Johnathan Lee Kui Bao

By Johnathan Lee, Advocate and Solicitor (Singapore). Updated 31 July 2026.

In Singapore, collecting money or any benefit from a foreign worker as the price of getting or keeping a job, including payment for a work permit renewal, is a criminal offence under section 22A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 (EFMA). Each charge carries a fine of up to $30,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. On conviction the court must also order the offender to pay a sum equal to the moneys he received on the charges he is convicted on (section 23A EFMA, orders for payment of proceeds of crime). In November 2024 an operations manager was jailed 24 weeks for collecting $396,440 from 57 workers.

What counts as an employment kickback under section 22A EFMA?

A kickback is any sum or benefit that a foreign employee is made to pay, directly or indirectly, as the price of getting a job, keeping a job, or having a work pass renewed. Section 22A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 prohibits deducting it from salary and demanding or receiving it, directly or indirectly, whether in Singapore or elsewhere.

The money rarely arrives in an envelope labelled “kickback”. Common patterns include:

• a “renewal fee” collected each time a work permit is renewed;
• cash handed back to a supervisor after payday, so the payroll records look clean;
• payments routed through co-workers, foremen or agents back home;
• “deposits” or “guarantees” that are never returned.

Indirect collection is squarely caught. In the November 2024 conviction, the operations manager collected part of the $396,440 through a colleague and three worker supervisors. Since Parliament strengthened the EFMA in 2012, section 22A(3) presumes, until the contrary is proved, that money deducted or received from a foreign worker was taken as consideration for his employment, unless it falls within one of the listed exceptions. In practice, once the flow of money is established, the recipient has to show a lawful basis for it. Those exceptions include a fee that a licensee under the Employment Agencies Act 1958 may lawfully charge and receive, so regulated agency fees are a different category, but a kickback cannot be dressed up as an “agency fee”.

Is it legal to collect money from a worker for his work permit renewal?

No. Work permit costs belong to the employer. Charging a worker for his own renewal, or making renewal conditional on a payment, is precisely the conduct section 22A targets, because the payment is consideration for continued employment. It makes no difference that the worker “agreed” to pay. A work permit holder who wants to stay employed in Singapore is in no position to bargain, and consent is not a defence.

Employers sometimes say the payment covered genuine costs: levy, insurance, dormitory fees, or airfare. Be careful here. Section 22A(3) carves out only defined categories: fees and deductions prescribed as recoverable from the foreign employee under section 25(6)(a) EFMA, deductions authorised under sections 26 to 32 of the Employment Act 1968 (or, where those sections do not apply to the worker, deductions made in accordance with the terms of his employment), and fees a licensee under the Employment Agencies Act 1958 may lawfully charge and receive. Anything outside those categories is presumed to be consideration for employment unless documents show otherwise, and “the worker was paying his share” of a cost the employer is required to bear can itself point to a breach of the work pass conditions.

The safe position for any employer or HR manager is simple: no money or benefit moves from a work pass holder to the company, its directors, managers or supervisors in connection with hiring, retention or renewal. If a supervisor is collecting money on the ground, the company’s officers can face investigation even where the sums never reached the company’s accounts. I cover the wider compliance landscape on my employment law practice page.

What penalties do employers and managers face for kickbacks?

Each charge under section 22A carries a fine of up to $30,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. In the reported MOM cases charges have been framed per worker or per collection, so the numbers multiply quickly: the two convictions below involved 61 and 18 charges respectively. On conviction, the court must also make an order under section 23A EFMA for a sum equal to the moneys received in contravention of section 22A on the charges proceeded with, and that sum is recovered as if it were a fine. MOM has said it “will continue to take firm action against errant individuals and companies, including barring them from applying for or renewing work passes” (MOM, 14 November 2024). Two recent convictions show the range of outcomes:

Case	Conduct	Outcome
Operations manager, conservancy company (MOM, 14 Nov 2024)	$396,440 from 57 workers over 2014 to 2020, $1,500 to $15,500 per worker, partly through intermediaries; pleaded guilty to 20 charges, 41 taken into consideration	24 weeks’ imprisonment
Director and group head, cleaning services company (MOM, 24 Jul 2025)	$112,400 from 18 workers in December 2020, $900 to $7,000 per worker; pleaded guilty to 6 charges, 12 taken into consideration	$90,000 fine plus $42,000 penalty order; $83,050 paid as restitution to the affected workers

The two outcomes above differ markedly in scale and duration: a six-year course of conduct affecting 57 workers attracted imprisonment, while a single month of collections from 18 workers, followed by restitution before sentencing, attracted a fine. Restitution is one of the few mitigating steps entirely within an accused person’s control.

I am under investigation or charged. What should I do?

Get advice before your recorded statement, not after. I used to prosecute employers at MOM; I now defend them, and most of the damage in kickback files is done in the first interview, when a director tries to explain away payments without understanding the statutory presumption. Once money from a worker is established, the burden is effectively on you to show a lawful basis for it.

Practical steps that matter:

1. Preserve every record: payroll, payment vouchers, bank statements, chat messages and remittance slips. Gaps get read against you.
2. Identify what each payment actually was. A genuine, documented loan repayment is not consideration for employment, but you need the paper trail to displace the presumption.
3. Do not contact the workers who complained. Anything that looks like pressure on a witness turns a regulatory problem into something far worse.
4. If the collections happened, take early advice on restitution and on which charges are proceeded with and which are taken into consideration.

Where the company also faces salary or contract disputes with the same workers, those usually run through TADM and the Employment Claims Tribunals separately. I explain that track in my guide to employment disputes, TADM and the ECT.

My boss made me pay to keep my job. What can I do?

If your boss, supervisor or agent makes you pay to keep your job or renew your work permit, that demand is illegal. Call MOM at 6438 5122, the Migrant Workers’ Centre at 6536 2692, or report through MOM’s “Report an infringement” eService at go.gov.sg/reportinfringement. MOM has told Parliament that workers can report kickbacks without fear of reprisal from their employers, and that it will facilitate a change of employment for those who wish to continue working in Singapore.

Can you get your money back? Sometimes, yes, but understand how. On conviction the court must order the offender to pay a sum equal to the moneys he received (section 23A EFMA); that sum is recovered as if it were a fine, so it does not by itself find its way back to you. In practice workers are repaid because offenders make restitution before sentencing to mitigate their punishment, and section 23A(2)(b) allows the court to take a compensation order under section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code into account. In the July 2025 case, the offender paid $83,050 in restitution to the 18 workers. Recovery is not automatic, so keep remittance receipts, bank transfer records, chat messages demanding money, and notes of dates, amounts and who collected the cash.

One caution: do not collect money from other workers on your employer’s behalf, even under pressure. In the November 2024 case, three worker supervisors who helped collect kickbacks were warned and barred from working in Singapore. Being asked to be the middleman is itself a reason to call MOM. Unpaid salary is a separate claim with its own deadlines, which I outline in my TADM and ECT guide, and you can read more about how I work on my main page.

---

Frequently asked questions

Is collecting money from a worker for work permit renewal legal in Singapore?

No. Under section 22A of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990, demanding or receiving money from a foreign employee as a condition of employment, continued employment or work permit renewal is a criminal offence. Each charge carries a fine of up to $30,000, up to 2 years’ imprisonment, or both, even if the worker appeared to agree to pay.

What is the penalty for a kickback offence under the EFMA?

Each section 22A charge carries a maximum fine of $30,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. On conviction the court must also order the offender to pay a sum equal to the moneys he received in contravention of section 22A, under section 23A EFMA. In November 2024 an operations manager received 24 weeks’ imprisonment for collecting $396,440 from 57 workers; in July 2025 a director was fined $90,000 with a $42,000 penalty order.

Can a migrant worker recover kickback money that was paid?

Sometimes, but not automatically. The section 23A order that the court must make on conviction is recovered as if it were a fine, so it does not by itself go back to the worker. Workers are usually repaid because the offender makes restitution before sentencing to mitigate his punishment: in the July 2025 conviction, $83,050 was paid as restitution to the 18 affected workers. Keeping receipts, transfer records and messages improves the chances of getting money back.

Will a worker who reports kickbacks be sent home or punished?

MOM has stated in Parliament that workers can report kickbacks without fear of reprisal from their employers, and that it will facilitate a change of employment for workers who wish to keep working in Singapore. Workers can call MOM at 6438 5122 or the Migrant Workers’ Centre at 6536 2692. Workers who help an employer collect kickbacks from others, however, risk being barred from working in Singapore.

Are salary deductions treated as kickbacks?

They can be. Section 22A expressly covers deducting sums from a foreign employee’s salary as consideration for employment, alongside demanding or receiving payments directly or indirectly. Under section 22A(3), added by the 2012 EFMA amendments, sums deducted or received from a foreign worker outside defined exceptions are presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been taken as consideration for his employment, so an employer must be able to show a lawful, documented basis for any deduction or payment received.

This article is general information, not legal advice. It states Singapore law as at July 2026. Speak to a lawyer about your specific situation.