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Employing Foreign Workers
Work Permit Conditions
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) allows companies performing farming activities to apply for Work Permit under the Services sector to employ foreign workers.
For companies that hold a valid SFA food farm licence, they could also qualify for MOM’s Agritech Work Permit Scheme to employ foreign workers. Foreign worker under the Agritech Work Permit Scheme is only allowed to perform farming-related works such as cultivation of food crops, rearing animals for food (such as livestock, poultry and fish) and related works. Food farms with workers on the Agritech Work Permit Scheme are to adhere to MOM’s Conditions of Work Permits.
How to apply for MOM Work Permit
Step 1: Register your entity with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)
Step 2: Open a CPF account with the Central Provident Fund Board
Step 3: Open a Work Pass account via Work Pass Account Registration (WPAR) at MOM. Companies applying for the Agritech Work Permit Scheme will also need to submit an SFA food farm licence.
Source Countries
Under MOM’s Agritech Work Permit Scheme, farms can employ foreign workers from the following source countries.
| Type of Source (Country / Region) |
|---|
| Malaysia |
| People’s Republic of China (PRC) |
| North Asian sources (NAS) e.g South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan |
| Non-traditional sources (NTS) e.g Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand* |
* From 1 June 2025, MOM will expand the NTS list to include Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos.
| Type of Foreign Worker | Maximum Employment Period** |
|---|---|
| Basic-skilled (R2) | 14 years |
| Higher-skilled (R1)*** | 22 years |
** MOM will lift the maximum period of employment and peg to the maximum employment age for existing Work Permit holders to the local retirement age, i.e., 63 years old. MOM will also streamline the age limit for new Work Permit applications, pegging it to two years below the local retirement age, i.e. 61 years old. These changes will be implemented from 1 July 2025.
*** R1 skilled workers are recognised under the Market-Based Skills Recognition Framework.
For enquiries on Agritech Work Permit Scheme, please email to SFA_Manpower@sfa.gov.sg.
Recruiting for the Agri-Food Sector
Overview
The agri-food sector is a growth sector that offers many jobs and diverse career opportunities for talent in agriculture and aquaculture sciences, engineering, and info-comm technology. To support the development of this sector and facilitate job matching, SFA works with Workforce Singapore to publicise career opportunities on MyCareersFuture (MCF) online job portal.
Last Updated 18 Mar 2025
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