SINGAPORE, May 7 — The promise of a European Union (EU) citizenship and a better life for her 12-year-old son was enough for one domestic worker in Singapore to part with S$2,500 of her life savings to a recruitment agency in Singapore in 2022.
The agency promised to help her get a work permit and an official visa from the Polish embassy. The plan would then be to work as a cleaner at a factory in Poland for five years, apply to be a permanent resident there, then start a new life with her son in central Europe.
That plan never materialised.
Although the agency assured the domestic worker back in 2022 that her work permit would arrive in four to six months, nearly two years have passed without any progress.
She eventually asked for a refund, but was denied. Like other migrant workers interviewed by TODAY, she spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from the agency and her current employers.
She said: “I feel very sad. It’s like you throw S$2,500 into the trash bin.” She is still hoping to find another route to Europe, but said that her main concern now is simply to get her money back.
TODAY spoke to her and three other migrant workers in Singapore who went through a similar experience with the same recruitment agency, Global Recruiters.
TODAY has reached out to Global Recruiters, but its managing director has declined multiple requests for an interview.
Organisations championing migrant worker rights said that they have received several complaints about Global Recruiters and other organisations that offer this same service.
The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (Home) said that they typically receive around 10 complaints from migrant workers each year related to this matter.
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) said that five migrant workers approached them regarding this same issue last year.
“It is appalling to hear of these agencies targeting low-wage migrant workers, where the workers are offered false hope of a better working life only for their savings to be robbed,” Home said.
“Migrant workers are incredibly dependent on intermediaries and thus will continue to be highly vulnerable to questionable business practices.”
Home added that it hopes law enforcement agencies will strengthen transnational cooperation to crack down on “networks that prey on the vulnerable and financially desperate”, and that there will be increased transparency in recruitment regimes for migrant workers.
In response to TODAY’s queries, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that it is looking into two fee-related complaints filed against Global Recruiters in June last year and investigations are ongoing.
The police here have also confirmed that reports against Global Recruiters have been made and that they are investigating.
Ticket to a better life
In April 2019, Global Recruiters created a Facebook page called “Pinoys to Poland” and posted a message stating that it was recruiting English-speaking Filipinos for Polish housekeeping jobs.
The sales pitch to these migrant workers was simple: For a fee of around S$2,000, the company said that it would offer support for the applicant’s work permit, visa application and job placement in Poland.
Once they had worked there for five years, they would be able to apply for permanent residency that, if approved, would allow them to invite their family members over to Poland to live under a family reunification visa.
Permanent residents there would also be able to tap the country’s free education system and apply to be a Polish citizen, among other benefits.
These benefits are accurate, as stated in both Polish and EU regulations. However, whether recruitment agencies are able to help migrants attain them is another matter.
The Facebook group attracted the attention of migrant workers of other nationalities who are working in Singapore.
For John (not his real name), a South Asian worker in his 30s who has worked here since the early 2010s, the appeal of Global Recruiters’ offer was the opportunity to start his life anew as a citizen in another country with his family.
“Singapore is a very good country. Thirteen years I (have) lived here, but even if I stay another 10 years... I cannot progress to (attain an) S-Pass or bring my family over (here),” he said, referring to the S-Pass that is issued by MOM to eligible skilled workers earning a salary of at least S$3,150.
He has paid a total of S$3,500 to the recruitment agency over two years.
He was refused a refund on the grounds that all the money paid had already been spent on his work permit and visa applications.
Based on checks online, the cost of applying for a work permit in Poland for foreigners is 100 zloty (S$34), and the cost of obtaining a long-term Polish visa is about S$120.
TODAY understands that there are at least 20 other migrant workers of various nationalities who have paid for the agency’s services to secure a job in Poland, but they are still on Singapore soil. They have been waiting anywhere between one and more than three years.
The address listed on the “Pinoys to Poland” Facebook page is a unit in Lucky Plaza shopping centre. The unit was shut when TODAY visited the premises on two occasions this week, with the signboard above its entrance indicating that it is a pharmacy.
Lucky Plaza’s store directory listed Global Recruiters in a different unit on the same floor, but that unit was empty of furniture.
Repeated delays and scare tactics
All four migrant workers who spoke to TODAY said that it was common for them to receive assurances from the agency that their work permits or visas were “coming soon”, only for these to be followed by months of radio silence.
In the terms of a “consultancy agreement” that all four migrant workers signed with Global Recruiters that were seen by TODAY, the company indicated that it “cannot be held liable for any WP (work permit) application delays or rejection”.
The agreement also states that “applicants will not be allowed to cancel an application once the application is made”, and that agency fees paid to Global Recruiters will be forfeited if an applicant is “unable to continue”.
John and another migrant worker said that they had held out hope for many months because they knew of one previous applicant who had managed to go to Poland with Global Recruiters’ help.
Now, they have since come to believe that the same is not happening for them.
In the meantime, some applicants received just a work permit from a provincial government in Poland.
Adam (not his real name), a migrant worker of South Asian nationality in his 30s, forked out around S$5,000 in payments to the agency over a year, but received only a work permit that expired before he could even get an interview with the Polish embassy in Singapore for a visa.
He told TODAY that he earns just slightly more than S$1,000 a month and is the sole breadwinner for his wife and two-year-old daughter. He added that his wife had to sell the cattle her family owned in order to pay for the agency’s fees back in 2021.
“I am very sad and depressed,” he said.
The workers interviewed by TODAY said that when they raised complaints with Global Recruiters or spoke about legal action, they had received threats in return.
One was told that their employer would be contacted. In another instance, Global Recruiters filed a complaint at the Small Claims Tribunal against the worker, but then did not send a representative to the hearing, so the case was dismissed.
Migrant workers’ rights group TWC2 said that it offered legal assistance to the second worker.
MOM told TODAY that under the Employment Agencies Act 1958, organisations and individuals who place jobseekers with employers within or outside of Singapore must obtain an employment agency licence to operate in Singapore.
“Jobseekers are reminded that they should not pay fees to their employment agencies until they are successfully emplaced with an employer,” MOM added.
Global Recruiters is listed as a licensed employment agency, as seen on MOM’s online employment agency directory at the time of publication.
Popular Poland
All of this has been happening while Poland is mired in an immigration corruption scandal.
In September last year, Polish media published reports alleging that Polish officials in Warsaw and abroad had fast-tracked work visas for non-EU migrant workers in developing countries in exchange for sums of money up to US$5,000 (S$6,800).
In Eurostat data provided by Rzeczpospolita, a Polish news daily, Poland issued almost two million work visas from 2020 to 2023. These include 600,000 in 2020, more than a quarter of the total in the 27-member EU that year.
Poland’s foreign ministry said in September last year that it would terminate all contracts for outsourcing companies that had handled visa applications since 2011, British news channel BBC reported.
For the migrant workers in Singapore who find themselves stuck in a situation being driven by forces far beyond their control, the only thing that matters now is getting their hard-earned money back.
John said: “If you spend money on something, of course you want (some) benefits, right? If (they) really can’t do anything, then (they should) return back my money.
“This was a very big mistake in my life.” — TODAY
