<Pic Credit: ContactSingapore>
Dear TRS,
Recently my domestic helper arranged for her son to come Singapore and find job because there's no job available for him in the Philippines even though he graduated from some university there.
There's many agents here helping their fellow countrymen to find job in Singapore and even guarantee jobs to them, with a fee of course. The fee is usually 2 months of their pay so for example, if the agent offer a job with a monthly pay of SGD1,000 they will have to pay the agent SGD2,000 first before they start working.
He traveled to Singapore on visit pass and after almost a month, he still couldn't find a job here because he couldn't afford to pay the fees required by the agent so he will have to find jobs by himself here. As he couldn't extend his stay any longer, the agent told him this method that is commonly used by them to extend their stay in Singapore, which is to travel to Batam or Johor and stay for a few days then travel back to Singapore and they will have another month more to stay in Singapore.
For example, before their visit pass expired, they travel to Johor (must be by car, don't know why they specially mentioned that) and stay for 3 days then back to Singapore, they can extend a month here. If he still couldn't find a job here after the additional month, he can travel to Batam and stay for a few days then back to Singapore again to extend another month. So in total, he will have three months in Singapore.
The agent guarantee this method will work as this is the way they do to help them extend the stay and even provide accommodation to them in Batam and Johor, these places are owned by pinoys in the respective countries, specially for their fellow countrymen who are using this method to extend their stay in Singapore. Some are maids whose permit are canceled by their employers in Singapore but they still want to work in Singapore so they are using this method too.
I don't know if this method is legal or not but according to the agent it is not illegal as they disembark from Singapore and when they travel back to Singapore, it is consider "a new entry" and so another month. There are apparently many many foreigners doing this to seek jobs here. If this is legal, I hope the authorities can look into this as they are misusing it..
Thank you for reading.
A Singaporean
TRS Contributor