The question one needs to ask is under the previous MOM regime, why was MOM setting $2,833 as the minimum monthly fixed salary for giving out PEP? This amount is about the pay of a fresh graduate from our local universities. Can foreigners with PEP earning this much be considered “highly-skilled foreigners”? And we have to “facilitate their continued stay” here in Singapore?
Obviously, the new MOM regime must have felt ridiculous for setting such a low-entry barrier for applicants to obtain PEP in the first place and decided to overhaul the PEP scheme. In fact, it increased the minimum annual fixed salary requirement 4 times to $12,000 per month. This reflects the gross inadequacy of the old PEP scheme.
The previous MOM regime was run by Minister Gan Kim Yong. It then begs the question of what he was doing all this while in MOM? Full story
