The number of harbourers and employers of immigration offenders arrested also fell by 28.8 per cent to 277 in 2025, down from 389 in 2024.
Of the 141 harbourers, most either had existing relationships with the offenders or had allowed the offender to stay in their premises for financial gain, ICA said.
The majority of the harbourers also did not check the immigration status of the offenders, or checked it only at the start of the tenancy, but did not ensure that their tenants’ immigration status remained valid throughout the tenancy.
Most of the 136 employers of immigration offenders arrested in 2025 claimed they were in the process of renewing the work pass of the immigration offenders, or had only performed checks to ensure that their employee had a valid work pass at the point of employment, but did not track their employee’s work pass status subsequently.
They also claimed to have overlooked applying for work pass extension or renewal for the immigration offender, or had not checked if their employee had any valid work pass.
