What is a Letter of Consent (LOC)?
A Letter of Consent is for an individual holding a valid pass – Dependant’s Pass (DP), Long-term Visit Pass (LTVP) or Long-term Visit Pass + (LTVP+), and wants to work in Singapore. Their employer or an employment agent needs to apply for LOC on their behalf, and it takes up to 3 weeks for it to be approved.
Who can apply for Letter of Consent (LOC)?
Only the employer who is going to employ a Dependant’s Pass/ LTVP/ LTVP+ holders can apply for the letter of consent to enable the applicant to work in Singapore. To be eligible for the LOC, the applicant must:
- be an existing Dependant’s Pass, LTVP or LTVP+ holder
- the above pass must be valid for at least 3 months
- have already secured a job offer with a Singapore employer
However, it is important to note that not all LOC applications are approved. Each LOC is assessed on a case-per-case basis by the Ministry of Manpower. There are a few factors that may affect the application status:
- Citizenship
- Work experience and qualification
- Age
- Availability of local candidates in Singapore
Some applicants will need to provide additional documents if they are in certain jobs such as healthcare, law, and regional representatives for overseas companies. These documents are usually approval letters from the relevant industry governing body they are from and may take some time to acquire. It will be good for applicants to plan ahead and contact their respective professional body early.
How to apply?
This process can be completed online on EP Online, and applicants can check if their application is successful after one week. They may need to provide more documents as mentioned above.
An appeal can be made if the application is rejected, however, in order to increase the success rate, the issues raised by MOM for rejection have to be addressed first. Usually, it will take 2-3 weeks for MOM to review the appeal.
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