Work Pass part 2

Hi, remember in part 1 I wrote about Work Pass classification (WP,S-Pass, Emplyment Pass) and I have mentioned the salary range is as follows :

    WP       : Below 2000
    S-Pass  : S$2000-2800
    EP        : S$2800 and above

This guideline actually implemented on 1st of July 2011. Before that the salary requirement for each pass is lower and used to be like this :

    WP       : Below 1800
    S-Pass  : S$1800-2500
    EP        : S$2500 and above

The reason why they increased this salary requirement is because of the very high influx of foreigners into the country, not just for hard labours but also for professional positions. This has been an issue lately since their fresh graduates have to compete with foreigners that are willing to do the same work with lower pay. Even though the guideline has been revised recently (July), I guess due to a lot of pressure from the citizens, it has been increased again and will be effective from 1st of January 2011. The new salary requirement will be as follows :

    WP        : Below 2000
    S-Pass   : S$2000-2999
    EP (Q1)  : S$3000-4499
    EP (P2)  : S$4500-7999
    EP (Q1)  : S$8000 and above

The way I see this thing, it could be a double edge sword. If i were looking for a job, I could ask for $3000 starting pay and give this requirement issue as a leverage and excuse to justify my expectation. Lets assume that currently I am earning $2500 ( barely passed the previous req.), and my EP is going to end on next September. After 1 year of working, and before my EP expire, perhaps I could ask my employer to give me $500 increment to retain my status as EP holder. If they are not willing to do so, I could easily go find another job and put $3000 as expected salary (It is considered reasonable for an engineer with 1y exp to earn $3000 monthly in Singapore). I can't really say for sure, but I think if you play this thing right, it can actually benefit you. I guess we'll see what happens next September =)

Okay, for this post I will write about the chronology on how to apply for the work pass.

1. Get the job
First thing first, you have to get a job first.

2. The company will apply the Work Pass for you
Like I have mentioned before, your future company will apply the pass for you, because the pass is only valid when you are working with the company that did the application, if you are going to change company, you will have to reapply a new pass even when your pass still have some time before expiry. Your company will ask for the informations needed for this application.

3. In Principal Approval (IPA)
You should get your IPA within 1-14days after your application. In my case, it only took me 1 day. Your company will get the reply from Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and they will forward you the e-mail. There will be a Medical check-up form attached together with the IPA. Remember that this is only in-principal approval letter, you still need to pass the medical check-up before you can actually get the work pass. However, You actually can start working once you have received this letter. This letter is valid for 2months if im not mistaken.

4. Medical check-up.
Easy step, go to any Hospital that have this service. I went to Raffles Hospital in Bugis. Wait for about 3-4days for the blood and X-ray result (no urine test) and give the result to your HR dept. They will key-in the data and do whatever they have to do. They will revert back to you and pass you a printed letter from MOM that will tell you what to do next

5. Appointment with Employment Pass Services Centre (EPSC)
The letter will tell you to book an appointment via online, can't remember the site but it was written in the letter. Just follow the instructions given, but the earliest date you might get will be in another 7days because there are usually fully booked. EPSC is located at River Walk building, near Clarke Quay MRT station. Go there, give them your EPSC letter, medical check-up letter, and few other things mentioned in the letter. You can bring your own passport photo or you can make one there. They will take your fingerprints and give you a date when you can pick-up your card.

6. Get your card
The officer at EPSC told me that I can pick up mine after 3 days. It can be any day so I chose to pick it up on Sat since they are open (half-day). There you go. Now you are officially legal to work in Singapore

As you can see, this process actually can take quite long, might be about 2-3weeks. There are some complications from this long process of pass application, and I will let you know about it in future post.


Cheers!

The Nephrotic Syndrome Saga

Hi there,

I pretty much left this blog without any new posts for like weeks already. The main excuse that I and every other bloggers will say is busy life and work, and it is quite true for me. On top of that I also had been diagnosed with some medical condition that does not sounds pretty. Yeah it is nephrotic syndrome.

This story actually goes way back 10years ( I was 14) ago where I was diagnosed with the same thing. Okay I will try to write something about this syndrome, but please remember that I am an engineer, not an MD or a nephrologist, so my terms or explanation might not be as accurate or might even be misleading. But I will try to write about this thing as how I understand it(as an engineer). The syndrome is a kidney disorder where the kidney leak, 'spills' out a large amount of protein into your urine, they call this proteinuria. sometimes trace of blood could also be found (hematuria). Under normal condition these 2 things should not be leaking into your urine because it is the kidney's job to filter them.

The tricky thing about this syndrome is, there are gajillions of reasons that could cause it, it could be diabetes (which I dont have) to anything including idiopathic. Idiopathic is something when your doctor tells you, "I dont fucking know what caused it". I think the word is derived from something like an idiot doctor in greek. Thats why it has IDIO as its first 4 words.

So what happens when your blood is lacking of protein? your blood loses its ability to hold water, and the body will retain the water instead of being brought to kidney to turn into urine. That is why some people who met me in last couple of months will notice that my face was puffy and my body was quite plump. I was bloated like a balloon and i gained 8kgs, I was at 78kg! The weight change happened so fast in about 1 week, that my body could hardly cope with it. My legs muscle ached so bad and the tendons were even worse.

So yeah, after 10 years of remission, I had a relapse like early Oct, and i could see all the symptoms building up. One more symptom of this syndrome is that due to the excessive protein in your urine, your urine will be very foamy and frothy (like beer froth). I was quite freaked out at that time, so I went back to Malaysia to see some doctors at HTAR, the nearest general hospital from my place. However, by the time I saw thedoctors, I was actually magically recovering without using any medications. So, I went back to Singapore and work like usual till end of November.

Not so lucky this time, the symptoms came back on early Dec, so this time I've decided to go to KPJ Shah Alam, because the experience I had with the general hospital was really frustrating(this will require another post). After some blood and urine tests, my the nephrologist and I decided that we should try prednisolone (its actually a type of steroids) for like 2 weeks and if I dont respond to the meds, I will have to go through renal biopsy to check whats really going on with my kidney.

Luckily, I responded very well to prednisolone and the protein in my urine has been negative for almost 2 weeks now. Since, prednisolone is a kind of steroids, there will be a few unwanted side effect out of this medication and I will have to gradually reduce the amount of medication I'm taking. So, dont be surprised if you see me and I look like a drug junkie on withdrawal. A lot of people in the internet gave bad reviews of how this medication effect their daily life. But hey, my kidneys are getting better, and it could be worse =)

There are a lot of things that I could write about the things I'm going through with this thing but I dont wanna write too much as it will get very boring and I am not really a good writer. So perhaps in another post.

Cheers!
-Farouk-