Latest news with #TEP
New Paper
3 days ago
- Business
- New Paper
MOM investigating alleged misuse of work passes meant for foreign students and trainees
Investigations are under way into what a support group for migrant workers brands a "job scam" centred on misuse of work passes. Training Employment Passes give foreign students and intra-corporate trainees the right to work here for three months, but they have allegedly been used to employ foreign workers in lower-skilled roles not allowed under the pass. Some of the probes surrounding breaches of the pass requirements have already been completed, with more to come, noted the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on June 6. It did not disclose how many reports it had received. The pass allows foreign students or trainees from a company's overseas office or subsidiary to undergo practical training for professional, managerial, executive or specialist jobs here for up to three months. Trainees must earn a minimum fixed salary of $3,000 a month. The work attachment for student applicants must be tied to their studies. They must either be studying in an "acceptable institution" or earning at least $3,000 a month. The investigation comes after 13 TEP holders sought help in recent months from advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). They were hired by employers to take up various roles with a lower skill level than the pass appears to allow. Five of the 13 were put to work in a food and beverage establishment, five in a warehouse and two in cleaning companies, while one ended up in a "tour coach agency", TWC2 said on its website in May. The 13 people had turned to TWC2 over a period of about five months starting in December 2024. "We have never before seen so many workers on this kind of work pass in such a short time," TWC2 said. The group added that nearly all the 13 complained about salary irregularities, including being paid below the $3,000 stated minimum, though at least one found long working hours to be the biggest problem. "However, when we found out more about the circumstances which led to their working in Singapore, we could see the contours of a rapidly widening job scam," TWC2 noted. The workers had been designated as "management executives" despite performing menial tasks such as washing dishes, it added. They were often not sent to the MOM to have their TEP issued until nearly 30 days after arrival, effectively meaning they worked an additional fourth month without a pass being issued. TWC2 executive director Ethan Guo told The Straits Times that a common feature was that most of the workers were coming to work for the first time in Singapore and had arrived relatively recently. "This showed that these were young, impressionable and vulnerable foreigners with little or no knowledge of employment laws in Singapore," Mr Guo noted. He added that the group could not confirm if there has been a sudden uptick in the number of TEP holders reporting salary irregularities. "What has happened of late was a concerted effort by TWC2 to educate migrant workers on the correct payment of their salaries, and this could have resulted in more workers with such problems coming forward to seek help from us," he said. There may have been many more victims in the past who did not realise they have been scammed, or did not have an avenue for assistance. Mr Guo said TWC2's concern lies with workers who have been misled into jobs they paid huge sums to agents for and then put into "legal jeopardy once they agree". He noted that the attempts to dodge the TEP requirements may have arisen as a work-around for industries "desperate for cheap foreign labour". "A more holistic response would be a review of work permit quotas for these industry sectors like logistics, cleaning and food and beverage." But Mr Guo added that TWC2 is not advocating a massive liberalisation in foreign workforce policy, as making cheap labour too easily available could blunt the incentive for employers to pursue automation and productivity improvements. The MOM also said it performs additional checks and audits on selected TEP applications, such as requesting proof of training programmes and foreign offices or subsidiaries. It noted that it will take action against errant employers, including suspending their work pass privileges, imposing financial penalties or even prosecution. The ministry also encouraged affected workers to reach out for assistance.
Online Citizen
4 days ago
- Business
- Online Citizen
MOM investigates misuse of passes for foreign students, trainees after TWC2 raises exploitation claims
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has launched investigations into alleged misuse of the Training Employment Pass (TEP), a visa scheme intended to allow foreign students and corporate trainees to undertake short-term training stints in the country. In a statement responding to CNA's queries, MOM said it 'takes these claims seriously' and has already completed investigations into several cases, although some inquiries remain ongoing. The ministry declined to comment on the outcomes of the concluded cases, citing the continuing nature of related probes. Purpose of the TEP and regulatory framework The TEP allows foreign nationals to gain practical training in professional, managerial, executive or specialist roles in Singapore for up to three months. Companies can apply for TEPs if they wish to bring in foreign students or trainees from overseas subsidiaries. To hire a foreign student under this scheme, the individual must be pursuing a course of study and be enrolled at an acceptable institution, or earn a fixed monthly salary of at least S$3,000. The same salary threshold applies to trainees from foreign offices or subsidiaries. MOM stated that 'additional checks and audits' are conducted for selected applications, including requests for training programme documentation and proof of links to foreign offices. The ministry cautioned that employers found misusing the scheme to bypass Singapore's regulated work pass framework could face strict penalties. These include financial sanctions, work pass privilege suspensions, or even prosecution. Workers affected by potential abuses have been encouraged to contact MOM directly. NGO TWC2 flags spike in exploitation of TEP holders The allegations were first raised by Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a non-profit organisation supporting low-wage migrant workers. In a May 2025 report titled Management executives washing dishes, the group detailed 13 cases of TEP misuse between 1 December 2024 and 26 April 2025. TWC2 said it had 'never before seen so many workers on this kind of work pass in such a short time,' with the affected individuals originating from India (six cases), Bangladesh (six), and Myanmar (one). These trainees, the NGO alleged, were deceived into paying substantial agent fees—between S$3,000 and S$5,000—on the promise of legitimate, well-paying jobs in Singapore. Upon arrival, they were made to work in low-wage sectors such as food and beverage, warehousing, cleaning services, and even at a tour coach agency. False job descriptions and illegal deployment of workers The job titles listed on In-Principle Approval (IPA) letters often misrepresented the actual work. For example, positions were labelled 'management executive' while the tasks involved dishwashing or manual warehouse labour. Many of the trainees were made to work even before their TEPs were formally issued, a practice that TWC2 describes as illegal under Singapore regulations. According to the IPA documents, work must not begin until after the pass is issued. TWC2 stated that some employers delayed the official pass issuance by nearly 30 days, enabling them to extract four months of labour from a three-month pass. The affected workers were typically put to work immediately upon arrival, allegedly clocking 14-hour days, seven days a week. Underpayment and lack of legal protection While TEP regulations require a fixed salary of S$3,000, many workers reportedly received only S$1,600 to S$1,800 in cash. This discrepancy made it difficult for them to lodge successful legal claims or demonstrate contract breaches. Unlike Work Permit holders, TEP holders lack many standard protections. TWC2 added that MOM does not require employers to provide housing or food allowances for TEP workers, nor is there a legal requirement for employers to pay for repatriation costs once the training period ends. Use of false documents and risk of legal complications TWC2 also warned of the legal risks facing affected workers. Many are unaware of documents submitted on their behalf and are shocked to discover the possible use of false educational qualifications or digital declarations they may have unknowingly signed. These workers often don't understand the significance of signing on a tablet and may have unknowingly affirmed false information, the organisation said. The NGO added that these workers often become aware of their situation only when their passes near expiry and promised renewals do not materialise. By this time, many are also dealing with issues like salary non-payment and excessive working hours. Exploitation of regulatory loopholes TWC2 suggested that some employers are intentionally misusing the TEP as a loophole to bypass more tightly regulated Work Permit quotas. Unlike Work Permits, the TEP scheme carries no quota or foreign worker levy obligations. Furthermore, there is no legal obligation for employers to cover healthcare or housing, making it a more cost-effective and less regulated option. Employers may also profit from recruitment fees and underpay workers, knowing complaints can be ignored, the NGO claimed. TWC2 calls for MOMs action In light of these revelations, TWC2 has called on MOM to intensify scrutiny of TEP applications. The NGO recommended the ministry start by closely examining employers' stated justifications and the alignment between job descriptions and actual roles performed. The group emphasised that without enforcement, the system risks further abuse, undermining the credibility of Singapore's foreign manpower framework and potentially harming the country's international reputation.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
MOM investigating alleged misuse of work passes meant for foreign students and trainees
MOM said some of the probes surrounding breaches of the pass requirements have already been completed with more to come. PHOTO: ST FILE SINGAPORE – Investigations are underway into what a support group for migrant workers brands a 'job scam' centred on misuse of work passes. Training Employment Passes give foreign students and intra-corporate trainees the right to work here for three months, but they have allegedly been used to employ foreign workers in lower-skilled roles that are not allowed under the pass. Some of the probes surrounding breaches of the pass requirements have already been completed with more to come, noted the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on June 6. It did not disclose how many reports it had received. The pass allows foreign students or trainees from a company's overseas office or subsidiary to undergo practical training for professional, managerial, executive or specialist jobs here for up to three months. Trainees must earn a minimum fixed salary of $3,000 a month. The work attachment f or student applicants must be tied to their studies. T hey must either be studying in an 'acceptable institution' or earning at least $3,000 a month. The investigation comes after 13 TEP holders sought help in recent months from advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). They were hired by employers to take up various roles with a lower skill level than the pass appears to allow. Five of the 13 were put to work in a food and beverage establishment, five in a warehouse, two in cleaning companies while one ended up in a 'tour coach agency',TWC2 said on its website last month. The 13 people had turned to TWC2 over a period of about five months starting in December 2024. 'We have never before seen so many workers on this kind of work pass in such a short time,' TWC2 said. The group added that nearly all the 13 complained about salary irregularities, including being paid below the $3,000 stated minimum, though at least one found long working hours to be the biggest problem. 'However, when we found out more about the circumstances which led to their working in Singapore, we could see the contours of a rapidly widening job scam,' TWC2 noted. The workers had been designated as 'management executives' despite performing menial tasks such as washing dishes, it added. They were often not sent to the MOM to have their TEP issued until nearly 30 days after arrival, effectively meaning they worked an additional fourth month without a pass being issued. TWC2 executive director Ethan Guo told The Straits Times that a common feature was that most of the workers were coming to work for the first time in Singapore and had arrived relatively recently. 'This showed that these were young, impressionable and vulnerable foreigners with little or no knowledge of employment laws in Singapore,' Mr Guo noted. He added that the group could not confirm if there has been a sudden uptick in the number of TEP holders reporting salary irregularities. 'What has happened of late was a concerted effort by TWC2 to educate migrant workers on the correct payment of their salaries, and this could have resulted in more workers with such problems coming forward to seek help from us,' he said. They may have been many more victims in the past who did not realise they have been scammed, or did not have an avenue for assistance. Mr Guo said TWC2's concern lies with workers who have been misled into jobs they paid huge sums to agents for and then put into 'legal jeopardy once they agree'. He noted that the attempts to dodge the TEP requirements may have arisen as a work-around for industries 'desperate for cheap foreign labour'. 'A more holistic response would be a review of work permit quotas for these industry sectors like logistics, cleaning and food and beverage.' However, Mr Guo added that TWC2 is not advocating a massive liberalisation in foreign workforce policy, as making cheap labour too easily available could blunt the incentive for employers to pursue automation and productivity improvements. The MOM also said it performs additional checks and audits on selected TEP applications, such as requesting proof of training programmes and foreign offices or subsidiaries. It noted that it will take action against errant employers, including suspending their work pass privileges, imposing financial penalties or even prosecution. The ministry also encouraged affected workers to reach out for assistance. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Time of India
US: What tactics is ICE using to deceive undocumented immigrants during arrests?
Live Events MORE STORIES FOR YOU ✕ Visa overstays in US persist without much scrutiny Career pathways in US dim for international students as Trump cracks down on visas « Back to recommendation stories I don't want to see these stories because They are not relevant to me They disrupt the reading flow Others SUBMIT — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Tucson, Arizona, are facing allegations of impersonating utility workers while attempting to locate and detain an undocumented immigrant. The incident reportedly took place in a south Tucson neighbourhood on Wednesday to local resident Christine Cariño, two individuals appeared wearing Tucson Electric Power (TEP)-style clothing and asked questions about a Honduran man who has lived in the area for more than a decade. Cariño told the New York Post that the men said they were responding to a request for a city service estimate.'He said, 'We're trying to find somebody that wanted a free estimate,'" Cariño said. She became suspicious when she noticed that the men's clothing did not match typical TEP uniforms. One wore a reflective shirt, while the other was in a plain black t-shirt. Cariño said she spotted a badge under one man's shirt and asked whether they were from the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ).The men were later allowed into the property's garden by the resident's stepson. Cariño, who witnessed the interaction, began warning others nearby: 'Don't open the door, they don't have a warrant!' she yelled, a moment captured in video obtained by local outlet KGUN 9. 'They're lying, they're not in a uniform!'(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)Under US law, immigration agents must have occupant consent or a signed warrant to enter a residence. Witnesses allege the individuals misrepresented themselves in order to gain immigration agents reportedly told the resident through the door that he had missed immigration court hearings. The man denied the claim and did not come tactic has drawn national scrutiny in the past. A 2020 complaint by the ACLU of California alleged that immigration enforcement officers have posed as delivery drivers or contractors to conduct arrests, calling the practice unconstitutional. That case remains unresolved.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Fairbanks-based Tribes Extension Program is at forefront in sharing traditional knowledge
Amanda FrankAlaska BeaconFood security is not an exclusively Alaska issue, but the land and location can sometimes necessitate different approaches. Molly Cerridwen, a Yup'ik traditional healer and herbalist who works with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Tribes Extension Program, is a part of a group of elders and traditional knowledge holders who serve in a role unique to the program.'No other state has decided to do this; Alaska is at the forefront,' said Cerridwen. With family ties to Qaluyaaq, or Nelson Island, in Southwest Alaska, Cerridwen, who grew up in the Interior community of Nenana, weaves traditional health-based practices with complementary and alternative medicine modalities to work with and support tribes in their pursuit of food security, resiliency and economic to Heidi Rader, professor of extension and the Tribes Extension Program director, the TEP works to 'meet the needs of tribes,' connecting people and tribes with grants, opportunities and education. Under UAF's Cooperative Extension Service, the program is based in Fairbanks and reaches all over Alaska in partnership with organizations like Tanana Chiefs Conference and RurAL CAP. Its reach is growing: Rader shared that the program had hired Marisa McKasson as an agent in June 2024, expanding on a partnership with the Aleutian Pribilof Islands the Cooperative Extension Service was designed around Lower 48 programs where an agent was assigned to help farmers and ranchers with education and grants.'The interesting thing with Alaska, we have 229 tribes and a lot of what Extension does is face-to-face education through workshops,' said Rader, who has led the program for nearly 20 years. The TEP program currently hosts a blog, educates through YouTube, and facilitates workshops online through webinars and in-person with educators like Cerridwen. Cerridwen's interest in traditional healing and herbalism started at home from a young age. As the youngest of seven sisters, she was surrounded by healers and herbalists, paving a pathway for her to learn traditional methods of healing, gathering, and foraging from the land.'I use my voice as much as I can in honor of my grandmother,' Cerridwen said. Like many people across Alaska and Indigenous communities, Cerridwen's grandmother was removed from her home, sent to a missionary school and not allowed to speak Yup'ik. While at the missionary, she lost her sister and was not able to mourn that loss. 'The only way she knew how to mourn was in Yup'ik and she would be beaten if she spoke Yup'ik.'Cerridwen shared that her grandmother would be brought to tears, when they asked her questions about how to say words and phrases in Yup'ik. 'So we stopped asking her because it was retraumatizing her and we didn't want to see her cry,' Cerridwen said. But what her grandmother remembered was 'the healing plants that live on this land. So she passed that on to her daughter, who passed that on to her daughters, myself included.''One of my frameworks in my traditional healing practice is that each family held on to bits of traditional knowledge. And my family held on to plant medicine,' said Cerridwen. 'Every family has a medicine, that medicine might be art in the form of beadwork, art in the form of ivory carving. It might be mask-making. It could be music. It could be dance. It could be language. This is all medicine that, when we come together as a collective, we can share with each other the medicine our families were able to hold on to through colonization and learn from each other. That is healing. That is creating community and also sharing this experience that many, if not all families experienced.' Rader shared they want to support whichever avenue makes sense to harvest and preserve food. 'There is a statistic that is often thrown around that all but 5 percent of our food comes from outside. … That is accurate for how much food is purchased from outside. But it doesn't adequately factor in all the food that we hunt, gather, fish and grow,' Rader said. 'Part of what we are trying to do is look at the number more specifically … but also make sure that people can access funding that is out there to improve food security, even if they don't plan on farming and ranching.'To address the differing needs of communities in Alaska, the program offers workshops from seed starting, soil fertility, starting a community garden, and gardening with kids to food preservation like canning and pickling and even identifying edible wild plants. 'Another program we do in the TCC region is send out seeds to tribes for as many gardeners as they have. So we ask every year, 'How many gardeners do you have? How many — roughly — seeds do you want?' In this TCC region, there is about 500 gardeners, according to the seed distribution,' Rader also provide technical assistance to apply for grants through programs with RurAL Cap or micro food-security grants provided by the Alaska Division of Agriculture. Rader said there is assistance available to purchase items like a freezer, construct a root cellar, or to purchase a snow machine to hunt for elders in a tribal weaves her traditional practice with modern-day food needs like gardening. It's a way for her to honor traditional practices with modern necessities. 'One of the things I love about gardening is that we live in homes now. We are more stationary than ever. Hunter-gathering was when we were nomadic. We would follow the herds. When we would follow, and while we were following the herds was when women would pick the plants. You would literally be walking and that's how they sustainably harvested. Because they weren't picking everything clean, they were just picking a little bit as they walked and they slowly moved across the land from fish camp to winter camp to hunting camp. And because of that, the plants didn't suffer.'Cerridwen shared that gardens don't have to be the conventional plants but they can also be from wild plants found in Alaska. 'Gardening doesn't have to look the way that the Farmer's Almanac set in stone that, 'This is what a garden is; this is what a greenhouse is.' We have a lot of wisdom behind us as a collective people.'That includes being able to transplant native plants, Cerridwen said.'If you know the plants that grow in your area, they will probably love living in your garden or in your yard. And they require a lot less maintenance than most other commercially grown plants. They can reseed themselves because they are still heirlooms. You can create a traditional garden. You don't have to plant any seeds that you buy in a store. It can all be transplanted from another area.'Anyone interested in learning more about the program or to request a workshop can visit their website, which has a full list of workshops offered, educational resources, and other information relevant to promoting food security in a tribe or rural The article referenced incorrect links to a blog and YouTube channel. The correct links have been Frank lives in Fairbanks with family ties to Minto. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Previously she published work with KUAC-FM, Alaska Public Media, and First Alaskans Magazine.
