Singapore Employment Pass - Work Visa for Professionals

Employment Pass (EP) is the main type of Singapore work visa issued to foreign professional employees, managers, and owners/directors of Singapore companies. There is no quota system limiting the number of Employment Passes that can be issued to a company. This guide provides detailed information about eligibility requirements, application procedure, processing timeline, and other relevant details about Singapore Employment Pass. The terms Employment Pass, EP visa, and work visa are used interchangeably in this document.

You can apply for Employment Pass work visa under the following scenarios:

• You are one of the owners/directors of a Singapore company and need to relocate to Singapore to run your company operations. In this case, you will apply for Employment Pass sponsored by your Singapore company.
• You own a Singapore company and are hiring foreign employees. In this case, your company will need to file an EP application for each foreign employee you are hiring.
• You are hired by an employer in Singapore. In this case, your employer will normally take care of filing your EP application.

Note: For entrepreneurs that lack good educational background but otherwise are keen to establish a business and relocate to Singapore, EntrePass Scheme will be a more suitable choice than employment pass. For a side-by-side comparison, refer to EntrePass vs Employment Pass page.

Employment Pass is normally issued for 1-2 years at a time and renewable thereafter. An EP visa enables you to work and live in Singapore and travel in and out of the country freely without applying for Singapore entry visas. Possessing an EP type of work pass also opens the door for Singapore permanent residence in due course.

Singapore Employment Pass Eligibility Requirements

The minimum requirements for an Employment Pass type of work visa consist of the following:

• A fixed salary of more than S$2,500 a month.
• Normally a tertiary level educational from a reputable university along with professional experience is expected. However, your strong professional work experience history and good salary may compensate for lack of good education.

Depending upon your salary, education, and experience, you will be issued one of the following three types of Employment Passes:

• P1 Pass: for applicants with a base salary of above S$7,000 a month.
• P2 Pass: for applicants with a base salary between S$3,500 and S$7,000 a month.
• Q1 Pass: for applicants with a base salary between S$2,500 and S$3,500 a month.

In practical terms, there is not much difference among the above three types of Employment Passes except for the following:

• Although all the above three types of EP work visas allow you to bring your spouse and children under 21 years old, Q1 pass holders are unable to apply for Long-Term Social Visit Pass for their significant others.
• The timing of permanent residence application filing. As a rule of thumb, P1 holders can apply for Singapore PR as early as 6 months after obtaining their EP work permit, whereas, Q1 pass holders should wait at least 2 years.

Employment Pass holders can apply for family visa (called Dependant Pass in Singapore) for their spouse and children under 21 years of age. The Dependent Pass (DP) applications will be approved automatically if the EP application is approved. You can file DP application(s) at the same time or anytime after your EP application is approved. The expiry date of Dependent Pass(es) will be the same as the Employment Pass.

Documents Required for Employment Pass

The following documents are required for submission of Employment Pass visa application in Singapore:

• EP Application Form 8. The application form must be endorsed by the Singapore employing company
• A copy of resume detailing the applicant's work expereince
• Copies of educational certificates and past employment testimonials
• A passport-size photograph taken within the past three months
• A copy of the personal particulars page of the applicant's passport
• Copy of business profile for the Singapore company

Any documents that are not in English must be translated into English by an official translation service.

Update: Since February 2010, authorities have started to scrutinize the applications in more detail are now asking for additional details that include:

• Detailed description of the duties to be performed by the applicant
• Detailed description of activities and/or products of the company
• Tenancy agreement of the place of business operations, if available

Employment Pass Application Procedure and Timeline

Completed applications along with the required documents must be submitted to Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) - the government body that processes EP applications. The application can be filed via post or online. The online application is slightly quicker and consists of the following steps:

1. Obtain authorization to file the application online for the newly incorporated company. Upon filing the request, it takes about 10-15 days for authorities to send the authorization code.  
2. File the application online. Upon filing the online application, authorities take about 10-15 working days to process the application.
3. Upon receiving the in-principle-approval notification, make on appointment to visit MOM office and collect the pass.

Unfortunately, many websites provide inaccurate timeline information. The realty is that end-to-end processing time for an EP application can take anywhere between 3-5 weeks and depends entirely on government authorities.

Approval and Collection of Employment Pass

When your Employment Pass visa application is approved, MOM will mail In-Principle-Approval (IPA) letter to the employing company's address as specified in the completed application form. The letter has a six-month validity and you should collect your employment pass before this time expires. You can either collect the pass by visiting MOM office personally or authorize somebody to do it for you.

In order to issue the EP work pass, MOM requires a copy of the IPA letter, passport, medical exam report, and any other documents that were requested in the approval letter. Typically, you will have to go through a medical test and produce the report when collecting your employment pass. Whether or not you need to go through a medical test will be mentioned in the approval letter (along with the list of tests). You can get the medical tests done in your own country through an established clinic/hospital or you can get it done when you arrive in Singapore. There are number of clinics in Singapore that can give you the medical report on the same day while other clinic may take few days to a week.

If you are overseas and require an entry visa, a onetime entry visa will be issued to you as part of the letter so you can enter Singapore and collect your Employment Pass. If you had applied for Dependant Passes (DP) for your family, you can collect the DPs at the same time when collecting your EP. Passes can be collected from MOM office from Monday to Fridays between 8am and 4pm and on Saturday before 12pm. Same day collection is possible if you submit the documents before 3pm on weekdays and 11am on Saturday. The process usually takes about three hours.

Handling Employment Pass Rejections

The fact is that not all EP work visa applications are approved. MOM takes into account the applicant's qualifications, work experience, and employer credentials when approving or rejecting applications. In case of a rejection, authorities will not provide reason or comment on individual cases. However, you can submit an appeal in which case MOM is likely to provide you with some details on why the EP application was rejected. You are then asked to address the deficiencies as mentioned by MOM and submit additional details as necessary. If the additional details you submitted are satisfactory to MOM, your employment pass application will likely be approved. The processing of an appeal application can take take another 2-4 weeks.

Employment Pass Renewal Procedure

Two months before your EP is due to expire, an Employment Pass Renewal Form will be sent to your employer's address. The renewal application should be completed and submitted to MOM at least four weeks before the pass expires. After your renewal application is approved, your employer will receive an approval letter. You will need to visit MOM office to collect your new Employment Pass.

Other Related Topics

Singapore Immigration | EntrePass | Employment Pass