Who qualifies for the Personalised Employment Pass in Singapore?

The PEP is for high-earning Employment Pass holders or overseas foreign professionals who can show a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500, benchmarked to the top 10% of EP holders. If you are applying from overseas, your last drawn salary must have been within the 6 months before you apply. The candidate applies directly to the Ministry of Manpower; there is no sponsoring employer.

How is the PEP different from an Employment Pass (EP)?

The main difference is that the PEP is not tied to a single employer, so the holder can change jobs across sectors without applying for a new pass, whereas an EP is tied to the sponsoring employer. The PEP also has a higher salary bar (S$22,500 a month) and an annual income floor. The trade-off is that the PEP is issued only once, lasts up to 3 years and is non-renewable, while an EP can be renewed.

What salary do I need to keep a PEP?

To keep the PEP, you must earn a fixed salary of at least S$270,000 per calendar year, regardless of the number of months you are employed that year. Anyone who applied before 1 September 2023 must earn at least S$144,000 per calendar year instead. You must notify MOM of your annual income by 31 January of the following year.

Can I be unemployed while holding a PEP?

You can remain in Singapore for up to 6 months without a job to search for new employment, which is one of the pass’s key advantages. However, if you are unemployed for more than 6 months at any point, the pass must be cancelled. You must also stay within the annual income requirement, which does not reduce based on how many months you worked.

Can I start a business on a PEP?

No. You cannot start a business or carry out entrepreneurial activity on a PEP. If you want to run a business, the appropriate routes are the EntrePass or the ONE Pass instead. The PEP is also not available to sole proprietors, partners, or directors who are also shareholders of an ACRA-registered company, nor to freelancers or EP holders under the sponsorship scheme.

Does a PEP holder pay a foreign worker levy or come under a quota?

No. There is no foreign worker levy and no quota attached to a PEP holder. Eligible family members can also be brought in on the relevant passes. Note that professional registration rules still apply in regulated fields such as medicine, dentistry, law and architecture, and you cannot work in restricted occupations such as media and religion.

Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) 2026: Eligibility & How It Differs From an EP

Published: 2 July 2026 · Last reviewed: 7 October 2026 · Reviewed by Ray Tay, Co-Founder & Managing Director, VIVOS PTE. LTD. (ACRA Filing Agent FA20240323 · MOM EA Licence 24S2425)

Who Qualifies For Singapore’s Personalised Employment Pass, And How is it Different From an EP?

The Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) is for high-earning Employment Pass holders or overseas foreign professionals who can show a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500. Unlike an Employment Pass, which is tied to one sponsoring employer, the PEP is not tied to any employer, the holder can change jobs across sectors without reapplying. The trade-off is that the PEP is issued once, lasts up to 3 years and is non-renewable, requires continuous employment (no more than 6 months unemployed at any point), and the holder must earn at least S$270,000 per calendar year to keep it. The candidate applies directly to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Table Of Content

What is The PEP?

The Personalised Employment Pass is a work pass granted by the Ministry of Manpower to a select group of established professionals: high-earning Employment Pass holders already working in Singapore, and overseas foreign professionals who can demonstrate a comparable salary. Its defining feature is flexibility. Where an ordinary Employment Pass belongs, in effect, to the employer who sponsors it, cancel the job and the pass falls away, the PEP belongs to the individual. The holder can move between employers and across sectors without applying for a new pass each time, which makes it valuable to senior professionals who expect to change roles during their time in Singapore.

That freedom comes with a higher bar and tighter conditions, because the PEP is designed for the upper tier of the foreign professional workforce. The salary threshold is benchmarked to the top earners among Employment Pass holders, and the pass carries an annual income floor, a continuous-employment rule and a hard limit on its lifespan. The sections below set out exactly who qualifies, what it takes to keep the pass, and how it sits alongside the EP and the ONE Pass.

Who Qualifies (Eligibility)

To be eligible for a PEP you must show a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500. MOM benchmarks this figure to the top 10% of Employment Pass holders, which is what positions the PEP as a pass for high earners rather than a general work pass. “Fixed monthly salary” means your guaranteed monthly pay, excluding variable components such as bonuses that are not guaranteed.

Who can apply depends on where you are coming from:

High-earning Employment Pass holders already working in Singapore, who meet the salary bar.
Overseas foreign professionals who meet the salary bar. If you are applying from overseas, your last drawn salary must have been within the 6 months before you apply, so that the figure is recent and verifiable.

Importantly, the candidate applies directly to MOM. Unlike the Employment Pass, there is no sponsoring employer lodging the application on your behalf; the PEP is granted to you as an individual.

Conditions To Keep The PEP

Eligibility gets you the pass; two ongoing conditions keep it valid. Both matter, because failing either can cost you the pass.

Continuous employment. You must remain in employment in Singapore. If you are unemployed for more than 6 months at any point, the pass must be cancelled. (The PEP does allow a search window, see Flexibility & features, but it is bounded by this six-month rule.)
Annual income floor. You must earn a fixed salary of at least S$270,000 per calendar year, regardless of how many months you are employed that year. In other words, taking time between jobs does not reduce the annual figure you are expected to hit.

One transitional point is worth noting for existing holders: anyone who applied before 1 September 2023 must earn at least S$144,000 per calendar year, rather than the higher S$270,000 figure that applies to more recent applicants. If you are unsure which threshold applies to you, confirm it against your pass conditions and with MOM.

Duration & Why It’s Non-Renewable

The PEP is valid for up to 3 years and is non-renewable, it is issued only once. This is the single most important planning point about the pass, and the one most often misunderstood. There is no extension and no second PEP. When the PEP expires, the holder needs an Employment Pass or S Pass to keep working in Singapore.

Practically, that means a PEP is best treated as a flexible bridge rather than a permanent status. Professionals who expect to settle into a stable role with one employer often plan, before the PEP lapses, to move onto an Employment Pass tied to that employer, or, if they meet the much higher bar, onto a longer-dated pass such as the ONE Pass. Building that transition into your timeline early avoids a scramble in the final months of the pass.

Flexibility & Features

The PEP’s appeal is the freedom it gives a senior professional who is not wedded to a single employer. Its main features are:

Work in any sector. You can hold a job in any sector, not just the field you entered Singapore in.
Change jobs without reapplying. There is no need to apply for a new pass when you change employer, a key contrast with the Employment Pass.
A job-search window. You may remain in Singapore for up to 6 months without a job while you search for new employment (subject to the continuous-employment rule above).
Family passes. Eligible family members can be brought in on the relevant passes.
No levy or quota. There is no foreign worker levy and no quota attached to a PEP holder.
Annual income declaration. You must notify MOM of your annual income by 31 January of the following year.
Professional registration still applies. Holding a PEP does not waive sector licensing, professional registration rules still apply in regulated fields such as medicine, dentistry, law and architecture.

Who is Not Eligible, And What You Cannot do?

The PEP is deliberately narrow, and several groups are excluded. You are not eligible for a PEP if you are:

an Employment Pass holder under the sponsorship scheme;
a freelancer; or
a sole proprietor, partner, or a director who is also a shareholder of an ACRA-registered company.
There are also limits on what you can do on a PEP once you hold one:
You cannot start a business or carry out entrepreneurial activity on a PEP. If your goal is to run a business, the appropriate routes are the EntrePass or the ONE Pass instead.
You cannot work in restricted occupations, such as media and religion.

If any of these apply to you, the PEP is not the right pass, and it is worth taking advice on which work pass actually fits your situation before you apply.

PEP vs EP vs ONE Pass: a Side-by-Side Comparison

The PEP sits between the standard Employment Pass and the top-tier ONE Pass. The Employment Pass is the workhorse pass for professionals with a job offer; the ONE Pass targets the very top of the global talent pool; and the PEP serves established high earners who want job flexibility without committing to a single employer. The table below compares the three on the points that matter most.

Employment Pass vs ONE Pass vs Personalised Employment Pass (current as at June 2026)

Feature	Employment Pass (EP)	ONE Pass	Personalised Employment Pass (PEP)
Who it’s for	Professionals, managers & executives with a Singapore job offer	Top-tier talent (business, arts/culture, sports, academia/research)	High-earning EP holders or overseas professionals
Min. fixed monthly salary	From S$5,600 (S$6,200 financial services), rising with age to S$10,700 / S$11,800 at 45+; from 1 January 2027, S$6,000 (S$6,600) for new applications	S$30,000 (or qualify via outstanding achievement)	S$22,500 (and at least S$270,000 per calendar year)
COMPASS points test	Yes, score 40 (unless exempt)	Exempt	Exempt
Tied to an employer	Yes	No	No (change jobs freely)
Duration	Up to 2 yrs (first), 3 yrs (renewal); up to 5 yrs for tech SOL roles	Up to 5 years	Up to 3 years
Renewable	Yes	Yes (5 yrs each)	No (issued once)
Run a business	Restricted	Yes	No (use EntrePass / ONE Pass)
Who applies	Employer / agent	Candidate, or employer / agent	Candidate, directly

How To Apply?

Because the PEP is granted to the individual, the candidate applies directly to MOM, there is no employer sponsoring the application. Before applying, the two practical things to get right are the salary evidence and the recency rule:

Salary evidence. Be ready to show a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500. For applicants coming from overseas, remember that your last drawn salary must have been within the 6 months before you apply, so timing matters if you have recently left a role.
Eligibility check. Confirm you are not in an excluded category (sponsorship-scheme EP holder, freelancer, or sole proprietor/partner/shareholder-director) before you start.

Given the pass is issued only once, lasts up to three years and is non-renewable, it is worth planning the application and your eventual transition off the PEP together. This is where structured advice helps: getting the salary documentation in order, checking your eligibility against the exclusions, and mapping out the move back onto an Employment Pass (or onto a longer-dated pass) before the PEP expires.

Key Takeaways

The PEP is for high-earning EP holders or overseas professionals with a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500 (benchmarked to the top 10% of EP holders).
Unlike an EP, the PEP is not tied to an employer, you can change jobs across sectors without reapplying.
To keep it, you must stay continuously employed (no more than 6 months unemployed at any point) and earn at least S$270,000 per calendar year (S$144,000 if you applied before 1 September 2023).
The PEP lasts up to 3 years and is non-renewable, it is issued once. After it expires you need an EP or S Pass to keep working.
Benefits include no levy or quota, up to 6 months in Singapore without a job to search, and family passes; you must declare annual income by 31 January of the following year.
You cannot run a business on a PEP (use EntrePass or ONE Pass) or work in restricted fields such as media and religion; freelancers, sponsorship-scheme EP holders and shareholder-directors are not eligible.

Thinking about a PEP, or moving to Singapore?

The right work pass depends on your salary, your role and your plans. VIVOS advises professionals and businesses on Singapore immigration and relocation, from choosing the correct pass to preparing the application and planning the transition before a non-renewable pass expires.

Frequently
Asked Questions

Who qualifies for the Personalised Employment Pass in Singapore?

The PEP is for high-earning Employment Pass holders or overseas foreign professionals who can show a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500, benchmarked to the top 10% of EP holders. If you are applying from overseas, your last drawn salary must have been within the 6 months before you apply. The candidate applies directly to the Ministry of Manpower; there is no sponsoring employer.
How is the PEP different from an Employment Pass (EP)?

The main difference is that the PEP is not tied to a single employer, so the holder can change jobs across sectors without applying for a new pass, whereas an EP is tied to the sponsoring employer. The PEP also has a higher salary bar (S$22,500 a month) and an annual income floor. The trade-off is that the PEP is issued only once, lasts up to 3 years and is non-renewable, while an EP can be renewed.
What salary do I need to keep a PEP?

To keep the PEP, you must earn a fixed salary of at least S$270,000 per calendar year, regardless of the number of months you are employed that year. Anyone who applied before 1 September 2023 must earn at least S$144,000 per calendar year instead. You must notify MOM of your annual income by 31 January of the following year.
Can the PEP be renewed?

No. The PEP is valid for up to 3 years and is non-renewable, it is issued only once. When the PEP expires, the holder needs an Employment Pass or S Pass to keep working in Singapore. Because there is no extension, it is best to plan your transition onto another pass before the PEP lapses.
Can I be unemployed while holding a PEP?

You can remain in Singapore for up to 6 months without a job to search for new employment, which is one of the pass’s key advantages. However, if you are unemployed for more than 6 months at any point, the pass must be cancelled. You must also stay within the annual income requirement, which does not reduce based on how many months you worked.
Can I start a business on a PEP?

No. You cannot start a business or carry out entrepreneurial activity on a PEP. If you want to run a business, the appropriate routes are the EntrePass or the ONE Pass instead. The PEP is also not available to sole proprietors, partners, or directors who are also shareholders of an ACRA-registered company, nor to freelancers or EP holders under the sponsorship scheme.
Does a PEP holder pay a foreign worker levy or come under a quota?

No. There is no foreign worker levy and no quota attached to a PEP holder. Eligible family members can also be brought in on the relevant passes. Note that professional registration rules still apply in regulated fields such as medicine, dentistry, law and architecture, and you cannot work in restricted occupations such as media and religion.