False Declarations of Addresses for Migrant Workers

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Manpower since the launch of the Foreign Worker Tenant Enquiry Service (FWTES) (a) whether there has been an increase in reports from home owners on false declarations of migrant worker addresses; (b) how often does the Ministry conduct spot checks on addresses listed on FWTES; (c) what is the timeframe for inspections after a new address is registered on FWTES; and (d) how many (i) employers and (ii) employees have been penalised for falsely declaring addresses and what penalties did they face.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) introduced the Foreign Worker Tenant Enquiry Service (FWTES) in December 2018, to allow home owners of private and Housing and Development Board (HDB) residential units to check if their addresses had been used illegally to apply for work passes when the workers are not actually staying there. In all reports surfaced by homeowners on misused addresses, MOM will promptly follow-up and contact employers to investigate the actual residential address of the workers involved. Enforcement action will be taken if we detect any fraudulent declaration. There is usually no need to conduct inspections on the reported misused addresses since the home owners have confirmed that no workers were residing there.

Since the introduction of the FWTES, the total number of complaints involving misused addresses has dropped from an average of 730 per year between 2019 and 2021 to an average of 130 per year between 2022 and 2023. During the same period, an average of around 1,140 migrant workers and 480 employers were issued warnings and an average of 70 employers were fined or prosecuted for false declaration of residential addresses or failure to update migrant workers' addresses each year. In certain cases, MOM also revoked the migrant workers' work passes and imposed an employment ban. Some employers were also debarred from hiring migrant workers.