Employment Pass (EP) Services in Singapore

The Employment Pass (EP) is Singapore's work pass for foreign professionals, managers, and executives. It's employer-sponsored, meaning the company applies rather than the individual, and approval turns on two tests: the candidate must earn at least the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) qualifying salary (which rises with age, and is higher in financial services), and the application must score enough points under the COMPASS framework, which weighs salary against sector benchmarks, qualifications, and the employer's workforce profile.

That's why the honest first step is arithmetic. Our free EP salary calculator works out the minimum salary that clears both tests for your exact case.

What MOM is actually weighing:

• Salary vs benchmark: the single biggest factor, assessed against age and the sector's norms.
• Qualifications: recognised degrees score COMPASS points, and top-tier institutions score more.
• The employer: workforce diversity and the share of local PMETs in the company affect the score, which means the identical candidate can pass with one employer and fail with another.

We assess all of this before you commit. If a case is weak, we say so. Because half our fee is refunded on rejection, we have no incentive to file hopeless applications.

Founders applying through their own company face one extra layer of scrutiny: MOM may ask for evidence of ongoing business activity. The key check is easy to state and hard to fudge: can the company afford to pay the salary on the EP?

This comes up most often with newly incorporated entities. In our experience roughly a quarter of applications from newly incorporated companies have the initial application rejected on exactly this point. The flow from there is routine for us: the application is rejected, and we submit proof of the company's finances at appeal. There's no way to predict which applications it happens to. What settles it is a bank statement showing a year's worth of the salary.

If the application relies on the candidate's education for COMPASS points, MOM requires the degree to be verified by an approved screening company. The steps: request the verification proof from the screening company, wait for the institution to confirm, then submit the proof with the application. Depending on the institution and the verification provider this can take a couple of weeks, so it's worth starting early. The details are on the MOM website.

We tell you upfront whether your case needs it, and build the waiting time into the application plan.

Eligible EP holders can sponsor a Dependant's Pass (DP) for a spouse and children. A DP holder can apply for a Letter of Consent (LOC) to run their own business in Singapore. What a DP doesn't allow is taking a job with another employer: that route only exists where the sponsor holds a ONE Pass, whose dependants can work under an LOC.

The common failure modes: salary below the benchmark for the candidate's age or sector, a COMPASS score that falls short on the employer criteria, incomplete or inconsistent documentation, and company profiles that raise questions: newly incorporated, no local hires, unclear business activity. Our incorporation clients plan around that combination from the start.

Rejection isn't the end of the road. MOM accepts appeals with new information, such as a revised salary, clarified documentation, or evidence on the role. One appeal is included free in every Duellix application, and if the application is still unsuccessful, half our consulting fee comes back to you. We prepare applications within days; MOM's processing typically takes a few weeks.