Singapore

Every route a talented person can realistically use to enter Singapore. Figures are the current minimums; the January 2027 increases are noted in the rows and sourced at the foot of this page.
Route	Who applies	Salary test	Duration	COMPASS?	Permanence
Employment Pass (EP)	The Singapore employer or an appointed employment agent. The candidate has no ability to file.	Stage 1 is a hard floor. S$5,600 a month minimum across all sectors except financial services, rising progressively with age from 23 to S$10,700 at 45 and above. Financial services runs S$6,200 rising to S$11,800. From 1 January 2027 these become S$6,000 to S$11,500, and S$6,600 to S$12,700 in financial services.	First-time candidates up to 2 years. Renewals up to 3 years. Experienced tech professionals with skills in shortage may get 5 years.	Yes. Stage 2. The application must earn 40 points or it fails, however clean stage one was.	None by itself. The EP is a work pass. Permanent residence is a separate, discretionary application to ICA that the pass holder files personally.
ONE Pass (Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass)	The candidate applies directly. It is a personalised pass, not tied to a single employer.	A fixed monthly salary of at least S$30,000 with one employer for the 12 consecutive months immediately before application. A second route runs on outstanding achievements in arts, culture, sports, academia or research, with a S$22,500 fixed monthly salary floor.	Up to 5 years first time, renewable for 5 years each time.	No. ONE Pass sits outside COMPASS entirely.	None in itself, but it is the strongest position in the country from which to apply for permanent residence: no employer holds the pass, so no employer can withdraw it.
S Pass	The employer or an appointed employment agent. Same rule as the EP.	A fixed monthly salary comparable to the top one-third of local associate professional and technician salaries: a S$3,300 minimum, rising progressively with age to S$4,800 in the mid-40s. Financial services requires more. The minimum rises to S$3,600 for new applications from 1 January 2027.	First-time candidates up to 2 years. Renewals up to 3 years. Always capped by passport validity.	No. S Pass is governed by quota and levy instead.	None. The S Pass is the step below the EP, and it is a worse place to be standing when you apply for permanent residence.
EntrePass	The candidate applies directly, but the business has to qualify. Enterprise Singapore evaluates the company alongside MOM.	No stipulated minimum salary. The test is the venture, not the wage: a venture-backed company or one holding innovative technologies.	New pass and first renewal up to 1 year. Subsequent renewals up to 2 years.	No.	None by itself. It is a founder's pass for operating a Singapore company, and it is renewed against the company's progress.

The routes available here

Four passes matter. The Employment Pass is the main route for foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians, and it is the one that carries the two-stage test. The ONE Pass is a different animal entirely: a personalised pass for top talent in business, arts and culture, sports, academia and research, which the individual applies for and which no employer controls. The S Pass sits below the EP for skilled associate professionals and technicians, and is rationed by quota and levy. The EntrePass is for founders, and it is judged on the company rather than on the salary.

MOM states the EP framework in two lines, and both lines matter. Stage 1 is the qualifying salary. Stage 2 is COMPASS, the Complementarity Assessment Framework, and it applies unless the candidate is exempt. The department's own words on the interaction are blunt: candidates who do not meet stage one will not be eligible for an EP, regardless of the points they would have scored under COMPASS. Stage one is not weighted against anything. It is a gate.

The employer files almost everything. An Employment Pass application is made by the Singapore employer or an appointed employment agent through the EP eService, and the candidate has no standing to file one. The same is true of the S Pass: an employer or an appointed employment agent must apply on behalf of the applicant, and if the pass holder changes jobs the new employer has to apply for a new pass. Only two passes in the table break that pattern, and they are the two where the person, not the wage, is the subject of the assessment.

The ONE Pass is the one people underestimate. A first-time ONE Pass runs up to five years, renews for five years at a time, carries no foreign worker levy and no quota, and does not need to be reapplied for when the holder changes jobs. The holder's spouse can apply for a Letter of Consent to work. That combination — five years, no levy, no employer of record, no reapplication — does not exist anywhere else in the Singapore system.

The EntrePass deserves one clarification. It has no minimum salary, which reads as the easy option. It is not. The qualifying test is whether the business is venture-backed or possesses innovative technologies, Enterprise Singapore evaluates the company rather than the person, and the pass is issued in one-year blocks at the start. It is a founder's instrument, not a work-around.

What is structurally different about this country

Singapore is the only major destination in this set where the first question is arithmetic rather than evidentiary. The salary floor is published, exact, and indexed to your age. There is no letter you can write, no achievement you can document, and no endorsement you can obtain that gets you past it. Everything the rest of the page discusses only becomes relevant after that number is cleared.

The second difference is that the assessment does not stop at you. COMPASS scores the firm as well as the candidate, which means a strong individual can fail on a weak employer and a mediocre individual can pass on a strong one. That is deliberate, and it is the opposite of how the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom assess talent. Those systems ask what you have done. Singapore asks what hiring you does to the local workforce.

Stage one: the salary floor moves with your age.

For all sectors except financial services, an EP candidate needs at least S$5,600 a month, and the minimum increases progressively with age from age 23 up to S$10,700 at age 45 and above. Financial services runs higher: S$6,200 rising to S$11,800. These apply to new applications and renewals. They also move on a published date: from 1 January 2027 new applications face S$6,000 rising to S$11,500, and S$6,600 rising to S$12,700 in financial services, with renewals phased from 1 January 2028. A 45-year-old in financial services is therefore being assessed against roughly twice the floor that applies to a 23-year-old graduate, for the same pass.

Stage two: COMPASS, 40 points, five criteria.

An EP application needs 40 points to pass COMPASS. The criteria divide into individual attributes and firm-related ones. C1 Salary benchmarks the candidate's pay against local salary benchmarks by sector: at or above the 90th percentile earns 20 points, the 65th to below the 90th earns 10, and below the 65th earns nothing. C2 Qualifications scores the degree: a degree-equivalent qualification from a top-100 QS university or a highly reputed Asian university scores at the top band, other degree-equivalent qualifications score less, and qualifications that are not assessed as degree-equivalent score nothing at all. C3 Diversity and C4 Support for Local Employment are the firm-related criteria — the nationality share and the local PMET share within the employer's own workforce, measured against the sector. C5 is a skills bonus for jobs on the Shortage Occupation List.

Candidates can be exempted from COMPASS entirely.

A candidate is exempted if they meet any of three conditions: a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500, mirroring the Fair Consideration Framework job advertising exemption from 1 September 2023; applying as an overseas intra-corporate transferee; or filling the role for one month or less. The S$22,500 exemption is the reason the top of the Singapore market is simpler than the middle of it. Pay enough and the scoring framework stops applying to you, even though the stage one floor still does.

The ONE Pass replaces all of that with one number and no employer.

The ONE Pass asks for a fixed monthly salary of at least S$30,000, earned from one employer across the 12 consecutive months immediately before application, or outstanding achievements in certain sectors on a S$22,500 floor. MOM's own worked examples make the single-employer rule explicit: S$20,000 from one company plus S$10,000 from another is not a qualifying S$30,000. What it buys is independence. There is no need to reapply for a pass if you change jobs, no levy, no quota, and a five-year runway each time.

Who this country suits

It suits senior professionals whose compensation is already well above the local median for their field. The stage one floor is forgiving at the entry level and demanding later, but the S$22,500 exemption removes COMPASS from the picture entirely, and the ONE Pass at S$30,000 removes the employer from the picture as well. If you are being hired into a regional hub role at a number in that range, Singapore is close to frictionless: five years at a time, family eligible, and no reapplication when the role changes.

It suits people who want a working visa now rather than a permanent case in five years. EP first-time durations are short — up to two years — but renewals run to three years, and time in Singapore on a work pass is time spent building the residency history, tax record and family ties that ICA actually weighs. Nothing in the Singapore system rewards a beautifully argued file. Everything in it rewards being present and employed.

It suits founders who qualify for the EntrePass. A venture-backed company or one holding innovative technologies is eligible with no salary test at all, and the candidate applies directly. That is a genuine opening for a technical founder who has raised or holds defensible IP.

It suits people who want the spouse working. The ONE Pass holder's spouse can apply for a Letter of Consent to work, and the ONE Pass is not attached to a single employer, so the household's income is not hostage to one company's hiring decisions.

Who it does not suit

It does not suit anyone under about S$5,600 a month who is not a founder and does not qualify for a shortage occupation. Below that line the EP is unavailable regardless of how strong the record is, and the alternative is the S Pass, which carries quota and levy, sits below the EP in every permanent residence assessment, and rises only to S$4,800 even in the mid-40s. There is no points-based immigration scheme in Singapore and no draw to enter, so there is nothing else to be scored against. The gate is the gate.

It does not suit people whose strength is a portfolio rather than a payslip. The US system lets a self-petitioning applicant argue a record. Singapore's entry routes are employer-filed and salary-indexed, and no amount of independent achievement substitutes for the wage figure. The ONE Pass is the only exception, and it sets the bar at S$30,000 a month.

It does not suit small or newly formed employers. C3 and C4 score the employer's own workforce profile — nationality diversity and local PMET share measured against the sector — so a firm with a thin local core and a heavy concentration of one foreign nationality hands its candidate a weak score before the candidate's own qualifications are read. A strong applicant joining a twenty-person startup can genuinely fail COMPASS on the firm's attributes.

It does not suit anyone who needs permanent residence on a schedule. PR is granted by ICA on discretion, not on points. ICA weighs family ties to Singaporeans, economic contributions, qualifications, age, family profile and length of residency, and processes applications within six months where the documents are in order. There is no score to compute and no projection to make. Anyone selling you a points estimate for Singapore permanent residence is describing a different country.

How it compares to the alternatives

Against a points-tested system such as Canada or Australia, Singapore splits the difference in a way that catches people out. There is no overall score to optimise but there is a hard number to clear, and the number is a wage rather than a composite of age, language and experience. You cannot compensate for a weak salary with a better degree or more years, because the salary test is a gate and the degree is only worth points after the gate. And the points, once you reach them, assess your employer as much as you.

Against the United States, the direction of control is reversed. A US EB-1A or EB-2 NIW applicant can file without an employer, argue their own record, and time the filing. Singapore offers the applicant almost no procedural control at all. The employer files the EP, the employer's workforce profile supplies two of the five COMPASS criteria, and the employer's decision to renew or cancel determines how long the person stays. The ONE Pass is the only route that reverses that, and it costs S$30,000 a month for twelve months to reach.

Against the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, the difference is what happens at the top. Those systems reward seniority with a faster, cheaper version of the same visa. Singapore rewards it with a structurally different pass: no levy, no quota, no employer of record, five-year blocks, and a spouse who can work. The ONE Pass is better than an EP by a wider margin than any analogous upgrade in Europe.

The honest comparison is EP against ONE Pass. Both put you in Singapore. One is two years, employer-filed, scored on five criteria, and one company's to cancel. The other is five years, self-applied, unscored, and yours. The gap between them is entirely about money, and MOM has made no attempt to pretend otherwise.

Practical realities

Processing and renewal are administrative and fast. MOM publishes guidance that takes an EP from submission to decision in weeks, not months, and the Self-Assessment Tool lets an employer check the qualifying salary and the likely COMPASS outcome before a single document is filed. The Workforce Insights tool on myMOM Portal shows an organisation its own workforce profile and the industry benchmarks behind its C3 and C4 scores. This is unusually transparent by the standards of any immigration system: the employer can find out roughly what the answer will be before applying.

Dependants follow the pass and depend on the pass. An EP or S Pass holder's eligible family members come in on Dependant's Passes, whose validity is tied to the principal's pass. A ONE Pass holder's family comes on Dependant's Passes or Long-Term Visit Passes under that pass, and a spouse can apply for a Letter of Consent to take up work. Because these passes are tied to the principal's status, cancellation of the principal's work pass takes the household with it.

Permanent residence is a separate application to ICA, filed by the individual once they hold a qualifying status, and it is genuinely discretionary. ICA assesses the applicant's ability to contribute to Singapore and integrate into the society, and the factors it names are family ties to Singaporeans, economic contributions, qualifications, age, family profile and length of residency. Applications are processed within six months where documents are complete, certified and translated. Successful applicants receive an In-Principle Approval and are granted PR once the conditions are met.

One consequence of permanent residence is worth stating before anyone plans around it. Under the Enlistment Act 1970, all male Singapore citizens and permanent residents are liable for National Service unless exempted, and all male applicants granted PR as a foreign student or under a parent's sponsorship must register at 16 and a half. Renouncing or losing PR without serving or completing full-time NS has a serious adverse impact on future applications to work or study in Singapore. For families with sons, this is a decision about the child, not about the parent's career.

The last reality is the shape of the market itself. Singapore prices entry by salary and prices permanence by contribution, and it publishes both. Nothing here is ambiguous, and nothing here is appealable on the strength of a record. The country tells you the number, tells you who has to file, and holds you to both.

Questions this raises

What is the minimum salary for a Singapore Employment Pass?

S$5,600 a month across all sectors except financial services, where the minimum is S$6,200. The floor rises progressively with age from 23, reaching S$10,700 at age 45 and above, or S$11,800 in financial services. From 1 January 2027 the minimums rise to S$6,000 and S$6,600.

What is COMPASS and how many points do you need?

COMPASS is MOM's Complementarity Assessment Framework, the second stage of the Employment Pass test. An application must earn 40 points across five criteria: salary against sector benchmarks, qualifications, diversity, support for local employment, and a skills bonus for jobs on the Shortage Occupation List. Failing stage one ends the application regardless of the score.

Can I apply for a Singapore work pass myself?

Not for an Employment Pass or an S Pass. An employer or an appointed employment agent must apply on your behalf, and a new employer must file a new pass if you change jobs. The ONE Pass and the EntrePass are the two exceptions: the candidate applies directly, and the ONE Pass is not tied to a single employer.

Who is exempt from COMPASS?

A candidate is exempt if they meet any of three conditions: a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500, mirroring the Fair Consideration Framework advertising exemption from 1 September 2023; applying as an overseas intra-corporate transferee; or filling the role for one month or less. The stage one salary floor still applies in every case.

What is the ONE Pass and who qualifies for it?

The Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass is a personalised pass for top talent in business, arts and culture, sports, academia, research, and AI and tech. Qualify by earning a fixed monthly salary of at least S$30,000 with one employer for the 12 consecutive months before applying, or through outstanding achievements in certain sectors.

How long does a Singapore Employment Pass last?

Up to 2 years for first-time candidates and up to 3 years on renewal. Experienced tech professionals with skills in shortage may be eligible for a 5-year pass. A ONE Pass runs up to 5 years first time and renews for 5 years each time, with no levy or quota and no need to reapply when changing jobs.

Does Singapore have a points-based immigration scheme or a self-petitioned route?

No. There is no points test for entry and no draw, and the employer files the pass rather than the individual. COMPASS scores an application, but only after the employer has filed and only after the hard salary floor is cleared. Permanent residence is a separate discretionary application to ICA with no published score.

How long does Singapore permanent residence take?

ICA processes applications within 6 months where all required documents are submitted and in order, and some take longer. ICA weighs family ties to Singaporeans, economic contributions, qualifications, age, family profile and length of residency. Successful applicants receive an In-Principle Approval and become permanent residents once conditions are met.