Can you move to Singapore by starting a company?
Yes. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issues two passes a founder may hold: the EntrePass to founders of businesses that are venture-backed or own innovative technology, and it issues an Employment Pass to a foreigner employed by a Singapore company; the MOM pages read for this guide do not say whether that company may be the founder's own, and ACRA names an Employment Pass holder among those who may be a business's local resident. Either way the company is registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) through a corporate service provider and needs a local resident director, and the founder needs a work pass to live in Singapore and run it. An Employment Pass holder may then apply for permanent residence: the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) lists Employment Pass and S Pass holders among those who may apply, and not EntrePass holders.
Setting up the company
ACRA's rules for foreigners say that a foreigner must engage a corporate service provider to reserve a business name and register a business structure, and that every business must have at least one local resident: a Singapore citizen, a permanent resident, or the holder of an Employment Pass, a Personalised Employment Pass or an Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass. A foreigner who wants to move to Singapore to run the business needs a work pass.
For a private limited company ACRA requires at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore and at least 18, and a company secretary, appointed within six months of registration, who is a natural person, a local resident and not the sole director. ACRA's fees are S$15 to apply for a name, S$300 to register the company and S$60 for each annual return. ACRA's post-registration checklist adds a Corppass account, the company registers, a corporate bank account, which usually needs most directors present in Singapore, and any licences the trade needs.
Until the founder holds one of the passes ACRA names for the local resident, an Employment Pass, a Personalised Employment Pass or an Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, the local resident director has to be someone else; ACRA tells the holder of any other pass to check with its issuer before taking a role. ACRA's page on officers describes the nominee director, who acts on another person's instructions and must declare it, and says that every director, nominee or not, carries the same duties and penalties under the Companies Act.
Route one: the EntrePass
MOM says the EntrePass is for serial entrepreneurs, high-calibre innovators or experienced investors who want to operate a business in Singapore that is venture-backed or owns innovative technologies. The applicant must have started, or intend to start, a private limited company registered with ACRA in which they hold at least 30 per cent, and must meet at least one of five conditions: funding of at least S$100,000 raised in a single round from investors for a past or current business; support from a government-recognised or internationally renowned incubator or accelerator; a technology business founded and sold; intellectual property registered with an approved national institution that gives the business a significant advantage; or an ongoing research collaboration with an institute of higher learning or a research institution in Singapore.
MOM lists businesses that are not eligible: coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts; bars, night clubs and karaoke lounges; foot reflexology and massage parlours; acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine and herbal dispensing; employment agencies; and geomancy. The applicant applies directly, there is no minimum salary, and a new pass and its first renewal run up to one year each, later renewals up to two, each renewal against MOM's renewal criteria. ACRA's page says the EntrePass can be applied for before incorporation or within six months of setting up.
Route two: an Employment Pass applied for by the company
A company registered in Singapore can apply for an Employment Pass for a foreign employee: MOM's key facts say the employer, or an appointed employment agent, applies, and MOM's form lets an employer authorise an outsourced service provider for its work pass transactions. The MOM pages read for this guide do not say whether that employee may also own the company; ACRA's requirements page lists an Employment Pass holder among those who may be a business's local resident. The application is the company's, as employer, and it must meet the same two stages as any other: the qualifying salary (S$5,600 a month for new applications today, rising with age, S$6,000 from 1 January 2027, and higher in financial services) and at least 40 points under COMPASS. MOM's page notes that a firm with fewer than 25 professionals, managers, executives and technicians scores 10 points by default on each of the two firm criteria, so a company with fewer than 25 such employees, as a new company usually is, has 20 of the 40 points by default and the rest comes from the candidate's salary and qualifications, or from MOM's two bonus criteria (a job on the Shortage Occupation List; a firm in a strategic economic programme). Unless the job is exempt, the employer must advertise it on MyCareersFuture under the Fair Consideration Framework before applying.
MOM's application page gives S$105 to apply, an online application processed or given an update within ten business days, an in-principle approval that serves as a single-entry visa for six months, S$225 when the pass is issued, and a first pass of up to two years. ACRA notes that an Employment Pass holder who wants to register a business or take a role must first seek a Letter of Consent from MOM.
The two routes differ in what they ask for. MOM's EntrePass page asks for a venture-backed or technology business, and its key facts set no salary. MOM's Employment Pass page asks for a salary the company can pay and a candidate who scores, and names no kind of business. Which one fits is a question for the founder's own plan and, if one is engaged, a consultant.
From the pass to permanent residence
ICA lists the holder of an Employment Pass or S Pass among those who may apply for permanent residence, and says it weighs economic contributions, qualifications, age, family profile and length of residency among other factors. ICA's page names no separate test for a founder's company. ICA's own fee is S$100 per application and it processes applications within six months when the documents are in order; the guide on permanent residence on this site has the detail.
What a consultant does on this route
On the entrepreneur route a consultant's work is mostly company work: the incorporation through a registered corporate service provider, the local director and secretary at the start, the business plan and the pass application, and then the company's filings while the founder builds a record. ACRA's page says BizFile's entity search shows whether an entity is a registered corporate service provider, and MOM decides every pass. The ranked list of immigration consultants says, for each provider, what it handles and which registrations it holds.