30% of EP, S-Pass applicants rejected so far this year

[nakatago]

n x LTVP.

Long term "tourists"?

I am afraid rather good wage / career hunt family bond slaves.

Get revenue from their spending habits (from GST) but you don't need to give them financial benefits.

Not only from GST. Simply if a person works here alone and have a family abroad more money goes abroad. Also if you have a family with you, you spend more money and you spend it here.

Ah yes. That too.

[zzm9980]

Who cares. Anything to cool down this overcrowded little red dot.

You're not a local, the door is right here -> http://goo.gl/maps/o8mWi

[the lynx]

Who cares. Anything to cool down this overcrowded little red dot.

You're not a local, the door is right here -> http://goo.gl/maps/o8mWi

It will be more fun if you put in the coordinates and let him do the search.

[zzm9980]

Who cares. Anything to cool down this overcrowded little red dot.

You're not a local, the door is right here -> http://goo.gl/maps/o8mWi

It will be more fun if you put in the coordinates and let him do the search.

I'll do that next time

[v4jr4]

Unlikely the reason. This is relatively small group (~ 175k/2011 for all the employment passes) of temporary immigrants with the highest income among all the foreigners. If they really cared about the squeeze as the main reason they should ban all the work permits holders (>700k/2011)
IMO the reason would be again purely political.

Either political reason, or gahmen wants to cut the smallest group first. By cutting all the work permit holders, frankly speaking, I don't think the current SCs are ready to build their own HDB

[the lynx]

Unlikely the reason. This is relatively small group (~ 175k/2011 for all the employment passes) of temporary immigrants with the highest income among all the foreigners. If they really cared about the squeeze as the main reason they should ban all the work permits holders (>700k/2011)
IMO the reason would be again purely political.

Either political reason, or gahmen wants to cut the smallest group first. By cutting all the work permit holders, frankly speaking, I don't think the current SCs are ready to build their own HDB

True to that!

Hence they are starting with the ones that tend to compete with the locals: PMETs...

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yep, and S, Q and P2 will be those that are targeted first and hardest. You have two groups of complainers, those who complain about overcrowding of transport systems, (these will be the WP & S pass holders) and the others who are complaining about competition for the PMET jobs. While the Gahmen knows that they have to keep the WPs for the most part, they are going to trim down and trip up the Employers who are abusing the system as well, thereby reducing the opportunities for the lowest rung of locals here. The PMETs? Well, I think it's been pretty obvious that the employers HAVE been hiring FTs instead of locals for a lot of the entry level PMET positions because they could actually hire a foreigner with some experience with entry level pay as they were willing to do so to get a foot in the door. Or, the new graduates have been asking too much money (graduates have been doing so for sure). So now, they are bumping up the minimum salary requirements to make it harder for employers to justify and ramping up the penalties to stomp on those who they catch defrauding the system.

[nakatago]

Yep, and S, Q and P2 will be those that are targeted first and hardest.

Scores of other code monkeys have been downgraded to S passes in our company. Yours truly got 36 months this time for my visa (not S though). I'm not sure if either MOM wants to lock me down in stasis or my company doesn't want to worry about my visa for the next three years.

[Mi Amigo]

As always, MS was right on the money with his prediction earlier in the year.

[v4jr4]

Yep, and S, Q and P2 will be those that are targeted first and hardest.

Scores of other code monkeys have been downgraded to S passes in our company. Yours truly got 36 months this time for my visa (not S though). I'm not sure if either MOM wants to lock me down in stasis or my company doesn't want to worry about my visa for the next three years.

Well, at least you are in the safe position for the next 3 years.

There's a link from MoM for "Self Assessment Tool", which told me that most likely I will be downgraded as well (although some people said not to worry about it). Let's see.

[sundaymorningstaple]

We've been applying for 36 months passes on renewals as well.

v4jr4, I've got sad news for you, nobody is "safe" not for 3 years or 1 year, or one month. MOM can still revoke your pass at their convenience should they find it absolutely necessary.

[v4jr4]

We've been applying for 36 months passes on renewals as well.

v4jr4, I've got sad news for you, nobody is "safe" not for 3 years or 1 year, or one month. MOM can still revoke your pass at their convenience should they find it absolutely necessary.

[nakatago]

@Mi Amigo: it seemed more of a warning from an insider rather than a prediction. Didn't change the fact that MS was foreboding though.

@v4jr4: like what SMS said, not really safe. Safer, yes (in the sense that MOM doesn't have to decide on my fate until renewal time) but if ever the order comes to tell MOM to review my status, nothing's stopping them.

[v4jr4]

like what SMS said, not really safe. Safer, yes (in the sense that MOM doesn't have to decide on my fate until renewal time) but if ever the order comes to tell MOM to review my status, nothing's stopping them.

Well, if MOM thinks it's easy to find new recruits to replace seniors in a blink of an eye, I can't say anything

[revhappy]

Yep, and S, Q and P2 will be those that are targeted first and hardest.

Scores of other code monkeys have been downgraded to S passes in our company. Yours truly got 36 months this time for my visa (not S though). I'm not sure if either MOM wants to lock me down in stasis or my company doesn't want to worry about my visa for the next three years.

Well, at least you are in the safe position for the next 3 years.

There's a link from MoM for "Self Assessment Tool", which told me that most likely I will be downgraded as well (although some people said not to worry about it). Let's see.

Dont worry about the link. By default it tells everyone who is eligible for an EP is also eligible for S pass. That is no indication that yours will be downgraded.