Singapore seeks to attract exceptional global talent who serve as rainmakers and multipliers. These individuals help create good jobs, transfer knowledge, and strengthen Singapore’s position in new and emerging growth areas.
The Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass serves this purpose. Those holding this pass are typically senior leaders and experts who:
- Attract global companies to base key operations in Singapore.
- Bring specialised expertise and international networks.
- Help local teams, firms and startups to expand into new markets.
Having an open and transparent regime for skilled foreign professionals enhances Singapore’s attractiveness as a location for high value-add activities. In turn, this supports better job and career opportunities for Singaporeans.
Employment Pass (EP): The main pathway for skilled foreign professionals
The EP is intended to be the primary route for skilled foreign professionals. Where firms need to hire from overseas, these hires should be high-quality and complement the local workforce. We ensure this in two ways:
- EP holders should be high calibre individuals, with wages equivalent to the top one-third of local Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) in their age group. This ensures that firms are hiring for experience, skills and expertise – not because foreign labour is cheaper.
- EP applicants must pass the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS), a transparent points system which considers:
- The individual’s attributes, such as skills, qualifications and salary.
- The firm’s workforce profile, including its local employment share and foreign workforce diversity.
Firms that hire more locals, and do not have a heavy reliance on foreign workers of any single nationality, will find it easier to hire EP holders.
S Pass: Additional flexibility for skilled foreign professionals
There are cases where firms require skilled foreign professionals whose roles are valuable to the business, but who do not fully meet the EP criteria. The S Pass provides firms additional flexibility to hire foreign workers in such cases, subject to:
- A qualifying salary and levy, collectively benchmarked to the top one-third of local Associate Professionals and Technicians (APT) wages.
- A quota that is linked to total workforce – firms that hire a higher number of locals are allowed to hire more S Pass holders.
This provides flexibility for businesses, while still safeguarding the development of a strong local workforce.
EP and S Pass holders earning at least $6,000 a month can bring in their spouses and children on Dependant’s Passes. Dependants who wish to work while in Singapore can also get a work pass to do so.
All employers in Singapore are also required to adhere to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Before applying for an EP or S Pass, employers must advertise the job on MyCareersFuture and fairly consider all candidates.
Singapore has zero tolerance for discriminatory practices. For example, some employers advertise vacancies only as a formality after pre-selecting a foreign candidate, or post job advertisements with discriminatory criteria. Such practices breach the Tripartite Guidelines, and employers who are found to engage in them will face enforcement action, ranging from warnings to debarment from hiring foreign workers.
Work Permit holders help us to deliver essential infrastructure, goods and services.
With an ageing local workforce, Singapore needs Work Permit holders to take up jobs that we do not have enough Singaporeans to fill. However, given our limited space as a small city-state, we cannot grow our foreign workforce indefinitely. All businesses will need to operate more efficiently over time – adopting technology and re-designing jobs to improve productivity as far as possible.
To manage overall numbers and efficiently allocate workers across firms, we rely on a combination of quotas and levies.
- Quotas set an upper limit on the proportion of Work Permit holders within each firm. Quotas are calibrated across five broad sectors, taking into account the scope for automation and the available local workforce.
- Levies help channel workers towards more productive firms. Lower levies apply to higher-skilled workers, encouraging firms to prioritise quality over quantity.
Source controls also apply at the Work Permit level to manage numbers and safeguard local wage outcomes.
- Workers from Malaysia, North Asian Sources and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) can be hired across all sectors in both labourer and non-labourer roles, as they tend to have higher reservation wages.
- Workers from Non-Traditional Sources can be hired in labourer roles in Construction, Marine shipyard and Process sectors, as these are not jobs that locals typically take up.
- They can also be hired in selected occupations in the Services and Manufacturing sectors under the Non-Traditional Sources (NTS) Occupation List, that face local labour shortages. They should be hired within a sub-quota of 8% and earn at least $2,000, to prevent cheap-sourcing.
Where necessary, Singapore provides targeted and conditional flexibility. This includes: