Foreign worker quota

Explain Like I’m Five

A company may have a vacancy without having room under its foreign worker quota. For the Work Permit and S Pass workforce covered by these rules, the limit relates to the company’s sector and its counted local workforce. It is a hiring headcount limit, separate from the money paid as a levy.

Where You’ll Run Into It

In a Singapore employer’s discussion about hiring migrant workers or in MOM manpower information. The term “dependency ratio ceiling” describes the maximum permitted share of a company’s workforce under the relevant foreign-worker rules; S Pass hiring also has its own cap within the overall limit.

MOM uses the company’s CPF account information to determine its counted local workforce.

Example

“The restaurant has a vacancy, but the manager says there is no quota for another Work Permit holder.”

The manager is describing a workforce limit, rather than saying there is no job to fill. This illustrates the phrase, without establishing that restaurant’s actual quota.

The Part People Get Wrong

A levy is a recurring charge to the employer, not extra headcount bought beyond the quota. Work Permit and S Pass rules should not be carried over to the Employment Pass: MOM lists EP as having no foreign worker quota or levy requirement.