Employment agency Trusthworthy or not ?

[SmartDude]

Hi Friends,
My wife visited this employment agency for a job. As per them they can employ my wife and duty hours will be 12hrs per day 6 days a week. They haven't mention anything about OT so far. If they can arrange the job for my wife, we have to pay them minimum $2000 and maximum $3000. I need your opinion/suggestion on this employment agency and its work as $3000 is not a small amount. If i say yes to them by paying $3000 for this deal, would i be doing good for my wife and myself ? Are they breaching Singapore Law doing so ?

After doing some search on them i found out that they have their office at Jurong East http://www.jobcyclone.com/business_directory.php?q=h


also where we went long time ago and paid them $40 for job search which went into drain. Now their address is different but same MOM Licence no. I smell RAT on this .. Should i take this deal for the sake of my wife ? Doing so would i be breaching any Singapore law ?

PLEASE HELP ME DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE AS I AM VERY CONFUSED WHETHER TO APPROACH THEM OR NOT..
Thank you

PLEASE IGNORE MY NICKNAME ON THIS FORUM, ITS JUST A NICK NAME. I M NOT SO SMART

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you have the offer and requirements of having to pay $2000~3000 to the agency in writing, take it to the MOM as it's against the law to charge job seekers for finding a job for them. Additionally, run away from them as fast as you can. In Singapore the law requires the Client (Company) to pay any recruitment fees. As said, it's against the law to require a job seeker to pay recruitment fees. Report them and get rid of another bad apple like the 11 or 13 that lost their licenses last month. We don't need those kinds of agencies here.

Do us all a favour and yourself as well because as sure as dog made little green apples, they will screw you one way or the other. Trust me on that!

sms

[SmartDude]

Hi SMS,
Thanks for your quick reply, but i m in the situation that i see i have no choice than to take risk. My wife needs the job so desperately that i am willing to fork out the money for her so that we can stay here together. The thing which is bugging me is will i be in trouble with the law if i approach them and pay them the money and get the job. As i've been here for quite a long time i see here people(employment agencies+personal agents) can arrange job to foreigners if they are paid thousands of dollars. I wouldn't hesitate to say, people here take advantage of difficult situation faced by foreigners here by exploiting in some ways.
What should i do pay them and take the risk and get the job or look for other options ? which seems to be not working

[econoMIC]

...
What should i do pay them and take the risk and get the job or look for other options ? which seems to be not working

SMS already told you what the best /only option is. This is dodgy as hell and if they do this kind of stuff your wife certainly won't be paid OT (because you mentioned this earlier on). Also with the new regulations on immigration that seem to be out since recently I am not sure how an agency or any employer can justify employing a foreigner on $1200 a month. So what will happen is that your contract will state a higher salary but they will pay her only $1200 in which case your wife will be breaching the law and once it comes out she can make her way to the court and explain why she knowingly broke the law. Deportation and her being banned from entering Singapore do not seem such a remote scenario then.

Honestly, don't do it. This can only end up in a mess. You should report this agency asap.

I am wondering though, as you are currently applying for PR, isn't your wife on DP? She can take pretty much every job then anyway, the only problem is that many employers do not know about this. The best thing is to submit a brief outline to possible employers along with a job application stating the process of hiring someone on DP.

[SmartDude]

Hi,
Thanks for the attentive reply economic, i appreciate your suggestion. The sad part is my PR application is not successful and my wife on Long term social visit pass. I am scared and don't want to breach the law in any way. In this case i will drop the idea, but i am very much worried about the job for my wife.... Her home country work experience doesn't seem to be of any value here in Singapore to find a job here
Do you guys have any suggestions for us ? on finding the job in legitimate way ?

[econoMIC]

Sorry your PR application did not work out.

If you are on an EP you should get a dependant pass for your wife. Once she has that it will be much easier for her to find a job as she doesn't need an EP herself then.