Singapore · Work

Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass

Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass is issued by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). VisaAI tracks 23 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.

Last verified against the official source on .

VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.

Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s own page before you apply.

Conditions you must meet

  • You may apply yourself — or let an employer do itThe Employment Pass and S Pass must be lodged by an employer. Here MOM accepts either, which makes this the only Singapore work pass a person can pursue before they have a job offer in hand.
  • Only one work pass application per candidate at a timeYou cannot hedge between a ONE Pass and an Employment Pass. Choosing one closes the other until it is decided.
  • Route 1: S$30,000 a month for the 12 consecutive months before you applySGD 30,000 · SGD 12 consecutive monthsNine times the S Pass floor and more than five times the Employment Pass floor. Foreign currency is accepted at equivalence, and the twelve months must be consecutive and immediately before the application.
  • Route 2: S$30,000 a month under a future Singapore employer, starting within six monthsSGD 30,000 · SGD 6 apply within months of startMOM will not take a prospective application further out than that. The start date, not the offer date, is what the six months runs to.
  • The employer must be an established company: US$500m market cap or US$200m revenueUSD 200,000,000 annual revenue · USD 500,000,000 market capitalisationOne of the two, not both. Global office totals may be counted, case by case. Note the currency switch — the salary test is in Singapore dollars and the company test is in US dollars, on the same page.
  • The S$30,000 must come from ONE employer — MOM prints the arithmeticSGD 30,000S$20,000 plus S$10,000 is S$30,000 and does not qualify. S$30,000 plus S$5,000 does. Ireland's family route bars combining incomes between people; this bars combining them between jobs held by one person.
  • Route 3: outstanding achievements in sport, arts and culture, or academia and research — no salary testReviewed holistically by MOM with MCCY, MOE, NRF and A*STAR. A discretionary multi-agency assessment, not a checklist, and it is stored as one because rendering it as criteria would invent precision MOM does not claim.
  • If you already work in Singapore, you need a year here firstA short qualifier that closes the fastest route in: arriving on an Employment Pass and converting immediately.
  • Exempt from COMPASS and from Fair Consideration Framework job advertisingThe two gates that shape every Employment Pass application do not apply here. The highest-paid pass carries the fewest conditions on the employer.
  • Work for several companies at once, and change jobs without reapplyingThe Employment Pass ties a person to one employer and makes a job change a new application. This pass does neither, subject to the holder's own employment contract.
  • Your spouse can work on a Letter of ConsentThe Letter of Consent is not available to dependants of Employment Pass or S Pass holders, who need a work pass of their own. It survives for this pass. Same instrument, restricted to the top rung.
  • No foreign worker levy and no quotaAs with the Employment Pass, and unlike the S Pass.
  • Five years first time, five years on renewalAgainst two years for a first Employment Pass or S Pass.
  • Renewal needs either a five-year salary average or five local employeesS$30,000 a month averaged over five years in Singapore, or a Singapore company you started that employs at least five locals each paid at least the prevailing Employment Pass minimum. Worth knowing before applying: the second route turns the pass into a founder's obligation.

Documents you must provide

  • A passport page, including any amendmentsIf the passport name differs from other documents, an explanation letter and supporting documents such as a deed poll are needed as well.
  • Twelve consecutive months of payslipsMOM gives the worked example: an application in May 2024 needs May 2023 to April 2024. A gap in the run is a gap in the evidence.
  • For Singapore employment: the most recent IRAS notice of assessmentOr the latest income tax return filed with IRAS — Form B1 — if the notice has not arrived yet.
  • For overseas employment: verification from a background screening companyMOM will not take the employer's own letter for this. It wants third-party verification.
  • Employer financials obtained within the last three monthsMarket capitalisation or annual revenue, current. MOM names PitchBook, Yahoo Finance, Crunchbase, Bloomberg, Google Finance and alternatives.pe as acceptable sources.

Steps in the process

  • Four weeks for most casesAgainst ten business days for an Employment Pass and six weeks for an EntrePass.
  • The approval letter is a single-entry visa valid six monthsThe same mechanism as every MOM pass registered here.

Government fees

  • $105 application feeSGD 105The same $105 as every other MOM pass, on a route with a S$30,000 salary test.
  • $225 to issue the pass, plus $30 for a multiple journey visaSGD 225 · SGD 30 multiple journey visa

Official sources

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Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass — Singapore | VisaAI