According to Singapore Companies Act, a Singapore private limited company must have at least one director who is be a resident of Singapore.

The local resident director must be at least 18 years of age, and must not be in bankruptcy or have been convicted of any previous crimes.

If you do not have a local Singapore resident director to meet the requirements of the Singapore Companies Act, you can always engage our Nominee Director Service.

In general, a person is accepted as an ordinarily resident in Singapore if the person:

·       Provides a valid local residential address;

·       Is a Singapore Citizen, Singapore Permanent Resident, the Entrepreneur Pass (EntrePass) holder, Employment Pass (EP) holder, or Dependant’s Pass holder; and

·       Proves that he or she is long-staying (i.e., he or she can legally remain in Singapore for a long period).

we do provide our Nominee Director Service in Singapore. However, please note that our nominee director will not have any financial, management or operational interest in the company. The nominee director main role is limited to satisfying the statutory requirement of having a local resident director for your Singapore company.

No, the nominee director will neither be a bank signatory to the corporate bank account nor play an active role in our client’s business. The nominee director will merely be the named director of the company in order to fulfill local statutory requirements (e.g., appointment of a local resident director). Our client is solely responsible for daily business activities and solely responsible for corporate bank account activity. The appointed nominee director will not sign any invoice, contract or legal documents on behalf of our client’s company.

Directors of the company are legally responsible and accountable for complying with the requirements of the Singapore Companies Act. Failure to comply with the statutory compliance requirements is an offense and may result in fines or prosecution.

It is a common industry standard in Singapore to take a security deposit when providing nominee director services. This is because although a nominee director lacks authority, the same liability applies and can still be prosecuted for the company’s breaches of the law. The nominee director is required to pay for company liquidation charges in case the foreign client is no longer reachable.  As such, to safeguard the interests of the nominee director, we require that a security deposit be kept with us for as long as our Nominee Director Service is active.

Our Nominee Director fee is paid in advance for a full year service.  The security deposit amount is equivalent to a full year service fee of our nominee director service. However, it should not be confused with our service fee or any other fee. It is your money that is temporarily in our custody for the duration of our Nominee Director Service. We will refund the security deposit back to you immediately upon termination of our Nominee Director Service. So, to get started with our Nominee Director service, you need to get ready the necessary funds for one full year of the service fee and the security deposit.

Yes, you can terminate our Nominee Director Service anytime by providing us with the details regarding an alternate local resident director. We will do the necessary paperwork, file the change with authorities, and promptly refund the security deposit back to you.

Foreigners who are starting a business in Singapore and intending to relocate here can apply for an Employment Pass (EP). Upon receiving an EP, you would be able to appoint yourself as the ‘local’ director. Thus, you may have the convenience and elect to use our local nominee director services during your EP application process. We are able to provide short term services at a pro-rated fee.

It is our Company’s policy that our nominee director will not be involved in your business operation therefore if your business is required to apply for a licence, our nominee director will have to step down when you are ready to proceed with the licence application. Most businesses do not require licences or permits to operate but there are handfuls that do as they are regulated by the approving authorities such as those in food businesses, employment agencies, private schools, travel agencies, liquor distributors, moneylenders, banks, childcare centres, etc.

However, you can find out more from our Office Administration services for applying trade mark, license, etc.