chances of getting EP

[sharkgator]

My company is registered and active for 5 years, for the first 2 years the company had active transactions and for the last 3 years the company is filing return as dormant. I need to get a employment pass for myself and I am the sole shareholder of the company but has a nominee director as I am not a Singaporean which is a basic requirement. What are the chances of getting the EP as the company has filed dormant returns for the past 3 years.

[Strong Eagle]

What is your Singapore residency status? If not resident in Singapore, where are you living?

What was the nature of the business before it went dormant? Was it profitable?

What are you planning on doing with the company? Are you going to inject money into it to revive the company?

If you get an EP, how do you plan on paying yourself before your company has sufficient revenues to cover your salary? Again, are you going to loan the company money or make a capital investment to ensure that your EP salary can be paid?

Unless you have a business plan in hand to revive the company, a set of pro forma financials showing your revenues and break even point, and sufficient cash in the company to to carry you through break even for your salary and company expenses, I'd say your chances for an EP are slim to none.

If you have all of the above, and you have a legitimate business, then maybe you'll get your EP. Depends a lot on your experience and where you are from.

[sharkgator]

It was an internet business though there were good amount of transactions for the first 2 years it was not profitable.

I am planing to write a new business plan for the existing company. New business idea will also be a internet based, do I have to make any changes to the MOA. Salary and capital will not be an issue. Is it better to apply EP with new company instead of this old company?

I don't want to register a new company unless it will make any difference to my EP approval and also I don't want to go through the company registration & bank account opening process once again which will drag the EP application process unnecessarily.

[Strong Eagle]

I don't have a pipeline into MoM, and I doubt it will make much difference whether you were to start a new company or resurrect the old one... maybe better to crank the old one back up, although that's just my SWAG.

From all the things I have seen what will matter is your financials. There are people in these business threads who applied for EP through an agency, and the agency proposed a big salary, with absolutely no revenues and no cash to support the salary. Logical conclusion: Dumb plan, no EP.

Having had prior (non profitable) internet experience, and coming back with cash and a new plan seems like a reasonable approach that might convince the gahmen you are serious.

Good luck.

[sharkgator]

While applying for the EP I will be giving my personal details such as cv, certificates, previous employer testimonials but how can I prove that the I will be reviving the company with new business plan to MOM, do I have to submit a business plan.

[ComingSoon]

While applying for the EP I will be giving my personal details such as cv, certificates, previous employer testimonials but how can I prove that the I will be reviving the company with new business plan to MOM, do I have to submit a business plan.

I don't know the criteria MOM uses, but I imagine the main questions they need answered are:

1. Are you paying yourself enough to support yourself while in Singapore?
2. How can you afford to pay yourself that amount?

The answers to these questions probably come down to sufficient capitalization, and a viable business plan.

If you tell MOM you are taking a salary of $10K per month but the business has capital of $30K, how is that going to work?

If you said you are going to take a salary of $8k and the company has S80k in capital then the odds of you successfully executing your business plan are probably stronger in their eyes.

I would have a business plan prepared, just in case!

Best of luck - let us know how it works out.

[Strong Eagle]

While applying for the EP I will be giving my personal details such as cv, certificates, previous employer testimonials but how can I prove that the I will be reviving the company with new business plan to MOM, do I have to submit a business plan.

I recommend it. Again, I've seen multiple posts where an agency applied for an EP, only to be rejected with the words, "No revenues to support the salary". This is your task.

And, it's not an unreasonable request. As ComingSoon noted, how are you going to support yourself until your company is making money? I've seen others make the mistake of saying, "Well, I have money in savings" but that's not something MoM knows about. If you do have money, it needs to go into the company, probably through directors loans so that the company has some girth and the cash to support you through profitability.

[sharkgator]

I downloaded the EP application from MOM website and I come across this box,
"Value of Turnover of the Company in the past 3 years"
If my company is dormant for last three years how should I fill it, what if they come to a conclusion that the company sponsoring the employee is a dormant company.

Even if I deposit enough money into my company bank account to show MOM that there is money to pay the salary to the employee(me) and run the company, how will I explain MOM that company is infact revived and going to have a new start.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'll just imagine you are serious here. But to me, what you are espousing is a joke.

[Strong Eagle]

I downloaded the EP application from MOM website and I come across this box,
"Value of Turnover of the Company in the past 3 years"
If my company is dormant for last three years how should I fill it, what if they come to a conclusion that the company sponsoring the employee is a dormant company.

Even if I deposit enough money into my company bank account to show MOM that there is money to pay the salary to the employee(me) and run the company, how will I explain MOM that company is infact revived and going to have a new start.

This is why you must prepare a business plan and pro forma financials and ensure that they are included along with your EP application. This is exactly what I was referring to earlier about muppet agencies making up big EP salary numbers when no turnover is present.

Your business plan must show how and why you are reviving your dormant company. What's your marketing strategy? Your sales strategy? Your target market? Your competition? If you haven't done so already, look at this business plan outline I prepared: http://www.herberts.org/miscdocs/Sample ... ntents.pdf

You must have a set of pro forma financials and demonstrable cash in the bank to pay yourself to break even. It's the only way to get around the "value of turnover" question. You must have a business plan that clearly demonstrates how you are getting from point A (reviving a dormant company) to point B (a profitable outfit that pays you and taxes).

I don't have any special insight into the working of MoM but I am pretty sure of two things. First. they were, and probably still are, inundated with applications to sneak into the country under the guise of running a business... with no money, no experience, no education, and no plan. Scammers.
How are you going to differentiate yourself?

And second, MoM used to use the services of SPRING (https://www.spring.gov.sg/Pages/Home.aspx) and I bet they still do. There are some pretty smart cookies over there. You put together a crappy business plan with unrealistic assumptions about market, sales, and customers, or a poor pro forma set of financials with inconsistent numbers, and you'll find yourself getting nowhere at a high rate of speed.

You cannot simply rely upon filing a simple online EP application. You will be rejected. But, if you put together good documents that suggest you have a plan, know how to execute the plan, and have the resources to see you through the execution of the plan to profitability, your chances of obtaining an EP are much enhanced.

This is my last post on the subject. Good luck to you.