Types of Employment Passes & Work Permits

Employment Pass

Employment Passes are for foreigners who earn a monthly basic salary of more than S$3,600 and possess acceptable degrees, professional qualifications or specialist skills. There are basically two types of Employment Passes: P and Q Passes.

• • P Passes are for foreigners who hold acceptable degrees, professional qualifications or specialist skills and are seeking professional, administrative, executive or managerial jobs. A P1 Pass will be issued if the applicant’s monthly basic salary is more than S$8,000. A P2 Pass will be issued if the applicant’s monthly basic salary is more than S$5,000 and up to S$8,000.
  • A Q1 Pass will be issued for foreigners whose monthly basic salary is more than S$3,600 and who possess acceptable degrees, professional qualifications or specialist skills.

S Pass

• • The objective of the S Pass is to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of the Singapore government’s foreign manpower policy to meet industry’s needs for middle level skilled manpower. The S Pass will replace the current Q2 Pass from July 2004. Foreigners who earn a monthly basic salary of at least S$2,400 may apply for the S Pass.
  • Applicants for the new S Pass will be assessed on a points system which will take into account multiple criteria, including salary, education qualifications, skills, work experience and job type.
  • A monthly levy pegged to the skilled levy for Work Permit (R Pass) holders will apply. There will be a cap on the number of S Pass holders in each company based on a quota of 13% of the company’s local and Work Permit workforce for the service sector and cap of 20% for all other sectors. S Pass holders with S$6,000 monthly basic salary will be given dependant privileges.

Entrepass

• • Entrepasses are employment passes issued for foreign entrepreneurs who wish to set up a private limited company and start up a business in Singapore.
  • Unlike other employment passes, which are issued to employees of companies with a track record and an existing ongoing business, entrepasses cater mainly to the owner/director who is also the applicant. In most cases, the employer would be a newly incorporated private limited company or perhaps even unregistered yet pending the successful application of the entrepass.
  • A business plan of the proposed business has to be submitted together with the entrepass application. There are specific requirements on the format and length of the business plan.
  • Subsequent renewals of the entrepass are subject to evaluation by the authorities on whether the business venture has met the targets set in the business plan. Employment creation related information and audited financial statements have to be submitted as part of the renewal process.

Work Permits

• • Work Permits are for foreign workers who are semi-skilled workers from approved source countries working in the construction, manufacturing, marine shipyard, process or services sector.
  • The number of foreign workers an employer may engage under Work Permits is dependent on the number of local workers on his payroll. This local to foreign worker ratio varies from industry to industry.
  • The employer also pays a foreign worker levy for each foreign worker he employs on Work Permit.

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