The Labour Department today announced that the Subsidy Scheme for Employment Agencies will be open for applications from March 17 to April 29.

Introduced under the sixth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, the scheme will grant a $50,000 subsidy for each main licence of employment agencies that provide a foreign domestic helper placement service.

For employment agencies which do not provide such a placement service, a $30,000 subsidy will be granted for each main licence.

An additional subsidy of $10,000 will be granted for each duplicate licence for a branch office of both kinds of employment agencies.

An eligible employment agency must hold a valid licence issued by the department as at January 31.

If the validity period of the employment agency's current licence is less than two months as at the date a subsidy application is submitted, the employment agency must have submitted an application for licence renewal.

If an employment agency has submitted an application for the issue of a new licence as at December 31, 2021, the application had to be still under processing as at January 31.

Employment agencies which were granted a subsidy under the second round of the fund in 2020 and meet the eligibility criteria for the current round are only required to confirm the payment method by submitting the Simplified Application Form.

The department will invite applications from these employment agencies by post or email on March 15.

Other employment agencies will be invited to apply by post or email on March 17 by submitting the Specified Application Form.

Application forms can be downloaded at the department's Employment Agencies Portal online.

Call 2115 2665 for enquiries.