EP (Q1) Application Wait-time & LTVP application

[Shanti.woo]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I apologize if this question has been asked before and I somehow did not find it on the forum. I tried looking through the all of the threads on "PR, Citizenship, Passes & Visas for Foreigners" posted on 2012 - 2013 but I might have missed some threads.

Without further ado, my backgrounds are as followed:
nationality: Indonesian
ethnicity: Chinese (but I don't speak the language)
age: 25
gender: female
current pass status: Visit Pass (valid until 20/10/2013)
degrees:
- master degree (in chemistry/biochemistry) from an offshore institutes with local campus in Singapore &
- bachelor degree (in pharmacological chemistry) from University of California in US
work experiences:
- 3 yrs as part time interns in academic and commercial lab in US,
- 6 months as full time position (research assistant) in small biotech in US (I left the company because I was offered full industrial scholarship for my master study)
- 8 months internship in a big chemical company in germany (part of my master studies)

I finished my study on April 2013, received my degree on July 2013, and got a job offer on August 2013. The details for the position that I got, the company that hired me, and the EP application processes are as follow:
- company: US-based biotech/pharma MNC with research centres in various countries, publicly traded, quite established (10+ years of existence in US), small-med size
- position: research scientist, entry-level (it is more of a biologist work instead of a chemist work but it's not a very long stretch from my studies and previous experiences)
- salary: 3.3k/month for 13 months. Therefore, I actually get 3.5k/month which qualifies me for S-pass or EP (level Q1)


Notes that might be relevant:
- the company applied for my EP on 2nd Sep (on the application, the HR only mentioned about my full time position in US because the HR thinks that my other experiences in germany and US were irrelevant)

- the company did not apply for both S-pass and EP for me because they do not have any more quota for an S-pass

- my friend (chinese national & chinese ethnicity, female, 22 or 23 year old) who was my classmate in my master program and currently working in this company (she started on June 2013) was rejected when she applied for EP but she got her S-pass within 2 to 4 days.

- another person in the company (malaysian national, male, I don't know his age or ethnicity because I have never met him) who was hired for the same position as myself (same duty, same salary) and was hired on May or June 2013 got his EP within 1 week of application.


I hope that some of you are still with me (sorry for the long narratives, I just want to be as clear as possible) and can answer my questions:

1. Do you personally think that the EP application will be approved because I haven't heard any update from MOM and the HR for one week while my colleague gets their work passes relatively quickly?

2. If I accepted another offer from other company while waiting for the EP application result from the first company and the second company applies for EP or S-pass for me, does the EP application from the first company get cancelled right away?

3. Are there anything that I can do during this waiting time to improve my chances of getting the EP approved (e.g. sending additional documents to MOM, contacting MOM personnel, sending email to MOM, etc.)? I called MOM once asking if they need additional documents and asking if there is any problem with my application and whether it will get approved. As expected, MOM only give vague answers to my questions.

4. If any of you apply for EP (Q1) can you share with me about the length of your waiting time?

5. Should I apply for LTVP as soon as possible or should I wait until early October?

6. If I choose to apply for LTVP, will it be better to ask for sponsorship from my friend (a mother of 2 children, HongKong national, chinese ethnicity, holder of Singapore PR) or from the company that hire me?

7. Will it be problematic to my EP application if I leave Singapore while waiting for the result of my EP application? (If I leave singapore, my 3 months visit pass will be automatically cancelled).

Thank you very much for your time and I hope I can get some feedback from you all.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'd say you have a good chance, but you will need to be patient. For the record your salary for pass purposes is only $3.3K/mo. The income criteria is based ONLY on the monthly salary as stated in the contract. It does NOT take in the AWS/13th month. Only your quoted monthly salary (Basic Salary).

[Shanti.woo]

Thank you for your reply. I hope the application will work out fine like you have mentioned. I was posting those questions because I feel so nervous and powerless when waiting for government decisions like this.

[Stevie_W]

I had a few problems with mine. Took quite a while but all sorted now. Just a pain whilst i was waiting cos i couldn't sort out bank accounts, internet access, even getting a sim card was a pain.
I sympathise with you but i'm sure your company will get it sorted in the end.

[Shanti.woo]

I had a few problems with mine. Took quite a while but all sorted now. Just a pain whilst i was waiting cos i couldn't sort out bank accounts, internet access, even getting a sim card was a pain.
I sympathise with you but i'm sure your company will get it sorted in the end.

Do you mind sharing what sort of problems that you have? How long do you have to wait before finally getting your EP? Are you also Indonesian by any chance? I hope my questions are not too probing, thank you very much.

[Stevie_W]

The office manager had filled in the form incorrectly and i ended up with a qualification in a field that i'd never heard of. So MOM were asking for this certificate which i couldn't provide.
On top of this, the office manager was leaving so this was handed over to her replacement to sort out.
Took almost 2 months, but all's good now.

[Shanti.woo]

The office manager had filled in the form incorrectly and i ended up with a qualification in a field that i'd never heard of. So MOM were asking for this certificate which i couldn't provide.
On top of this, the office manager was leaving so this was handed over to her replacement to sort out.
Took almost 2 months, but all's good now.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm glad that everything works out for you at the end. It really gives me hope.