The Singapore COMPASS framework is the single most-misunderstood part of the Employment Pass application. Most candidates are told the magic number is 40 — score 40 points, get the EP — but few are walked through how the 40 are actually built, where the points come from, and which of the six criteria offer leverage if a candidate is short.
This guide unpacks the COMPASS framework as it stands at 28 April 2026, after the 1 January 2026 salary-benchmark and educational-list updates took effect. We will work through the four foundational criteria (C1 to C4), the two bonus criteria (C5 and C6), and the practical paths an under-scoring candidate can take to reach 40. Along the way, we will flag the renewal trap that catches employers in mid-2026: thresholds applicable to new EPs from January 2026 also apply to renewals of EPs expiring from 1 July 2026.
For background on the EP itself, see The Complete Singapore Employment Pass Guide 2026. For the parallel S Pass scoring framework, see The Complete Singapore S Pass Guide 2026.
What Is the Singapore COMPASS Framework?
The Complementarity Assessment Framework — COMPASS — is the points-based system used by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to assess Employment Pass applications and renewals. Per MOM’s Employment Pass eligibility page, every EP candidate (other than those exempted) must earn at least 40 points across six criteria.
The 40-point pass mark applies in the same form to new applications and to renewals. There are limited COMPASS exemptions: candidates earning a fixed monthly salary at or above S$22,500, candidates filling a role for one month or less, and overseas intra-corporate transferees under certain trade agreements. Everyone else has to score.
C1 — Salary: The Largest Single Lever
C1 awards points based on how the candidate’s fixed monthly salary compares to local PMET salaries in the same sector and age band:
- 0 points: salary below the 65th percentile.
- 10 points: at or above the 65th percentile.
- 20 points: at or above the 90th percentile.
The benchmarks are sector-specific. The financial services sector carries the highest cut-offs, and benchmarks step up by age band — a 45-year-old PMET in finance is held to a higher bar than a 28-year-old in retail. MOM publishes the full benchmark table in its key facts resource.
Per MOM, the 1 January 2026 update raised the 65th-percentile benchmarks by an average of about 5% and the 90th-percentile benchmarks by about 4%. The new benchmarks apply to all EP applications submitted from 1 January 2026 and to all EP renewals where the existing pass expires from 1 July 2026 onwards.
The renewal implication is the one that quietly fails. An EP holder hired in 2024 at a salary that just cleared the 65th percentile of the day may, by mid-2026 renewal, be sitting below the new 65th percentile. The salary line stays the same in dollars, but the benchmark moves under it. The candidate loses 10 points at renewal. If the rest of the COMPASS profile is thin, renewal is at risk.
Salary is the biggest single lever in COMPASS. Where a candidate is short on points elsewhere, paying above benchmark is often the cleanest way to recover them.
C2 — Qualifications: 0, 10 or 20 Points
C2 rewards verified educational qualifications:
- 0 points: no degree or non-recognised institution.
- 10 points: degree from an accredited institution, or a recognised “degree-equivalent” professional qualification.
- 20 points: degree from an institution on MOM’s Top-Tier list (refreshed for 2026 and effective for new EP applications from 1 January 2026).
The Top-Tier list is curated and tracks global rankings. It includes the Ivy League and Russell Group plus a representative selection of Asian, Australian and continental European universities. Singapore’s NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD and SUSS are on the list. Crucially, MOM only awards C2 points for institutions on the version of the Top-Tier list that was in force on the date the EP application was submitted. This is why MOM updates the list periodically — applications keyed in on 31 December 2025 are scored against the 2025 list, while those keyed in on 1 January 2026 are scored against the 2026 list.
A common 2026 mistake: assuming a degree-equivalent professional qualification (CFA, CPA, ACCA, Bar) earns 20 points. It earns 10. The 20-point band is reserved for Top-Tier degree institutions only.
For employer education-verification mechanics, see our piece on MOM 2026 education verification.
C3 — Diversity: The Firm-Level Score
C3 is awarded at the company level, not the candidate level. Points reward firms whose PMET workforce is not dominated by a single foreign nationality:
- 0 points: candidate’s nationality forms ≥25% of the firm’s PMET workforce.
- 10 points: candidate’s nationality forms 5% to less than 25%.
- 20 points: candidate’s nationality forms less than 5%.
This is the criterion that catches small foreign-owned firms — a 12-person tech subsidiary where eight PMETs are from the same country will score zero on C3, regardless of how strong each candidate is individually. Per MOM’s design, that zero is intentional: COMPASS is meant to nudge firms toward nationality diversity.
Practical fix: review the C3 score before hiring, not at application. If the firm is concentrated, the next two foreign hires should ideally come from different passports. Our diversity trap article walks through this in more detail.
C4 — Support for Local Employment
C4 rewards firms whose share of local (Singapore citizen and PR) PMETs is at or above the median for their sector:
- 0 points: below the 20th percentile of local PMET share for the sub-sector.
- 10 points: 20th to less than 50th percentile.
- 20 points: at or above the 50th percentile.
Like C3, this is a firm-level metric. It is calculated from the firm’s most recent CPF contribution data, so the only way to move it is to change the firm’s actual local PMET hiring pattern. Newly-incorporated firms with fewer than 25 employees are exempt from C4 scoring (the metric defaults to 10 points).
C5 — Shortage Occupation List (SOL): The 20-Point Bonus
C5 awards 20 bonus points if the candidate’s role appears on MOM’s Shortage Occupation List. The 2026 SOL was refreshed effective 1 January 2026 and continues to feature roles in technology (AI engineers, cybersecurity specialists, full-stack developers), healthcare (registered nurses, certain clinical specialists), engineering, and selected niche financial roles.
The C5 bonus has an additional benefit beyond points: roles on the technology cluster of the SOL may qualify the EP holder for a five-year pass duration on first issuance, instead of the standard two years, where both the SOL criterion and the technology EP salary criterion are satisfied. This is a significant retention lever for technology employers.
For a strategic view of how to position tech roles into the SOL framework, see our tech talent playbook.
C6 — Strategic Economic Priorities: The 10-Point Bonus
C6 awards 10 bonus points where the firm participates in an approved economic-development scheme administered by the Economic Development Board (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), or another government agency. Examples include EDB’s Pioneer Certificate, certain Development & Expansion Incentive arrangements, and Enterprise Singapore’s Scale-up programmes.
For most SMEs, C6 is not in play. For multinationals with EDB-anchored Singapore operations, C6 is a quiet, durable 10 points across every EP application — a meaningful margin when other criteria are uncertain.
Worked Example: Building 40 Points in 2026
Consider a 32-year-old data scientist offered S$8,500 per month at a 40-person Singapore tech subsidiary, holding a degree from an Indian university not on the Top-Tier list, where 22% of PMETs are Indian nationals.
- C1 Salary: 10 points (at the 65th percentile but below the 90th for the technology benchmark band).
- C2 Qualifications: 10 points (degree, but not Top-Tier).
- C3 Diversity: 10 points (nationality concentration 5% to less than 25%).
- C4 Local PMET: assume 10 points.
- C5 SOL: 20 points (role on technology SOL).
- C6 EDB scheme: 0 points.
Total: 60 points. Comfortably over 40. The same candidate, in a non-tech role outside the SOL, would land at 40 points exactly — a pass, but with no margin for change.
Now suppose the firm hires a third Indian PMET, pushing C3 to 0. The candidate now has 50 (with SOL) or 30 (without) — and in the second case, the EP fails. This is why C3 monitoring matters at the firm level, not just the candidate level.
How to Recover Points When You Are Short
Five practical levers, in order of how quickly they move the score:
Lever 1 — Raise the salary above the 90th percentile. 10 → 20 on C1. Fastest, fully within the employer’s control. Often the right answer for a senior hire.
Lever 2 — Verify Top-Tier institution status. If the candidate’s degree institution sits on the 2026 Top-Tier list, ensure the C2 entry is captured correctly. 10 → 20 on C2.
Lever 3 — Diversify the firm’s foreign hiring. Slower (the next hire must be a different nationality), but fixes C3 structurally. 0 → 10 or 10 → 20.
Lever 4 — Check whether the role qualifies for the SOL. Not always obvious — MOM’s SOL covers job functions, not job titles. A role described as “growth marketer” may not score; described as “data analyst, growth”, it may. 0 → 20 on C5.
Lever 5 — Confirm any active EDB or Enterprise Singapore scheme membership. Many firms forget they hold an EDB Pioneer Certificate. 0 → 10 on C6.
For appeal mechanics where COMPASS scoring is part of the rejection reasoning, see our work pass appeal guide.
The Mid-2026 Renewal Window
The single most important date in 2026 is 1 July 2026: from that day, all EP renewals are scored against the new 1 January 2026 benchmarks. Employers should pull a list of every EP holder whose pass expires between July 2026 and December 2026, and re-score each candidate against the 2026 benchmarks now. Where the renewal-COMPASS profile is below 40, the choice between a salary uplift and a non-renewal is one to make early — not the day MOM rejects the renewal application.
Our sister-site COMPASS guide on Raffles Corporate Services walks through the same framework from the corporate-services perspective.
Conclusion
The Singapore COMPASS framework rewards firms and candidates who are above-benchmark on salary, qualified at top-tier institutions, diverse in nationality mix, supportive of local PMET hiring, in shortage occupations, and aligned with strategic economic priorities. Few candidates score on all six. Most need to know which of the six are doing the heavy lifting — and which are the soft spots — before the EP application is filed. The 1 January 2026 benchmark uplift, biting on renewals from 1 July 2026, makes the diagnostic conversation more urgent, not less.
If you are an employer trying to read the COMPASS scores of your existing EP holders, or a candidate trying to understand whether your offer is COMPASS-strong before you sign, our team at Singapore Employment Agency (the consumer brand of Little Big Employment Agency Pte Ltd, MOM Licence 19C9790) runs a structured COMPASS diagnostic on every brief. Where the corporate side of the equation needs work — incorporation, EDB scheme participation, payroll structuring — we coordinate with our sister firm Raffles Corporate Services.
— The Editorial Team, Little Big Employment Agency