Singapore · Dependant
Dependant's Pass
Dependant's Pass is issued by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). VisaAI tracks 20 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.
Last verified against the official source on .
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Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s own page before you apply.
Conditions you must meet
- The family member you are joining must hold an Employment Pass or S PassThe first of three cumulative requirements, all of them on the work pass holder rather than on the family. Holders of an ONE Pass or EntrePass are covered by separate MOM requirements, not by these.
- That person must earn at least $6,000 a month — their salary alone, not the household'sSGD 6,000MOM says the second half explicitly because the first half reads like a household test. A working spouse's earnings do not count toward it. Note the number: the Employment Pass floor starts at $5,600, so an EP holder at the bottom of the schedule holds a valid pass and still cannot bring a spouse.
- An established Singapore-registered company must sponsor the passUsually the work pass holder's own employer. A third party the family does not control is required to act.
- Only a legally married spouse and unmarried children under 21Adopted children are included. Everyone else — a common-law partner, a parent, a child of 21 — is outside this pass and MOM routes them to the Long-Term Visit Pass instead.
- Families of overseas intra-corporate transferees are excludedIf the work pass holder applied as an overseas ICT under WTO GATS or an FTA, their family gets neither a Dependant's Pass nor a Long-Term Visit Pass unless a specific FTA covers them. The exclusion follows from a choice made on the worker's own application, months earlier.
- The employer applies, not the familyAs with every MOM pass except the EntrePass. The family cannot lodge this application itself.
- The pass lasts only as long as the main work passOr the duration requested, whichever is shorter. A dependant's right to remain ends with a job they do not hold — and if that happens mid-course, a child studying here needs their own Student's Pass, assessed on the criteria in force that day.
- A Dependant's Pass does not let you work — you need a work pass of your ownThe Letter of Consent people still ask about is not the route. MOM's answer is an Employment Pass, an S Pass or a DP-Work Permit, and in every case the prospective EMPLOYER applies.
- Converting to an Employment Pass or S Pass ends the dependency — and the Dependant's PassThe better outcome removes the fallback. The DP must be cancelled before the new pass is issued, so a subsequent job loss no longer leaves the family's status resting on the other spouse's pass.
- The DP-Work Permit keeps the dependency instead, and has no salary floorOpen to any nationality, no minimum qualifying salary, validity tied to the Dependant's Pass, and exempt from the six-monthly medical examination and security bond. The cost is the employer's: the role sits inside their foreign-worker quota and attracts a monthly levy.
Documents you must provide
- The personal particulars page of each family member's passportWhere a child shares a passport with a parent, the parent's page is needed too.
- A marriage certificate for a spouse
- A birth certificate stating the parents' names for a childNaming the parents, not merely the child — a certificate that omits them will not do.
- An adoption order for a legally adopted child
- Vaccination verification from the Communicable Diseases Agency for foreign-born children aged 12 and underNeeded for a NEW pass, and MOM counts a pass expired or cancelled for more than 30 days as new. Existing DP, LTVP and Student's Pass holders are exempt.
- Non-English documents must be uploaded with an English translation as one fileOne file, not two — the same rule as the Employment Pass.
Steps in the process
- Three weeks for dependants of EP and S Pass holdersSix weeks if the main holder is on an EP under sponsorship, a Personalised Employment Pass or an EntrePass.
- The approval letter is a single-entry visa valid six monthsThe same mechanism as every other MOM pass registered here.
Government fees
- $105 for each pass at applicationSGD 105Per family member, not per family. MOM's Employment Pass page warns that these fees are lost if the main pass application is rejected, which is why it advises applying for family passes after approval.
- $225 for each pass at issuance, plus $30 for a multiple journey visaSGD 225 · SGD 30 multiple journey visaAgain per family member. A spouse and two children cost $315 to apply for and $675 to issue, before any multiple journey visa.
Official sources
- Dependant's Pass: working in Singapore — Policy, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
- Apply for a Dependant's Pass — How to apply, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
- Documents required for Dependant's Pass — Document checklist, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
- Key facts on Dependant's Pass — Eligibility, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
- Eligibility for Dependant's Pass — Requirements, Ministry of Manpower (MOM)