Lost or damaged work pass card (EP / S Pass / DP)

Short answer: Tell HR the same day, open SGWorkPass, and get your employer to apply for a replacement card within 1 week. If the card was stolen, file a police report too, because MOM wants to see it when you collect. If you lost it abroad, your employer has to tell MOM straight away, and MOM issues a letter you can use to get back into Singapore. The digital pass helps you at counters, but it doesn't waive the plastic. And if what you lost is a blue PR NRIC, that is ICA's process, not MOM's.

Losing a wallet on a JB weekend is a whole r/askSingapore genre. The reassuring part is that the card was never the only proof you're here legally. Your digital work pass shows the same status, and ICA's automated lanes work off your passport and the biometrics MOM enrolled. The less reassuring part is that you still have to replace a lost, stolen or damaged card on MOM's timeline, and that timeline is short.

One agency check before you do anything else. If you already hold a blue PR NRIC, or a pink citizen card, ICA runs that replacement and MOM has nothing to do with it. Head to lost or stolen NRIC instead.

What to do today

1. Open SGWorkPass, and set it up if you never got round to it. You set it up with your Singpass login, it's free, and the digital work pass is available as soon as you've done it. It's what you show a counter that wants proof your status is valid, and it works without an internet connection. If your phone went with the wallet, setting the app up on a new phone automatically deactivates the digital pass on the lost one.
2. Message HR the same day, with your travel dates if you're abroad. For an EP or S Pass, and for most DPs and LTVPs, only your employer or an appointed employment agent can submit the replacement in EP eService, so nothing moves until they know. EntrePass, PEP and ONE Pass holders have their own routes, covered below.
3. If it was stolen rather than mislaid, file a police report. MOM requires one for a stolen card, and you bring it when you collect the replacement. In Singapore, the Singapore Police Force takes theft reports online. Abroad, go to the local police and get the report translated, because MOM wants overseas police reports in English.
4. If you lost it overseas, get HR to inform MOM immediately. MOM will issue a letter for you to use when entering Singapore, and it's the piece most people don't know to ask for.

The replacement rules

The deadline and fees are the same on MOM's pages for the EP, S Pass, DP, LTVP, EntrePass, PEP and ONE Pass.

The fee ladder is the part worth noticing. It climbs steeply after the first loss, and that is deliberate. MOM may also call you in for an interview before it issues a new card, and most of its pages add that it may do so if you lose your card repeatedly. That is not a meeting anyone enjoys scheduling around work.

If a card you had already written off turns up later, post it back to MOM immediately rather than leaving it in a drawer. The address is Ministry of Manpower, 18 Havelock Road, Singapore 059764.

Who applies, and where you collect

MOM's appointment page also lists ONE Pass holders' dependants among the people who replace a card by appointment at EPSC. When you book, MOM asks you to pick "Pass Issuance/Renewal/Cancellation" as the purpose. Over the counter, you pay by Visa, Mastercard, Amex, NETS or CashCard, and a card issued outside Singapore needs to be activated for overseas use.

EPSC is at The Riverwalk, 20 Upper Circular Road, #04-01/02, near Clarke Quay MRT. Hall C is at the MOM Services Centre, 1500 Bendemeer Road, near Potong Pasir MRT. Both open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5.30pm, and close on weekends and public holidays. Most services at both are by appointment only, but card collection isn't.

Collecting the new card

The card replacement letter that arrives by email has the collection instructions. Bring:

• Your original passport
• The card replacement letter
• The damaged card, if that's why you're replacing it
• The police report, for a stolen card, translated into English if it was made overseas
• For a ONE Pass, the completed declaration form for a lost or stolen card

For a lost or stolen card, you have to collect in person. Only a damaged card can be picked up by someone else. The person you authorise brings an authorisation letter (from the company, for an employer-sponsored pass), their own NRIC, pass card or passport, the damaged card and the card replacement letter. On every pass except the ONE Pass, they also bring your original passport.

If you've renewed your passport since the card was issued, put the new one on MOM's records before you go. Pass holders can do that themselves in EP eService and the update is instant, which saves an awkward conversation at the counter.

Losing the card overseas

The order matters more abroad, because you're relying on other people in Singapore while you're stuck in a hotel room.

1. Open SGWorkPass. It can be downloaded and used overseas, and it works offline once it's set up.
2. Message HR with your travel dates, plus a photo of the police report if the card was stolen. You can't file an EP or S Pass replacement yourself from abroad.
3. Ask HR to inform MOM immediately and request the letter for entering Singapore before your flight. For a DP or LTVP, MOM's page says "you must inform us immediately" too, so route it through the main pass holder's HR. EntrePass, PEP and ONE Pass holders inform MOM themselves, and MOM's pages link that to its online feedback and enquiries form.
4. Remember the 1-week clock keeps running while you're away, so HR should get the replacement in on time. You still can't collect until you're back, because lost and stolen cards are collected in person and nobody can do it for you.

The friction usually comes at the airline check-in counter, not immigration. Staff may ask for a "visa" or for the FIN card before they will board you. Show SGWorkPass and MOM's letter with your passport, and keep HR reachable on WhatsApp while you're standing there. MOM says digital work passes are widely accepted by most government agencies, but private organisations may need time to adapt, and an airline desk in a third country is a private organisation.

At the Singapore end, ICA's automated lanes take EP, S Pass and DP holders whose fingerprints, iris or face images were enrolled with MOM. The only document ICA lists is an ICAO-compliant passport valid for at least six months, so the card isn't what gets you through the gate.

What breaks that passport link is changing passports without telling MOM. Pass holders can update their passport number and expiry in EP eService, the update is instant, and MOM says you can use the automated gates only 4 working days after making it, so plan on the manned counters until then. If you renewed your passport overseas and lost the card on the same trip, that's two problems rather than one, and the passport update is the one you can fix yourself tonight. Notify MOM of EP changes walks through it.

Three or more losses

After three or more losses, the online route closes for some passes, and every replacement after the first costs S$327.

• S Pass holders, and dependants of S Pass holders: don't apply in EP eService. The request goes in on MOM's request for replacement form instead, linked from MOM's S Pass, DP and LTVP replacement pages.
• Other pass holders who can't proceed online: MOM's appointment page says to make an appointment at EPSC and select "Lost Card Interview" as the purpose. MOM's locations page also gives an email route, [email protected], and says MOM will reply within 7 working days and you can stay in Singapore in the meantime.

Making it not happen again

Install SGWorkPass on day one. It is on our list of apps that matter, and it only runs on one phone at a time, so set it up again whenever you change handsets. Keep a photo of the front and back of the card in a password vault, not in a group chat. Don't laminate the card or punch a hole in it. And add "pass card lives in the travel pouch" to your annual life-admin sweep.

Once PR formalities are done, stop treating the old FIN card as your identity. Update wallets and travel pouches when you collect the blue IC, which is on the after PR checklist.