Getting the salary right is no longer enough to secure an Employment Pass for a foreign hire. Since the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) came into force, MOM assesses every non-exempt Employment Pass application on a points system that looks well beyond the pay cheque, and from 1 January 2026 the salary benchmarks under this framework were revised again. Is your EP application COMPASS-ready? Many Singapore employers still trip over the same five avoidable mistakes when they submit, and each one can turn a straightforward hire into a rejected application or a drawn-out appeal.
Who this applies to
This guide is for any Singapore-registered employer, HR manager or foreign candidate involved in an Employment Pass application or renewal in 2026. It applies whether you are hiring your first foreign professional, renewing a pass for a long-serving employee, or restructuring your PMET headcount ahead of a COMPASS assessment. It is particularly relevant if your firm has more than 25 professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), since that is the point at which the diversity and local employment criteria start to bite. Candidates whose fixed monthly salary is SGD 22,500 or more, those filling a role for one month or less, and certain intra-corporate transferees under an applicable free trade agreement remain exempt from COMPASS scoring, though they must still meet the general Employment Pass qualifying salary and other Employment of Foreign Manpower Act requirements.
Key rules and requirements in Singapore
An Employment Pass application has two separate hurdles. First, the candidate must meet the qualifying salary set by MOM, which for 2026 starts at SGD 5,600 a month for most sectors and SGD 6,200 for financial services, rising progressively with age to SGD 10,700 and SGD 11,800 respectively for candidates aged 45 and above. Second, unless exempt, the application must clear COMPASS with a minimum of 40 points drawn from four foundational criteria and, where applicable, two bonus criteria.
The four foundational criteria are C1 Salary (how the offer compares with local PMET pay for someone of similar age and sector), C2 Qualifications (the candidate’s degree or professional credentials), C3 Diversity (the share of your PMET workforce already from the candidate’s nationality) and C4 Support for Local Employment (how your local PMET headcount compares with peers in the same subsector). Firms with fewer than 25 PMETs automatically receive 10 points on both C3 and C4, a meaningful cushion for smaller employers. The two bonus criteria, C5 Skills Bonus and C6 Strategic Economic Priorities, reward roles on the Shortage Occupation List and firms in recognised government schemes such as the Development and Expansion Incentive.
Updated C1 salary benchmarks apply to new Employment Pass applications from 1 January 2026 and to renewals for passes expiring on or after 1 July 2026, so an application that would have cleared C1 comfortably last year may need a higher offered salary this year to hit the same percentile band.
Step-by-step process
- Confirm the qualifying salary for the candidate’s age and sector, then check it separately against the current C1 salary benchmark for the role, since these are two different thresholds under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act framework.
- Run the Fair Consideration Framework job advertisement on MyCareersFuture for the required period before applying, and keep records of the candidates considered.
- Gather verifiable proof of the candidate’s qualifications, including university transcripts or professional certification, ready to upload with the application.
- Use MOM’s Workforce Insights tool on the Work Pass Online portal to check your current PMET nationality mix and local employment share before you apply, not after a rejection.
- Submit the Employment Pass application through Work Pass Online, attaching supporting documents and the completed declaration.
- Track the outcome and, if points fall short, consider whether an appeal with additional evidence, or a revised offer, is the more efficient route.
Common mistakes to avoid
1. Benchmarking against the wrong salary figure
Employers often confirm the EP qualifying salary and assume that is the end of the salary question. C1 Salary is assessed separately, against sector and age-specific benchmarks, and a candidate can clear the qualifying salary comfortably while still scoring zero on C1 if the offer sits below the 65th percentile for their profile.
2. Ignoring the firm-wide PMET count
C3 and C4 are assessed at the company level, not the individual application. A firm that has quietly grown past 25 PMETs since its last successful application may find it no longer qualifies for the automatic 10-point cushion on diversity and local employment, and gets caught out by a criterion it was not previously exposed to.
3. Treating a degree as a formality
C2 Qualifications rewards degrees from top-tier institutions or well-recognised professional credentials with the full 20 points, but a candidate without a degree-equivalent qualification is not automatically disqualified. The mistake is either submitting unverifiable qualification documents, or assuming a lack of a degree is fatal and not exploring how points can be made up elsewhere.
4. Missing the renewal cut-off for updated benchmarks
Because the 2026 C1 benchmarks apply to renewals expiring from 1 July 2026 onward, some employers only review the salary offer at the point of first hire and never revisit it before a renewal, then discover the pass they expected to roll over smoothly no longer clears C1 under the new figures.
5. Applying without checking the Shortage Occupation List
Employers hiring for a genuinely scarce specialism sometimes leave the C5 Skills Bonus on the table simply because nobody checked whether the role appears on the current Shortage Occupation List before submission, losing points that could have carried a borderline application over the 40-point line.
Practical examples
Consider a mid-sized logistics firm in Singapore with 30 PMETs, applying for an Employment Pass for a 34-year-old operations manager from a nationality that already makes up 28% of its PMET headcount. Even with a strong salary offer and a recognised degree, the firm’s C3 Diversity score comes in at zero because the nationality share sits at or above 25%, so the application needs to make up ground elsewhere, for example by lifting the salary offer to clear the 90th percentile on C1 for the full 20 points.
By contrast, a 12-person fintech start-up hiring its first data engineer gets the automatic 10 points on both C3 and C4 simply by virtue of its size, and if the role also sits on the Shortage Occupation List, the C5 bonus can push a modest salary offer over the 40-point line without any restructuring at all.
How Singapore Employment Agency can help
Working through six scoring criteria while also managing the Fair Consideration Framework, qualifying salary thresholds and document verification is a lot to hold alongside the rest of an HR workload. Singapore Employment Agency checks a proposed Employment Pass application against the current COMPASS benchmarks before submission, flags where a firm’s PMET composition may affect C3 or C4, and prepares renewals early enough to account for the updated 2026 salary figures. We also assist with appeals where an application has fallen short and there is a genuine case to be made with additional evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every Employment Pass application need to pass COMPASS?
No. Candidates earning SGD 22,500 or more a month, those filling a role for one month or less, and certain intra-corporate transferees under an applicable free trade agreement are exempt, though the general qualifying salary and other Employment Pass requirements still apply.
What is the minimum COMPASS score needed?
An application needs at least 40 points across the four foundational criteria, C1 to C4, with the two bonus criteria, C5 and C6, available to help applications that fall short on the core four.
When do the 2026 salary benchmarks take effect?
The updated benchmarks apply to new Employment Pass applications from 1 January 2026 and to renewal applications for passes expiring on or after 1 July 2026.
Can a candidate without a university degree still pass COMPASS?
Yes. A degree-equivalent qualification is not mandatory under COMPASS. A candidate can still reach 40 points through strong performance on C1 Salary, C3 Diversity, C4 Support for Local Employment, or the C5 and C6 bonus criteria.
How can a smaller company improve its COMPASS score?
Firms with fewer than 25 PMETs already receive an automatic 10 points on both C3 and C4, often enough of a cushion that the application only needs to perform reasonably on C1 and C2 to clear 40 points.
Key takeaways
- COMPASS assesses Employment Pass applications on Salary, Qualifications, Diversity and Support for Local Employment, plus two bonus criteria, with a minimum of 40 points required unless the candidate is exempt.
- The EP qualifying salary and the C1 Salary benchmark are two separate thresholds, and clearing one does not mean the other is cleared too.
- Firms with fewer than 25 PMETs get an automatic 10-point cushion on C3 and C4, but this can disappear quietly as a company grows.
- Updated 2026 salary benchmarks apply to new applications from 1 January 2026 and renewals expiring from 1 July 2026 onward, so renewal applications should be reviewed early.
- A missing degree is not automatically fatal, and checking the Shortage Occupation List before applying can add points that make the difference on a borderline application.
- Requirements may change, so always check the latest guidance from MOM, IRAS or ACRA, or consult a professional adviser.
If you would like to find out more about how Singapore Employment Agency can assist with your work pass and employment compliance requirements, please get in touch with the team at [email protected].
Yours sincerely,
The editorial team at Singapore Employment Agency
Disclaimer: This does not constitute legal advice. If you require legal advice, please contact a lawyer.