Employment Pass

An Employment Pass (EP) is a permit which allows foreign professionals, managers and executives to work in Singapore. Candidates need to earn at least SGD$3,900 a month and to have acceptable qualifications. Employers must also demonstrate that they have fairly considered all job seekers, especially Singaporeans.

Key facts

The EP is for foreign professionals with a job offer in Singapore who meet the eligibility criteria.

An employer or appointed employment agent needs to apply on behalf of the candidate.

The minimum salary must be a fixed monthly salary of at least $3,900. More experienced candidates are required to have higher salaries.

The duration of validity of the pass is as follows:

• First-time candidates: up to 2 years
• Renewals: up to 3 years

The pass is renewable.

Passes for the families of eligible pass holders are available.

No foreign worker levy or quota required.

Employers can choose whether or not to provide medical insurance for EP holders.

Relevant legislation:

• Conditions of Work Pass
• Employment of Foreign Manpower Act

Eligibility

Only eligible candidates will be considered for an Employment Pass. Criteria include a minimum salary of $3,900 and acceptable qualifications. The Employment / S Pass Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) may be used to check a candidate’s eligibility before he/she applies:[1]. If the SAT shows that the candidate is not eligible, he/she should not apply for the EP because the application will be rejected. If the SAT shows that the candidate is eligible, there is approximately a 90% chance that the application will be approved.

Foreign professionals are eligible to apply for an Employment Pass if they:

• Have a job offer in Singapore.
• Work in a managerial, executive or specialised job.
• Earn a fixed monthly salary of at least SGD$3,900 for young graduates from good institutions. Older, more experienced candidates require higher salaries to qualify or be eligible. From 1 May 2020, the minimum qualifying salary was raised from $3,600 to $3,900 for new applications. The salary criteria for older and more experienced candidates was also raised in tandem. The new salary criteria will apply to renewal applications from 1 May 2021.
• Have acceptable qualifications, usually a good university degree, professional qualifications or specialised skills.

Applications for an Employment Pass are open to all nationalities.

Qualifications from unaccredited institutions are not accepted.

To check if an institution is accredited, candidates can use:

• Global verification agencies such as Dataflow or Risk Management Intelligence (RMI).
• International accreditation bodies.
• The awarding country’s educational authorities.

MOM does not have a list of approved institutions. Instead, it evaluates each application on its own merit, based on a wide range of factors such as the candidate’s salary, track record, work experience, skill set and global and countries’ rankings of institutions.

Overseas employers who do not have a registered office in Singapore:

• need to get a Singapore-registered company to act as a local sponsor and apply on their behalf.
• The local sponsor must submit the application.
• The candidate will still need to meet the Employment Pass criteria.

Fair employment practices

To promote fair employment practices and improve labour market transparency, employers making Employment Pass applications must first advertise on MyCareersFuture and fairly consider all candidates.

Fair Consideration Framework (FCF)

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) sets out the requirements for all employers in Singapore to consider candidates fairly for job opportunities. Employers should not discriminate against candidates based on non-job related characteristics such as age, gender, nationality or race.

All employers in Singapore are expected to adhere to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Advertising requirements

The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates.

MOM will reject any EP applications linked to advertisements that are discriminatory or do not represent the job accurately:

The advertisement must not contain discriminatory words or phrases - see examples.

The job advertised must match the occupation in the EP application.

The employer submitting the EP application must be the same as the one in the job advertisement.

The salary offered must be clear, specific, and consistent. Therefore, the salary range advertised:

• must be visible to all candidates and cannot be hidden.
• cannot be too broad, i.e. the maximum salary cannot exceed two times of the minimum salary.
• must contain the salary offered to the EP candidate.
• The advertisement must be open for at least 14 days to allow job seekers to view and apply for the vacancy.
• If employers change any advertisement details (e.g. job title, salary or number of vacancies), they must keep it open for at least another 14 days before they can submit the EP application. This is to ensure that job seekers are aware of the updated job details and have a chance to apply for it.

Edits to job advertisements

Job advertisements that have expired or have closed for more than 3 months cannot be used for EP applications. Employers must advertise the vacancy again to reach out to other job seekers.

Earliest EP application date

If employers are using an advertisement for multiple EP applications, the total number of EP applications cannot exceed the number of vacancies in the advertisement.

Exemptions from advertising requirements

All employers must practise fair hiring even if their job vacancies can be exempted from advertising.

For practical reasons, employers are not required to advertise on MyCareersFuture.sg if any of the following applies:

• Their company has fewer than 10 employees.
• The fixed monthly salary for the vacancy is $20,000 and above.
• The vacancy is to be filled by an intra-corporate transferee as defined by the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services.
• The vacancy is short-term, i.e. not more than 1 month.
• An employer or authorised third party has to apply for a candidate’s Employment Pass.

Passes for family of Employment Pass holders

Employment Pass holders can get certain family members to join them in Singapore if they earn at least SGD$6,000 a month.

The following are the family members they can bring in and the type of pass they need:

• Legally married spouse : Dependant’s Pass
• Unmarried children under 21, including those legally adopted : Dependant’s Pass
• Common-law spouse : Long Term Visit Pass
• Unmarried handicapped children above 21 : Long Term Visit Pass
• Unmarried step-children under 21 : Long Term Visit Pass
• Parents (only for EP holders earning at least $12,000) : Long Term Visit Pass

To apply, the Employment Pass holder's employer needs to submit a separate application for each family member. The application can be submitted together with the Employment Pass application or separately.

See also

• Work Permit
• Employment Pass
• Personalised Employment Pass
• S Pass
• EntrePass
• Dependant's Pass
• Long Term Visit Pass
• Short Term Visit Pass
• Multiple Journey Visa
• Child adoption in Singapore
• Child adoption by same-sex couples in Singapore