The Singapore Global Investor Programme (GIP): options, thresholds, and the family-office route
Singapore does not sell residency. It trades it — Permanent Residence in exchange for real capital, deployed locally, with substance checked again at renewal. The Global Investor Programme is the only direct investment route to PR, its thresholds have been raised deliberately high, and for the families we write for, one of its three options matters far more than the other two: the S$200 million family-office route. What the programme requires, who actually qualifies, and how the family-office option meshes with the tax rules that follow it.
The short answer
The GIP, administered by the Economic Development Board, grants Singapore Permanent Residence to approved investors and their immediate family through one of three routes: S$10 million into a new or existing Singapore business (Option A); S$25 million into a GIP-select fund that invests in Singapore-based companies (Option B); or a single family office with at least S$200 million in assets under management, deploying at least S$50 million into specified Singapore investment categories (Option C). Eligibility is restricted to four profiles with demonstrated track records, the five-year Re-Entry Permit renews only on real economic substance, and since the 2023 recalibration the whole programme has been aimed at investors who bring activity, not just money. For wealthy families, Option C is where the programme intersects everything else on this site — because a S$200 million family office is also a 13U tax-incentive candidate, and the two frameworks have to be planned together.
The three options, honestly compared
| Option A — Business | Option B — GIP-select fund | Option C — Family office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commitment | S$10M into a new/existing SG business entity | S$25M into an EDB-approved GIP-select fund | SFO with ≥S$200M AUM; ≥S$50M deployed in specified SG categories |
| What EDB is buying | Jobs and business expansion — expect headcount and spending milestones | Capital for Singapore-based companies via approved managers | A substantial family anchoring its wealth management here |
| Ongoing burden | Highest — run or grow a real business and hit milestones | Lowest operationally — but capital is locked in the fund | Run a real family office: staff, governance, local deployment |
| Natural fit | Entrepreneurs relocating an operating business | Investors wanting the cleanest passive-capital route at scale | Families already planning a Singapore wealth structure |
The honest observation about Option B: it is the simplest to operate but the least connected to anything else a family builds — the money sits in someone else's fund. Option C costs more in commitment and operation, but the family gets a functioning wealth-management structure out of it, not just a visa. That is why, among the families our readers resemble, Option C dominates the conversation.
Who can apply at all
The GIP is closed to passive wealth without a story. EDB recognises four applicant profiles, each with its own tests — broadly: established business owners (a multi-year track record, company turnover averaging around S$200 million over recent years, and a meaningful shareholding of roughly 30%); next-generation owners of established family businesses; founders of fast-growth companies, typically venture-backed with substantial valuations; and family office principals with net investable assets in the hundreds of millions. The application fee is a five-figure sum (raised to S$20,000 in May 2025 — itself a signal of the programme's positioning), assessment is case by case, and EDB probes the substance behind the numbers. Treat every figure in this paragraph as indicative and confirm the current criteria for your profile with EDB directly — the thresholds were raised sharply in 2023 and nothing prevents another recalibration.
Renewal is where the programme shows its teeth
PR granted under the GIP does not expire — but the Re-Entry Permit, which preserves PR for anyone who travels, runs for five years and renews only on evidence: the qualifying investment maintained, business or employment milestones met under Options A and B, or the family genuinely living in Singapore for a sufficient share of the period. Families who treat the GIP as a document-collection exercise discover at year five that it was designed against exactly that. The planning implication is simple: build the Singapore presence you intend to keep, because you will be asked to show it.
The family-office route, properly understood
Option C sits at the centre of a set of overlapping frameworks, and the most common planning error is conflating them:
- The GIP requirement (EDB): an SFO with ≥S$200M AUM, deploying ≥S$50M into specified Singapore categories — the immigration test.
- The tax incentive (MAS/IRAS): the family's fund vehicle typically applies for 13U (S$50M minimum for SFO funds, tested at every year-end) or 13O (S$20M for SFO funds) — with their own conditions: investment professionals including at least one non-family hire, tiered local spending, the capital deployment requirement, and since August 2026 a mandatory private banking account and widened source-of-wealth screening under the revised SFO rulebook.
- The licensing exemption (MAS): since June 2026, the SFO must separately qualify for the class licensing exemption — covered in our requirements guide.
The GIP's S$50M local-deployment test and the tax scheme's capital deployment requirement look similar and are not the same rule — different agencies, different definitions, different testing dates. A well-planned portfolio usually satisfies both with the same Singapore allocations (listed equities, qualifying funds, local private companies), but each must be evidenced on its own terms. Structurally, the family office pairs naturally with a VCC holding the investable wealth — ring-fenced sub-funds for branches or strategies, the register private, the tax award sitting on the fund. Our family office hub maps the whole build.
GIP versus the alternatives
Two honest comparisons. Against the employment-pass routes (including the ONE Pass, whose access for senior investment professionals widened in August 2026): those are work visas — renewable, employer- or income-linked, faster and vastly cheaper, but not PR; many principals hold one while the family considers permanence. Against other countries' golden visas: most sell residence for a property purchase or a passive deposit; Singapore's programme is more expensive, more intrusive and more selective — deliberately. What it grants in exchange is residence in the jurisdiction where the family's Asian wealth structure, banking and children's schooling probably already are. Families for whom that sentence is true rarely regret the higher bar; families for whom it is not usually belong in a different programme. Our broader guide to investor visa routes covers the map.
Weighing the GIP family-office route?
Tell us the family's shape — where the wealth sits, how much would move, whether PR is the goal or a by-product. We'll walk you through how the GIP, the 13O/13U conditions and the licensing exemption interact for your numbers, and connect you with MAS-licensed professionals and experienced immigration counsel where it's the right fit.
Speak to a specialist →What is the Singapore Global Investor Programme (GIP)?
The GIP is Singapore's investor-immigration scheme, administered by the Economic Development Board, and the only route that grants Permanent Residence directly on the strength of a qualifying investment. Approved applicants receive PR for themselves and can include their spouse and unmarried children under 21, with a five-year Re-Entry Permit whose renewal depends on meeting economic-substance conditions. It is deliberately selective — a programme for established business owners and substantial families, not a passive golden visa.
How much do you need to invest for Singapore PR under the GIP?
Three options, per EDB's current framework: Option A — S$10 million into a new or existing Singapore business entity; Option B — S$25 million into a GIP-select fund investing in Singapore-based companies; Option C — establish a Singapore single family office with at least S$200 million in assets under management, of which at least S$50 million must be deployed into specified Singapore investment categories. Thresholds have risen before and can rise again — confirm current figures with EDB before planning.
Who is eligible to apply for the GIP?
Four profiles: established business owners (broadly, a three-year track record with company turnover averaging at least S$200 million and a meaningful shareholding of around 30%); next-generation owners of established family businesses; founders of fast-growth, venture-backed companies; and family office principals with substantial net investable assets. Each profile has its own documentary tests, and EDB assesses the substance of the track record, not just the numbers — confirm the current criteria for your profile with EDB.
How does GIP renewal work after five years?
PR itself does not expire, but the Re-Entry Permit — the right to keep PR while travelling — is granted for five years and renewed only if substance conditions are met: maintaining the qualifying investment, hitting business or employment milestones under Options A and B, or the family genuinely residing in Singapore for a sufficient part of the period. The GIP is structured so that a purely paper commitment fails at renewal, which is exactly the design.
How does the GIP family office option interact with the 13O/13U tax incentives?
They are separate frameworks that families usually pursue together. Option C requires a single family office with S$200 million AUM and S$50 million deployed locally — a scale at which the fund vehicle typically also applies for the 13U tax exemption (S$50 million minimum for SFO funds, tested annually) with its own conditions: investment professionals including a non-family hire, tiered local spending, the capital deployment requirement and a private banking account. The GIP deployment requirement and the tax scheme's capital deployment requirement are different rules under different agencies — plan them as one portfolio exercise, but satisfy each on its own terms.