Singapore PR application fee: what ICA charges and when

The Singapore Permanent Residence (PR) application fee is S$100, payable at the point of submission to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), and it is non-refundable. A separate set of fees applies later, at the completion of formalities, if the application is approved: S$20 for the Entry Permit, S$50 for a five-year Re-Entry Permit, and S$50 for the Singapore Identity Card. ICA publishes these figures on its official page for becoming a PR; it does not publish any fee for engaging an external migration agency, and it states that it has no affiliation with any such commercial entity. If you are considering using an agency, the fee it charges is a private commercial matter that you must confirm directly with that agency, and you should not assume ICA has any role in it.

What the S$100 application fee covers

The S$100 fee is charged once for each PR application submitted. ICA lists it under “Fees” on the “Becoming a Permanent Resident” page, with the heading “At Submission”. You pay it when you submit the application through the ICA e-Service, whether you are applying as a spouse or child of a Singapore citizen or PR, an aged parent, an Employment Pass or S Pass holder, a student who has passed a national exam or is in the Integrated Programme, or a foreign investor.

The fee is payable regardless of the outcome. ICA states plainly that all fees are non-refundable. That means if your application is not approved, or if you withdraw it, the S$100 is not returned. There is no indication in the official guidance of any partial refund or waiver, so you should budget for the fee as a sunk cost at the point of submission.

Fees at completion of formalities

If ICA approves your application, you will need to complete formalities before your PR status is formally granted. The fees at this stage are separate from the application fee and are set out as follows.

Item	Fee
Entry Permit	S$20
5-year Re-Entry Permit	S$50
Singapore Identity Card	S$50

These three items total S$120 at the formalities stage, on top of the S$100 paid at submission. So the total payable to ICA for a successful application is S$220, assuming you take the five-year Re-Entry Permit. ICA does not list a separate fee for a shorter or longer Re-Entry Permit in the official guidance, so if you are offered a different validity period, you should check the ICA page for the corresponding fee.

All of these fees are also non-refundable. The official guidance does not state what happens if you complete some formalities but not others, so you should treat each item as a cost you will incur only if you proceed to that stage.

Who must pay and how

The application fee is tied to the application itself, not to each person added to it. However, the submission process requires every person added as an applicant to review the application form before it can be submitted. Each applicant needs to log in to the ICA e-Service using their Singpass, or using unique credentials ICA provides for those not eligible for Singpass, to provide their declarations.

If you are applying as a spouse, an unmarried child below 21, or an aged parent, your sponsoring Singapore citizen or PR spouse, parent, or child must log in with their Singpass to sponsor the application. If you are applying as an Employment Pass or S Pass holder, you submit using your own Singpass. If you are a student aged 15 and above, you can submit with your Singpass; if you are below 15, you use the non-Singpass option.

ICA notes that approval for a Singpass account may take two to five working days. It recommends that sponsors and applicants start an application only after all applicants have successfully registered for a Singpass account, where eligible. This is a practical point for your timeline: the fee cannot be paid until the application is ready to submit, and the application cannot be submitted until all parties can log in and review it.

What ICA does not charge for

ICA does not charge any fee for assessing your eligibility, for advising you on your chances, or for any service provided by an external migration agency. The official guidance is explicit on this point: “ICA has no affiliation with any external migration agency/commercial entity which claims to be the Singapore immigration specialist/consultant or partner. ICA does not support or endorse services by self-proclaimed professional immigration consultancy service providers for Permanent Residence application.”

This means that if you engage a private agency, the fee it charges is entirely separate from the S$100 application fee and the S$120 formalities fees. ICA does not publish a standard rate for such services, and it does not endorse any particular provider. You should ask any agency you consider for a written breakdown of its fees, what services those fees cover, and whether any part of the fee is refundable if your application is not approved. The official guidance does not give any benchmark, so you have no official figure against which to compare an agency quote.

What else you should budget for

Beyond the ICA fees, the PR application may require documents that are not in English. ICA accepts certified true copies of original documents, and official translations for documents in other languages. It accepts translations provided by the embassy of the issuing country, translations by a notary public in Singapore or the issuing country, and privately translated documents attested by the embassy or notarised by a notary public. ICA does not endorse any private translation companies. The cost of obtaining certified copies, translations, or notarisation is not set by ICA and is not included in the S$100 or S$120 fees.

If you are a male applicant, you also need to consider National Service obligations. Under the Enlistment Act 1970, all male Singapore citizens and PRs, unless exempted, must serve National Service. All male applicants are required to access www.cmpb.gov.sg for information on NS before proceeding with the application. The official guidance does not state any fee for NS registration or deferment, so you should check the Central Manpower Base directly for any costs associated with your specific situation.

How the fees fit into the overall process

The PR application process has two distinct payment points. The first is at submission, when you pay the S$100. The second is at completion of formalities, after approval, when you pay the S$120 for the Entry Permit, Re-Entry Permit, and Identity Card. ICA does not publish a processing time in the official guidance, so you cannot estimate how long between the two payments. You should plan for the S$100 to be paid immediately, and the S$120 to be paid only if and when ICA asks you to complete formalities.

There is no indication that ICA charges any fee for checking the status of an application, for renewing a Re-Entry Permit at a later date, or for transferring the remaining validity of a Re-Entry Permit to a new travel document. Those are separate transactions with their own rules, and you should refer to the relevant ICA pages for any fees that apply to them.

What to verify before you pay

Before you submit your application and pay the S$100, confirm the current fee on ICA’s official “Becoming a Permanent Resident” page, because fees can change and the official guidance reflects the page as retrieved. Confirm also whether you are eligible under one of the listed categories, because the fee is non-refundable and ICA does not refund it if the application is not accepted or not approved.

If you are considering an external agency, ask for its fee schedule in writing and confirm whether it includes the ICA fees or charges them separately. ICA’s position is that it has no affiliation with any such agency, so do not assume an agency can influence the outcome or speed up the process. The only fees ICA publishes are the S$100 at submission and the S$20, S$50, and S$50 at formalities.

Finally, if you are a male applicant, check your National Service obligations at www.cmpb.gov.sg before you apply. The official guidance states that renouncing or losing PR status without serving or completing full-time NS will have a serious adverse impact on future applications to work or study in Singapore, and on family members’ applications for long-term immigration facilities, Re-Entry Permit renewals, or citizenship. That is a consequence that no application fee can offset.