that MoM had indeed given a call to them and had said that my application needs to be looked upon by an "underwriter" and would take around 2 months more to be processed!. I did an exhaustive search about this underwriting and couldn't come up with any information on it which makes me think i am not being given the right information by my employer. Are these instances common where MoM grants an S pass and holds it later on??. I checked application status today and to my surprise it says withdrawn!.

Personally, I've never heard of such a thing, but then I've not really had any relationship or connection with the aviation industry here. What the employer may have said, may not be what was told to them by MOM. It can take up to 2 months for credential to be "vetted". This is probably what was said. However, I don't think it would be changed from approved to withdrawn, but it would be changed back to pending. Unless......

You employer is a private aviation firm it would seem. Therefore, maybe they are having difficulty holding the position open for another two months. The MOM website says your S pass has been withdrawn, this would indicate that the MOM did not withdraw the application, but more like the employer did. Possibly trying to find a way out of the commitment to hire you, like they have had second thoughts and are trying to use MOM as their scapegoat. I hope I'm wrong, but this kind of stuff does happen and because the MOM is pretty tight-lipped about giving out reasons, I'm not sure if you can get anything out of them. However, even with that, if you have your FIN number maybe you can try to find out if the application was withdrawn by the employer. They might give you that, but no guarantees.

[Haripak]

Thank you for this sundaymorningstaple, I was inclining towards the same . i will just get back to them and put the facts and see if i can get an honest answer!. As i think using the MoM as an alibi is weak!.

[ecureilx]

You employer is a private aviation firm it would seem. Therefore, maybe they are having difficulty holding the position open for another two months. The MOM website says your S pass has been withdrawn, this would indicate that the MOM did not withdraw the application, but more like the employer did.

4K looks pretty low for an aviation professional That's what I feel. Not sure how MOM will take it.

I do agree the employer may have pulled a fast one and pushed the blame to MOM, instead of admitting they can't wait for 2 months for the vetting to complete.

[Haripak]

Thank you for all your replies !.
I will get a final update by today and that should throw the light on everything.