It turns out your parents were right about staying in school and going to university, at least that is the case for applicants for Singapore residency. Data from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore’s government agency in charge of granting Singapore Permanent Residency (SPR) and Citizenship (SC), shows that for 4 out of 5 people that are granted PR and citizenship have had education beyond secondary school level.
“Adding Value” to Singapore: What ICA Looks For (and How You Can Show It) Short Guide for Indians Moving to Singapore: Company Incorporation, Employment Pass, PR, and CECA Benefits What Minister Gan’s 2026 Population Speech Means for Singapore PR and Citizenship Applicants>Education Profile of SCs and PRs granted in 2022
| New PRs | New SCs | |
|---|---|---|
| Total approvals | 34,493 | 23,082 |
| By highest qualification attained among those aged 20 & over (%) | ||
| Post-secondary | 81.3 | 78.2 |
| Secondary and below | 18.7 | 21.8 |
Source: ICA
Is the ICA approving people to become citizen or PR because they spent more time learning beyond secondary school or is the pool of applicants already consist of 4 times more people with education beyond secondary shooling? We suspect it could be a combination of the two and, honestly, we will never really know unless the ICA shares more detailed breakdown of applicant profiles over the past decade. However, we do think that education is an important component in your profile because studies have shown more educated people tend to have higher incomes and higher incomes along with more education tends to lead to higher wealth.
| Education* | Percentage of families | Median income (2013) | Median wealth (2013) | Wealth-to-income ratio** | Millionaires (family wealth) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No high school diploma | 12% | $22,320 | $37,766 | 1.43 | 1 in 110 |
| High school diploma | 50% | $41,190 | $95,072 | 2.15 | 1 in 18 |
| Two- or four-year degree | 25% | $76,293 | $273,488 | 3.45 | 1 in 4.6 |
| Advanced degree | 13% | $116,265 | $689,100 | 5.58 | 1 in 2.6 |
NOTE: *Based on the education level of a family headed by someone 40 years of age or older. **This ratio shows how much wealth each group has per dollar of income. For example, the ratio for families without a high school degree was 1.43, which means that, on average, for every $1 of income there was $1.43 of wealth. The ratio is a measure of how efficient people are at turning income into wealth.
SOURCE: Boshara, Ray; Emmons, William R. and Noeth, Bryan. “The Demographics of Wealth: How Age, Education and Race Separate Thrivers from Strugglers in Today's Economy.” Essay No. 2: Education and Wealth, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, May 2015, pp. 4, 5, 9, and 13. Singapore’s Population Cools in 2025: Deeper Insights for Residency Applicants
Source: US Federal Reserve
People who are more educated also tend to have better job opportunities with lower rates of unemployment.
Unemployment declines as education increases
More importantly, we have seen the government recognise the importance of education through the introduction of the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS[i]) points system on 1 September 2023, where the level of education and the ranking of the school can give you up to 20 points out of 40 needed to get an Employment Pass (EP). Having an EP is one pathway to get a PR. While COMPASS is not directly used to evaluate PR or citizenship applications, we do think some elements of it, such as the level of education, continue to play a significant factor in the application process. Inside Singapore’s World-Class Education System: The Secrets Behind Its Success
What can you do if you think you score poorly for education?
Fortunately, education is not the only determining factor for your Singapore PR or citizenship application. There are a multitude of other factors that also determine the success of your application. Come speak to E&H Immigration Consultancy if you need help with your application and please leave a comment if you have had issues with your application due to a weak education profile.
[i] COMPASS has 6 criteria, where each criterion can earn up to 20 points, comprising the applicant’s: salary, qualifications, skills, company employee diversity, company strategic economic priorities (see https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/employment-pass/eligibility).
Planning your Singapore PR or citizenship application? E&H Immigration’s our Singapore PR application service provides expert guidance tailored to your situation. Also see: E&H Immigration’s our Singapore Citizenship service.