What are the Employment Pass and S Pass?
The Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass are Singapore's main work passes for foreign professionals and mid-skilled workers. As at 2026 the EP requires a minimum qualifying salary of S$5,600 a month (S$6,200 in financial services), rising with age, plus a pass mark on the COMPASS points framework; the S Pass minimum is S$3,300.
How EP qualification works now
Two gates since 2023: salary and points. The qualifying salary starts at S$5,600 for the youngest applicants and scales with age to S$10,700 at 45 and above (financial services: S$6,200 to S$11,800), and the candidate must also clear COMPASS, the points framework scoring salary against local benchmarks, qualifications, workforce diversity and local employment share, with 40 points to pass. High earners on a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500 are exempt from COMPASS. Already announced: the qualifying salary rises to S$6,000 (S$6,600 for financial services) for new applications from 1 January 2027.
The S Pass and the levy layer
The S Pass covers mid-skilled roles at a minimum S$3,300 (also age-scaled, also rising in 2027), subject to quotas and the Foreign Worker Levy. Neither EP nor S Pass holders receive CPF; the levy and quota system is the cost-and-control mechanism instead, which changes the total-cost arithmetic of a foreign hire in ways a simple salary comparison misses.
What it means for workforce planning
Pass policy is Singapore's workforce-shaping tool and it moves annually, so any plan that hard-codes today's thresholds has a built-in expiry date. The practical disciplines: benchmark offered salaries against the age-scaled minimums early in the funnel, check COMPASS exposure before shortlisting rather than at offer, and keep the local-workforce metrics COMPASS scores (diversity, local share) visible in hiring strategy, because they are now inputs to whether you can hire internationally at all.
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