General

The Employment Pass (EP) is a work pass for foreign professionals working in managerial, executive or specialised jobs.

Eligibility

Foreigners who are interested to work, have acceptable qualifications, usually a good university degree, professional qualifications or specialist skills, and has a managerial, executive or specialised job offer in Singapore of at least S$3,300 per month may apply for an EP. More experienced candidates may need to have higher salaries to qualify, in line with their work experience and skills sets.

Note: From 1 January 2017, new EP applicants will have to earn a fixed monthly salary of $3,600 or more, depending on their qualifications and experience.

Duration

First time: Up to 2 years; Renewal: Up to 3 years

Foreign worker levy or quota

Not applicable.

Information for foreign job-seekers

Foreign job-seekers may refer to the Strategic and Skills-in-Demand List which compile jobs expected to be high in demand in Singapore over the next few years.

Note on salaries:

• Young graduates from good institutions can qualify if they earn at least $3,300.
• Older, more experienced candidates need higher salaries to qualify.

Note on acceptable qualifications:

• Ministry of Manpower (MOM) does not have a list of approved institutions. Instead, they evaluate each application on its own merit, based on a wide range of criteria such as global and country rankings, and enrolment standards.
• Candidates without acceptable qualifications may not necessarily be rejected. Similarly, having acceptable qualifications do not guarantee approval.
• MOM also look at other factors such as proven track records and exceptional skill sets on a case-by-case basis.

Self-Assessment Tool

Employers are encouraged to use the online Self-Assessment Tool to check if the applicant meets the requirements. This tool gives you a preliminary indication of whether the applicant qualifies. This assessment does not guarantee the actual outcome of the application as it needs to be subjected to further checks (e.g. immigration and fraud checks).

Note to employers – Fair Consideration Framework

From 1 August 2014, as part of the Fair Consideration Framework, you may be required to advertise your job opening on the Jobs Bank before you can submit your Employment Pass application. The advertisement must be open to Singaporeans, comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices1, and run for at least 14 days. For Employment Pass applications filed from 1 October 2015, the accompanying advertisements must include published salary ranges. Firms that submit EP applications prior to the close of the 14 day advertising period will not be able to proceed with their EP applications. After the advertising period, the firm can hire the most qualified candidate, regardless of nationality.

For practical reasons, these jobs are exempted from the advertising requirement:

• Jobs in firms with 25 or fewer employees; or
• Jobs that pay a fixed monthly salary of S$12,000 and above;
• Jobs to be filled by intra-corporate transferees (ICTs). Under the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (WTO GATS), ICTs would refer to those holding senior positions in the organisation or have an advanced level of expertise; or
• Jobs that are necessary for short-term contingencies (i.e. period of employment in Singapore for not more than one month)

All companies are strongly encouraged to advertise their job vacancies on the Jobs Bank for access to a larger pool of Singaporean candidates, even if those jobs are eligible for advertising exemption. 

Note to overseas employers

If the applicant’s employer is based overseas and does not have a registered office in Singapore, another Singapore registered company can act as the sponsor and submit the application on behalf.

Passes for Family Members

Successful applicants can bring in their families under one of these passes:

A separate application for each family member should be submitted. The application can be submitted together with the Employment Pass application or separately.

VALON can be your resource and business partner in Asia. Should you wish to receive more detailed information on VALON, please do not hesitate to contact us at enquiry@valoncorp.com.

Disclaimer: This publication does not provide financial, legal or tax or advice of any kind, and VALON cannot guarantee that the information is accurate, complete or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information in this publication current, VALON make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained herein. Nothing on this publication should be used as a substitute for the advice of a third party. VALON assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained herein and disclaim all liability in respect to such information. You should not act upon information in this publication without seeking professional advice.