Does a Dependant's Pass or Long-Term Visit Pass need a photo?

Those are issued by MOM and ICA respectively and follow the same in-person card-registration model as the work passes. Check the issuing page for the specific pass; this site does not carry those two documents.

My employer's agent asked me for a photo. Is that the MOM requirement?

No — that is the agent's or employer's own file. It is harmless to give them one, but it is not something MOM asked for.

I am renewing my Work Permit. Same answer?

Yes. Renewal that involves a new card goes through the same Services Centre registration, where MOM takes the photo.

Do I need a photo for a Singapore Employment Pass, S Pass or Work Permit?

TL;DR No. The Ministry of Manpower photographs the pass holder at its Services Centre when the pass card is registered, together with fingerprints. Nothing is uploaded with the application, and no photo is brought to the appointment.

What MOM's own pages say

MOM's Employment Pass page describes card registration in one sentence: "During registration, we will capture your fingerprints, take your photo." The Work Permit and S Pass pages describe the same step at the Services Centre. The photograph the pass carries is the one MOM takes there.

That is why the application checklist has no photo on it. Guides that list "a compliant passport photo" among the EP, S Pass or Work Permit documents are describing a step that does not exist.

Where the confusion comes from

Employers and agents often ask a new hire for a passport-size photo for their own HR file, and it gets bundled with the visa paperwork in people's minds. Some other countries do want a photo with a work-permit application. Singapore does not.

The one Singapore document a foreign resident does supply a photo for is a different one: the Singapore passport, if they later become a citizen — or, far more commonly, their home country's passport renewal and any third-country visa.

So what should you do

Turn up to the registration appointment. Dress as you would want to look on a card you will carry for two years; MOM's camera is not flattering. If you want a photo anyway — for the employer's records or your own — any plain white-background 35 × 45 mm photo does, and that is what the pass pages on this site produce. Just do not pay anyone for a "required" one.

The three MOM passes — none takes a photo from you

Document	Size	Head in frame (as we compose it)	Background	Max age	Source
Singapore employment pass	35 × 45 mm	56–78%	pure featureless white	3 months	www.mom.gov.sg
Singapore s pass	35 × 45 mm	56–78%	pure featureless white	3 months	www.mom.gov.sg
Singapore work permit	35 × 45 mm	56–78%	pure featureless white	3 months	www.mom.gov.sg

A real case

A software engineer arriving on an Employment Pass was told by a relocation agent to bring "two passport photos, white background" to the MOM appointment. She brought them. Nobody asked for them; a MOM officer took her photo at the counter after the fingerprint scan, and that is the photo on her card. The two prints are still in a drawer.

Common questions

Does a Dependant's Pass or Long-Term Visit Pass need a photo?: Those are issued by MOM and ICA respectively and follow the same in-person card-registration model as the work passes. Check the issuing page for the specific pass; this site does not carry those two documents.
My employer's agent asked me for a photo. Is that the MOM requirement?: No — that is the agent's or employer's own file. It is harmless to give them one, but it is not something MOM asked for.
I am renewing my Work Permit. Same answer?: Yes. Renewal that involves a new card goes through the same Services Centre registration, where MOM takes the photo.

Sources

Read on the issuing authority's own pages on the dates shown on each document page:

Singapore employment pass: www.mom.gov.sg (read 2026-09-02)
Singapore s pass: www.mom.gov.sg (read 2026-09-02)
Singapore work permit: www.mom.gov.sg (read 2026-09-02)

SGfoto is independent — not affiliated with or endorsed by any government or issuing authority — and does not guarantee acceptance. Requirements change; the authority's page is the one that counts. Rebuilt 2026-09-06.