Setting Up a Foreign-Owned Company in Singapore

Singapore welcomes foreign-owned companies: a Singapore private company can generally be 100% foreign-owned, subject to any sector-specific licensing or ownership restrictions. The one rule that trips up most foreign founders is the resident-director requirement — every local company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore.

Who counts as a resident director

ACRA treats a director as ordinarily resident if their principal or only place of residence is in Singapore. This commonly includes a Singapore citizen or a permanent resident; eligible work-pass holders (such as an EntrePass or Employment Pass holder) may qualify subject to their actual residence and MOM or ICA approval. An EP holder generally needs an MOM Letter of Consent to take a secondary directorship in another company, and FIN holders should check with MOM or ICA before accepting a role. You can own the company and sit on the board as a foreign director, but at least one director must clear this local bar.

Your three routes

If you are overseas, there are three common ways to meet the requirement:

How foreign founders satisfy the local-director rule. Graphic by StartBizSG, based on ACRA guidance, as of October 2026.

1. Relocate on a work pass. An eligible founder may use the EntrePass route, which can be applied for before incorporation or shortly after. An Employment Pass route usually requires the company to exist first (with another qualifying resident director during incorporation), so you can only become the resident director yourself after obtaining the pass, moving to Singapore and satisfying the residency and MOM conditions.
2. Appoint a nominee resident director. A Singapore resident is appointed purely to satisfy the rule while you retain control as a shareholder and foreign director. This is usually arranged through a corporate service provider, often alongside a security deposit and a clear service agreement.
3. Appoint a resident co-founder or partner who already lives in Singapore.

Nominee directors and ACRA’s register

A nominee director is a real director with real legal duties — not a rubber stamp. Since nominee arrangements must be transparent, unless the company is exempt it must maintain its own private Registers of Nominee Directors and Nominee Shareholders (ROND/RONS) and file the required information with ACRA’s Central ROND and RONS — including the prescribed no-nominee statement where the company has no nominees. Choose a nominee through a reputable provider and keep the arrangement properly documented. Nominee-director service fees and security deposits are commercial provider terms, not ACRA fees, and a service agreement cannot remove the nominee director’s statutory duties.

You will need a Corporate Service Provider

Under the current BizFile workflow, if any proposed position holder is a foreigner, a registered Corporate Service Provider (CSP) must reserve the name and file the incorporation — having a Singpass does not by itself make DIY filing available. The CSP can also supply the nominee director, the required company secretary and the registered office address. You can verify a provider through BizFile’s entity search before paying for incorporation, nominee-director or registered-address services.

After you incorporate

The rest is the same as for any local company: appoint a secretary within six months, keep up with annual filing, and register for GST once you cross the threshold. The underlying steps and fees are in how to register a company, and if you are still choosing a form, see Pte Ltd vs sole proprietorship.

General information and official rules, not legal or immigration advice. Confirm eligibility with ACRA and MOM, and take professional advice on nominee arrangements.