Cancelling PEP: Unemployment, Departure and Irreversible Effects

Triggers and Exceptions

Cancel if unemployed more than six months or permanently leaving Singapore; for departure cancel within one week after leaving. Changing employer only requires notification, not cancellation. PR conversion and expired passes need no cancellation; an expired holder remaining must request lawful temporary stay.

Tax and Process

Where tax clearance is required, the employer files Form IR21 at least one month before cessation of employment, an overseas posting or departure from Singapore for more than three months. The holder or EA submits the cancellation through EP eService on myMOM Portal; processing is immediate. The PEP and related family passes cannot be reinstated. If still in Singapore, request STVP up to 90 days from application, received by email and shown with valid passport on departure. Cut and discard the old card.

Choose Notification or Cancellation First

Before cancelling, identify the event and date: an employment change, unemployment lasting more than six months, permanent departure, permanent residence, or expiry. Keep the no-cancellation exceptions separate from the actual cancellation triggers. For starting or leaving employment and for changing employers, MOM’s PEP update guidance requires notification within one week. An employer change does not itself require surrendering the PEP.

As a practical check, list every related family pass before confirming cancellation. Those passes are cancelled with the PEP and cannot be reinstated; the action should therefore be planned for the whole affected family.

Coordinate Tax Clearance and Lawful Stay

Use IRAS’s tax-clearance steps to check whether the employer must file Form IR21; exemptions exist, so cancellation alone should not be used as the tax test. Coordinate any required filing with the employment-end or departure date instead of waiting until after cancellation.

If still in Singapore, request the STVP through the cancellation service and check the expiry actually granted in the emailed pass. “Up to 90 days” is a maximum, not an automatic 90-day extension. Keep that email and a valid passport available for departure. An already-expired PEP follows the separate STVP request linked by MOM; it is not revived by choosing cancellation.