Employment Pass · 3 min read
A US consultant’s Employment Pass, approved in two weeks
Our client, an American consultant, set up a Singapore company and received her Employment Pass approval fourteen days after we filed it. MOM did not ask for a single extra document. This case shows the preparation that makes a fast approval possible.
Details anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Facts, sequence and outcome are real. Every case is different and decisions rest with the authorities.
The situation
Our client wanted to move her consulting work to Singapore and run it through her own company. We incorporated the company in early July. Because a Singapore company needs at least one director who lives in Singapore, we provided a nominee director as a temporary bridge until her own pass was approved.
What we did
Most Employment Pass delays happen for one reason: MOM asks for more documents, and every request adds weeks. So our work focused on removing every reason to ask. Before filing, we completed an independent verification of her degree, finished her background screening, and wrote the job description and salary to match what the market pays for that role.
We also ran MOM’s official self-assessment tool before submitting, so we knew the application scored well before it went in.
The outcome
The application was filed in mid July and approved at the end of July, fourteen days later, with no requests for further documents. She then became the company’s resident director herself, and the nominee director stepped down.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Early July 2025 | Company incorporated, with a nominee resident director as a bridge |
| Mid July 2025 | EP filed, with degree verification and background screening already done |
| End July 2025 | Employment Pass approved, 14 days after filing |
What this case shows
- Slow applications are usually slowed by document requests; remove the reasons to ask
- Verify the degree before filing, not after MOM asks for it
- Run MOM’s official self-assessment first, so you file knowing the score
- The nominee director is temporary; a clean approval ends the arrangement quickly
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