An Employment Pass approved with a 40-point COMPASS score

The situation

How COMPASS works: COMPASS scores every Employment Pass application out of 90 points, and you need 40 to pass. Four main criteria each give 0, 10 or 20 points: your salary compared to your sector (C1), your qualifications (C2), the company’s nationality mix (C3), and how many locals it employs (C4).

Our client was setting up a wholesale trading company. His degree was not from a top-tier university, so qualifications would earn 10 points, not 20. His salary was sound but not in the top band, so another 10. That is only 20 points from his personal side. For employers with fewer than 25 professional employees: companies with fewer than 25 professional employees receive a default 10 points each on C3 and C4. A new company therefore starts with 20 points before it has hired anyone.

What we did

The remaining 20 points came from his qualification and salary. First, his overseas degree was verified through a MOM-recognised verification service before we filed, so the qualification points could not be questioned later. Second, we set his salary inside the correct benchmark band for his sector and age, high enough to score, and still believable for a young business.

We then ran MOM’s official self-assessment, which returned likely to be successful, and only then submitted the application.

The outcome

The scorecard came back 10 + 10 + 10 + 10: exactly 40 points, the pass mark. The Employment Pass was approved nine days after filing, with no extra document requests, because the degree verification was already attached. For the salary and qualification criteria, read COMPASS explained.

What this case shows

• You do not need 20 points on anything; four 10s pass
• A company with fewer than 25 professional staff gets 20 points by default
• Verify the degree before filing, so the points cannot be questioned
• Check the salary against the qualifying minimum and the applicable COMPASS benchmark