WORK PASSES
Employment Pass (EP)
Get a quick overview of the EP to decide if it’s the right work pass for your company, and book a consultation with our team to find out more.
Who is it for?
Foreign professionals, managers and executives.
- ✅ Have a job offer in Singapore
- ✅ Meet EP qualifying salary requirement
- ✅ Pass COMPASS assessment (unless exempted)
Qualifying Salary
Minimum $5,000.
Fixed monthly salary must be comparable to the top one-third of local PMET salaries. This increases with age, up to $10,500 for those in mid-40s.
Candidates in the financial services sector need higher salaries to qualify.
Duration
- For first-time EP candidates: Up to 2 years
- For renewals: Up to 3 years
Experienced tech professionals with skills in shortage may be eligible for a longer 5-year duration pass.
No Foreign Worker Quota / Levy Required
A key feature of the Employment Pass is that there is no minimum local employees that your company must hire — and your company need not pay any levy for your EP-holders.
Medical Insurance
Optional
Renewable
Yes
Availability of Passes for Eligible Family Members
Yes
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What is COMPASS assessment?
Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) is a points-based system to assess your candidate’s eligibility for the Employment Pass (EP). There are individual attributes and firm-related attributes assessed through COMPASS:
- C1: Salary
Relative to local PMET salary norms for your sector - C2: Qualifications
Based on candidate’s qualifications - C3: Diversity
Whether candidate improves the nationality diversity in your company - C4: Support for local employment
Based on your company’s local PMET share relative to industry peers - C5: Skills bonus (Shortage Occupation List)
For candidates in jobs where skills shortages exist - C6: Strategic Economic Priorities Bonus
For companies that partner with Government on ambitious investment, innovation, internationalisation, or company and workforce transformation activities
Your application needs to earn 40 points to pass COMPASS.
Book a consultation session with our team for a personalised assessment of your candidate’s eligibility and COMPASS points.
What is included in the fixed monthly salary?
Fixed monthly salary = Basic monthly salary + Fixed monthly allowances.
- Basic monthly salary: Payment that does not vary from month to month, regardless of employee or company performance, and regardless of whether the employee takes annual leave or medical leave.
- Fixed monthly allowances: Monthly allowances that do not vary from month to month, such as fixed food and housing allowances.
Fixed monthly salary does not include the following:
- Variable allowances
- Overtime payment, bonus, commission or annual wage supplements
- Fees from sitting on the Board, or stock options or dividends
- In-kind payments
- Any form of reimbursements, including for expenses incurred by an employee in the course of his employment
- Productivity incentive payments
- Contributions payable by the employer to any pension or provident fund, including any contributions made on the employee's behalf
- Gratuity payable on discharge, retrenchment or retirement of the foreign employee
My candidate’s salary is $5,000. Why did my EP get rejected?
$5,000 is the minimum qualifying salary for EP. However, you need to ensure that your candidate’s salary also meets the following criteria:
- Comparable to the top one-third of local PMET salaries
- Matches the EP qualifying salary of your candidate’s age — increases progressively from $5,000 (age 23 or below) to $10,500 (age 45 or above)
For the Financial Services sector, your candidate’s salary must be at least $5,500 (age 23 or below) and increases progressively to $11,500 at (age 45 or above).
Note: From 1 January 2025, the EP qualifying salary for new applications will be revised to at least $5,600, and at least $6,200 for the financial services sector. This revised EP qualifying salary will also apply to the renewal of EPs that are expiring from 1 January 2026.
Book a consultation session with our team if you need help with your EP appeal.
Note: From 1 January 2025, the EP qualifying salary for new applications will be revised to at least $5,600, and at least $6,200 for the financial services sector. This revised EP qualifying salary will also apply to the renewal of EPs that are expiring from 1 January 2026.
Book a consultation session with our team if you need help with your EP appeal.
What companies are considered part of the Financial Services sector, and require higher salaries to qualify for EP?
Financial Services sector include, but are not limited to, firms conducting the following business activities:
- Fund Management Activities
- Holding Companies regulated by MAS, or which have a nexus with MAS-regulated firms
- Insurance Agents and Brokers
- Insurance and Reinsurance Underwriting
- Monetary Intermediation (e.g. Banks, Finance Companies etc.)
- Provident and Pension Funding
- Risk and Damage Evaluation
- Securities and Commodities Exchange
- Security and Commodity Contracts Brokerage
- Trusts, Funds, and similar Financial Entities
- Other Financial Services activities (e.g. Financial Leasing, Credit Granting, Factoring companies, Representative offices of foreign banks, Money-changing services, Remittance services etc.)
- Other activities auxiliary to Financial Service activities (e.g. Trustee, fiduciary and custody services; Corporate finance advisory services; Clearing and settlement of financial instruments; Transaction/Payment processing services etc.)
- Other activities auxiliary to Insurance and Pension Funding (e.g. Representative offices of foreign insurers and professional reinsurers, Captive managers etc.)
What work passes are available for EP family members?
For EP holders to be able to get certain family members to join them in Singapore, they must be earning at least $6,000 per month. These are the types of family members and corresponding work passes they could be eligible for:
- Legally married spouse — Dependant’s Pass
- Common-law spouse — Long-Term Visit Pass
- Unmarried children under 21 years old, including those legally adopted — Dependant’s Pass
- Unmarried handicapped children aged 21 and above — Long-Term Visit Pass
- Unmarried step-children under 21 years old — Long-Term Visit Pass
- Parents (Only for EP holders earning at least $12,000 per month) — Long-Term Visit Pass
Speak to our team to find out how we can help you manage the application for these separate work passes for each family member.
Does my company need to post our job on MyCareersFuture before qualifying for EP?
Yes, your company must post your job advertisement on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 consecutive days to allow job seekers to view and apply for the vacancy. The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates. Please take note that your advertisement must not be discriminatory and must represent the job accurately.
You can be exempted from posting your job opportunity on MyCareersFuture if your company meets any of the following requirements:
You can be exempted from posting your job opportunity on MyCareersFuture if your company meets any of the following requirements:
- Your company has fewer than 10 employees.
- The fixed monthly salary for the vacancy is $22,500 and above.
- The role is short-term, i.e. not more than 1 month.
- The role is to be filled by a local transferee (i.e. an existing employee from the company in Singapore transferring to another related branch, subsidiary, or affiliate in Singapore)
- The role is to be filled by a candidate choosing to apply as an overseas intra-corporate transferee (i.e. a foreign employee transferred to Singapore from your company’s overseas office) that has worked for your company for at least 1 year before being posted to the branch, affiliate or subsidiary in Singapore.
Book a consultation session with our team to find out more about the MyCareersFuture posting requirement.
How long does the EP application take?
EP applications typically take 3-8 weeks.
Speak to our team to find out how we can help you with the end-to-end application process.
Speak to our team to find out how we can help you with the end-to-end application process.
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Find out how our MOM-approved agency can help with your EP application, renewal or appeal
Get help with navigating the complex details and tedious process around the Employment Pass.