HKCo wrote:Hi all - hope you can help...
We're a small consultancy based in HK who has just won work in Singapore. The staff we want to use are US and UK colleagues from other parts of the business. We have two different clients that they will be working across. The work will be for about 6 months.
A few questions:
Do they need an employment pass (I think so after 90 days?)
Can we sponsor them when we're incorporated in HK - I assume not?
Do we need to ask the client to sponsor?
[/list] Will they need an employment pass per client?
Am going to employ a legal firm to action this, but thought you guys may be able to provide some guidance at the outset!
Any help very much appreciated!
Here is the deal. If they are not paid in Singapore, I believe that they can work in Singapore for limited periods of time without a work pass. It depends on how you define the job they do.
Check out MOM's website:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/ ... fault.aspx> Note the language about halfway down.
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.
The fact is that all sorts of MNC's have people flying in and out all the time, often for fairly long periods. However, they go back home from time to time. It also works the other way. I worked in Malaysia for about 8 months, flying back and forth about every two weeks.
They will need to live in a hotel or a
Serviced Apartment since apartments cannot be rented without the right to live here. As UK and US, they should get 90 day permits, but you really need to send them home every 30 or so in order not to violate the 60 day rule. I've never seen anyone notify MOM of these activities and if questioned (which I doubt), I'd use the fact that I checked the 'business' box on my embarkation card.
Again, it is very common for people to spend weeks or months in Singapore doing business, all covered under the 'processes'. The key is they cannot be paid here.
Your client could sponsor them but would have to hire them as employees, even if on a contract basis, like for six months. In this case, they would need to be paid in Singapore, and pay Singapore income tax at the short term rate.
