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Xinran International

Client Case Studies

Real files, real constraints, real outcomes.

Every case below is an engagement we handled: what the client needed, what stood in the way, and what it took to get the approval. Names and identifying details have been changed.

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Names and identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Client Case Studies

Approvals we have secured, alongside worked scenarios built from the current rules. Client identities are limited to surname and descriptor.

2026 caseSingapore Business
Germany
A software founder in Berlin, 34, and the only employee of his own company.
What client wanted

A Singapore entity to sell into South-East Asia, with himself on the pass.

Problem

He believed a one-man company was the weakest possible sponsor for its own pass.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
China
A Shanghai bakery owner with a three-year diploma and years of building and running a business.
What client wanted

To extend the bakery to Singapore and use it as the centre of a wider international trading strategy.

Problem

A three-year diploma sits below what most people assume an Employment Pass requires.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
Netherlands
Two Dutch founders running a profitable online homeware business, with no venture funding.
What client wanted

To base themselves in Singapore and run the business from here.

Problem

They were planning around EntrePass, which is built for venture-backed businesses, not profitable trading.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
China
Mr Zhao spent years in electronic components trading in Shenzhen, with two sons the family planned to school in Singapore.
What client wanted

To move the business in as well, not just the children's schooling.

Problem

The application had to argue the move was genuine, not only for the children's schooling.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
Italy
A restaurateur from Milan with years of running kitchens and margins, and no degree.
What client wanted

To open a single outlet in Singapore and hold the pass himself as owner-director.

Problem

A degree is not required, but COMPASS awards points for one, so those points had to come from somewhere else.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
Australia
An Australian fintech consultant who owns and invoices through his own Hong Kong company.
What client wanted

To move the business to Singapore and keep serving the same clients.

Problem

An entity that exists only to sponsor its own director is exactly what MOM scrutinises.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
China
Mr Liu studied in Singapore, took an MBA at a private university here, worked for a private consultancy, and owns property here.
What client wanted

To start his own company rather than continue as an employee.

Problem

Starting a company means proving a credible plan and the capacity to create local employment.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
United States
An American founder of a small SaaS company, working remotely and already spending most of the year in Asia.
What client wanted

To move himself and the company's centre of gravity to Singapore, and stop living on tourist entries.

Problem

A brand-new company with no trading history starts thin on the employer criteria.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
Vietnam
A Ho Chi Minh City business owner who has never been to Singapore and knows nobody there.
What client wanted

A Singapore entity inside a fortnight, to satisfy a customer contract.

Problem

The real timeline was banking, at four to eight weeks, and usually an in-person visit.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
China
Mr Guan ran a logistics import/export company in Shanghai with ten years in the trade, and came to Singapore in 2016 to develop the business here.
What client wanted

To build the import/export business out of Singapore's position, and broaden what it did.

Problem

The company was new here, so the case rested on his record and the MBA.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
United Arab Emirates
A founder who set up in a Dubai free zone four years ago, with most of his customers now east of him.
What client wanted

To move the operating centre to Singapore while keeping the UAE entity for Middle East contracts.

Problem

Dubai's tax and property advantages are real, and Singapore does not match them.

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2026 caseSingapore Business
Malaysia
A Johor family components business whose founder's daughter, 31, has run the Malaysian operation for six years.
What client wanted

To hold the Singapore company in her own name and be resident here to run it.

Problem

Succession inside a family business is documented differently from a first-time setup.

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These approvals date from 2018–2021. Singapore’s Employment Pass framework has changed since: COMPASS came into force in September 2023, and the salary thresholds rise again on 1 January 2027. A past approval is a record of what was achieved under the rules of the day, not a prediction of any future outcome. No case constitutes advice on your own circumstances.

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