COMPASS Points for a Chef's Employment Pass: How to Reach 40

A chef with no degree scores 0 on COMPASS qualifications, so the Employment Pass needs 40 points from salary and your workforce. A restaurant with fewer than 25 PMETs gets 10 points each on diversity and local employment, so it needs the full 20 on salary: the Food & Beverage 90th percentile for the chef's age, S$8,763 at 35 for 2026 applications. From 1 January 2027 the EP floor itself clears that line at every age.

Two stages, and who skips COMPASS

An EP application first has to meet the qualifying salary for the candidate's age (stage 1). The floors by age are tabled on the hub page. A candidate who misses stage 1 is refused, whatever the points. Stage 2 is COMPASS: 40 points are needed unless the fixed monthly salary is at least S$22,500, the candidate is an overseas intra corporate transferee, or the role lasts one month or less.

How a chef with no degree scores

So the typical small restaurant starts at 20 from C3 and C4 and must find the other 20 in C1.

C1: the F&B benchmarks and the price of 20 points

C1 compares fixed monthly salary with local PMET salaries in your sector, by age. Confirm on myMOM that your firm is classed as Food & Beverage Services. For 2026 applications the EP floor is above the F&B 65th percentile at every age, so a chef who clears stage 1 already has 10. The question is what the next 10 costs.

This table covers new applications in 2026 and renewals of EPs expiring from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. For a small restaurant, those few hundred dollars decide 30 points or 40.

C2: which culinary qualifications count

MOM's C2 lists were released in November 2025 for applications from 1 January 2026, and MOM says they are updated once a year.

• 20 points: the top tier list includes Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne for culinary and hospitality degrees. Japanese universities on the list (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Keio, Waseda and others) help only if the chef holds a degree from one of them.
• 10 points: the degree equivalent list includes culinary diplomas such as ITE's Paul Bocuse Technical Diploma, Temasek Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic culinary diplomas, Culinary Institute of America bachelor's degrees and several Malaysian culinary diplomas.
• No Japanese culinary school appears on either list. A diploma from a Japanese 調理師専門学校 scores 0 unless MOM assesses it as comparable to a UK bachelor's degree. We could not confirm how MOM treats a four year 高度専門士 course; check it in the Self Assessment Tool before relying on it.

To claim C2 points you need verification proof from an approved background screening company or an official portal; a notarised certificate is not accepted. If you do not need the points, MOM says not to submit the qualification.

Copy this to the candidate before you model the score:

C3 and C4: counting your PMETs

Both criteria give 10 points by default if your organisation has fewer than 25 PMETs. MOM counts as PMETs foreign staff on at least S$3,300 fixed monthly salary and locals with at least S$3,300 in CPF wages, a line MOM says is aligned to the S Pass minimum. Most cooks sit below it, so even a busy group can be under 25.

With 25 or more PMETs, C3 gives 20 if the candidate's nationality is under 5% of PMETs, 10 up to 25%, 0 beyond. A Japanese PR counts as Japanese for C3 but local for C4. C4 gives 20 at or above your sector's median local PMET share, 10 from the 20th percentile, and at least 10 if locals are 70% of PMETs. Workforce Insights on myMOM shows both.

Scoring worksheet

Two worked examples

The salaries and headcounts are hypothetical; the thresholds are MOM's. The candidate has no degree.

A. One restaurant, 12 PMETs, chef aged 35

B. A group with 40 PMETs, 12 of them Japanese, chef aged 30

Japanese nationals are 30% of PMETs, so C3 is 0. Paid S$7,600 in 2026 (above the S$7,524 90th percentile), C1 is 20. The result turns on C4: 40 if the group's local PMET share is at or above the sector median, 30 and a refusal if it sits between the 20th and 50th percentiles. Salary cannot rescue it, because C1 is already at its maximum. The routes left are a C6 programme, a candidate with a listed qualification, or more local PMETs.

What changes on 1 January 2027

Two things move, on slightly different dates. The new EP floors (S$6,000 at 23 up to S$11,500 at 45 and above) apply to new applications from 1 January 2027 and to renewals of passes expiring from 1 January 2028. The new C1 table, released in August 2026, applies to new applications from 1 January 2027 and to renewals of EPs expiring from 1 July 2027.

We checked every age from 23 to 45: the 2027 floor is above the F&B 90th percentile throughout. For new 2027 applications, a small restaurant's chef with no degree reaches 40 at the floor.

Watch the renewal window between 1 July and 31 December 2027. Those renewals are scored on the new C1 table but still use the old floor. At the old floor a 35 year old (S$8,382) sits S$305 below the new 90th percentile (S$8,687) and scores only 10. Every age from 23 to 45 has a gap of S$199 to S$394 in that window.

C5 and C6 bonuses

C5. The Shortage Occupation List in force from 1 January 2026 does not list restaurant chef. "Chef" appears only as qualifying experience for an agritech role. MOM says the list gets a full review every three years. Check the page each year before assuming 0.

C6. Ten points for a firm in an endorsed programme. The nearest to hospitality are selected Singapore Tourism Board grantees (Business Improvement Fund, Singapore Tourism Accelerator, TIP-iT) and firms working with NTUC Company Training Committees.

General information from MOM's published criteria and tables as of 27 September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. The examples use hypothetical salaries and headcounts. Confirm the score in MOM's Self Assessment Tool before making an offer.