Question about EPEC

[deity_me]

If anybody that held an EPEC before maybe you can help me out.

I'm Canadian and I'm going to Apply for EPEC in a few months and I have some questions about it.

On the online application it says that only apply when you're ready to move to Singapore.
I want to know if there is a time limit before from when my application is accepted and when I have to be in Singapore.
When does that 1 year limit start?
Does it start when I enter the country or when my application is accepted?
I want to know because it may take me as long as 2months to get my affairs in order before I can leave the country.
(quit job, file paperwork, get rid of apartment, sell car, etc)
Dont want to be doing all those things and find out my visa application is rejected.

For comparison purposes when I went to Australia with the 1 year visa
June 1 2008 - Visa application accepted
May 30 2009 - Last day to be able to enter Australia on the said visa
So I had 1 year from when my application was accepted to when I can enter the country.

Sept 1 2008 - I entered Australia
August 31 2009 - Last day I was legally allowed to be in Australia
The 1 year timer on the visa started when I entered the country

Any info on this would be helpful
Thanks

[sundaymorningstaple]

The search function works wonders here, but you didn't even need it for this one.

The eighth entry on this forum's index page:

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic75612.html

You are a Canadian Citizen. Is that by birth or by naturalization?

[deity_me]

Sorry I didnt know what LPR stood for
I was looking for EPEC....

I'm Canadian via naturalization
Does that matter in getting an EPEC or Other visas?

Thanks

[sundaymorningstaple]

To put it bluntly, I am assuming you may well be an Indian. If I am wrong, please accept my apologies. However, assuming I am correct, you may have a problem with the LTVP.

Getting the EPEC will not be a problem if your degree/University is a qualifying one. It has a 1-2 year validity, e.g., you have one year to arrive in Singapore and up to 1 year to stay in Singapore while looking for work.

Please be advised that the "one year" LTVP is not guaranteed. We have seen recently EPEC holders who were rejected for a LTVP altogether and other who were given 3 or 6 months, while others were given a full 12 months. So there are no guarantees. The only thing that the EPEC does guarantee is that you will not be rejected for a work visa "because of academic qualifications". It does not mean you will not be rejected for other reasons or that the employer cannot get sponsorship because of not being able to support WHY they need to hire a foreigner.

Now, back to my question on your citizenship. In the past 10 years the gahmen here have taken in huge quantities of Indian professionals. In fact, way more than is their normal wont as they usually try to keep the EP/PR to certain levels as they hope people will eventually take up citizenship but still keep the ethnic percentages here the same. There has been a huge groundswell of backlash against foreigners here for the past 15 months and due to that, there has been a tightening up of criteria. Unfortunately, the majority of groundswell seems to be against Indians (probably rightly so as they have, by percentage, increased dramatically) This has caused major problems and it would seem that now, some races are bearing the brunt of the backlash, sad to say. How long this will last is anybody's guess, but I figure until after the next election. (The gahmen need to appease the citizenry at least up till the election). If you have done your homework on this forum before writing, you have seen a lot of what I'm talking about. And that's just those who register here. But frankly, everybody is having a much harder time getting EPEC's and Employment Passes as well, even though they have the EPEC in hand.

[JR8]

The cheese moved.

Adapt.

[adyoung2]

SMS:

Interesting insight. On my past few trips to SG, I've monitored the growing concerns regarding immigration and continue to follow the topic with great interest. Do similar race quotas extend to caucasians as well? I fall under the category of caucasian Canadian citizen by birth, which if I am to observe the standard % breakdown in SG (74% Chinese / 12% Malay / 9% Indian), there is an even smaller piece left over for the "others". Simple logic would suggest that means the number of caucasians getting EPs will be very low indeed.

I suppose a redeeming fact may just be the number of caucasian applicants will generally be lower than the others... This is only a guess though.

AY

[sundaymorningstaple]

SMS:

Interesting insight. On my past few trips to SG, I've monitored the growing concerns regarding immigration and continue to follow the topic with great interest. Do similar race quotas extend to caucasians as well? I fall under the category of caucasian Canadian citizen by birth, which if I am to observe the standard % breakdown in SG (74% Chinese / 12% Malay / 9% Indian), there is an even smaller piece left over for the "others". Simple logic would suggest that means the number of caucasians getting EPs will be very low indeed.

I suppose a redeeming fact may just be the number of caucasian applicants will generally be lower than the others... This is only a guess though.

AY

AY,

While the MOM and ICA do not give out the data nor the exact criteria on immigration levels, it is pretty obvious that the country uses immigration to control the population demographics. If not, why has a country with a fertility rate of only 1.23 managed to keep the same demographic percentages of the population to within a couple percentage points. This moreso, when you consider that the majority race has the lowest fertility rate of the three major races here! After 1.5 generations you would have thought the majority race would have dropped as a percentage of the population. So much for meritocracy.

"Others" only make up two percent of the population here (which includes Caucasians) and you are correct in your thoughts about the fact that most Caucasians really don't want to "stay" here permanently. (I've been here 29 years and I won't retire here either).

[deity_me]

SMS:

I am ethnically Filipino
University education from Canada
Will that make an impact on my application

Also I'm guessing there is no way to determine before I arrive there how long I can have the LTVP for?
I'd hate to quit my job here ties loose ends, go there and find out they wont even let me have an LTVP.

Thanks

[sundaymorningstaple]

It shouldn't but ethnically you fall in no-mans land and would probably be lumped together with "others". I've heard of lots being rejected for no apparent reasons. You should still be able to get a 90 day visa I believe, on entry. But again, I don't know what the odds are of getting a short LTVP. We might be only seeing the tip of the iceberg or at the other end of the spectrum, only a couple of one-off cases where we really don't know the real story as ICA will not tell anybody "why" they do what they do. At the end of the day, it going to take "Guts" to pack up and come here without a plan. It's better to get an offer while still there. Get the EPEC and start applying for jobs. Potential employers will know up front that if they are interested, the application will not be rejected because you are unqualified. Whether MOM thinks there are locals available to do the job is another story though. That's always a gamble and a lot depends on the creativity of the HR Manager.

sms