Only eligible candidates will be considered for an Employment Pass. Criteria include a minimum salary of $4,500 and acceptable qualifications. Use the Self-Assessment Tool to check a candidate’s eligibility before you apply.
Who is eligible
The Employment Pass is for foreign professionals who:
- Have a job offer in Singapore.
- Work in a managerial, executive or specialised job.
- Earn a fixed monthly salary of at least $4,500 (older, more experienced candidates need higher salaries).
- Have acceptable qualifications, usually a good university degree, professional qualifications or specialised skills.
Application for an Employment Pass is open to all nationalities.
Use the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) to check if the candidate qualifies for the pass.
Salaries for younger or older candidates
Young graduates from good institutions can qualify if they earn at least $4,500.
Older, more experienced candidates need higher salaries to qualify.
From 1 September 2020, the minimum qualifying salary will be raised to $4,500 for new applications. From 1 December 2020, the minimum qualifying salary for EP candidates in the financial services sector will be raised to $5,000 for new applications. The qualifying salaries for older and more experienced candidates in their 40s will be raised correspondingly and will remain around double the minimum qualifying salary for the youngest applicants. The new salary criteria will apply to renewal applications from 1 May 2021.
You can read our
press release for more information.
Acceptable qualifications
We do not accept qualifications from unaccredited institutions.
To check if an institution is accredited, you can use:
We don’t have a list of approved institutions. Instead, we evaluate each application on its own merit, based on a wide range of factors such as the candidate’s salary, track records, work experience, skill sets and global and countries’ rankings of institutions.
We encourage you to use the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) to get an indication of whether a candidate meets the Employment Pass requirements. Candidates can also use the tool to assess their eligibility.
If the SAT shows that the candidate is not eligible, you shouldn't apply for the Employment Pass because it will be rejected.
If the SAT shows that the candidate is eligible, there is around a 90% chance that the candidate will get a pass.
Who can apply
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. Find out more about the advertising requirements.
An employer or authorised third party has to apply for a candidate’s Employment Pass.
If you are an overseas employer that does not have a registered office in Singapore:
- You need to get a Singapore-registered company to act as a local sponsor and apply on your behalf.
- The local sponsor must submit the application.
The candidate will still need to meet the Employment Pass criteria.