A Branch office in Singapore is considered to be an extension of an overseas company (the parent company). As such, it is not an independent legal entity separated from the parent company. Unlike a Singapore Representative Office, the Branch office allows the parent company to carry out business in Singapore. The Branch is allowed to gain income and revenue from commercial activities in Singapore. If you have a plan to set up a Branch office in Singapore, you must satisfy these requirements:
- The name of the Branch office must be the same as the parent company’s name
- The parent company is responsible for the operations, business results, liabilities of the Branch office
- The parent company must appoint at least two staff to work in Singapore or hire local staff to manage the Branch’s operations
- Business activities of the Branch office must be the same as the foreign company
- It must have an office with a registered address in Singapore
The process of registering a Branch in Singapore takes about 3 to 7 working days.
The new Branch in Singapore must have:
- At least one shareholder
- At least two local agents who will represent the foreign company. The appointed agent may be either residents or non-residents who have applied for an Employment Pass to work in Singapore
- A minimum value of 1 stock (example: S$1)
- An office address in Singapore
If you do not plan to relocate any key executives to Singapore and are unable to fulfill the requirement of having two local agents for the Branch, Global Link Asia Consulting will help to appoint two nominee local agents who will assist you with statutory compliance. He/she will not be involved in the business, or have any right to make decisions for the management of the company.
If you or a colleague plans to relocate to Singapore to work for this Branch, he/she may need to apply for an Employment Pass. Please refer to the section Applying for an Employment Pass in Singapore. The EP application process will start after the Branch is registered.
Here are the services that GLAC provides to help you quickly start your new Branch company in Singapore:
- Reserve a company’s name
- Prepare incorporation documents
- Submit all incorporation documents with The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of Singapore
- Pay government fees
- Appoint local agent(s) for a period agreed upon by you and Global Link Asia Consulting (read more below)
- Provide a registered address for the Branch company for one year
- Assist with opening a bank account
- Provide a company seal
In case you intend to apply for EP for your employee(s) later, we will provide the local agent service until an EP application is successful and your Branch satisfies the statutory requirements.
Global Link Asia Consulting offers a FREE website design service when you incorporate your Singapore company with us. Just select a website design you want and we will do it for free. You will receive a responsive website with optimized viewing and navigation across a wide range of devices, including traditional PC desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Additionally, GLAC will also create 10 email accounts (storage capacity of 5 GB per email) specific to the domain name you registered (i.e: if your website domain is “domain.com”, the email address will be “[email protected] ”) for free. Global Link Asia Consulting will also give the domain name (for example, “YourCompanyName.com”) for free for the first year so you only need to pay a small fee for standard web hosting.
Read more here: GlobalWeb - https://globalweb.asia/en/service/website-designing