Bringing your family to Singapore

The Ministry of Manpower issues the Dependant’s Pass, and it issues a Long-Term Visit Pass of its own for the families of Employment Pass and S Pass holders. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority issues a different pass that carries the same name, for the families of Singapore citizens and permanent residents. The names are identical; the products, the eligibility and the agency are not.

The pass a family member applies for follows from who the main pass holder is, not from preference. This page keeps the two agencies and the two products distinct throughout, because reading the ICA criteria while holding an Employment Pass is a common and avoidable mistake.

The Dependant’s Pass is available to the family of a main pass holder who holds an Employment Pass or an S Pass, earns at least S$6,000 fixed monthly, and is sponsored by an established, Singapore-registered company — usually the employer.

The salary test is on the main pass holder’s own salary, and not on combined household income. Two earners in one household do not add their salaries together to reach the floor.

The eligible family members are the legally married spouse and unmarried children under 21, including legally adopted children.

The employer or the appointed employment agency of the main pass holder applies. The pass duration is tied to the validity of the main work pass, or to the duration requested, whichever is shorter.

MOM’s Long-Term Visit Pass, for the families of Employment Pass and S Pass holders, uses the same salary floor as the Dependant’s Pass, which is S$6,000 fixed monthly, and covers a wider group of relatives: a common-law spouse, unmarried handicapped children aged 21 and above, and unmarried step-children under 21. Parents are covered only where the main pass holder earns S$12,000 fixed monthly or more.

There is an exclusion that is easy to miss. Family members of Employment Pass holders who applied as an overseas intra-corporate transferee under WTO GATS or an applicable free trade agreement are not eligible for a Dependant’s Pass or a Long-Term Visit Pass, except where an applicable free trade agreement specifically covers them.

ICA’s Long-Term Visit Pass is a different product with its own eligibility: the spouse of a Singapore citizen; the spouse of a Singapore permanent resident; an unmarried child aged below 21 born within a legal marriage to, or legally adopted by, a citizen or permanent resident; a parent of a citizen or permanent resident, where parents-in-law are not eligible; a graduate of an Institute of Higher Learning seeking employment in Singapore; a parent or grandparent of a child studying in Singapore on a Student’s Pass, where only one applicant may apply; and a visitor seeking permission to give birth in Singapore.

Documents that are not in English generally need certified true copies of the originals together with official translations. In practice that means an embassy translation or a notary-public translation, or a privately translated document that has been attested or notarised.

ICA states that it does not endorse any private translation companies or entities. Using a translator is a matter between the applicant and the translator, and no translator is recommended by the authority that receives the document.

One timing point is worth acting on. MOM advises applying for family passes after the main pass has been approved. Family passes can be applied for at the same time as the Employment Pass.