Starting Work in NTU and immigration matters
Payments
Terms of appointment
General
Q: When can I assume duty?
A: Singaporeans & Singapore Permanent Residents
You can assume duty when you have cleared your medical examination.
Foreigners
You can assume duty when you have cleared your medical examination and obtained the approval of your Employment Pass.
Q: Can I bring my family with me to Singapore? If yes, how do I do that?
A: You may bring your spouse and children with you subject to the approval of your Dependent’s Pass(es). To apply for the Dependent’s Pass, you can download the application form for Dependent’s Pass (FORM 12) from the Ministry of Manpower’s website at http://www.mom.gov.sg. , complete it and submit it together with all the supporting documents to the Office of Human Resources.
Q: Do I need to fill in Part IV of the Employment Pass (EP) application form (FORM 8)?
A: No. Part IV relates to information on the University and will be completed by the Office of Human Resources. You will fill up the rest of the EP form (except Part IV) and submit the completed form to the Office of Human Resources to complete/certify before forwarding it to the Ministry of Manpower for processing.
Q: How long does it take for my EP to be approved?
A: The application for an EP generally takes approximately 4 weeks. This is on the condition that the EP form is properly filled and submitted with all the necessary supporting documents.
Q: Will I be provided with University accommodation?
A. The University has some housing units which new expatriate research staff may apply for one-month temporary accommodation. The Office of Estate & Amenities will allocate the type of bedrooms in the temporary housing units, depending on availability. The rental is modest, currently ranging from S$15 to S$20 a day for the room.
To apply for the temporary accommodation, you will need to provide Office of Human Resources the date/time of arrival in order for them to check on the availability of units.
This one-month grace period is for the research staff to look for alternative housing, such as that under the JTC Corporation’s SCHEME FOR HOUSING OF FOREIGN TALENT (ShiFT). You can visit the ShiFT web site at http://www.jtc.gov.sg
The University will provide you the certification letter to support your application for ShiFT housing. You will deal directly with JTC on the actual selection of the flat from JTC.
Q: What are my official working hours?
A: Research staff are on a 5 -day work scheme. The working hours are as follows:
Monday to : 8.30 a.m. to 5.45 p.m.
Thursday
Friday : 8.30 a.m. to 5.15 p.m.
Lunch : 1.00 p.m. to 1.45 p.m.
The Deans may have the discretion to decide whether a staff member is required to report for duty earlier or later depending on the needs.
Due to exigencies of service, when a staff member’s services are required on a Saturday, which is a non-working day for staff on the 5-day workweek, the staff member should not refuse to report for duty.
If a public holiday falls on a staff member’s scheduled non-working day (which is a Saturday for staff who work from Monday to Friday, or any other designated day based on the staff’s work roster), the staff may claim and utilise a day off in lieu within a month of the public holiday.
Q. Can you let me know what childcare/school arrangements I can make for my children?
A. The University has a child care centre on campus for staff members' children who are between 3 and 6 years old (i.e. for children attending the Nursery 2 to Kindergarten 2 level). The centre, currently operated by The Children Learning Centre Pte Ltd, provides full day care at a reasonable fee. For enquiries regarding registration/admissions, you can speak with the child care centre principal at 6792 2194
You may also wish to check the CONTACT SINGAPORE website (http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/moving_schooling.shtml) for information on Education
Q: When can I receive my salary?
A: The monthly salary is paid for work performed in the month and should contractually be paid at the end of the month. However, the University has arranged for the payment for all staff to be credited into their bank account on the 15th of each month. You may view your salary advice slip showing full details electronically through the Pay Advice System in the StaffLink under the Office of Finance.
The salary that you earned is taxable. For further details on tax rates, you may wish to check the website of the tax authorities (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) at http://www.iras.gov.sg.
Q Do I have to pay Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions?
A. Only Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Residence need to make CPF contributions. For details on the CPF contributions, please refer to the CPF website: http://www.cpf.gov.sg/cpf_info/home.asp.
Q. When will I receive the payment for the settling-in allowance?
A. Settling-in allowance of $1,000 is payable to Research Fellow and Research Associate if they are recruited from abroad. The settling-in allowance is paid within the first two weeks of the staff member’s arrival.
Q. When will I receive the reimbursement for Pre-Employment Medical Examination?
A. The University will reimburse the expenses incurred for your pre-employment medical examination upon production of the original receipts(s). Please extend the receipt(s) to Office of Human Resources, which will in turn submit them to the Office of Finance for payment.
Q. Will I be reimbursed the airfares to take up the appointment in the University?
A. Research staff is not provided with passage assistance. Hence, there is no provision for reimbursement of the air ticket.
Q: When will I be eligible for a salary review?
A. Research staff are eligible for a salary review on the anniversary date of appointment, which is dependant on the work performance and availability of funding.
Q. Can I carry forward my unconsumed leave to the new contract of appointment?
A. It is not the University's practice for research staff to carry forward the unutilized leave to the new contract. However, if the School views that there are very strong reasons that merit special consideration, the Dean will submit the justifications to carry forward the unutilized leave (up to one-year eligibility of 21 days) to Office of Human Resources for consideration.
Q. Can I apply for no pay leave?
A. The University may, subject to exigencies of service, consider granting no-pay leave to research staff under special circumstances upon the exhaustion of the holiday leave. Each application is considered on its own merits and subject to exigencies of service. Staff should not proceed on no pay leave unless the application has been approved.
Staff who have granted no pay leave should note the following:
- no pay leave will not be deemed as service qualifying for holiday leave;
- payment of performance bonus, if any to the staff will be accordingly prorated;
- the review date for adjustment of salary, if any, (which is normally effected after every one year of service) will be shifted accordingly if the period of no pay leave is one month or more.
- staff should not undertake any employment, paid or otherwise, during the period of no pay leave;
- staff will not be eligible for medical benefits if the period of no pay leave is 1 month or more .
Any intervening scheduled rest day and/or public holiday/scheduled off day on Saturday that occurs during the period of no-pay leave will be counted as leave. No-pay leave taken on a Saturday is deemed as one day's leave.
To apply for no-pay leave, the staff member should write to Vice President (Human Resources) through his Dean and Head of Division, giving the reasons for the application, at least three months before the commencing date of the proposed leave or as soon as possible.
Q: Am I eligible for marriage leave?
A: You will be granted full-pay unrecorded leave for 3 calendar days on the occasion of his first registered marriage, subject to the production of the marriage certificate.
To be eligible for the grant of such leave, you must have completed at least 3 months' service at the time of taking the leave. The leave may be taken within one year from the date of solemnisation of your marriage.
A copy of the marriage leave application form can be obtained from the Office of Human Resources Forms web-site or the MS Exchange Public Folder under Staff Forms & Procedures.
Q: Am I eligible for compassionate leave?
A: You will be granted compassionate leave of up to 3 working days on the bereavement of an immediate family member.
The compassionate leave may be taken any time either consecutively or otherwise between the date of death of his family member and the date of funeral. Any intervening Sunday and Public Holiday which fall during the period of compassionate leave will not be counted as leave.
For the purpose of this provision, an immediate family member refers to a staff member’s spouse or child, parents, parents-in-law and grandparents.
A copy of the compassionate leave application can be obtained from the Office of Human Resources Forms web-site or the MS Exchange Public Folder under Staff Forms & Procedures.
Q: What should I do if I want to attend a conference?
Local conference
You need to discuss with your Principal Investigator (PI) about your interest in attending the conference. The PI will assess the relevance and usefulness of the conference to the research staff’s project and subject to availability of research fund, make his recommendation to the Head of Division/Dean whether or not the conference attendance is supported or not.
Overseas conference
Similarly, you will need to discuss with your PI regarding your request and if the request is supported, you will need to submit an on-line application through the Overseas Conference Application (Academic and Research) system, together with the supporting documents. When approved, the system will generate an email to inform you of the decision of your applications.
Q: How do I apply for Singapore Permanent Residence?
A. You may do so after having served 6 months of service with the University. The form can be downloaded from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority at http://www.ica.gov.sg/downloads/serv_pr/Form4A.pdf. The completed form is to be sent to the Office of Human Resources, which will send the application to ICA on your behalf. The processing time for ICA is approximately 3 months.