Our company opening a sister company. Questions, questions.

[longstebe]

Hi guys
The company that I currently work for will be opening a sister company in Singapore (manufacturing)

Here come the questions;

1. What visa will be issued in Singapore to the employees that are transfered from the 'mother company'? (from the usa).
2. Will the employees be paid in SGD or USD?
3. How will the income tax work?
4. How long can the employee stay without travelling out of the country?

Any other advice would be more than welcomed.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Start here

http://www.acra.gov.sg/

and here

http://www.mom.gov.sg/Pages/default.aspx

Also, do a good search of the Business Forum here using the search function at the upper right side of this page (under the Profile link). And, after you have digested all of that, if you have further specific questions we'll attempt to fill in any gaps.

sms

[longstebe]

Thanks SMS
One thing I couldn't find was how long you can stay on a pass for.
Is there any travelling out of the country or reporting to immigration
every so often?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Once an employee has a proper employment pass/work permit, they are free to travel out of the country at will. But they cannot work in Singapore UNLESS they have a proper Employment Pass/Work permit. These are usually issued in increment of 12 or 24 months at which time they have to be renewed.

[longstebe]

It looks like the company are about to purchase a nice 40,000 sq ft building
in the Tuas area.

Does anyone know how many locals have to be employed per foreigner?

Does this depend on what line of work it is?

Is there a time frame on a new company setting up before they have to show they are hiring local people?

[beppi]

2. Will the employees be paid in SGD or USD?
3. How will the income tax work?

2. This is entirely up to agreement (contract) between employee and company.
3. Income paid for work in Singapore is taxable in Singapore - regardless of where, how and in which currency it is paid. Whether there are any tax liabilities elsewhere depends on the other country's regulations.

[sundaymorningstaple]

It looks like the company are about to purchase a nice 40,000 sq ft building
in the Tuas area.

Does anyone know how many locals have to be employed per foreigner?

Does this depend on what line of work it is?

Is there a time frame on a new company setting up before they have to show they are hiring local people?

http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/ ... uotas.aspx

http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/ ... rkers.aspx

http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/ ... fault.aspx

Provision of Specialised Skills

* Providing expertise or specialised skills*:

1. The commissioning or audits of new plant and equipment (including any audit to ensure regulatory compliance or compliance with one or more standards)
2. In the installation, dismantling, transfer, repair, or maintenance of any equipment, processes or machine, whether in relation to a scale up of operations or otherwise.

* In relation to the installation, dismantling, repair or maintenance of any equipment or machine, the expertise or specialised skills shall be of a kind that is not available in Singapore or is to be provided by the authorised service personnel of the manufacturer or supplier of the equipment.

However, people who do not fall under the Work Permit Scheme, e.g., engineers, etc. who are degree holders or earning substantially more than "labour" does not fall under the WP quota system. There are no quotas for Employment Pass holders and aside from the "S" pass which straddles between the two types, there are no levies for Employment Pass holders.

As to how many can be hired before you hire a local? In today's climate here regarding our over-dependence on Foreign labour, you might find it hard in the first year to get sufficient Employment Passes unless you start off with only a handful of imported seniors staff. Ideally, the majority of your labour force would be subjected to what ever WP quotas you have and department supervisory force should be made up of locals initially. A lot depends on what technology you are bringing to Singapore. If it's a new technology, then the gahmen may well give you a break.

sms