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If I incorporate a company in Singapore, get an employment pass and assign myself as a company's director, do I need to really live in Singapore, or I can control my company from abroad?

user626528
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After the May 2014 changes to the Entrepass scheme, what you propose is basically not possible anymore. The Entrepass is no longer suitable for solo entrepreneurs, and you cannot open a company without a resident director, who must be a Singapore citizen or PR.

The usual workaround is to hire a nominee director (~S$1500/year) and then get that company to apply for an EP for you. This is a moderately expensive and risky proposition, and the bar for getting an EP keeps getting raised higher and higher: you're currently looking at a likely minimum of S$8000/mo in salary, from which you have to pay Singapore taxes.

While I'm not aware of any official residency requirement, an EP is intended for someone who is working in Singapore, not an absentee director. You would at the very least need to find a residential address in Singapore to "stay" at least on paper, and at renewal time (usually 2 years) you would likely get some pretty pointed questions from the Ministry of Manpower.

On the other hand, if you choose the nominee director route, you can get effective control of a Singapore company without an EP or physical presence, which is likely what you wanted anyway?

lambshaanxy
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  • Entrepass or Employment Pass? Using a nominee director is a viable option too, but getting residency in Singapore would be a significant extra benefit. – user626528 Mar 09 '15 at 09:12
  • The Entrepass is a pathway to an EP, not a standalone employment permit. – lambshaanxy Mar 09 '15 at 11:41
  • btw what are possible risks when using a nominee director? – user626528 Nov 15 '22 at 20:35
  • @user626528 They go rogue and start making decisions on behalf of the company, embezzling money, etc. – lambshaanxy Nov 15 '22 at 23:01
  • Doesn't the owner of the company have the final word? – user626528 Nov 17 '22 at 03:21
  • @user626528 A company sole director can legally do anything, unless it's on a short list of actions that require a shareholder vote: https://www.corporateservices.com/singapore/singapore-company-directors/#:~:text=Powers%20of%20Director,-The%20Companies%20Act&text=In%20general%2C%20this%20means%20directors,upon%20by%20a%20shareholder%20vote. – lambshaanxy Nov 17 '22 at 12:00
  • Ah ok. So it is possible to restrict the actions that the director can perform on her own, but it takes extra work to list those actions and there is a risk to miss something important. – user626528 Nov 17 '22 at 16:24
  • @user626528 No, the list of those restricted actions is laid out in legislation, although I suppose you could try to amend them in the articles of incorporation. – lambshaanxy Nov 18 '22 at 01:08