Foreign Worker Quota Calculator: How Many S Pass and Work Permit Holders
Local employees
Singapore citizens and PRs on your CPF payroll, averaged over the last 3 months. Company directors count if they are on a contract of service.
Each counts as 1 local
Each counts as 0.5. Below S$900 does not count
Foreign employees you already have (optional)
To see how many more you can hire.
Your workforce at full quota
- Local workforce 10
- S Pass 1
- Work Permit 4
Foreign employees can make up at most 35% of this total.
- Local workforce for quota10 full + 0 × 0.510
- Foreign employees allowed (35% of total)S Pass and Work Permit combined5
- S Pass holders allowed (10% of total)Of a total workforce of 151
This is a planning estimate. MOM uses your actual CPF records, and quotas are rounded down to whole people. Construction and process firms also need Man-Year Entitlements for Work Permits, services firms have extra sub-quotas by source country, and every Work Permit and S Pass holder attracts a monthly levy.
Services sector quota
You can hire up to 1 S Pass and 4 Work Permit holders
- Total foreign employees
- 5
- S Pass sub-quota
- 1
How this works
MOM caps foreign employees with a Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC): Work Permit and S Pass holders together may be at most 35% of the total workforce in services, 60% in manufacturing, 75% in marine shipyard, and 83.3% in construction and process. Within that, S Pass holders may be at most 10% of the total workforce in services and 15% in the other sectors.
Only local employees who meet the Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) count towards quota. From 1 July 2026 the LQS is S$1,800 a month: a citizen or PR earning at least S$1,800 counts as one local, one earning S$900 to under S$1,800 counts as half, and anyone below S$900 does not count. Part-timers must also earn at least S$10.50 an hour.
The total foreign headcount allowed is the local workforce × DRC ÷ (1 − DRC), rounded down. The S Pass limit is the sub-quota × the resulting total workforce, also rounded down. MOM averages your local headcount over the last 3 months using CPF records, so late CPF payments can cut your quota.
FAQs
How many foreign workers can I hire with 10 local employees?
In the services sector, 10 local employees allow up to 5 foreign employees, of which at most 1 can be an S Pass holder. In manufacturing the same 10 locals allow 15 foreign employees, up to 3 on S Pass, and in construction 50, up to 9 on S Pass.
What is the S Pass quota in 2026?
S Pass holders can make up at most 10% of your total workforce in the services sector and 15% in manufacturing, construction, marine shipyard and process. This is a sub-ceiling within the overall foreign worker quota.
What is the Local Qualifying Salary?
The LQS is S$1,800 a month for full-time local employees from 1 July 2026, up from S$1,600. Locals earning S$900 to under S$1,800 count as half a local for quota, and part-timers must earn at least S$10.50 an hour.
Do company directors count as local employees for quota?
Yes, if the director is a Singapore citizen or PR employed under a contract of service with CPF contributions and meets the Local Qualifying Salary.
What is the services sector dependency ratio ceiling?
The services DRC is 35%: Work Permit and S Pass holders together cannot exceed 35% of the total workforce, which works out to about 7 foreign employees for every 13 locals.