Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) for partners and parents

Short answer: an LTVP is not a Dependant's Pass, and treating it as a cheaper substitute is how people get into trouble. Parents of EP and S Pass holders need MOM's parent LTVP, which turns on your own fixed monthly salary being at least S$12,000. A common-law partner needs S$6,000 and one of the three specific proofs on MOM's list. Work rights don't come attached: PLOC only reaches spouses and unmarried children under 21 of citizens and PRs on an ICA LTVP. And an ordinary LTVP carries no healthcare subsidy.

The Long-Term Visit Pass exists for the family relationships that don't fit neatly onto an Employment Pass holder's Dependant's Pass. Parents of high-earning EP and S Pass holders, common-law partners, foreign spouses of Singapore citizens, a parent or grandparent of a child on a Student's Pass, and a handful of other listed categories. Two agencies issue it: MOM for the families of work pass holders such as EP and S Pass holders, and ICA for the families of citizens and PRs plus a few other groups. The reason "can I bring my mother on an LTVP?" and "is it really S$12k?" come up constantly on r/askSingapore is that the thresholds are genuinely easy to misread, and getting them wrong means an awkward phone call home.

Which pass your relative actually needs

When a chat group tells you otherwise, the MOM and ICA categories win. They always win.

EP and S Pass parents: the S$12k rule

The MOM LTVP eligibility page is unusually direct about this one. You need to hold an Employment Pass or S Pass yourself, and earn a minimum fixed monthly salary of S$6,000 for the common-law spouse and children rows. That figure is based on your salary alone, not your household's combined income. The sponsor has to be an established Singapore-registered company, which is usually your employer. And for parents specifically, the bar rises: you qualify only if your fixed monthly salary is at least S$12,000.

"Fixed monthly salary" has a narrow meaning. MOM counts basic pay plus fixed monthly allowances, such as a fixed housing or food allowance, and leaves out bonuses, commission, overtime, variable allowances, the annual wage supplement and reimbursements. A S$10,000 base with a generous bonus does not clear S$12,000, however good the total package looks.

That individual-salary point is where the forum stories go wrong. When you read "our combined income was under 10k and we got rejected", the writer has usually either confused ICA's parent sponsorship for citizens and PRs with MOM's work-pass parent LTVP, or assumed a spouse's salary counts toward the S$12k floor. It doesn't. Two decent salaries under one roof do not add up to a parent LTVP.

For a parent, MOM asks for a copy of your birth certificate showing their names, alongside their passport particulars page. The floor also keeps applying after approval. If your salary is later cut below it, MOM's EP notify page says it will revoke any existing DP or LTVP tied to your pass, which we unpack in EP salary cuts and family passes. Once you're a PR, the relevant row becomes ICA's parent LTVP, assessed on ICA's own factors rather than MOM's salary test: see aged parents: PR vs LTVP.

Proving a common-law relationship to MOM

The recurring Reddit question here is some version of "we share a flat and a joint bank account, is that enough?" It isn't, and MOM's evidence list is narrower than people expect. For a common-law spouse LTVP, the documents required page asks for any one of the following.

1. A copy of a common-law marriage certificate, or
2. An affidavit by both partners declaring a common-law relationship recognised under the laws of their home country or region, notarised in that home country or region, or
3. A letter from the home-country embassy of either the work pass holder or the partner, acknowledging the relationship under that country's law

Note what options two and three have in common: the recognition has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is your home jurisdiction, not your landlord. Because the embassy letter can come from either partner's country, use whichever country actually recognises the relationship. If neither does, options two and three are closed to you.

What won't do the job on its own: a shared lease, a joint bank account, years of message history, or a statutory declaration sworn in Singapore. None of them shows recognition under home-country law, so none replaces one of the three. And if you're legally married, including a civil marriage registered here, this isn't your route at all. MOM points legally married couples to the Dependant's Pass. It's also separate from ICA's spouse LTVP for citizens and PRs, which is covered in spouse LTVP and PMLA.

The order that works:

1. Pick the one proof your home country can actually produce.
2. Get it issued, notarised or written in the right place. The affidavit is notarised in your home country or region, not in Singapore.
3. If anything isn't in English, combine the original and the English translation into one file.
4. Add your partner's passport particulars page.
5. Hand the complete pack to HR. Your employer or its EA files the application, so it has to be finished before it leaves your hands.

Price translators here in Singapore before you accept an overseas quote priced per character, because the character-based quotes can be startling. More on that in notary and apostille.

Applying through MOM: fees, timing and arrival

For an EP or S Pass holder's family, your employer or its appointed employment agent files the LTVP through the EP eService on the myMOM Portal, with a separate application for each family member. It can go in alongside your own work pass application or later. Here's what MOM's apply page publishes for EP and S Pass families.

The IPA letter doubles as a single-entry visa, and your relative has to be in Singapore when the pass is issued. A medical examination form may be needed at that stage too.

Sequence the actual arrival after IPA. MOM says your relative doesn't need to be here when you apply, should only come in once the pass is approved, and won't get a visit pass extension while they wait. A parent who flies in hopefully and waits is a parent who will be flying out again.

The LTVP lasts as long as your own work pass, or for the duration requested if that's shorter, according to MOM's key facts.

The healthcare bill nobody budgets for

An ordinary LTVP carries no healthcare subsidy. MOH has told Parliament that public healthcare subsidies generally go to citizens and PRs, and that LTVP and Dependant's Pass holders aren't eligible. The exception is the LTVP+, held by some dependants of citizens and PRs, which has had inpatient subsidies since 2012.

The forum ICU stories exist for a reason. An unsubsidised stay at a public hospital is billed at the full rate, and an elderly parent is exactly the person likely to need one. A common-law partner on an MOM LTVP is in the same position.

Price private medical insurance for both early, read how each plan treats pre-existing conditions, and budget for helper care if that's where this is heading. MOH notes that LTVP holders can buy plans from the Integrated Shield Plan insurers, paying premiums in cash or, where there is one, from a citizen or PR family member's MediSave. We've laid the options out in expat health insurance. If a bill does go badly, the hospital's medical social workers can look at instalment plans or charity funds.

And be honest with yourself about PR for elderly parents. ICA's PR categories include the aged parent of a Singapore citizen, not the parent of an EP holder or a PR, so planning around it is planning around a hope.

The SC spouse path: PMLA, then LTVP, then maybe PLOC

If you're marrying a Singapore citizen, do the Pre-Marriage LTVP Assessment first. PMLA is free, and completing it before the marriage shortens LTVP processing for an SC's foreign spouse to 6 weeks instead of up to 6 months. Six months is a long time to be in limbo as a newly married couple, and the assessment costs you nothing but an evening.

The SC sponsors through Singpass on the ICA e-Service. For other ICA categories, including spouses of PRs, ICA says most applications are processed within 6 weeks when the documents are in order.

ICA's published fees are S$45 to apply and S$60 on issuance, plus S$30 for a Multiple Journey Visa where that applies, all non-refundable. They're lower than MOM's, so check which agency's pass you're actually applying for before you budget.

Renew at least 3 months before expiry, because whatever validity is left over does not roll forward into the new pass. Late renewal is just money and time you give away. The full PMLA and renewal detail is in spouse LTVP and PMLA.

Work rights: PLOC doesn't come automatically

An LTVP on its own is not permission to work. Eligible spouses, and unmarried children under 21, of Singapore citizens or PRs who hold an ICA-issued LTVP may be able to get a Pre-approved Letter of Consent from MOM, and you can apply for it in the same application as the LTVP itself.

PLOC is the good version: it lets an eligible holder work without having to find the job first. Its validity is tied to the LTVP underneath it, so the two rise and fall together. If a PLOC is refused, a prospective employer can apply for an LOC instead. The details are in PLOC vs LOC.

Parents and common-law partners on an MOM-issued LTVP aren't in that group. MOM's rule for them is a work pass of their own: find a job offer first, then the employer applies for an EP, S Pass or Work Permit, and the candidate has to meet that pass's criteria.

Remote work is the one carve-out. MOM's FAQ says you don't need a work pass to work for an overseas-based organisation or client while living here, but you do for a Singapore-registered organisation or a Singapore client, no matter where the money lands. More in side income rules.

Trailing partners in EP families who are legally married sit on a DP, which has its own work rules, covered in trailing partner career. If you're already on PLOC and wondering whether a standalone EP is worth the trouble, that comparison is in LTVP and PLOC to EP.

What an LTVP doesn't solve

It doesn't quietly build toward PR. PR is discretionary, and ICA's PR categories cover family of citizens and PRs, EP and S Pass holders, certain students and investors. "LTVP holder" isn't one of them.

If you're moving from an EP or S Pass onto an ICA LTVP after marrying an SC or PR, MOM's FAQ says your work pass is cancelled once ICA issues the LTVP card. To keep working for the same employer, ask for a PLOC in the same online LTVP application. If you're eligible, MOM emails it to your sponsor a day after you receive the card. If you're not, your employer can apply for an LOC, which takes about a week.

Tell HR before the card is issued, because the easy mistake is a stretch of days where payroll runs on a pass that no longer exists. The household-level sequencing is in EP job loss to spouse LTVP.

Read next: Dependant's Pass, Employment Pass, and PR strategy.