About the Foreign Practitioner Examinations (FPE)
The FPE is conducted by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE).
Foreign-qualified lawyers who pass the FPE can apply for a Foreign Practitioner Certificate from the Attorney-General to practise in permitted areas of Singapore law. For more information on the Foreign Practitioner Certificate, please see the Legal Profession (International Services) Rules.
For details of the FPE format, syllabuses and reading lists, please refer to SILE’s website.
Eligibility
You will be eligible to take the FPE if you meet all the requirements set out in Rule 4 of the Legal Profession (Foreign Practitioner Examinations) Rules. Please refer to Rule 4 of the Legal Profession (Foreign Practitioner Examinations) Rules for the eligibility requirements for registration to sit for the FPE.
Registration Details
The relevant details and deadlines for registration and application to take the FPE can be found at SILE’s website.
Appeal for Exemption from Eligibility Requirements
Foreign lawyers who wish to apply to sit for the Foreign Practitioner Examinations (FPE) must, unless they are otherwise exempted, meet all the requirements as set out in Rule 4(3) of the Legal Profession (Foreign Practitioner Examinations) Rules.
Under Rule 16 of the Legal Profession (Foreign Practitioner Examinations) Rules, the Minister for Law may exempt the foreign lawyer from all or any and from the whole or any part of any, of the requirements under Rule 4(3)(b) to (g), if the Minister is of the opinion that the foreign lawyer is, by reason of his standing and experience or for any other cause, a fit and proper to be so exempted. An exemption granted to a foreign lawyer may be subject to such conditions as the Minister may think fit to impose.
Each application must be accompanied by a non-refundable administrative fee of S$350.00. Please refer to the section below on "Payment" for details relating to payment requirements.
FPE Appeal for Exemption Form
All appeals for exemption must be made using this Form. Full details of the instructions and supporting documents required can be found within the Form.
Please note:
- It can take around a few months for appeals to be processed as external parties may be consulted. It is your responsibility to submit your application in a timely manner.
- Please note that we receive a high volume of queries and it can take up to 14 working days (about 3 weeks) for us to reply. We will contact you if we require any further information or clarification. We will inform you of our decision by post in due course.
- Each appeal is considered case-by-case on its individual merits. We are unable to disclose the reasons for which an application was successful or unsuccessful.
- Where your application was unsuccessful, please note that re-appeals on the same facts are unlikely to produce a different result. You should consider re-appealing only if there are new material facts or circumstances that demonstrate a stronger case for the particular exemption sought.
Payment matters
We only accept payment by interbank transfer, debit and credit cards via eNETS. You may make your payment either through a VISA or Mastercard debit or credit card. Please note we currently do not accept AMEX credit cards. To make payment via eNETS, please click
here.