What Is the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL)? (Singapore Employers)

The Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) is a monthly charge you pay the government for each Work Permit or S Pass holder you employ — a pricing tool that regulates Singapore's reliance on foreign manpower, not a tax on the worker. It is tied to the work pass itself, so you owe it from the day the pass is issued until the day it is cancelled, however the person is engaged (Ministry of Manpower).

Last reviewed 4 June 2026 · Source: Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Levy rates are revised periodically — confirm the current figure on the MOM website before you budget.

Who pays the FWL, and for whom

You, the employer, pay the FWL — never the worker. Deducting it from their salary is an offence (MOM). It applies to every Work Permit and S Pass holder on your books. Employment Pass holders — the higher-salary professional pass — carry no levy at all.

The levy follows the pass, not the contract. Whether your S Pass holder is a permanent hire or on a fixed term, the FWL is identical — it is not switched off by calling someone a contractor, the way CPF and the Skills Development Levy can be. If you sponsor the pass, you pay the levy.

It is also charged per worker, not per company: three S Pass holders mean three levies every month, each its own line on the MOM bill. Two part-time foreign workers do not share one levy.

How the FWL differs from CPF and SDL

Bosses lump the three employer charges together because they all attach to payroll, but they cover different people and do different jobs.

Charge	Who it covers	Rough size
CPF	Citizens and PRs only	Up to 37% of wages (employer + employee)
SDL	Every employee, local and foreign	0.25%, capped at $11.25 a month
FWL	Work Permit and S Pass holders only	A flat several-hundred-dollars per pass, monthly

The contrast that matters: CPF and the Skills Development Levy are a percentage of pay; the FWL is a fixed monthly sum per pass, set by policy, that does not move with the worker's salary.

What the FWL costs

The levy depends on the pass type and, for Work Permits, your sector and how many foreign workers you already employ relative to locals. For the Services sector — where most small businesses sit — the current published rates are:

Pass / tier	Monthly levy
S Pass (all sectors)	$650
Work Permit, Services, basic-skilled, lowest tier	$450
Work Permit, Services, higher dependency tiers	$600–$800

These are MOM's Services-sector figures; Construction, Manufacturing, Marine Shipyard and Process run their own, generally higher, schedules (MOM). Because the levy is revised periodically, treat any figure here as a snapshot and confirm the live rate on the MOM website before you commit to a hire.

A higher-skilled worker — one with a recognised qualification — attracts a lower levy than a basic-skilled worker in the same tier, so the skill classification on the pass directly changes your monthly cost. Where the role and the worker's qualifications allow, upgrading a basic-skilled worker to higher-skilled status trims the levy without changing your headcount at all.

The Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) and quota

You cannot hire foreign workers without limit. The Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) caps the share of your workforce that may be foreign — in Services that is 35% on Work Permits, with an S Pass sub-quota of 10% (MOM). Hit the ceiling and you cannot obtain or renew the pass at all.

The cap is measured against your local headcount, and only locals earning at least the Local Qualifying Salary count fully toward it. Hire one more local above that salary and you create room for another foreign worker; lose one and a foreign worker's renewal can fall outside the quota.

The levy and the quota work as a pair: the levy makes each foreign worker cost more as your dependency rises through the tiers, and the quota stops it outright at the ceiling.

When and how you pay

MOM bills the FWL monthly, and it is due by the 17th of each month — the next working day if the 17th is a weekend or public holiday — paid by GIRO, or PayNow QR if your GIRO is not yet set up (MOM). The levy accrues daily from the pass issue date, so a mid-month start produces a part-month charge.

Miss the date and late-payment penalties accrue; persistent non-payment can get your existing work passes cancelled — a far steeper cost than the levy itself.

Before you hire a Work Permit or S Pass holder, price the levy into the role from day one. A $650-a-month S Pass levy is $7,800 a year on top of salary — exactly the figure that decides whether a foreign hire or training a local is the better call. And remember the levy sits alongside, not instead of, the Skills Development Levy you owe on every worker and the CPF contributions you owe on your locals. Budget it as a fixed monthly cost, the way you would rent — steady, due on a date, and unforgiving if you forget it.