How does a Singapore permanent resident keep their status?
ICA says you need a valid Re-Entry Permit (REP) to keep your PR status while away, though your status is safe if you are in Singapore when the REP expires. Since 1 December 2025, if you leave without a valid REP, or it expires while you are abroad, you remain a PR for 180 days but must apply for a new one in that time. If you do not apply, your status ends and you cannot appeal; if ICA refuses you, it also ends, even if you are back in Singapore. Renewal opens three months before expiry, costs S$10 for each year or part of a year granted, and is generally processed within one week, though some cases take longer. ICA may also review your status, and cancel your permits, over offences, undesirable conduct or other breaches of the permit conditions.
What the REP does
ICA's FAQs on the December 2025 changes explain two permits. The Entry Permit, issued when you first become a PR, lets you enter Singapore once and remain. The REP, issued on application for a set period, lets you return from abroad, as many times as needed while it is valid, ICA's conditions page adds.
ICA reads a valid REP held overseas as a sign that you intend to return. It issues one only to PRs who display a commitment to keep contributing to Singapore.
The ICA pages saved for this guide give no standard length for an REP. ICA says a new REP does not extend the old one. It runs from its date of issue, once the fee is paid.
The 180 days
ICA's conditions page sets out two cases. If you leave without a valid REP, your 180 days run from the date of departure. If your REP expires while you are abroad, they run from the expiry date. Either way, you must apply within the 180 days and your REP must be granted, or you lose your PR status.
According to ICA's FAQs, you remain a PR during the 180 days. If you apply in time, you remain a PR until the decision. You may be issued a Permanent Resident's Single-Entry Pass to enter, subject to the entry requirements of the day. Coming back to Singapore does not stop the 180 days running.
If ICA refuses your application, your status ends the day after the decision is sent. If you are in Singapore then, you are given a Visit Pass. If you miss the 180 days, you cannot appeal; you can only make a new PR application.
ICA's FAQs say that before 1 December 2025, you lost your status once your REP expired while you were overseas, with one month's grace to apply again. Under the present rules, you keep your status if your REP expires while you are in Singapore, or if you travel on an expiring REP and return before it lapses.
Renewal, fees and a new passport
You renew your REP through ICA's e-Service within three months before it expires, ICA's page says, and your travel document must be valid for at least three more months. You submit documents only if ICA asks. If you are overseas without Singpass, you can apply through the nearest Singapore Overseas Mission at least two months before your REP expires.
ICA charges S$10 for each year, or part of a year, of the REP it approves, and charges each REP separately. If you apply online, you must pay within 14 days of approval, or the application is withdrawn. ICA generally processes applications within one week, not counting the day you submit, though some take longer.
If you get a new passport of the same nationality, you must transfer your REP to it online. The transfer is free and is generally done within three working days. ICA may clear you as a PR at the checkpoint only if you hold a valid REP with your new passport's details.
Papers ICA may want
ICA's REP notes of February 2023 list papers you may be asked for. If you became a PR under the Professionals/Technical Personnel & Skilled Workers Scheme, you may need to prove you work in Singapore. Employees can give one of these: an employer's letter under a month old, 12 months of CPF Board contribution history, or the last year's tax notices of assessment. The self-employed can give those notices or a valid ACRA business registration certificate.
ICA's notes also say that if your citizen or PR spouse sponsored your PR status, you may be asked for your original marriage certificate and your spouse's identity card. A dependant PR under 21 may be asked for their travel document and their parents' identity cards. Papers not in English must be translated.
Conduct and National Service
Since 1 December 2025, every Entry Permit and REP may be cancelled under the Immigration Act 1959, ICA says. Grounds include breaching its conditions, being found by a court or other competent authority to have broken the law, and conduct the Controller of Immigration deems undesirable. A conviction or undesirable conduct leads ICA to review your PR status, which may end with your permits cancelled and your status revoked.
ICA expects NS-liable PRs to serve. Its conditions page warns that losing or giving up PR status without serving harms later applications to work or study here, or for citizenship or PR, and may affect REP renewals for your relatives or sponsors. ICA's REP notes add that NS-liable males aged 13 and over need an Exit Permit for trips abroad of 3 months or more.
Where outside help fits
On ICA's pages, you apply for and renew your REP through MyICA, the e-Service or an overseas mission, and ICA decides. ICA writes that it backs no commercial entities or consultants offering help with long-term immigration matters, permanent residence included. A firm from the ranked list on this site can help you track dates and papers. Next: how a permanent resident becomes a citizen.