The order of operations matters more than the paperwork. Advertising on the national jobs portal must come **before** the pass application, not alongside it, and an offer extended before the advertising requirement is properly run creates a problem that cannot be fixed retrospectively. Salary thresholds and the points framework both change — confirm them for each hire rather than reusing last year’s figures.
Employment Pass
Application checklist and supporting letters
The order of operations matters more than the paperwork. Advertising on the national jobs portal must come before the pass application, not alongside it, and an offer extended before the advertising requirement is properly run creates a problem that cannot be fixed retrospectively. Salary thresholds and the points framework both change — confirm them for each hire rather than reusing last year’s figures.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Employer | [COMPANY NAME], UEN [UEN] |
| Candidate | [NAME], nationality [COUNTRY], passport [NUMBER] |
| Job title | [TITLE] |
| Fixed monthly salary offered | S$ [AMOUNT] |
| Sector | [Financial services / Non-financial services] (the salary floor differs) |
| Candidate age | [AGE] (the qualifying salary rises with age) |
| Total employees in Singapore | [NUMBER] |
| Local employees (citizens and permanent residents) | [NUMBER] |
| Advertising required | [Yes / No — see the exemptions] |
| Advertisement posted on | [DATE] |
| Advertisement closes on | [DATE] |
| Application submitted on | [DATE] |
| Outcome | [Approved / Rejected / Pending], on [DATE] |
1. Before You Advertise
| # | Step | Done |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Job requirements defined in terms of skills and experience, not nationality or other protected characteristics | [Y/N] |
| 2 | Salary benchmarked against the qualifying salary for the sector and the candidate’s age band | [Y/N] |
| 3 | Points framework assessment run to establish whether the application is likely to pass | [Y/N] |
| 4 | Company profile on the national jobs portal current and accurate | [Y/N] |
| 5 | Where the role is genuinely exempt from advertising, the exemption identified and recorded | [Y/N] |
| 6 | Confirmed that no offer has been made to the candidate before advertising | [Y/N] |
2. Fair Consideration Framework — Advertising
2.1Unless an exemption applies, the role must be advertised on the national jobs portal, open to all, for the prescribed minimum period, before an Employment Pass application is made.
2.2The advertisement must be open to Singapore citizens, must describe the role accurately, and must state requirements that genuinely reflect the job.
5 more pages in the Word file
This is page 1 of the Word document, exactly as it appears when you open it. Fields shown like THIS are placeholders for you to complete.
These notes accompany the template and explain the drafting choices, the compliance points and the mistakes most often made with this document. They appear as a final page in the Word file, intended to be deleted before the document is executed.
The role must be advertised on the national jobs portal for the prescribed period, and local applicants fairly considered, before the pass application is submitted. Advertising after the fact, or while the application is pending, does not comply. This is the requirement most often got wrong by employers making their first foreign hire.
Certain roles are exempt from the advertising requirement — for example by reference to salary level, intra-corporate transferees, or short-term roles. The exemptions are specific and change. Identify and record the exemption relied on, rather than assuming one applies because the role is senior.
Advertising a role with requirements written around the intended foreign candidate, or declining local applicants without real assessment, is the practice the framework exists to prevent. Employers have been placed on watch lists and had work pass privileges curtailed for it. Keep the applications, the shortlist and the reasoning — Section 2 requires exactly that record.
The Employment Pass qualifying salary is not a single figure. It is higher in financial services, and it rises with the candidate’s age to benchmark against experienced local professionals. A candidate in their forties needs materially more than a candidate in their twenties. Check both dimensions for every application.
Employment Pass salary thresholds have been increased periodically and further increases have been announced for 2027. Do not hard-code figures into templates or offer letters; confirm the current threshold at the point of each hire.
Running the points assessment before applying tells you whether the application is viable and what would change the outcome — salary, or the firm-level diversity and local-support attributes. Discovering the score after a rejection wastes the application and the candidate’s time. Note that certain applications are exempt from scoring.
Two of the assessed attributes relate to the firm rather than the candidate: nationality concentration among professional staff, and the share of local professional employees relative to the sector. These move slowly, but they affect every application. Employers with a heavily concentrated professional workforce will find applications progressively harder and should understand why.
Approval in principle permits entry and issue; the pass itself is issued after arrival and completion of formalities, which may include a medical examination. Do not let the candidate start work before the pass is issued, and keep any employment contract conditional until then.
Contributions are not payable for Employment Pass, S Pass or Work Permit holders, and making them is an offence. Step 7 of the post-approval checklist exists because regional payroll systems configured for other jurisdictions frequently do the opposite. Take-home pay for a pass holder therefore differs materially from a citizen on identical gross salary — explain this at offer stage.
The fourteen-day obligation to issue written key employment terms applies to pass holders as to anyone else. A signed employment contract used to support the pass application does not discharge it unless it contains every prescribed particular and is issued in time.
A change in job title, salary, duties or the employer’s business may need to be notified, and a substantive change may require a fresh application rather than a notification. Promoting a pass holder into a materially different role without checking is a common and avoidable contravention.
A lapsed pass is an immediate problem for the employee’s right to work and for the employer. Renewal is not automatic — the current criteria apply, and a holder who qualified years ago may not qualify now, particularly given rising salary thresholds. Begin the renewal review months in advance, not weeks.
On termination the pass must be cancelled within the period required, tax clearance must be filed and sums withheld pending it, and for some pass types the employer bears repatriation costs. These run on short timelines from the last day — start them when the decision is taken.
A new track for artificial intelligence and technology talent has been announced, and shortage-occupation lists that attract bonus points are periodically revised. Where a role may qualify, check current lists before applying — it can change a marginal application into a straightforward one.
Reflects Singapore requirements current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. Qualifying salaries, the points framework and its passing score, advertising periods and exemptions, and pass categories all change, with further changes announced for 2027 — confirm every threshold with the Ministry of Manpower before each application, and take advice for complex or borderline cases.
This is a ready-to-use template provided for convenience. Laws and requirements change, and every situation is different — please have it reviewed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, corporate secretary, or accountant as relevant) before you rely on it.