Employment Pass Application

Consider all candidates fairly before you apply for an Employment Pass

Fair Consideration Framework (FCF)

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) sets out the requirements for all employers in Singapore to consider candidates fairly for job opportunities. Employers should not discriminate candidates based on non-job related characteristics such as age, gender, nationality or race.

All employers in Singapore are expected to adhere to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Consider all candidates fairly

To promote fair employment practices and improve labour market transparency, employers submitting EP applications must first advertise on MyCareersFuture, and consider all candidates fairly.

Advertising requirements

The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates.

We will reject any EP applications linked to advertisements that are discriminatory or do not represent the job accurately:

• The advertisement must not contain discriminatory words or phrases – see examples.
• The job advertised must match the occupation in the EP application.
• The employer submitting the EP application must be the same as the one in the job advertisement.
• The salary offered must be clear, specific, and consistent. Therefore the salary range advertised:
  • Must be visible to all candidates and cannot be hidden.
  • Cannot be too broad, i.e. the maximum salary cannot exceed two times of the minimum salary.
  • Must contain the salary offered to the EP candidate.
• The advertisement must be open for at least 28 days to allow job seekers to view and apply for the vacancy.
• If you change any advertisement details (e.g. job title, salary or number of vacancies), you must keep it open for at least another 28 days before you can submit the EP application. This is to ensure that job seekers are aware of the updated job details and have a chance to apply for it.
• Job advertisements that have expired or have closed for more than 3 months cannot be used for EP applications. You must advertise the vacancy again to reach out to other job seekers.
• If you are using an advertisement for multiple EP applications, the total number of EP applications cannot exceed the number of vacancies in the advertisement.

Exemption from advertising requirement

All employers must practise fair hiring even if their job vacancies can be exempted from advertising.

For practical reasons, you don’t need to advertise on MyCareersFuture if you meet any of the following requirements:

• Your company has fewer than 10 employees.
• The fixed monthly salary for the vacancy is $20,000 and above.
• The role is short-term, i.e. not more than 1 month.
• The role is to be filled by a local transferee, i.e. an existing employee from your company in Singapore transferring to another related branch, subsidiary, or affiliate in Singapore.
• The role is to be filled by a candidate choosing to apply as an overseas intra-corporate transferee under the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services or an applicable Free Trade Agreement that Singapore is party to.

Only eligible candidates will be considered for an Employment Pass. Criteria include a minimum salary of $4,500 and acceptable qualifications. Use the Self-Assessment Tool to check a candidate’s eligibility before you apply.

Who is eligible

The Employment Pass is for foreign professionals who:

• Have a job offer in Singapore.
• Work in a managerial, executive or specialised job.
• Earn a fixed monthly salary of at least $4,500 (older, more experienced candidates need higher salaries).
• Have acceptable qualifications, usually a good university degree, professional qualifications or specialised skills.

Application for an Employment Pass is open to all nationalities.

Use the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) to check if the candidate qualifies for the pass.

Salaries for younger or older candidates

Young graduates from good institutions can qualify if they earn at least $4,500.

Older, more experienced candidates need higher salaries to qualify.

From 1 September 2020, the minimum qualifying salary will be raised to $4,500 for new applications. From 1 December 2020, the minimum qualifying salary for EP candidates in the financial services sector will be raised to $5,000 for new applications. The qualifying salaries for older and more experienced candidates in their 40s will be raised correspondingly and will remain around double the minimum qualifying salary for the youngest applicants. The new salary criteria will apply to those renewing their EPs if their passes are expiring from 1 May 2021.

You can find out more about which firms are considered to be part of the Financial Services sector.

Acceptable qualifications

We do not accept qualifications from unaccredited institutions.

To check if an institution is accredited, you can use:

• Global verification agencies such as Dataflow or Risk Management Intelligence (RMI)
• International accreditation bodies
• Awarding country’s educational authorities

We don’t have a list of approved institutions. Instead, we evaluate each application on its own merit, based on a wide range of factors such as the candidate’s salary, track records, work experience, skill sets and global and countries’ rankings of institutions.

Self­-Assessment Tool (SAT)

We encourage you to use the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) to get an indication of whether a candidate meets the Employment Pass requirements. Candidates can also use the tool to assess their eligibility.

If the SAT shows that the candidate is not eligible, you shouldn’t apply for the Employment Pass because it will be rejected.

If the SAT shows that the candidate is eligible, there is around a 90% chance that the candidate will get a pass.

You need to upload these documents when submitting an Employment Pass application:

• Personal particulars page of candidate’s passport.

  If the candidate’s name on the passport is different from their other documents, you must include either of the following:

  • Explanation letter and supporting documents, e.g. deed poll
  • An affidavit
• Company’s latest business profile or instant information registered with ACRA.
• Candidate’s educational certificates, e.g. degree certificate. You need to upload additional documents for:

MOM may ask for other documents when they review the application.

For non-English documents, you must upload the original document together with an English translation as 1 file. The translation can be done by a translation service provider.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that their candidates’ qualifications are genuine and were awarded by accredited institutions.

If you’re asked for a verification proof, it must meet these requirements:

• Must confirm that the qualifications are genuine and were awarded by accredited institutions.
• Must be from a global verification agency, e.g. Avvanz, Dataflow, eeCheck or RMI.

You need to upload additional documents for the following: