Introduction to Singapore Representative Office

A Singapore Representative Office provides a foreign company interested in establishing operation in Singapore an avenue to assess business opportunities in Singapore market prior to making any long term or large scale commitment. A Representative Office cannot engage in direct business activities, i.e. commercial profit-making activities.

If you choose to set up a Singapore Representative Office and relocate some one to Singapore to run the representative office, you must take the following steps:

(1) Submit an application to International Enterprise Singaore (IE Singapore) to register the Representative Office. Kaizen can assist you in the registration of your Representative Office in Singapore.

(2) Apply for an Employment Pass only after you have succeeded in registering the Representative Office. The Employment Pass application is for the Chief Representative who is the appointed staff member from the foreign company. The Employment Pass will allow the Chief Representative to relocate to Singapore to run the Representative Office.

Singapore Representative Office Registration Procedures

(1) Download and fill out as much as possible our Singapore Representative Office Registration Order Form and return the duly completed form to us together with the following documents:

• Copy of the parent Company’s Certificate of Incorporation
• Copy of the parent Company’s latest annual report and audited accounts, if any
• Duly endorsed undertaking to abide by the Terms and Conditions governing Representative Offices in Singapore

(2) Upon receipt of your order form and the documents listed above, we will

• Follow-up with you to clarify queries (if any) and advise accordingly
• Send you an invoice for our services for your settlement

(3) Submission of Registration Application Documents

Upon receipt of your payment, we will collate and prepare the necessary documents and submit to the authorities for review and their approval. Once the representative application has been approved by IE Singapore, we will proceed with employment pass application.

IE Singapore normally takes about 5 business working days to approve an application. Once approved, it will send a Letter of Approval via email. The registration is valid for one year and subject to an annual renewal.

(4) Apply for Employment Pass

Kaizen submits all Employment Pass (EP) applications electronically to Ministry of Manpower (MOM) as the application process is shorter, and subsequently you will also learn of your application outcome sooner.

The process consists of the following steps:

• Application to obtain MOM authorization code to submit application online. Upon submission, it takes about 7-14 days for Ministry of Manpower to send the authorization code.
• Submission of EP application online. It takes MOM between 1-15 working days to process the application.
• Upon receiving the In-principle Approval notification, we will make arrangement for the collection of your EP.

Materials Required for the Purpose of Registering a Representative Office in Singapore

To register a Singapore representative office a completed application along with supporting documents must be filed with International Enterprise Singapore. The processing time for the application is approximately 5 working days.

The following documents are required when?registering a representative office in Singapore:

• Completed application
• Copy of the parent Company’s Certificate of Incorporation
• Copy of the parent Company’s latest annual report and audited accounts
• Duly endorsed undertaking to abide by the Terms and Conditions governing Representative Offices in Singapore

In the event when the annual report and audited accounts are not available (for example when the parent company is relatively new), you can self-declare the needed information and provide other supporting details such as company brochures, contracts, website, etc. to support your application. All documents submitted must be in English or an official English translation of the documents.

Generally the approval process is simple as long as the required documents are valid and the intended?Singapore Representative Office activities are within the scope allowed. In some cases, International Enterprise Singapore may request for additional information for further clarifications.

Registration Fees

This package is suitable for foreign companies that wish to setup a Singapore representative office and relocate one or more of their key executives on an Employment Pass. To proceed, we will need to register the Representative office before the Employment Pass application can be processed.

The fees for this package are summarised in the table below: