QR code card helps verify employment status in Singapore

qr code stamp card

The country’s work pass cards are being issued in phases with quick response codes, starting September 15.

Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently announced the launch of new a QR code card to check a worker’s employment status. The goal is to make the cards easier to verify without having to use special or expensive technologies.

The cards will have scannable quick response codes printed right on them, which work with the SGWorkPass app.

The SGWorkPass application is used to check the status of a work pass itself as well as to obtain more specific types of information such as the individual’s occupation. The QR code card makes this information much faster and easier to obtain, with notably higher reliability into the veracity of what is reported.

“Many service providers, premise owners or other stakeholders rely on the date of expiry printed on the card as proof of status before entering into a contract with the pass holder or allowing entry into a premise,” said MOM.

The new QR code card can also help to avoid the use of cards after their details have changed.

qr code cardThe current work cards have a major flaw in that the situation they represent can change before they actually expire. For instance, “the date of expiry printed on the work pass card may not reflect the most up-to-date status,” said MOM. The ministry cited the example of a foreign worker whose employment terminates before the expiry date of the pass.

There will no longer be an expiry date printed on the work cards. Instead, the QR code will simply provide the latest information regardless of its beginning or end.

These new cards with QR codes will start being issued on September 15. They will be issued to workers within the construction and marine shipyard sectors. The next phase will begin on January 2018, when the cards will be issued to permit holders in other sectors. That will include workers within the domestic sector.

Even as the new QR code card is issued, the existing work passes will continue to be valid until they are renewed or until their printed expiry dates.

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