The salary rule gets most of the attention, and for good reason. If you earn at least S$6,000 a month on a fixed basis, you can sponsor your spouse and children on a Dependant's Pass. We walked through that threshold, who it covers, and where S Pass holders hit a wall in our guide to the S$6,000 rule. Clearing it can feel like the finish line.
It is closer to the starting line. Once MOM says yes, a second set of numbers takes over, and these are the ones that decide whether having your family here is something your sweldo can carry, month after month. The application fees are small. The school bills are not. And the rules about whether your spouse can work will shape your household budget more than any single line on the MOM website.
The money breaks into three parts: the fees to issue the pass, the cost of schooling once the children are here, and the work rules that decide whether one income has to stretch or two can share the load. The fees are the small one, so start there.
What MOM charges to issue the pass
For each Dependant's Pass, you pay S$105 when the application goes in and S$225 when the pass is issued and approved. If your family member needs a Multiple Journey Visa to enter and re-enter Singapore, that is another S$30 per pass. A Long-Term Visit Pass, the route for a parent or a common-law partner, costs the same: S$105 to apply, S$225 to issue, S$30 for the visa where it applies.
So for a wife and one child on Dependant's Passes, the government paperwork comes to roughly S$660 before any visa fees. The fees are charged per pass, so a bigger family means a bigger bill, but this part stays in the hundreds, not the thousands. Budget a little more if MOM asks for a medical examination, which it can for some applicants.
Who applies, and what MOM asks for
You do not file the Dependant's Pass yourself. For Employment Pass and S Pass holders, your employer or their appointed employment agent submits it through the EP eService on the myMOM Portal. Part of the timeline sits with your HR department, so hand them your documents early and follow up rather than waiting.
What MOM wants is proof of the relationship. A marriage certificate for your spouse. A birth certificate for each child that names you as the parent. Passport bio-data pages for everyone. If a document is in a language other than English, MOM needs an official English translation. Get clean, complete scans ready before HR starts, because a missing page is the most common reason an application stalls.
For dependants of EP and S Pass holders, MOM processes most cases within three weeks. Applications tied to a Personalised Employment Pass, EntrePass, or a sponsorship arrangement take longer, up to six to eight weeks. Time your move, your lease, and any school enrolment around that, not the other way around.
The cost most families underestimate: school
If your child is school-age, the monthly school fee is the number that reshapes the budget. Children on a Dependant's Pass can enrol in Singapore's government and government-aided schools, but they pay international-student rates, not the citizen or PR rates their classmates pay.
The Philippines is an ASEAN member, so Filipino children sit in the ASEAN international-student tier. That tier costs less than the non-ASEAN rate and still runs well above what a local family pays. For 2026, MOE sets the ASEAN monthly fee at S$595 for primary school and S$1,090 for secondary school, with a small miscellaneous fee on top.
Put a year to those figures. A Filipino child in a government primary school runs about S$7,140 a year in fees. Secondary school is closer to S$13,080. Bring two children spanning both levels and you are near S$20,000 a year in school fees alone, before uniforms, books, transport, and the CCA and enrichment costs every parent here already knows. For comparison, a non-ASEAN family pays almost double at the same schools, so being from an ASEAN country works in your favour, but the bill is still real.
This is the line that can turn a comfortable S$6,000 salary into a tight one. The sponsorship rule looks at what you earn. Your household has to look at what you earn minus what the schooling costs, and for a lot of families that gap is the actual decision, not the pass approval.
Can your spouse work here?
Not on the Dependant's Pass alone, and this one catches people out. The pass lets your spouse live in Singapore. It does not come with the right to take a job.
To be employed, your spouse needs their own work pass. A prospective employer applies for an Employment Pass, an S Pass, or a Dependant's Pass Work Permit on their behalf, and your spouse has to meet that pass's own criteria. The Dependant's Pass Work Permit has no minimum salary, though the employer pays a monthly levy, which makes some employers hesitant to sponsor it. The older Letter of Consent, which once let a Dependant's Pass holder work on the strength of the pass alone, now applies only to those who run their own registered business, not to someone looking for a regular job.
If your family plan assumes two incomes to cover those school fees, confirm your spouse can land a role that qualifies for a pass before you commit to the move. A budget built on both of you working can come apart if only one pass comes through.
When the numbers get rechecked
Your family's passes are tied to yours. When your Employment Pass or S Pass comes up for renewal, MOM checks that you still earn at least S$6,000 fixed, and your family's Dependant's Passes renew alongside it. For EP holders, that renewal now runs through the full COMPASS points test with the grace period over, so a job change to a lower salary can put more than your own pass at risk. Weigh that before you switch employers with family already here.
What could change, and where to check
Government fees and salary thresholds move. MOE reviews non-citizen school fees on a multi-year cycle, and the 2026 rates close the schedule announced for 2024 to 2026, so a fresh review could lift them again from 2027. MOM adjusts the sponsorship salary floor from time to time as well. Before you build a budget on any figure here, confirm the current numbers on the MOM Dependant's Pass pages and the MOE school fees page. Those pages decide your case, not any guide, this one included.
The honest math
The application fees are a few hundred dollars, and you will forget them by the second month. The school fees are the part that stays, running into the thousands every year for as long as your children study here. Sit down with your real payslip, add up the fees for the children you would bring, and take them off what you bring home. If your plan already sits on top of a budget you have worked out, fold these numbers in before you tell them to start packing. Bringing your family here is one of the best things this job can buy. It goes better when the budget is honest from the first month instead of the third.
Photo: ProjectManhattan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Dependant's Pass cost in Singapore?+
For each Dependant's Pass you pay S$105 to apply and S$225 on issuance, plus S$30 for a Multiple Journey Visa where it applies. A Long-Term Visit Pass costs the same.
How much are school fees for a Filipino child on a Dependant's Pass?+
Filipino children pay the ASEAN international-student rate. For 2026, MOE sets this at S$595 a month for primary school and S$1,090 a month for secondary school, plus a small miscellaneous fee.
Can a Dependant's Pass holder work in Singapore?+
Not on the pass alone. Your spouse needs their own work pass (Employment Pass, S Pass, or a Dependant's Pass Work Permit) that an employer applies for. The Letter of Consent now only covers DP holders who run their own registered business.
