Higher administrative fees for work passes from April 1

SINGAPORE: Administrative fees for passes that will allow foreigners to work in Singapore will be raised from 1 April 2013.

Currently, it costs $20 for Employment Pass, S Pass and Work Permit.

The new fees are $70 for Employment Pass, $60 for S Pass and $30 for Work permit.

The Ministry of Manpower is raising the fees to recover the costs of providing work pass services.

It said the job of processing the higher—end work passes has become more complex.

Issuance and renewal fees will also go up.

For an Employment Pass, it will be $150, instead of the current $120; for an S Pass, it will be $80, or $10 more; and for a Work Permit, it will be $30, also $10 more.

Work pass holders who apply for passes for their dependants will have to pay a new fee of $60 for the Dependant’s Pass and $30 for Long Term Visit Pass.

It will also cost more to get a replacement card for all pass types. The fees will increase from a flat rate of $60 to $100 for first—time losses and $300 for subsequent losses.

Employers have been paying administrative fees since 2005.

The fees were first revised in 2011 to help increase the proportion of costs borne by employers but they still fell short of full cost recovery.

The ministry said the changes will bring the fees closer to the full costs of providing work pass services.

— CNA/de