Singapore ONE Pass for Foreign Founders (2026)

All thresholds below are drawn from the Ministry of Manpower and were verified in June 2026. Where a figure is the subject of an announced but not yet fully published change, we flag it.

Most Singapore work passes assume you are an employee with one sponsoring company. The ONE Pass does not, and that single difference is what makes it powerful for a founder.

• No employer lock-in. The pass belongs to you, not to a company. You can incorporate, hire yourself, advise other startups, and sit on boards, all on the same pass.
• Run your own business. You can operate your own Singapore company while the pass is active, which the renewal rules explicitly recognise (see the renewal section).
• Five-year horizon. A founder rarely wants to re-apply every two years during the most fragile phase of a company. Five years removes that friction.
• Family can work too. Your spouse can get a Letter of Consent to take a job or start their own venture, rather than needing a separate work pass. For a founding couple, that matters.

The trade-off is the bar. The salary route asks for a fixed S$30,000 a month, which is high. That is exactly why the achievements route below is worth understanding, because it is the path most founder guides skip.

There are two ways in, and they are assessed completely differently.

Route 1: the salary track

You qualify if you earn a fixed monthly salary of at least S$30,000 for the 12 consecutive months leading up to your application, or you will earn at least S$30,000 a month under an established company based in Singapore. The salary must be fixed (basic pay), not bonuses or allowances. If you drew salary from more than one employer during those 12 months, that can still count.

This route suits a founder who has already been paying themselves at that level abroad, or a senior operator joining or relocating a well-established Singapore business.

Route 2: the achievements track (the founder's underused door)

You can apply without meeting the salary threshold if you have an outstanding record in one of three areas:

• Sports
• Arts and culture
• Academia and research

This is the route that pre-revenue or pre-salary founders most often overlook, and it is also the most misunderstood. A common error in online guides is to list "science and technology" as a fourth achievements area. It is not one. Technology and AI founders are instead the focus of a separate, newer track described below, not the achievements route. If your standing is in research or academia, though, the achievements route is genuinely open and does not require you to hit S$30,000.

This is the part technology founders should read carefully, because it changes the picture from 1 January 2027.

At the March 2026 Committee of Supply debate, the Ministry of Manpower announced a new ONE Pass (AI and Tech) track, effective 1 January 2027, which will replace the existing Tech.Pass. The key points, as announced:

• The threshold is a single one: at least S$30,000 a month total. It can be met by combining a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500 with vested non-cash components such as stock options (ESOP or ESOW), subject to assessment. This is one threshold reached by a combination, not two separate routes.
• You need at least five cumulative years of experience within the past ten years, in a founder, C-suite, or technical role.
• Your current or most recent employment must be in a technology company, a technology division, or a technology venture capital firm.
• The employer is expected to clear a financial benchmark, for example a valuation of at least US$500 million, revenue of at least US$200 million, assets under management of at least US$500 million, or at least US$30 million raised.
• It is expected to carry the same five-year validity as the broader ONE Pass.

Because this track is announced but its full guidelines are still being finalised ahead of launch, treat the detail as indicative and confirm against MOM before you build a plan around it. If your case leans on vested equity rather than a high cash salary, this track may suit you better than the standard salary route, so the timing of your application around the transition is worth planning.

The process is run through MOM's online services. Here is the sequence and what each step involves.

1. Check your route. Decide whether you are applying on salary or achievements. They need different evidence.
2. Gather documents. Passport, educational and professional records, and proof of salary (12 months of fixed pay) or your evidence of outstanding achievement.
3. Submit online to MOM. The application and the S$105 fee are submitted through MOM's portal.
4. Wait for assessment. MOM states most cases are processed within 4 weeks; achievements and complex cases can take longer. MOM may ask for more documents.
5. Receive the In-Principle Approval (IPA). If approved, you get an IPA letter, valid for 6 months, telling you how to get the pass issued. If refused, you can appeal within 3 months.
6. Get the pass issued. Pay the S$225 issuance fee, complete biometrics at MOM's services centre once in Singapore, and collect your pass. An optional multiple journey visa is S$30.

Indicative timeline

The table below is a planning guide. MOM sets the actual processing time and does not guarantee a turnaround.

The ONE Pass renews for another five years if, at renewal, you meet one of the following:

• You earned a fixed monthly salary averaging at least S$30,000 over the past five years in Singapore, or
• You started and are operating a Singapore-based company that employs at least five locals, each earning a gross monthly salary at least equal to the prevailing Employment Pass minimum qualifying salary (S$5,600 a month in 2026 for the general sector, S$6,200 for financial services, rising to S$6,000 and S$6,600 from 1 January 2027 for new cases).

The second limb is the founder's path, and it is the reason the ONE Pass rewards actually building something in Singapore. You do not have to keep personally earning S$30,000 if you have instead built a company that employs locals at a real wage. There is no obligation to surrender the pass mid-term if your salary dips; MOM assesses the average across the five years at renewal, so keep clean records of your employment and your company's local hiring.

Advantages

• Five-year validity, far longer than the EP's two to three years.
• No employer sponsor, so you control your own status.
• You can run your own company and work for others at the same time.
• Spouse gets a Letter of Consent to work or start a business.
• COMPASS does not apply, removing a layer of uncertainty that EP applicants face.
• A renewal path that explicitly rewards building a local-hiring company.

Limitations

• The salary route's S$30,000 bar is high and out of reach for many early founders.
• The achievements route is narrow, only three fields, and demands strong documented recognition.
• It is a work pass, not residency; permanent residence is a separate application.
• Renewal requires either sustained high earnings or a genuinely operating local-hiring company, so it is not a passive five years.

A founder choosing where to base themselves is rarely looking only at Singapore. Here is how the ONE Pass sits against the two most common alternatives for the same profile. This is a high-level orientation; see the dedicated guides for each.

For the detail on the alternatives, see our guides on the UAE Golden Visa and the Hong Kong route for entrepreneurs.

If you are still weighing which pass fits your situation, start with our Singapore Work Visa Guide for Foreign Founders (2026), which compares every pass side by side.

When you are ready to apply and want a licensed provider to handle the submission, see our comparison of Singapore work pass providers.

This guide is for general information and is not immigration or legal advice. Figures were verified against the Ministry of Manpower in June 2026; the ONE Pass (AI and Tech) track for 2027 is based on the March 2026 Committee of Supply announcement and its full guidelines are still being finalised. Always confirm current requirements at mom.gov.sg before applying.