Employment Pass in your own company

[choob]

How feasible is it nowadays to set up a company and employ yourself in it in order to get a EP?

The company would be run remotely to show income and financial success before I would apply for the EP.

I've done lots of searching but most info is from a few years ago.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Run remotely? if that were the case, then there would be no need to give you an EP, would there. It's very hard to game the system today.

[choob]

So there's no way to set up a company and be based in Singapore? Other than Entre pass.

My expertise is commodity trading; my plan is to export local products to serve the burgeoning SE Asian community in East Africa as well as import high quality niche products from the same region.

Running remotely when we are a startup with small turnover is one thing, as the business expands it's another and I would want to be there on the ground. We can start at a small scale but eventually I would need an office in Singapore.

I'm not trying to game the system, just trying to access the market.

[choob]

Besides, your premise of 'if it can be run remotely you don't need to be here' is a bit shallow. How many expat financial traders are in Sing? They can trade from a beach in Fiji if they wanted. How many market research firms? Service providers, programmers, architects, etc etc? None of them *have* to be there in person.

Unless Singapore has stopped marketing itself as a great place to do business then the people that start & run these businesses will want a physical presence there. We're talking about niche expertise here - if things were that cynical there would not be a single expat there.

[Strong Eagle]

Have you read any of the threads in the Business forums regarding the Entrepass and setting up businesses in general? Have you read any of the threads in the Careers section regarding setting up a business and the LOC? It would be a good starting place.

You'll never qualify for an Entrepass. You wouldn't want to qualify for an Entrepass, given the onerous terms to keep it in effect.

It is possible to form a company and have that company obtain an EP for you. It is also possible for you to be laughed out the door by MoM when you apply. Why? Because so many people have abused this route as a means to get into the country. People unqualified to run their business. People without sufficient capital to make it to break even. So many have tried to go this route that the government has made it much more difficult to start your own business here.

Therefore, if you have any hope of doing what you wish to do, you will separate yourself from the rest of the muppets who have made it a mess for the rest of us by providing good business plans, good pro forma financials, and common sense. Read my business related threads to understand what you need to do.

[Strong Eagle]

Besides, your premise of 'if it can be run remotely you don't need to be here' is a bit shallow. How many expat financial traders are in Sing? They can trade from a beach in Fiji if they wanted. How many market research firms? Service providers, programmers, architects, etc etc? None of them *have* to be there in person.

Unless Singapore has stopped marketing itself as a great place to do business then the people that start & run these businesses will want a physical presence there. We're talking about niche expertise here - if things were that cynical there would not be a single expat there.

Your understanding of what's been going on in Singapore over the last decade is a bit shallow. Scammers have killed the "easy place to do business" unless you are well backed, well funded, and well known. Too many of those "expat financial traders" don't know their ass from third base and abused the system just to get in. YOU pay the price for their malfeasance because it will be much more of a challenge for you to prove up your not just one more of the pikers who has no idea of how to actually run a business or make a living.

But... see my other post.

[choob]

Thanks for your post, was hoping you'd reply. I agree with all you say - I want to start running the business asap, even small scale in order to show revenue, local contacts, contracts, employment of citizens etc. I don't expect to be allowed in based on a bank deposit and registered company.

I don't want an entrepass.

Will head to careers section, but I thought LOC was for someone with a DP and spouse on EP?

[Strong Eagle]

Will head to careers section, but I thought LOC was for someone with a DP and spouse on EP?

Indeed it is... and the experiences of those who succeeded in getting approval and those who did not are illustrative of the potential traps you can fall into when making your own case. For example, a fellow who hired an agent who determined that $7,000 was the "right" amount for the applicant to be paid... except for the fact that he received a response in the negative because, "the company doesn't seem to have the revenues to support the salary".

MoM used to run all Entrepass applications through SPRING to see if the pro formas and business plans were reasonable... I'd expect they might still do the same.

[lessthanjay13]

I think for early companies it very much depends on the industry, the business needs and your personal qualifications. I know of a pure startup, not yet generating revenue and with $1 paid-up-capital (since increased) was able to secure EP's for a CMO and a CTO (half the company) with solid qualifications (university and work experience) paying about 1.5-2x the required minimum.

This leads me to believe they really don't have set formula and it really varies on a case-by-case basis as they'll evaluate the type of business your setting up and the real local demands for that business.

I think some of it may also come down to how much of your business is truly locally (Singapore) derived versus from the rest of SE Asia per your original post. I don't want to make any assumptions in your case but I think you'd have a much harder time convincing them for a pure trading business focused on SE Asia where the Singapore company is predominantly being used as a financial vehicle, especially if the intention is to only be living here part-time.