Every new and renewal Employment Pass application must clear COMPASS, the points-based framework MOM introduced in 2023. Most applicants focus on the four foundational criteria that make up most of the score, then stop there. Two bonus categories sit alongside those criteria and can lift a borderline case, yet applicants claim them far less often than they should, simply because they don’t know to look for them.

A Quick Recap of How COMPASS Works

COMPASS scores an EP application across four foundational criteria: the candidate’s salary relative to peers in the same occupation and sector, their qualifications, the diversity of the employer’s PMET workforce, and the employer’s local hiring record.

Each criterion contributes points, and an application must meet a minimum total to pass. An application that falls short on this combined score may be refused, regardless of how strong any single criterion looks in isolation. Our earlier piece on why Employment Pass applications get rejected covers the foundational scoring and common failure points in more depth, so this article focuses specifically on what sits beyond that score.

That is where the bonus points come in. Two categories exist entirely outside the four foundational criteria, and either one can add the points a borderline application needs to cross the passing threshold.

The Shortage Occupation List (SOL) Bonus

The Shortage Occupation List identifies roles MOM has assessed as requiring highly specialised skills that are genuinely in short supply within Singapore’s workforce. Where a candidate’s role qualifies, the case earns a Skills Bonus on top of whatever the four foundational criteria have already produced, and the size of that bonus depends on the makeup of the employer’s workforce.

Specifically, the bonus awards 20 points where the candidate’s nationality makes up less than one-third of the organisation’s PMET employees, or 10 points where that share is one-third or more. Claiming it is not automatic. The employer must select one of the eligible job titles for the shortage occupation in the EP application itself, and the candidate must meet checks on job duties, past work experience, and qualifications or industry accreditation relevant to that occupation. While the SOL bonus allows an application to pass COMPASS, MOM also restricts the candidate to that specific shortage occupation going forward. Redeployment to a different role triggers a fresh eligibility assessment before it can proceed.

MOM reviews the list periodically, and the roles included can change between review cycles as labour market conditions shift. This means an occupation that qualified for the bonus at one point may be removed later, and a role that did not previously qualify may be added. Because of this, the specific occupations, points structure, and any associated conditions should always be confirmed against MOM’s current published list at the time of application rather than assumed from a previous cycle or an earlier successful case.

For a borderline application, the value of the SOL bonus is straightforward: it can be the single largest lever available outside the foundational scoring, and it costs nothing to check. A candidate whose role sits close to a shortage occupation classification, even if the job title differs slightly from what appears on the list, may be worth reviewing against MOM’s current criteria before ruling out the bonus.

The Strategic Economic Priorities Bonus

The second bonus category rewards roles and sectors that MOM has identified as aligned with Singapore’s strategic economic priorities. This typically applies to positions in sectors the government has flagged as important to the country’s ongoing economic development, such as advanced manufacturing, digital and technology-driven industries, and other areas where Singapore is actively building capacity or competitive advantage.

Unlike the SOL bonus, which is tied to a specific occupation classification, the strategic economic priorities bonus is assessed at a broader sectoral and role level, and the exact scope can shift as national priorities evolve. A candidate in a rapidly growing or government-prioritised industry may qualify here even when the job title doesn’t obviously suggest it, so it’s worth checking rather than assuming it away based on job title alone.

Who Is Exempt From COMPASS Altogether

Not every EP application is assessed against COMPASS. MOM exempts a candidate from COMPASS entirely if any one of the following applies:

Fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500: This threshold mirrors the prevailing Fair Consideration Framework job-advertising exemption, and candidates who clear it skip COMPASS scoring altogether, since a sufficiently high salary is treated as adequate evidence of the application’s strength on its own.
Overseas intra-corporate transferee: Candidates transferring within a multinational company from an overseas entity who meet the recognised intra-corporate transferee criteria are exempt from COMPASS assessment.
Filling the role for one month or less: A genuinely short-term engagement of this length does not require a full COMPASS assessment.

It is worth noting that Stage 1, the EP qualifying salary, still applies regardless of any COMPASS exemption. A candidate who is exempt from COMPASS but does not meet the qualifying salary for their age band and sector remains ineligible for an EP.

Understanding where these exemptions apply matters, because an applicant who assumes they must clear COMPASS bonus points may be spending effort on a question that does not apply to their case at all. Similarly, an applicant who assumes they are exempt without checking may find their specific circumstances do not actually meet the exemption criteria.

How to Use This Strategically

A practical approach for a borderline application starts with checking whether the candidate’s role appears on the current Shortage Occupation List before submission, since this is the more clearly defined of the two bonus categories and easier to verify against a published source. If the role does not appear directly, consider whether the broader sector aligns with Singapore’s strategic economic priorities, since this bonus operates at a wider level and may capture roles the SOL does not.

A bonus point can compensate for weakness on the foundational criteria, not just add a marginal top-up. MOM’s own published case studies illustrate this directly: an application that scores zero on both Diversity and Support for Local Employment, and would otherwise fall well short of the 40-point threshold, can still pass if the candidate’s salary sits at the 90th percentile or above and the role qualifies for the SOL bonus. In that scenario, the bonus is not a small adjustment; it is what carries the application over the line.

This means a candidate working for an employer with a weaker workforce profile should not assume the case is unsalvageable before checking whether the SOL or strategic priorities bonus applies, since either one can offset exactly the kind of shortfall that would otherwise cause a rejection.

That said, a bonus cannot rescue every weak application. Where the foundational criteria are weak across the board, including salary, the arithmetic becomes harder to close even with a bonus in play. The strategic value of checking early lies in determining whether a bonus genuinely closes the specific gap in a given application, rather than assuming it will.

Check for the Overlooked Points Before You File

COMPASS bonus points can strengthen a borderline Employment Pass application, but only if the applicant knows to look for them. The Shortage Occupation List and the strategic economic priorities category both sit outside the four foundational criteria that most applicants focus on, and neither is applied automatically.

For those who want a candid review of where their COMPASS position currently sits, and whether an overlooked bonus category applies to their case, a Singapore professional immigration consultancy like E&H Immigration Consultancy can review the application before it is filed.

How COMPASS Bonus Points Can Strengthen an Employment Pass Application