Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (MOM) - Education Verification Package
The MOM education verification rules have been updated.
Why using Veremark - an accredited MOM verification partner - matters.
In Singapore, it is now mandatory for both employees and employers to provide verification proof during the Employment Pass (EP) application for new joiners if their qualifications are from institutions not listed on the MOM (Ministry of Manpower) site.
This requirement applies to all foreign nationals planning to work in Singapore, as they must obtain a valid Employment Pass (also known as a work visa) before commencing their employment in the country.
From 1st September, workers will be required to pass a two-stage eligibility process:
- Be earning the EP qualifying salary
- Pass the COMPASS: a new points-based Complementarity Assessment Framework
What is the COMPASS framework?
The COMPASS framework is a collection of qualifying criteria that assess the eligibility of each worker applying for an Employment Pass.
Unsure whether your candidate requires accreditation? Check out the COMPASS framework here. If the educational establishment doesn't appear in MOM's dropdown menu, accreditation is required.
The framework is divided into sections and includes:
Foundation criteria
Salary: this should be relative to pay norms in the specific sector
Qualifications: workers should be able to present authentic certificates of educational achievements
Diversity: the business needs to prove that the work will improve the organization’s diversity
Support for local employment: the business needs to prove that they have a fair balance of local and international workers, relative to industry peers.
Bonus criteria
Skills bonus: Does the worker present skills that are in shortage?
Strategic Economic Priorities Bonus: this is work in partnership with the government or international partnerships.
For more information regarding these rules, and any amendments relating to these rules, please visit the MOM site here.
What happens after you place an order?
Once you have provided the contact details for your candidate, we will email the candidate and ask them to visit our secure portal to complete a quick form providing the necessary information to start the checks.
The following details are required:
- Candidate's Full Name
If the candidate’s name on the passport differs from that on their other documents, please also upload an explanation letter and supporting documents (e.g. deed poll) - Awarding Institution Details
• Name
• Address
• Website
• Contact Details - Qualification Attained
- Dates of Attendance (to and from)
- Date of Graduation
- Copies of transcripts and certificate
For non-English documents, you must upload the original document together with an English translation - Copy of passport
Once we receive the results these will be emailed to you immediately, unless during the ordering process you specify that you prefer to download the results from our platform. In that case we will send you login details to access.
Need help purchasing this check? Get in touch!
📞 +65 60188153 (Mon - Fri, 8am - 4pm SGT)
Education verification for work pass applications in Singapore
As seen in The Business Times and Deloitte
Which work pass are you applying for or renewing? ↓
If you’re planning to work or renew your work pass in Singapore, Veremark can help you ensure that the background verification for your work pass application is compliant with the government’s guidelines.
We can help provide education and employment authentication for the following work passes:
(click on a package to buy it now)
Employment Pass (EP)
Specifically for foreign professionals, managers, and executives who earn at least $5,000 monthly.
OnePass
For overseas professionals who aim to earn at least $30,000 per month. It is valid for five years.
Personalised Employment Pass (PEP)
For foreign professionals or EP holders who earn more than $18,000 a month. This pass allows you to change jobs without reapplying for a new visa, and lasts three years.
S-Pass
For skilled workers with fixed monthly salary comparable to top one-third of local Associate Professionals and Technician salaries. The S Pass offers flexibility to employers to hire skilled workers who may not meet the EP criteria, subject to a quota.
Training Employment Pass (TEP)
Allows foreign workers to train for a professional, managerials, executive or specialist job in Singapore. Lasts up to three months.
Get in touch at enquiries-mom@veremark.com or phone:
Mon - Fri, 8am - 4pm SGT
outside SG working hours
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FAQs
This depends on the industry and type of role you are recruiting for. To determine whether you need reference checks, identity checks, bankruptcy checks, civil background checks, credit checks for employment or any of the other background checks we offer, chat to our team of dedicated account managers.
Many industries have compliance-related employment check requirements. And even if your industry doesn’t, remember that your staff have access to assets and data that must be protected. When you employ a new staff member you need to be certain that they have the best interests of your business at heart. Carrying out comprehensive background checking helps mitigate risk and ensures a safer hiring decision.
Again, this depends on the type of checks you need. Simple identity checks can be carried out in as little as a few hours but a worldwide criminal background check for instance might take several weeks. A simple pre-employment check package takes around a week. Our account managers are specialists and can provide detailed information into which checks you need and how long they will take.
All Veremark checks are carried out online and digitally. This eliminates the need to collect, store and manage paper documents and information making the process faster, more efficient and ensures complete safety of candidate data and documents.
In a competitive marketplace, making the right hiring decisions is key to the success of your company. Employment background checks enables you to understand more about your candidates before making crucial decisions which can have either beneficial or catastrophic effects on your business.
Background checks not only provide useful insights into a candidate’s work history, skills and education, but they can also offer richer detail into someone’s personality and character traits. This gives you a huge advantage when considering who to hire. Background checking also ensures that candidates are legally allowed to carry out certain roles, failed criminal and credit checks could prevent them from working with vulnerable people or in a financial function.
FAQs
COMPASS, or the Complementarity Assessment Framework, is a new points-based system for Employment Pass (EP) applications and renewals in Singapore. It was introduced on September 1, 2023, and will apply to all new EP applications from that date. EP renewals will also have to be eligible through the COMPASS framework from September 1, 2024.
COMPASS is designed to assess the complementarity of an EP applicant to the Singapore workforce, and to ensure that employers are hiring high-quality foreign professionals. It is also designed to improve workforce diversity and build a strong local core.
COMPASS consists of six criteria:
- C1 - Salary
- C2 - Qualifications
- C3 - Work experience
- C4 - Occupation
- C5 - Skills bonus
- C6 - Firm-related attributes
EP applicants are awarded points for each criterion, and must score a minimum of 40 points to be eligible for an EP.
Veremark is authorised by the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore to conduct MOM checks.
Our objective is to facilitate the verification of educational qualifications for EP applications using the Veremark platform.
1. MOM Education Verifications via Veremark portal:
Individuals and clients can log-in to the portal here and request MOM Education Verifications.
The process is simple:
- Navigate to your Criteria page
- Create or edit a criteria
- Select ‘Singapore’ as your location of employment
- Toggle on the ‘Academic Achievement’ check
- Select 'Yes' to wanting to order MOM Education Verifications
- And select the MOM Education Verifications you require
Authentication and accreditation checks are available, with authentication pre-selected.
The cost of MOM Education Verifications (70 credits for authenticity and 70 credits for accreditation) is clearly displayed. 1 credit = 1 US$
2. User-Friendly Qualification Entry:
Candidates can easily input the educational qualification details, including the institution's information. The platform supports the entry of multiple educational qualifications.
3. Verification Summary and Status:
After Veremark conducts the screening of these checks, a summary of verification results will reflect MOM's new guidelines.
Different status colors indicate authentication, accreditation, and discrepancies.
4. Comprehensive PDF Reports
One PDF report combines candidate identity, qualifications, and verification summary. Report title includes our company abbreviation, verification date, and unique ID for tracking.
For additional information on MOM, please contact Client Support
How long does an academic check for the MOM visa take?
On average it will take 10 working days (2 weeks) to complete the check but this may vary from school to school, depending on the institution’s response time.
To help expedite the process, please ensure that your candidate has submitted all the required documents required by the school to proceed.
Certain schools may also require an onsite visit, which will take longer to complete.
You are encouraged to start your check at least 2 - 4 weeks ahead of your EP application to avoid any delays.
Veremark is an approved partner by Ministry of Manpower to do verified academic checks. You can purchase your check here: https://www.veremark.com/packages/mom-singapore-education-verification-package
All MOM checks at Veremark are prioritised by our dedicated team who follows up closely with each institution through emails, phone calls and (where needed) physical on-site visits
However, we cannot control the school’s response time, and in some circumstances, the institution may not respond before you are due to submit your EP application.
In such cases, you can follow MOM’s instructions here below:
If the verification is still pending after 14 working days and your awarding institution is found in the application form's drop-down list of accredited institutions, you can submit the work pass application first. You will need to:
- Key in the verification reference number provided by Veremark.
Please note that in the EP application form, you will need to key in the MOM verification reference number starting with “VM”. Otherwise, the application will be rejected by MOM.
- Upload your receipt for the verification services.
- Once the verification outcome is known, you are not required to separately submit the verification proof to MOM, as MOM will directly liaise with Veremark regarding the outcome of the verification. However, if the qualification is found to be not genuine or could not be verified, MOM will revoke the work pass and ask your candidate to leave Singapore.
To retrieve your MOM verification reference number for your candidates, clients may log into your Veremark portal and generate the case 15-digit code (VMXXXX...) by clicking on the Download icon:
Your receipt can be retrieved either from your email or on your Veremark platform. To prove that you've done your part in ordering the check at least 14 days before making your EP application, simply click on the Candidate profile and take a screenshot including the Timeline which shows the timestamp of when your candidate submitted their details to Veremark.
Veremark is an approved partner by the Ministry of Manpower to do verified academic checks. You can purchase your check here: https://www.veremark.com/packages/mom-singapore-education-verification-package
You are encouraged to start your check at least 2 - 4 weeks ahead of your EP application to avoid any delays.
On an average it will take 10 working days (2 weeks) to complete the check but this may vary from school to school, depending on the institution’s response time. Certain schools may also require an onsite visit, which will take longer to complete.
Veremark is an approved partner by the Ministry of Manpower to do verified academic checks.
For clients who intend to submit more than 1 education qualification to MOM for the work pass application.
You may order more than 1 education qualification to be covered in a single MOM verification proof report on the same candidate.
Simply select the correct MOM education package and register your candidate as usual.
Authentication Checks are required to ensure your candidate was indeed awarded the educational qualification from the institution.
If the school is not found on the MOM dropdown list of top tier schools (via the Self-Assessment Tool here), you will need to order an Accreditation Check as well.
Veremark is an approved partner by the Ministry of Manpower to do verified academic checks. You can purchase your check here.
If you are an existing Veremark client and your employee’s report was issued prior to 1 September 2023, it would not have been prepared in accordance with MOM’s latest requirements for COMPASS. However, Veremark can issue an additional report and the MOM verification reference code for you to use as long as the report was within the last 12 months.
In this case, you will need to:
Reach out to our MOM team and inform them you’ll need a MOM code reissued for an existing employee.
Make payment for the difference ( credits), and wait 1 - 3 working days.
If your check was ordered by your employer or agency, please ask them to login to check the latest status on their Veremark portal. If you have ordered a check on yourself, you will also be able to track in the same manner.
1. Log into your Veremark account here: https://app.veremark.com
2. On the homepage, click onto your candidate profile to open the candidate tab.
3. Scroll down to “Timeline”
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