Pathway

Singapore Entrepreneur Visa

Singapore Residency

Last updated August 20, 2026

Pathway overview

At a glance

Singapore's EntrePass is for founders of innovative, venture-oriented businesses that Singapore wants to attract. It generally requires a qualifying company, founder credentials, and evidence that the business fits an approved innovation track.

Type: Business residence
Business fit: Founder with at least 30% of a venture-backed or innovative-technology private limited company
Core requirements: Qualifying company plus at least one exact funding, accelerator, exit, IP, or research criterion
What to know: Meeting the listed requirements does not guarantee approval; the authority retains discretion
Duration: Initial EntrePass is usually issued for 1 year.
Renewal / path: Renewals depend on meeting business spending and local hiring milestones.

Summary

Singapore's EntrePass is for a serial entrepreneur, high-calibre innovator, or experienced investor who will operate a Singapore business that is venture-backed or owns innovative technologies. It is not a general self-employment permit and is not designed for an ordinary consulting practice, retail shop, restaurant, or other conventional local business.

The applicant must have started, or intend to start, an ACRA-registered private limited company and must hold at least 30% of the registered company. The company must be venture-backed or own innovative technologies, and the founder must meet at least one of MOM's current evidence categories.

There is no stipulated minimum salary. The hard part is proving the founder and company profile, then building enough genuine business activity, Singapore spending, and local workforce to renew the pass.

Eligibility

The company must be a Singapore private limited company registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, or one the applicant genuinely intends to establish. The pass holder must own at least 30% after registration. If the company is already more than 12 months old when the application is made, MOM assesses it against the renewal criteria rather than treating it as a new startup case.

The company must also be venture-backed or own innovative technologies. In addition, the applicant must meet at least one current founder criterion:

Funding: the applicant raised at least SGD 100,000 in a single funding round for a past or current business from qualifying investors.
Incubator or accelerator support: the business is or will be supported by a government-recognized or internationally renowned incubator or accelerator.
Prior technology-business exit: the applicant founded and sold a business that was venture-backed or owned innovative technologies, and can prove the founding role and sale under the applicant's management.
Intellectual property: the registered or proposed business holds IP registered with an approved national IP institution, and that IP gives the business a significant competitive advantage that is not easily replicated.
Singapore research collaboration: the business has a relevant ongoing collaboration with a Singapore institute of higher learning or research institution. The applicant must be involved, the work must relate to the business, and a contact at the institution must verify it. A service contract is not a research collaboration.

MOM's current page does not list a generic “strong founder track record” as a free-standing substitute. The evidence must fit one of the defined categories.

MOM expressly excludes coffee shops, hawker centers, food courts, bars, night clubs, karaoke lounges, foot-reflexology and massage businesses, acupuncture and traditional-medicine or herbal-dispensing businesses, employment agencies, and geomancy businesses.

The application requires a business plan and documents supporting the chosen criterion, together with passport and company records. A person can apply directly; a Singapore employer sponsor is not required in the way it is for an Employment Pass.

What This Route Allows

An approved EntrePass allows the holder to live in Singapore and operate the qualifying company. The new pass and first renewal can each be valid for up to one year. Later renewals can be valid for up to two years.

Renewal is not based only on keeping the company registered. The holder must continue to own at least 30%, claim the company profile on Startup SG Network, show venture backing or innovative technology, demonstrate ongoing business activity and progress, provide current financial statements, and meet the applicable Total Business Spending and Local Workforce figures.

MOM's current renewal table starts with no stated spending or workforce minimum for the first renewal, then progresses as follows:

second renewal: SGD 100,000 annual Total Business Spending and one Local Workforce unit;
third: SGD 200,000 and two;
fourth: SGD 300,000 and three;
fifth: SGD 400,000 and four; and
later cycles continue rising, reaching SGD 1.15 million and ten Local Workforce units at the eleventh cycle.

MOM defines how Total Business Spending and Local Workforce are calculated. Founder remuneration, overseas outsourcing, some royalty or technical-fee payments, and other excluded costs do not simply count toward spending. Local Workforce uses qualifying Singapore citizens and PRs on direct payroll with CPF contributions, under a formula that treats professional employees and Local Qualifying Salary employees differently.

Family passes are possible only after separate business thresholds or alternative founder achievements are met. MOM currently allows a spouse and qualifying children where the business has SGD 100,000 annual spending and one Local Workforce unit, or where one of the listed high-level founder alternatives is proven. Parents generally require SGD 200,000 and two Local Workforce units.

An EntrePass holder may separately apply for permanent residence through ICA, but EntrePass does not automatically convert to PR after a set period.

What This Route Is Not

EntrePass is not:

a freelance, remote-work, or basic consulting visa;
approval based only on incorporating a company;
a route based only on having investment funds;
a way to use friends-and-family funding without meeting the investor rule;
available through a vague claim that a business is “innovative”;
guaranteed to renew after the first year;
automatic family sponsorship; or
direct permanent residence or citizenship.

The business must match the plan and remain active. MOM can request evidence, Enterprise Singapore can engage or audit the holder, and the pass should be canceled if the business closes.

Next Steps

Choose the one founder criterion that can be proved most clearly. Gather the funding agreement, accelerator letter, sale documents, IP registration, or research-collaboration verification before filing.
Confirm that the company is or will be an ACRA private limited company, that the applicant will own at least 30%, and that the company is venture-backed or owns innovative technology.
Check the incorporation date. A company more than 12 months old is assessed using renewal standards.
Prepare the business plan and MOM document package. Ensure that the market, technology, founder role, Singapore operations, funding, IP, hiring, and spending evidence agree.
Apply directly through MOM's current EntrePass process and wait for the in-principle approval before relying on the pass.
After issuance, establish real operations, keep current ACRA and bank records, claim the Startup SG Network profile, and preserve invoices, contracts, payroll, CPF, and financial statements.
Map the company against the renewal-cycle table well before the three-month renewal window. Use MOM's definitions rather than ordinary accounting assumptions for spending and workforce.
If bringing family or later applying for PR, use the separate MOM or ICA criteria and do not assume the EntrePass alone is sufficient.

Singapore Entrepreneur Visa

At a glance

Summary

Eligibility

What This Route Allows

What This Route Is Not

Next Steps

Related pathways

Norway Self-Employed Worker Residence

Sweden Residence for Self-Employed People

Germany Self-Employed Business Visa

Sources