New Criteria for Assessing Singapore EntrePass Application

Sept. 22, 2009 - PRLog -- The criteria of assessing applications for EntrePass - employment pass for foreign entrepreneurs, have undergone extensive changes and these changes will be effective from 28 September 2009. The applications received after this date will be reviewed against a set of criteria which gauges the effective economic benefits that the proposed venture will bring to the country.

For all new EntrePass applications:

1.       Company must be registered as a Private Limited Company
2.       Applicant to hold at least 30% shareholding in the company
3.       Company must have at least S$50,000 paid-up-capital
4.       Company must not be registered for more than six months at the point of EntrePass application.

The Ministry of Manpower will issue a Pass of type P or Q depending on the qualification, experience and salary of the applicant. Subsequently when the pass is due for renewal the applications for renewal will be scrutinized more closely on the economic benefits that the business has generated during the course of its operation in Singapore. The criteria for assessing this aspect include number of local employees in the company and the Total Business Spending by the company.

Applications for renewal after September 28 2009 must fulfill the following criteria

First Renewal for Q1 EntrePass

a.   The company must employ at least 2 local employees (it is 8 for P1, 4 for P2 and 2 staff for Q1)
b.   The company must demonstrate a Total Business Spending (TBS) of at least  $100,000 for Q1 (S$300,000 for P1 & S$150,000 for P2) over the past 12 months; and
c.   The business venture must be conducting business based on the original Business plan.

The TBS refers to the total operating expenses of the company in the past 12 months excluding the following

o   Royalties/Franchise fees/Know how fees to overseas companies;
o   Work subcontracted to overseas companies; and
o   Remuneration to applicant and his/her immediate family

Thus the focus is on the financial synergies that a business has exclusively created to the local companies and local talent pool in the form of employment. As for the employees they need to possess at least NTC2/NITEC or vocational qualifications obtained after at least 2 years of full-time studies. Local employees with foreign qualification will be considered while foreign employees with local/foreign qualification will not be taken into account while assessing employment criteria.

It must be noted that the Q category EntrePass will be renewed for a period of one year only subsequently the business must graduate itself to qualify for a P category EntrePass.  The P category EntrePass will be renewed for a period of 2 years if Net Assert Value is positive otherwise only one year renewal will be granted.

EntrePass holders who applied before 28 Sept 2009 will not be affected by the changes but may choose to be assessed under the new criteria. Once assessed under the new EntrePass criteria, EntrePass holders will no longer be eligible for assessment under the old criteria. However in order to enjoy the additional benefits, if the EntrePass holders meet the new criteria they are encouraged to transit to the new criteria.

For more information, please visit http://www.rikvin.com

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