FAQs on entry approvals and SHN requirements for foreign employees

Do not submit multiple requests for a worker within the same application window (from 12:01pm today to 12pm tomorrow). We will only process the first request and notify you on the outcome for it, and disregard the rest.

Employers will receive the outcome by email.

Please send the approval email to your workers. They must show a print-out of it to the airline staff upon check-in before boarding the plane and at the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA) checkpoint upon arrival in Singapore.

Once the worker has arrived in Singapore, you will get an email from no-reply@pay.gov.sg within 10 days for you to make payment. Please also check your junk and spam folders in case the email was sent there. 

You must make payment no later than 7 days after getting the payment email.

For pass holders who have recovered from COVID-19, they should only depart for Singapore at least 21 days after their first positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Otherwise, they will be denied boarding on flights to Singapore.

Pass holders should not travel if feeling unwell.

As an employer, you are responsible for your workers’ medical expenses. To help you manage these expenses, you must buy a COVID-19 medical insurance for all Work Permit, Training Work Permit and S Pass holders before they arrive in Singapore.

The insurance must meet these requirements:

• Covers at least $10,000 for medical expenses if the worker develops COVID-19 symptoms or tests positive within 14 days of arrival in Singapore.
• Covers workers on in-principle approvals (IPAs).

For all other pass holders (e.g. Employment Pass holders or dependants), they are encouraged to buy medical insurance with the appropriate coverage before entering Singapore. They are responsible for their medical expenses if they develop COVID-19 symptoms or test positive within 14 days of arrival in Singapore.

As the terms and conditions of medical insurance plans vary, you should check with your insurer whether your workers’ existing plans meet the requirements.

If not, you need to buy a new insurance or top-up the coverage. If so, you can consider these insurers.

For us to consider a refund, please submit a request to cancel the entry approval at least 7 days before the pass holder’s approved arrival date using the relevant link below:

Note: The approved arrival date is the middle date stated on the entry approval letter or email. E.g. if the pass holder is allowed to enter Singapore from 1 May to 3 May, the approved arrival date is 2 May. 

• Foreign employees employed by companies and their dependants
• Work Holiday Pass holders
• Personalised Employment Pass holders (without employers) and their dependants
• EntrePass holders (without Corppass) and their dependants

Once the entry approval is cancelled, you can submit another entry application with a new arrival date to bring them in. The new application will be subject to the prevailing entry controls.

We advise employers to submit a new work pass application for such workers after the situation stabilises.

This is why we are providing some cost relief to employers starting from January 2021. However, there are limits to how far back we are able to provide these SHN levy waivers.

Employers can get a levy waiver for Work Permit or S Pass holders who are given quarantine orders by MOH, as it is a form of hospitalisation leave.

Apply for levy waiver

For employees on home or overseas leave, employers can apply for levy waiver (for up to 60 days) when the employees return to Singapore.

No, pass holders must complete their SHN before employers can send them for any of the issuance-related procedures.

If their Short-Term Visit Passes (STVP) are expiring soon, for:

• Employment Pass, S Pass, Dependant’s Pass or Long Term Visit Pass holders, please request for time to do the issuance while the pass holders serve SHN. Submit this request within 1 week before the STVP expires.
  
  Example: If the STVP expires on 10 February, please only submit the request from 3 February.
  
  
• Work Permit holders, the validities of their STVPs and in-principle approvals will be automatically extended by 2 weeks. Please note that no letters will be issued for this extension.

MOM will not hesitate to take enforcement measures against any parties who do not comply with the SHN requirements. Measures include criminal proceedings, work pass revocations and withdrawal of work pass privileges.

Employers can request to extend their pass holders’ stay in Singapore if they need more time to send them home (e.g. waiting for an embassy-facilitated flight or pass holders are on Stay-Home Notice). Please submit this request within 1 week before the pass holder's Special Pass or Short-Term Visit Pass (STVP) expires.

Please discourage your pass holders from going overseas as the country they visit may have travel restrictions. Thus, there could be significant delays before they can return to Singapore.

For all pass holders, new and existing, entering Singapore from 1 January 2021, the Government will no longer cover their treatment costs if they develop COVID-19 symptoms or test positive within 14 days of arrival in Singapore. This is regardless of when they left Singapore.

Find out who is responsible for the treatment costs.

You have to bear the full cost of COVID-19 entry requirements for new Work Permit holders entering Singapore.

However, to protect yourself against Work Permit holders who job-hop shortly after starting work, you can review the contractual terms of new Work Permit holders who have yet to come to Singapore to include certain conditions.

These conditions, such as a minimum employment period or notice period for employment terminations, should be:

• Mutually agreed between you and your workers.
• Reasonable in duration, e.g. 3-6 months for minimum employment period.
• Tied to only the costs of COVID-19 entry requirements (COVID-19 entry tests, COVID-19 insurance, SHN accommodation and related transport, food and other daily essentials).

If your Work Permit holders breach these conditions, they will have to reimburse you. The reimbursement can be partial or full, depending on their length of service.