In short
- The Employment Pass salary starts at S$5,600 a month at 23, S$6,991 at 29 and S$10,700 from 45. New applications from 1 January 2027 start at S$6,000.
- COMPASS asks for 40 points. A company with fewer than 25 professionals scores 20 of them by default, so the founder's salary and degree decide the rest.
- The EntrePass has no minimum salary: you hold 30% and meet one of five criteria, such as S$100,000 raised in one round.
- An Employment Pass holder is on ACRA's list of local residents and can take the seat of the nominee resident director.
In this guide
Employment Pass, EntrePass or ONE Pass: three work passes for a founder
A founder who stays abroad runs a Singapore company without a pass, with a nominee resident director on the board. A founder who moves to Singapore to run it needs a work pass, as ACRA's rules for foreigners say. Three passes fit, and the choice turns on the salary you pay yourself and the money behind the business. We register the company through company formation in Singapore and prepare the pass with our Singapore partner.
| Point | Employment Pass | EntrePass | ONE Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | A founder paid a salary by their own company | A founder with 30% of a venture-backed or technology company | A founder who has earned S$30,000 a month |
| Salary | S$5,600 a month at 23 to S$10,700 at 45 | No minimum | S$30,000 a month for the last 12 months, or offered |
| Test | 40 COMPASS points below S$22,500 a month | One of five criteria | Exempt from COMPASS |
| Who applies | Your company as the employer, or its agent | You, directly | You, an employer or an agent |
| Family | Dependant's Pass from a salary of S$6,000 | MOM's separate EntrePass rules | Family passes; a spouse may work on a Letter of Consent |
| Resident director | On ACRA's list | Not on ACRA's list | On ACRA's list |
Employment Pass salary by age: 2026 and from 1 January 2027
The Employment Pass is an employee's pass, so your own company applies as the employer, or through an employment agent it appoints. You need not be in Singapore. The company pays S$105 online, and MOM decides or gives an update within 10 business days.
Stage 1 is the salary. MOM sets a minimum fixed monthly salary by age, pegged to the top third of local professionals, and refuses a founder below it whatever the points. Outside financial services:
| Age | New applications in 2026 | New applications from 1 January 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| 23 or below | S$5,600 | S$6,000 |
| 25 | S$6,064 | S$6,500 |
| 29 | S$6,991 | S$7,500 |
| 30 | S$7,223 | S$7,750 |
| 35 | S$8,382 | S$9,000 |
| 40 | S$9,541 | S$10,250 |
| 45 or above | S$10,700 | S$11,500 |
Financial services start at S$6,200 and reach S$11,800 at 45, and S$6,600 and S$12,700 from 1 January 2027. The 2027 figures also bind renewals of passes expiring from 1 January 2028.
After approval MOM sends an in-principle approval letter. Within 6 months of it you come to Singapore, and the company pays S$225 to have the pass issued.
COMPASS framework for a founder: 40 points, and 20 come by default
Stage 2 is COMPASS, the Complementarity Assessment Framework: 40 points from four criteria and two bonuses. A company with fewer than 25 professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) scores 10 on each of the two workforce criteria, so a new company starts with 20.
| Criterion | What earns points | Points |
|---|---|---|
| C1 Salary | Your salary against local PMETs of your sector and age: 90th percentile, or 65th | 20, 10 or 0 |
| C2 Qualifications | A degree from a QS top 100 or Singapore autonomous university, or another degree | 20, 10 or 0 |
| C3 Diversity | Under 25 PMETs: by default | 10 |
| C4 Support for local employment | Under 25 PMETs: by default | 10 |
| C5 Skills bonus | A job on the Shortage Occupation List | 20 or 10 |
| C6 Strategic Economic Priorities bonus | A programme with an economic agency or the NTUC | 10 |
A salary of S$22,500 a month or more is exempt. MOM updates the C1 benchmarks yearly: the August 2025 table applies in 2026, the August 2026 table from 1 January 2027. Before we file, we score the application with MOM's Self-Assessment Tool, as MOM asks.
Worked example: COMPASS for a founder aged 29 on S$7,000 a month
Two founders aged 29 each set up a software company in 2026, with no other staff, and pay themselves S$7,000 a month. One holds a degree from a top 100 university, the other from another university. In information and communications MOM's 2025 table puts the 65th percentile at 29 at S$8,681.
| Step | Founder with a top 100 degree | Founder with another degree |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1: S$7,000 against S$6,991 at age 29 | Passes | Passes |
| C1: S$7,000 against S$8,681 | 0 | 0 |
| C2: qualifications | 20 | 10 |
| C3 and C4: under 25 PMETs | 20 | 20 |
| Total | 40: passes | 30: fails |
The points add up as C1 + C2 + C3 + C4 + bonuses, and the application passes at 40 once the salary clears Stage 1. The second founder reaches 40 with a salary of S$8,681, which earns 10 points on C1.
From 1 January 2027 Stage 1 at 29 rises to S$7,500, so S$7,000 fails before any points, and the C1 line rises to S$8,913. The first founder then applies at S$7,500 or more, the second at S$8,913 or more.
What an EntrePass is: 30% of the shares and one of five criteria
The EntrePass is MOM's pass for a founder of a venture-backed or technology business in Singapore. You apply directly, with no minimum salary, for a private limited company registered with ACRA in which you hold 30% or more. ACRA advises applying before incorporation or within six months of it; a company older than 12 months is judged by the renewal criteria.
The business also meets at least one of five criteria:
- Funding: S$100,000 or more raised in one round, for this or an earlier business, from investors such as SEEDS Capital or a renowned venture fund or business angel.
- Incubator: a government-recognised or internationally renowned incubator or accelerator supports the business.
- A business sold: you founded a venture-backed or technology business and it was sold under your management.
- IP: intellectual property registered with an approved national office that gives the business an advantage MOM judges hard to replicate.
- Research: a current collaboration in Singapore with a university or research institute that verifies your part.
MOM excludes coffee shops and food courts, bars and night clubs, massage parlours, traditional medicine, employment agencies and geomancy. A new pass and its first renewal run for up to 1 year, later renewals for up to 2 years.
We do this for you Company formation in Singapore a Pte. Ltd. registered from abroad
EntrePass renewal: business spending and local staff from the second renewal
You renew 3 months before expiry, still holding 30%, with the company's progress, its latest financial statements and its profile claimed on the Startup SG Network. From the second renewal the company also meets two yearly figures.
| Renewal | Total business spending a year | Local workforce |
|---|---|---|
| First | None set | None set |
| Second | S$100,000 | 1 |
| Third | S$200,000 | 2 |
| Fourth | S$300,000 | 3 |
| Fifth | S$400,000 | 4 |
| Sixth | S$700,000 | 5 |
Total business spending is operating expenses less royalties and work paid abroad and the pay of EntrePass holders. The workforce counts citizens and permanent residents on the payroll earning MOM's professional salary, S$3,900 a month and S$4,700 from the sixth cycle, with 3 months of CPF. Three staff on the Local Qualifying Salary count as one. The renewed pass costs S$225, and most renewals take up to 8 weeks.
When the EntrePass does not fit
A founder with no S$100,000 round, no registered IP, no incubator, no research partner and no business sold meets none of the five criteria. The same founder qualifies for an Employment Pass once their own company pays the salary for their age, and that pass asks nothing about investors or spending.
Employment Pass for a company director: when the pass replaces the nominee
Section 145 of the Companies Act asks every Singapore company for one director ordinarily resident in Singapore. ACRA's list of local residents names citizens, permanent residents and holders of an Employment Pass, a Personalised Employment Pass or a ONE Pass. A founder abroad meets the rule with a nominee resident director arranged through our partner, which company formation in Singapore includes.
Once your Employment Pass is issued, you take that seat yourself and the nominee resigns. ACRA asks pass holders to check a role with MOM first and names the Letter of Consent for Employment Pass holders. We make that check, then file both changes through the filing agent. The EntrePass is not on ACRA's list, so an EntrePass founder keeps the nominee until MOM confirms the role.
Until you move, the company may pay you fees as a director who lives abroad. We withhold the tax due on those fees and file it with accounting in Singapore.
Dependant's Pass: the family of a founder on an Employment Pass
An Employment Pass holder brings a legally married spouse and unmarried children under 21 on a Dependant's Pass with a fixed monthly salary of S$6,000 or more. The S$6,000 is your own salary, and the household's income does not count. The sponsor is an established company registered in Singapore, usually the employer.
A founder approved at S$5,600 brings no family on a Dependant's Pass, and the first founder of the worked example, at S$7,000, does. You apply for the family passes once the main pass is approved. Filed together with it, each family application loses its fee if MOM refuses the main pass.
EntrePass holders follow separate family rules on MOM's EntrePass pages.
ONE Pass Singapore: for a founder who has earned S$30,000 a month
The Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass, the ONE Pass, is MOM's pass for top talent in business, the arts, sport, research and technology. It asks for a fixed salary of S$30,000 a month for the 12 consecutive months before the application, or an offer at that salary in Singapore. Outstanding achievement in some sectors also qualifies.
The pass and each renewal run for up to 5 years. It is exempt from COMPASS and from job advertising, and its holder may start, run and work for more than one company at once. MOM takes one work pass application per person at a time.
We register the company through company formation in Singapore and prepare your pass with our Singapore partner. The payroll and the books run through accounting in Singapore.
