<p class="justifyleft"><em>At the beginning of August, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Labour &amp; Employment  SG and Spring Singapore agencies, supporting companies, announced the introduction of new evaluation criteria for entrepreneurs who wish to obtain an entrepreneurial visa to Singapore.</em></p><p class="justifyleft">In our time, emigration to countries with a stable economy and a high standard of living has become very popular. In some countries it's difficult to emigrate. Others often don't meet all the requirements, but in the case of Singapore, everything is more simple: this city-state is characterized by low taxes, developed infrastructure and high level of medical care, and emigration to Singapore with subsequent citizenship offers opportunities to travel around the globe without problems. Perhaps these and other advantages and make people think about how to emigrate to Singapore. One way is to register a company in Singapore and emigrate as the owner of the company on an EntrePass visa.</p><p>In 2003, the Singapore government introduced EntrePass for entrepreneurs and investors with innovative business ideas in order to increase the attractiveness of Singapore in the eyes of foreign entrepreneurs. The visa was given for a period of one year, and if the business was successful and met the government's requirements, then at the end of the term it was extended. A visa holder has the right to move to Singapore himself and take his family, whose members can expect a work permit and residence permit, and the children of a foreign entrepreneur can visit Singapore schools.</p><p>Starting from August 3, 2017, the existing criteria for obtaining EntrePass were supplemented with the following:</p><ul><li>The applicant must provide evidence of his investment and entrepreneurial experience;</li><li>The applicant must demonstrate key achievements in his activities areas and commercial ties availability.</li></ul><p>Two new agencies set up by the government will help assess applicants to the Ministry of Labor: National Research Foundation и Infocomm Media Development Authority.</p><p>In addition, as promised in March 2017, they eliminated the requirement to make a minimum amount of 50,000 Singapore dollars as the registered capital of the company being registered. Also at the first renewal the visa will now be extended not by one, but by two years.</p><p>Obviously, in Singapore they intend to more carefully consider applications for EntrePass and give preference to investors and entrepreneurs with great potential. But at the same time, Singapore introduces certain indulgences, thereby increasing the attractiveness of the state for foreign entrepreneurs.</p><p>Interestingly, according to official statistics, only in 2015 foreign start-ups provided jobs to more than 19,000 people. The government has doubled the maximum amount of investment for joint investment from 2 million to 4 million Singapore dollars, and the share of support for co-financing by the government has increased from 50 to 70 percent.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><pre style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: xx-large; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: lighter; text-decoration: blink;">Why Singapore?</pre></div><p>Why start a startup in Singapore? The reasons for that, in addition to the fact that the government actively promotes business development, very much. Every year more and more facts about Singapore contain the words "most" and "best". The most politically stable country with the highest quality of life or territory of Asia, the best jurisdiction for doing business is just some of the arguments that persuade entrepreneurs to move to this small Asian state.</p><p>During its history, Singapore managed to visit part of the British Empire, it belonged to Japan and was part of Malaysia. When the country gained independence in 1965, it was in a sorry state: the population was only half a million people, and even drinking water and sand had to be imported.</p><p>For 30 years under Lee Kuan Yew leadership city has become a trading and financial center in Southeast Asia. The government in every possible way enticed prospective investors, and American transnational corporations tried to prepare mail for the development of high-tech sector.</p><p>In the Doing Business ranking, which assesses 189 states, Singapore was in first place for ten consecutive years - from 2007 to 2016. In 2016, the state topped the rating for such indicators as compliance with the terms of contracts, support for small investors and ease of obtaining construction permits. In addition, according to experts, the best workers from all over the world live in Singapore.</p><p>For start-ups, a very attractive tax system operates in the country: the corporate tax for the first 100 thousand Singapore dollars of the company's annual profit is 0%, for the next 200 thousand Singapore dollars - 8.5%, and all that over 300 thousand is taxed at the full rate of 17%. Thanks to such an attractive taxation system and other factors, the number of start-ups being created is continuously growing: from 2004 to 2014, it almost doubled, from 2,800 companies to 5,400. Overall, it was 2014 that was a breakthrough for Singaporean businessmen and set a further direction for the development of start-ups: on a scale of jurisdiction, start-ups received an investment of 1.2 billion Singapore dollars.</p><p>For business projects in Singapore, always pay attention to large foreign investors. For example, the company Nitrous IO, engaged in the development of cloud applications, received 6.65 million US dollars from several international investors, including Eduardo Saverin, one of the creators of Facebook.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><pre style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: normal; font-weight: lighter;">What to do in Singapore?</pre></div><p>Singapore's Changi Airport is the best in the world, and this will be confirmed by the 15 million tourists who visit Singapore every year: this figure is three times the population of the state. Therefore, tourism is one of the most promising areas for business development in Singapore. With an increasing flow of tourists, the hotel business is also flourishing. It's a good idea to open a bar or a small cafe or boutique: many tourists come here for shopping.</p><p>If to judge by the end of 2015, one of the main start-up trends was transport services: the platform for renting cars without intermediaries iCarsClub collected 70.48 million dollars, and the service for calling a taxi GrabTaxi - 680 million.</p><p>Such giants as Microsoft, Google and Apple, could not bypass Singapore and opened their branches here. The state keeps pace with the times, and the provision of services to create sites and conduct Internet communications, as well as the development of social networks and applications can be the basis for successful business. For example, a social network called Migme, which brings together 65 million users from around the world, received funding of $ 37.1 million.</p><p>In addition, such giants of pharmaceuticals as GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Pfizer have placed their branches in Singapore. Pharmaceutical company Aslan, which deals with the treatment of inflammatory, respiratory and cancer diseases received 111 million dollars of investment.</p><p>And the main trend of start-ups were online stores: electronics, furniture and clothes Lazada collected a record $ 686 million, and a platform called Zalora, specializing in the fashionable clothes sales - $ 238 million.</p><p>In Singapore, a lot of accelerators and incubators are concentrated, and their number is growing rapidly. Usually they have specialization. So, Accelerator AirMaker specializes in "Internet of things", and Entrepreneur First - on startups related to aerospace research, robotics and machine training.</p><p>Let's sum up: obviously, emigration to Singapore with the help of company registration is one of the most reliable ways. To make the idea a success, you really need to evaluate your chances of getting EntrePass. Here, your experience in creating and monetizing a software product, a business plan and hiring local employees will be crucial. Singapore is a region with tremendous prospects, and emigration to Singapore can be an excellent opportunity for you and your family to change their lives.</p><p><em> </em></p><p style="text-align: center;"><em> You can ask your questions about obtaining entrepreneurial visas for <strong>Castle Family Office</strong> specialists! Write us via </em><em><strong><em><span face="Calibri" size="3"><span lang="EN-US"><span face="Calibri" size="3"><a href="mailto:info@castle-familyoffice.sg">info@castle-familyoffice.sg</a></span></span></span></em></strong> </em></p>