Moving to Singapore

Easy to work in, hard to belong to — the salary bar keeps rising and the passport asks you to give up your own.

Singapore is one of the simplest countries in the world to start working in and one of the hardest to settle in permanently. English is an official working language, the tax rates are among the lowest of any developed economy, and a qualified professional with a job offer can commonly be holding a valid pass within weeks. Almost nothing in the administrative process is opaque or slow.

What is opaque is the second half. Permanent residence is granted at the discretion of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, which publishes no points table, no cut-off and no reasons for refusal. Citizenship goes further still: Singapore does not recognise dual nationality, so a passport here is normally acquired by surrendering the one held before it. Long-term foreigners therefore frequently spend a decade or more on renewable employment passes without ever converting to anything more secure.

Two structural facts shape family decisions more than any visa rule. National Service is compulsory for male citizens and male permanent residents, and it descends to the sons of permanent residents, which means a residence decision taken for career reasons commits a child born years later. And the subsidised housing that makes Singapore affordable for citizens is largely closed to foreigners, so the cost of living a foreign household experiences bears little resemblance to the national averages.

Region	Southeast Asia
Capital	Singapore
Population	about 6 million
Foreign-born residents	roughly 40% of the resident and non-resident population combined
Official language(s)	English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil
Currency	Singapore dollar (SGD)

Why people move to Singapore

• English is a working language of government, business and the courts, so no language exam stands between a professional and a job.
• Personal income tax is low by developed-economy standards and there is commonly no tax on capital gains or on dividends received.
• Employment Pass processing is typically measured in weeks rather than months, and the criteria are published in advance.
• Dependants of higher-earning pass holders can normally accompany the sponsor from the start rather than after a qualifying period.
• Public infrastructure, safety and healthcare quality are consistently ranked among the strongest in the world.
• The city functions as a regional base, with most of Southeast Asia within a few hours' flight.

What to know before you commit

• National Service is compulsory for male citizens and male permanent residents, and it also applies to the sons of permanent residents, including boys who were granted status as children.
• Singapore does not permit dual citizenship, so naturalisation normally requires renouncing the previous nationality.
• Permanent residence is entirely discretionary, with no published score, no stated threshold and no appeal on the merits.
• The Employment Pass qualifying salary has been raised repeatedly and applications are also assessed against the COMPASS points framework, so a package that qualified a few years ago may not now.
• Housing is expensive and the subsidised public flats that most citizens live in are largely closed to foreigners, who rent privately or pay considerably more to buy.
• Employment passes are tied to the employer, so losing a job commonly means a short window to find another sponsor or leave, and a family's dependant passes fall with the main pass.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Ministry of Manpower
• Immigration and Checkpoints Authority
• Singapore Department of Statistics

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.