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Singapore.

How Singapore sells residence for investors (golden visa): 2 programmes, 1 of them open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.

46
numbers
171
prices and rules
17
events
33
documents and articles
Residence·Closed·2004–2012

Financial Investor Scheme

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Financial Investor Scheme (FIS)

Lowest price when it closed: not determined

Closed 15 Apr 2012; investment terms not found in any source read, no term rows.

Notes from the research

Separate investor permanent-residence scheme. 1,080 investors granted PR from 2004 to 2012; 194 applications rejected. Ceased 15 Apr 2012. Investment terms not found in official sources read (an MP said in 2012 that MAS had withdrawn it). Launch year taken from the period in the parliamentary answer ('From 2004 to 2012'), not confirmed.

Prices and rules

No prices or conditions recorded yet.

What is measured

  • Applications turned down1
  • Investors approved, not counting family members1
Residence·Open·since 2004

Global Investor Programme

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Global Investor Programme (GIP)

Lowest price for one person: S$10 million

Option A since 15 Mar 2023: S$10 million in a new or existing business. Option B is S$25 million in a GIP-select fund; Option C a family office with S$200 million AUM and S$50 million deployed. Applicants must also pass business track-record tests (e.g. S$200m turnover).

Notes from the research

Permanent residence (not citizenship) for business owners and investors, run by Contact Singapore, a division of the Economic Development Board (EDB); approvals issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. No law establishing the scheme was found; it is run administratively. MTI dates it to 2004, though a 2005 ministerial statement refers to GIP rules changed in 1996. Applicants must first meet business track-record tests (e.g. company turnover of S$200m now) or, for family-office principals, S$200m in net investible assets; then invest under Option A (business, S$10m since 15 Mar 2023), B (GIP-select fund, S$25m) or C (single family office, AUM S$200m with S$50m deployed in Singapore, since Feb 2025 in listed equities). PR comes with a 5-year re-entry permit renewed only if business, jobs and residence conditions are met. Citizenship is not part of the scheme: GIP PRs may apply for it through the normal process (67 of 1,826 had by June 2017). Separate from the MAS 13O/13U family-office tax incentives, which give no residence rights.

Processing time
051015202120222023202420252026

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)
Fees today

What is measured

  • Investors approved, not counting family members7
  • Investment by programme investors7
  • Jobs created by programme investors6
  • Applicant share3
  • Processing time3
  • Total business expenditure by programme investors3
  • People who became citizens2
  • Share of programme investment by asset class or route2
  • Age of programme participants at a grant1
  • Programme grants as a share of all grants of the same status1
  • Property purchases by programme participants (outside the programme)1
  • Investment-pooling entities approved (stock)1
  • Investor residence permits revoked1
  • Investor residence renewals refused1
  • Investor residence status retained1
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Sources

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