Work Visas in Singapore

How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist

Singapore does not issue one general work visa but a tiered set of passes, and the tier a person falls into is decided almost entirely by salary and qualifications. Professionals hold the Employment Pass, mid-skilled workers the quota-limited and levy-bearing S Pass, and lower-wage sectoral workers a Work Permit with substantial restrictions attached. Above them sit narrower routes for very high earners, entrepreneurs and established technology professionals. Every pass is sponsored by an employer and tied to that employer, and the qualifying salary for the professional tiers has been raised repeatedly in recent years.

The tiers, and why the tier matters more than the job title

Singapore sorts foreign workers by pay rather than by occupation. The same nominal job can sit in different tiers depending on the package offered, and the tier decides whether the employer needs a quota slot, whether a levy is payable each month, and whether the worker may bring a family.

The Employment Pass is for professionals, managers, executives and specialists. It carries no firm-level quota and no levy, and it is the only common tier at which family members can normally be sponsored.

The S Pass is for mid-skilled staff. It counts against a percentage cap on the employer's total workforce, a monthly levy is payable, and the qualifying salary has been raised in stages.

The Work Permit covers construction, marine shipyard, process, manufacturing and domestic work. It is quota-bound, levy-bearing, restricted by source country and sector, and carries conditions that the professional tiers do not.

The Employment Pass and COMPASS

Meeting the qualifying salary is necessary but no longer sufficient. Since the Complementarity Assessment Framework was introduced, most Employment Pass applications are also scored across foundational criteria — the salary relative to local benchmarks for the occupation, the applicant's qualifications, the share of professionals in the firm who are local, and the diversity of nationalities in the firm — with bonus points for skills on a published shortage list and for firms supporting national economic priorities.

The practical effect is that an application depends partly on the employer rather than the individual. A firm whose professional workforce is already heavily concentrated in one foreign nationality scores worse, and the same candidate may therefore be approved at one company and refused at another.

The qualifying salary also rises with age, on the reasoning that the pass should not undercut experienced local professionals, and the financial services sector carries a higher bar than the general one.

Narrower routes above and beside the Employment Pass

• Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass. Aimed at very high earners, commonly cited at around SGD 30,000 per month, or at people with outstanding achievement in fields such as research, the arts or sport. It is granted for a longer period than a standard pass, is not tied to a single employer, and permits concurrent roles.
• EntrePass. For founders starting a venture-backed, innovative or intellectual-property-holding company in Singapore. Ordinary trading, food and beverage and similar businesses are generally excluded, and renewal depends on meeting spending and local hiring milestones.
• Tech.Pass. A route for established technology professionals, assessed on past salary, on having held a leadership role in a technology company of significant valuation or user base, or on having led a major technology product. Holders may work, found companies and teach without a single sponsoring employer.
• Personalised Employment Pass. For existing high-earning pass holders and some overseas professionals; it is not tied to an employer but is issued once, for a fixed period, and is not renewable.

Conditions that surprise people

• Passes are sponsored and cancelled by the employer. When employment ends the pass is normally cancelled and a short-term visit period follows, not an open-ended right to remain and search.
• Employers must generally advertise a role on the national jobs portal before applying for an Employment Pass, subject to published exemptions.
• Work Permit holders in several sectors face conditions that do not apply to professionals, including restrictions on marrying a Singapore citizen or permanent resident without approval, and, for some categories, medical and repatriation obligations placed on the employer.
• A pass holder generally may not take on other paid work outside the sponsored job without approval.

Employer cost and quota at a glance

Official sources

• Ministry of Manpower — passes and permits
• COMPASS framework
• Work Permit for migrant workers

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

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