OFW Requirements for SG

gelim

Hello, I have recently been accepted at an IT company in Singapore (direct hire) and already received my IPA. Are there any other requirements besides passport and IPA that are needed to be presented to immigration in order to avoid being offloaded on a one way flight?

Also I noticed that there are discussions regarding a hiring ban for OFWs hired directly, is this still in effect? If yes, are there ways on getting around this? My flight is on late March. Thanks in advance.

Kebs

@gelim congrats kabayan! lifted na yang ban.

kung plan mo lumusot sa immigration sa pinas and pretend to be a tourist, i suggest kumuha ka din ng return ticket. pag hinanapan ka ksi yare ka panigurado, di ka makakaalis.

gelim

@Kebs Thanks! Glad to know na wala na yung ban

I want to use a one way ticket and not declare myself as a tourist as much as possible. Would a passport, IPA, and OEC suffice to get through immigration?

carpejem

U can only use 1way tix if ur papers done at POEA

gelim

Hi @Kebs, may I ask from what source did you find that the ban is lifted? I contacted POEA earlier and they said that there is still a hiring ban ongoing for direct hires. I just want to check since the person I contacted from POEA might not be updated about this.

Kebs

@gelim - yung pinsan ko andito na. Direct hire nasa pinas sha nung time na yun (last year lang), inayos nya papeles nya jan. Matagal, almost 1 month inabot. A lot of documents. plus meron pa daw non-sense na seminar na need tapusin. Case to case basis ang pag-ban sa direct hire. Meron daw marereject, hindi ko alam ang reasons why.

Sorry kung naconfuse ka, "lifted" in the sense na last time kasi nagkaroon ng full ban sa direct hiring and eventually kinlarify din ng POEA what they meant. They give exceptions sa ban na yan. In short, loose ang rules nila ngayon.

"I want to use a one way ticket and not declare myself as a tourist as much as possible" - isa lang ang solusyon mo kung yan gusto mo, punta ka POEA ayusin mo papeles mo. Good luck and please update us for others to make reference to your experience.

gelim

@Kebs Thanks and glad to hear your cousin was able to get an OEC as a direct hire despite the ban. I'll update this thread with my experience after applying. Worst case I'll just book a 2 way ticket as you suggested :P

goblinsbride

@gelim There's a looooooong way of getting the direct hire approval from POEA. I mentioned it already in my previous thread for POEA ban. I think you need to reach out to DOLE for exemption from the ban first. Not sure about the whole process. Pero I had a friend who went through that long road.

gelim

@goblinsbride I checked your thread, looks like there's too much hassle for both the applicant and employer to get the requirements based on the comments
If I just went to SG as a tourist and process my OEC there as a first time applicant, would there be problems? (Since they might have problems with me getting hired and went there without an OEC and OWWA membership)

goblinsbride

if you'll take the easy route, there should be no problems.

Kebs

@gelim - yes kabayan. once you landed here, an online appointment to POEA here is super smooth and will only take you less than an hour to process onsite.

gelim

@goblinsbride @Kebs thanks and good to know that, I guess I'll just take that route By the way, do I need to show my IPA to the SG Immigration officer? (since it might be a requirement for E-Pass processing)

Kebs

@gelim - pag hinanap, yes. pag hindi hinanap, no need.