Singapore's entrepreneur friendly laws enable a foreign company to setup a business in the country within a matter of a day or two without having any representative visit Singapore even once. As long as the foreign company meets with all the requirements for company formation in the country, authorities would usually take less than a day to issue the certificate of incorporation to the foreign company in Singapore. However, foreign companies must do their due diligence to find out what they need to form a company and the three most essential requirements are as follows:

1) As per the laws prevailing in the country, no foreign company or individual can self-register a business in Singapore. What this means is simply that any foreigner who wants to enter the Singapore market, must first contact a locally based professional incorporation services provider. It is this service provider or agency who will act on behalf of the foreign company and get the entire company registration procedure completed. This is exactly why foreign entrepreneurs are able to register a Singapore Company without even setting foot in the country. The incorporation services agency will also be able to guide the foreign owner on what documents are required, what the business structure of the Singapore Company should be and whether they would need further services such as a nominee director service, company secretary service etc.

2) While foreign companies in Singapore are allowed to employ both local as well as foreign professionals, as per the mandatory requirements, they would have to appoint at least one local person as the company director and one local person as the company secretary. This is an essential requirement as without a local director being present, the foreign company registration application would be rejected by the concerned authorities. A local resident can be anyone who is a Singapore citizen, a permanent resident of the country or someone who holds a valid employment or entrepreneur visa and is currently living in Singapore.

3) While most other requirements are quite basic such as providing Memorandum and Articles of Association or providing the particulars of the company directors and shareholders, one of the aspects without which company incorporation in Singapore cannot go ahead is that of having a locally registered business address. Before going ahead with company incorporation, you will have to obtain a registered business address in Singapore. This address cannot be a PO Box and must be a valid office address.