I’m An Alien, I’m A Legal Alien

Finally got my Employment Pass, the innocuous little green card that says “Don’t arrest this character, no matter how unsavoury or anti-authoriatarian he may appear, he actually has legal right to work here.” And the best part is–at lest if you’re a snob–it’s an Employment Pass and not a Work Permit!

For those of you who don’t get the distinction, just bear in mind that Singapore–being a former British Colony–is still steep hip deep in class distinctions. They just loves to separates their people by educational or financial classes here, it’s incredibly important to them to that people know their place. So, as far as foreigners go, they fall into two classes; if you do low paying, undesirable, but necessary jobs that are too good for the locals, like cleaning streets, looking after children, constructing buildings, cleaning homes, prostituting yourself for money, etc… then you get a “Worker’s Permit” and are referred to as a Foreign Worker. However, if you do high paying, desireable jobs that the locals covet but can lack the drive, ambition, talent or imagination for, such as working in a high powered multinational corporation, directing for television, cutting throats in advertising, or prostituting yourself for corporate accounts, etc… then you get an “Employment Pass” and are referred to as an Expatriate.

Class distinctions… Gotta’ love ‘em…