Achi Biz GuidesSingapore Services Sector: Work Permit Requirements

Types of business activities

Your company can be considered to be under the services sector if it has registered any of the following as its principal business activity:

• Financial, insurance, real estate and business services.
• Transport, storage and communications services.
• Commerce (retail and wholesale trade).
• Community, social and personal services (excluding domestic workers).
• Hotels.
• Restaurants, coffee shops, food courts and other approved food establishments (excluding food stalls or hawker stalls).

Licences for food establishments are issued by the National Environment Agency (NEA). Only operators with foodshop licences issued by NEA are allowed to employ foreign workers. The NEA licence must bear the name of the company, sole proprietor or partner.

For private limited and limited liability partnership (LLP) companies, MOM does not accept licences bearing the name of an individual.

Foreign worker eligibility

You can only hire foreign workers who meet the conditions for source countries or regions, age when applying and maximum period of employment.

Source countries or regions

You can employ foreign workers from these countries or regions:

• Malaysia
• People’s Republic of China (PRC)
• North Asian sources (NAS):
  • Hong Kong (HKSAR passport)
  • Macau
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan

Note:

From 01 September 2023, you can employ migrant workers from Non-Traditional Sources (NTS) for a restricted set of occupations in the NTS Occupation List.

Learn more about NTS Occupation List

Age when applying

The minimum age for all non-domestic foreign workers is 18 years old.

When applying for a Work Permit:

• Malaysians must be below 58 years old.
• Non-Malaysians must be below 50 years old.

Maximum period of employment

For the services sector, the maximum number of years a foreign worker can work in Singapore on a Work Permit is as follows: