Long-Term Visit Pass and LTVP Plus Holders in Workforce

Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the current number of Long-Term Visit Pass and Long-Term Visit Pass Plus holders who are part of the workforce; and (b) how many of such pass holders are self-employed.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Long-Term Visit Passes (LTVP) or Long-Term Visit Passes Plus (LTVP+) holders are the ones who are foreigners who are here in Singapore and we facilitate their stay here.

Foreign spouses or unmarried children under 21 years old of Singapore Citizens (SC) or Permanent Residents (PR) who have LTVP or LTVP+ can work in Singapore if they are also issued with Letters of Consent (LOC) or Pre-approved Letters of Consent (PLOC). Other LTVP holders, such as parents of citizens and Permanent Residents can work in Singapore if they are also issued with a regular work pass.

As at December 2020, there are 17,890 LTVP and LTVP+ holders who are part of our workforce. Of this, 190 or about 1% are self-employed. Collectively, the employed LTVP and LTVP+ constitute about 0.5% of our workforce.

Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for a very comprehensive answer. I just have one small point of confirmation, which is to confirm that there is no legal or regulatory impediment for LTVP holders to be self-employed. And I think the Minister of State did say 1% of them are self-employed. So, I just wanted to confirm that.

The context for that is that self-employment could also be quite useful for them to support themselves and their Singaporean children in these difficult times. So, I just wanted to confirm that there is no impediment or there is no difficulty or confusing procedure for them to go through to obtain the ability to be self-employed.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank Mr Leon Perera for the supplementary question. We do allow self-employment amongst our LTVP and LTVP+ holders. However, to be classified as self-employed, they would need a valid LOC/PLOC and be hired by the same firm for which they are listed as director, partner, limited partner or sole proprietor in ACRA's records.