Foreign workers in Singapore complement the relatively small local population to grow the economy and add diversity to its skillsets. As at June 2020, the foreign workforce in Singapore numbers over 1.2 million.
While this is so, Singapore cannot freely allow anyone to come in either – and thus there are restrictions placed on foreigners who want to come to Singapore for work.
This is guided by the different types of work passes that foreign workers can come here to work on, as well as having quota restrictions. The most common work passes that businesses can apply to bring in their foreign workforce include Work Permits, S Pass and Employment Pass (EP).
Read Also: Guide To Work Passes In Singapore: Work Permits, S Pass and Employment Pass (EP)
Quota Restrictions For Employment Pass (EP) Holders
There is no quota restrictions for Employment Pass (EP) holders in Singapore. Workers holding an EP tend to be more highly skilled foreign professionals, managers and executives. Instead of applying a quota on the number of EPs a business can employ or charging a levy, restrictions are set on such employees earning at least $4,500 a month (and $5,000 a month in the financial services sector).
In September 2020, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo reiterated that it would “probably be unwise” to impose a quota on higher-end foreign professionals on Employment Passes. In this case, salary benchmarks are used to ensure companies attract the right types of foreign professionals.
From 1 September 2020, the wage criteria for Employment Pass holders was increased to $4,500 a month for all sectors except for the financial services sector, which requires EP holders to earn at least $5,000 a month.
As part of the Budget 2022 changes, the minimum qualifying salary for new EP applications will be increased from $4,500 to $5,000 for all sectors except for the financial services sector, which will be increased from $5,000 to $5,000. This will apply from September 2022.
There are further restrictions, including having to advertise roles on the MyCareersFuture website, under the Fair Consideration Framework.
Quota Restrictions For S Pass Holders
During the same round of wage criteria revisions for Employment Pass (EP) holders in September 2020, the wage criteria for S Pass holders was also raised to $2,500 a month (from 1 October 2020).
As part of the Budget 2022 changes, the minimum qualifying salary for S Pass applicants will increase from $2,500 to $3,000. Additionally, similar to EP applications, the financial services sector will have a higher minimum qualifying salary of $3,500. This will apply from September 2022. These changes will apply to renewal applications one year later. For example, the higher minimum qualifying salary of $3,000 will only affect renewals from 1 September 2023 while new applicants will be affected from 1 September 2022.
The minimum qualifying salary for new S Pass applicants will also be raised again in September 2023 and 2025. This phased increase in salary is meant to ensure that S Pass holders are of the right quality, comparable to the top one-third of local Associate Professionals and Technicians.
However, unlike E Pass (EP) holders, the number of S Pass holders a business can hire is limited by a quota. This is because S Pass holders are mid-level skilled employees. Also unlike hiring EPs, businesses must pay a foreign worker levy when they hire S Pass holders.
Quotas or sub-dependency Ratio Ceilings (DRCs) are also different, based on your business activity. This is capped as a percentage of your workforce:
- 10% for Services sector
- 20% for Manufacturing sector
- 18% in all other sectors
From 1 January 2023, the quota for Construction, Marine Shipyard and Process sectors will also be reduced to 15% (from 18% currently).
During Budget 2021, DPM Heng Swee Keat also announced that the quota for the Manufacturing sector will be reduced to 18% from 1 January 2022 and 15% from 1 January 2023.
In PM Lee’s National Day Rally 2021 speech, he mentioned that companies that want to hire foreign workers will have to pay all their local employees the Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) of $1,400. This will apply from 1 September 2022. Currently, companies the quotas are based on local employees who are paid the LQS. What this means is that if you have 20 full-time local employees, but only pay 10 of them $1,400 and above, the quotas/sub-dependency ratios listed above only apply on 10 employees. From 1 September 2022, you can no longer hire any foreign workers if you continue to pay the other 10 full-time local employees less than $1,400.
Read Also: Local Qualifying Salary: 5 Things You Need To Know About LQS
Depending on the percentage of foreign workforce in your business, you also have to pay a levy of either $330 or $650. If foreign employees make up 10% of your workforce, you are required to pay a monthly levy of $330 for each S Pass holder. However, if S Pass holders exceed 10% of your workforce, you have to pay $650 for each S Pass employee.
| Tier | Quota | Monthly Levy Rate |
| Basic / Tier 1 | All sectors: up to 10% of your workforce | $330 |
| Tier 2 | Services Sector: Above 10% | N.A. (quota is 10%) – If you temporarily exceed 10% S Pass quota, you will be charged Tier 2 rate of $650 for excess foreign manpower. |
| Tier 2 | Manufacturing Sector: above 10% and up to 20% of your workforce | $650 |
| Tier 2 | All Sector (Except Services and Manufacturing): above 10% and up to 18% of your workforce | $650 |
As part of Budget 2022 changes, Tier 1 levy will also be raised from the current $330 to $650 by 2025.
There may be other requirements as well that businesses have to take note of when hiring S Pass holders, such as having to buy and maintain medical insurance as long as they are under your employment.
Read Also: 4 Types Of Companies Most Affected By The Latest Changes To Employment Pass & S Pass Rules
Quota Restrictions For Work Permit Holders
Only businesses in the construction, manufacturing, marine shipyard, process or services sector can apply for work permit for their foreign workforce. Quotas for work permit holders can also be much more complicated, and you can refer to this guide for how to calculate your quota and levy bill on the MOM website.
In addition, all work permit holders can only work up to 60 years of age. There may also be a restriction on the maximum number of years workers from each source country can work in Singapore.
Levies are also used to control the number of foreign workers that a business chooses to employ. At the same time, varying levy prices are charged to encourage businesses to hire higher-skilled work permit holders or upskill their work permit holders.
Approved Sources for eligible business sectors:
| Eligible Business Sectors | Approved Sources |
| Construction Marine Shipyard Manufacturing | – Malaysia – China – Non-Traditional Source (NTS) India Sri Lanka Thailand Bangladesh Myanmar Philippines – North Asian Sources (NAS) Hong Kong Macau South Korea Taiwan |
| Manufacturing Services | – Malaysia – China – North Asian Sources (NTS) Hong Kong Macau South Korea Taiwan |
Different criteria may also apply to the different sectors:
Construction Sector
Eligible businesses can hire 7 work permit holders (WPH) for every local employee who earns at least $1,400 per month. For local employees who earn between $700 to $1,400 a month, they will be counted as 0.5 local employees. Note that from 1 September 2022, your business will have to pay all local employees the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,400 to be eligible to hire any foreign workers.
From 1 January 2024, the DRC will be reduced from 1:7 (7 WPH or S Pass holders for every local employee) to 1:5 (5 WPH or S Pass holders for every local employee).
The levy rates will also be changed to incentivise companies to adopt more productive technologies such as Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DfMA), by lowering the levy rates for off-site construction. These changes will apply from 2024. The new levy rates will apply to all WPHs, including all existing WPHs and WPHs employed after 1 Jan 2024.
A “man-year entitlement (MYE)” criteria also applies to the construction sector. 1 man-year = 1 year of employment under a Work Permit. How many man-years you are entitled to is based on your building project value:
For building project under $10 million:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 1.325 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 7.95 man-years per $1 million value |
Source: MOM
For building project above $10 million:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 1.223 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 7.338 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $20 million | 4.892 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $70 million | 3.261 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $100 million | 2.446 man-years per $1 million value |
Source: MOM
For civil engineering projects:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 0.543 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 3.261 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $20 million | 2.174 man-years per $1 million value |
| Above $30 million | 1.087 man-years per $1 million value |
Source: MOM
The MYE framework will be dismantled from 1 Jan 2024 onwards, and firms will no longer need to apply for Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) or Prior Approval (PA) before applying for a Work Permit for NTS or PRC workers. Busineses can continue to apply for and use their MYE quotas up to 31 Dec 2023. Project contracts that have already been awarded or had tender calling date on or before 18 Feb 2022 will be allowed to use their MYE quotas up to 31 Dec 2024 or their project completion date, whichever is earlier.
Process Sector
Eligible businesses can hire 7 work permit holders for every local employee who earns at least $1,400 per month. For local employees who earn between $700 to $1,400 a month, they will be counted as 0.5 local employees. Note that from 1 September 2022, your business will have to pay all local employees the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,400 to be eligible to hire any foreign workers.
From 1 January 2024, the DRC will be reduced from 1:7 (7 WPH or S Pass holders for every local employee) to 1:5 (5 WPH or S Pass holders for every local employee).
The levy rates will also be changed to incentivise companies to encourage hiring of skilled WPHs and diversifying the workforce. These changes will apply from 2024. The new levy rates will apply to all WPHs, including all existing WPHs and WPHs employed after 1 Jan 2024.
A “man-year entitlement (MYE)” criteria also applies to the process sector (except for Malaysian and North Asian Sources workers). 1 man-year = 1 year of employment under a Work Permit. How many man-years you are entitled to is based on your building project value:
For building project under $10 million:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 1.65 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 9.903 man-years per $1 million value |
Source: MOM
For building project above $10 million:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 1.523 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 9.141 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $20 million | 6.094 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $70 million | 4.062 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $100 million | 3.047 man-years per $1 million value |
Source: MOM
For civil engineering projects:
| Project Value | Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) |
| Less than $500,000 | 0 |
| First $1 million | 0.677 man-years per $100,000 value |
| Next $9 million | 4.062 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $20 million | 2.708 man-years per $1 million value |
| Above $30 million | 1.354 man-years per $1 million value |
| Next $100 million | Case-by-case basis |
Source: MOM
The MYE framework will be dismantled from 1 Jan 2024 onwards, and firms will no longer need to apply for Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) or Prior Approval (PA) before applying for a Work Permit for NTS or PRC workers. Busineses can continue to apply for and use their MYE quotas up to 31 Dec 2023. Project contracts that have already been awarded or had tender calling date on or before 18 Feb 2022 will be allowed to use their MYE quotas up to 31 Dec 2024 or their project completion date, whichever is earlier.
Note that from 1 September 2022, your business will have to pay all local employees the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,400 to be eligible to hire any foreign workers.
Marine Shipyard Sector
Eligible businesses can hire 3.5 work permit holders for every local employee who earns at least $1,400 per month. For local employees who earn between $700 to $1,400 a month, they will be counted as 0.5 local employees. Note that from 1 September 2022, your business will have to pay all local employees the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,400 to be eligible to hire any foreign workers.
A month levy of between $300 to $400 has to be paid for each S Pass holder, depending on their source country and skill level (basic-skilled or higher-skilled).
Services Sector
Services sector refers to:
- Financial, insurance, real estate, infocomm and business services.
- Transport, storage and communications services.
- Commerce (retail and wholesale trade).
- Community, social and personal services (excluding domestic workers).
- Hotels.
- Restaurants, coffee shops, food courts and other approved food establishments (excluding food stalls or hawker stalls).
Eligible businesses can hire work permit holders to comprise up to 35% of your total workforce. Employees that comprise your total workforce are those who earn at least $1,400 per month. For local employees who earn between $700 to $1,400 a month, they will be counted as 0.5 local employees. Note that from 1 September 2022, your business will have to pay all local employees the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,400 to be eligible to hire any foreign workers.
A month levy of between $300 to $800 has to be paid for each S Pass holder, depending on the number of Work Permit holders in your business and their skill level (basic-skilled or higher-skilled).
This article was first published on 28 January 2021 and has been updated to reflect changes following Budget 2022.
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