Since September 2023, every new Employment Pass application is assessed under COMPASS — the Complementarity Assessment Framework. If you’re applying for an EP, understanding how COMPASS scores applications matters more than almost anything else in the process, because a straightforward salary-only approach no longer guarantees approval.

How the scoring works

COMPASS assesses applicants across four foundational criteria and two bonus criteria.

Foundational criteria: 1. Salary — how the applicant’s salary compares to local benchmarks for their occupation and age group 2. Qualifications — degree, professional certification, and relevant experience 3. Workforce diversity — the nationality mix of the employer’s existing workforce 4. Local employment support — the employer’s track record of hiring and developing local employees

Bonus criteria: 5. Shortage occupation — whether the role falls into a recognised skills-shortage category 6. Strategic economic priorities — whether the employer operates in a sector Singapore is actively prioritising

Applicants need a minimum of 40 points across these criteria to pass.

Why the application needs a “story,” not just a salary

Because workforce diversity and local hiring record are scored at the company level, a single founder hiring themselves into a brand-new shell company starts from a weaker position than an applicant joining an established, diversely staffed employer. This doesn’t mean the EP is unreachable for new founders — it means the application needs to tell a coherent story: why this person is being hired, what they bring that’s genuinely valuable to the business, and how the company’s overall hiring pattern reflects a fair approach to the local labour market.

Applications submitted without this narrative dimension are increasingly likely to face scrutiny or rejection — even when the salary requirement is technically met.

Education credential verification

As part of the qualifications criterion, degree credentials are verified by an independent agency appointed by MOM. The process checks degree authenticity, institution accreditation, and transcript validity. It is not optional, cannot be expedited on short notice, and should be factored into your timeline from the start — this step alone has caused otherwise-ready applications to stall for weeks.

Practical takeaways

• Set your salary at a level that reflects genuine market value for your role — both for COMPASS scoring and because IRAS will tax it as a real salary
• If you’re the sole hire in a new company, expect closer scrutiny on the workforce-diversity and local-hiring criteria, and prepare to explain your hiring plans
• Start the educational credential verification process early — it’s a fixed-time step, not a flexible one
• A 40-point pass is a minimum, not a target — applications built with margin above 40 points tend to clear with fewer follow-up requests from MOM

Related reading

• Employment Pass: The Complete Guide →
• Salary Requirements & Required Documents →

[Get a COMPASS pre-assessment for your application →]