Schooling for children of PR and foreigner families in Singapore turns on one thing above all others: your child's citizenship decides which registration phase they may enter, and the phase decides whether a place is realistic. Permanent Residents register alongside citizens across the earlier phases. Children who hold neither status wait until Phase 3, once every citizen and PR child has been allocated a place.
Cost is the second difference, and it is a large one. A Singapore Citizen in a Government or Government-Aided school pays no monthly school fee at all. A PR child in primary school pays $330 a month in 2026, and an international student from outside ASEAN pays $1,035 for the same seat.
Key Takeaways
- Phases 1 to 2C Supplementary of Primary 1 registration are open to Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident children only.
- International students register in Phase 3, after all citizen and PR children have been allocated places. Admission is not guaranteed.
- Within any phase, a citizen child is allocated ahead of a PR child, and there is a cap on PR intake in Phases 2C and 2C Supplementary.
- 2026 monthly fees in Government and Government-Aided schools: PR primary $330, secondary $680, pre-university $760.
- International student fees for 2026 run from $595 a month at primary for ASEAN nationals to $2,540 at pre-university for non-ASEAN nationals.
- A place won through Home-School Distance priority carries an obligation to live at that address for at least 30 months.
Which Registration Phase Your Child Can Enter
Primary 1 registration runs in phases, and each phase serves a different relationship to the school. Phases 1 through 2C Supplementary are reserved for Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident children. Phase 3 is where everyone else registers.
For a PR family this is mostly good news. Your child sits in the same phases as citizen children, so a sibling already in the school, or a parent who is an alumnus, still counts for something. What differs is the order of allocation inside each phase. Citizen children are allocated first, and PR children take what remains.
The Cap That Applies in the Later Phases
MOE applies a cap on PR intake in Phases 2C and 2C Supplementary, to stop PR children concentrating in particular schools. Families who leave registration to the last phase available to them are the ones who feel it. If your child is PR and you have a school in mind, the earlier phases are worth taking seriously rather than treating as a formality.
Priority admission through Home-School Distance comes with a condition attached. A child who gains a place that way must live at the address used for registration for at least 30 months from the start of the registration exercise. Registering from an address you are about to leave is not a shortcut.
Phase 3 and What It Means for Foreigner Families
International students may only register for Primary 1 in Phase 3, and MOE is direct about the odds. Admission is not assured, because vacancies are limited and priority goes to citizen and PR children ahead of them.
The process starts earlier than the phase itself. Families indicate interest through an online form during a short window in May, with the supporting documents attached, and MOE states plainly that appeals will not be considered from anyone who misses the deadline. Outcomes are communicated by the end of October.
For a child who does not secure a place, or who is joining Singapore at a later stage of school, the Admissions Exercise for International Students is the other route in. AEIS is a centralised test used for admission at Primary 2 and above, and it allocates places where vacancies exist rather than letting families choose a school.
What School Actually Costs in 2026
Fees in Government and Government-Aided schools are set by nationality, and the gaps are wide. The figures below are monthly school fees for 2026, the final year of the revision MOE announced in October 2023.
| Level | Singapore Citizen | Permanent Resident | IS (ASEAN) | IS (Non-ASEAN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | No monthly school fee | $330 | $595 | $1,035 |
| Secondary | No monthly school fee | $680 | $1,090 | $2,190 |
| Pre-University | No monthly school fee | $760 | $1,290 | $2,540 |
Those are school fees alone. A single-tier miscellaneous fee sits on top, set at $13 a month for primary, $20 for secondary and $27 for pre-university since January 2024. For citizens and PRs the applicable GST is subsidised by MOE, so the published figures are what you pay. International student fees are shown inclusive of GST.
How the Gap Grew
The 2024 to 2026 revision raised PR fees by $25 to $60 a month each year, and international student fees by $25 to $140 each year, while citizen fees did not move at all. A PR family whose child started primary school in 2023 at $255 a month is paying $330 in 2026, and a non-ASEAN family at secondary level has gone from $1,770 to $2,190 over the same period. Planning on last year's number is a reliable way to be caught short.
How This Shapes the PR Decision
For families with school-age children, education is often the part of Permanent Residency that pays for itself first. The move from international student fees to PR fees at secondary level is worth several hundred dollars a month, and access to the earlier registration phases is worth more again if a particular school matters to you.
None of that makes it a complete answer, because PR children remain behind citizen children in every phase and the cap in the later phases is real. Families who want the strongest position for a younger sibling sometimes look further ahead, and our comparison of Singapore PR against citizenship sets out what the next step changes.
Timing matters more than most families expect. PR applications take months to decide, and registration windows do not move. If the aim is to register a child under PR status rather than as an international student, the application needs to be settled well before the exercise opens, not during it.
Practical Steps for the Year Ahead
- Confirm your child's status on the date of registration, since that is what determines the phase, not the status you expect to hold later.
- If you are a PR family, identify the earliest phase you qualify for and register in it rather than waiting.
- Check the Home-School Distance condition against your housing plans before relying on it.
- International student families should diarise the May interest window, because MOE does not accept late submissions.
- Budget from the current year's fee table, and allow for the miscellaneous fee on top.
MOE publishes a fees checker that returns the exact monthly amount for a given level and status, which is the sensible reference once you know which category your child falls into. Where a family is mid-application for PR, it is worth planning against both outcomes rather than assuming the favourable one.
Frequently Asked Questions About schooling for PR and foreigner children
Can a PR child register in the same P1 phases as a citizen?
Yes, the same ones. Phases 1 to 2C Supplementary are open to both Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident children. What differs is the order of allocation within a phase, where citizen children are placed first, plus a cap on PR intake that applies in Phases 2C and 2C Supplementary.
When can an international student register for Primary 1?
Only in Phase 3, which runs after every citizen and PR child has been allocated a place. Families must first indicate interest through an online form during a short window in May. MOE states that admission is not guaranteed because vacancies are limited.
How much more does a foreigner pay than a PR?
At primary level in 2026, a PR pays $330 a month and an international student pays $595 if they are an ASEAN national or $1,035 if they are not. At secondary the same comparison is $680 against $1,090 or $2,190.
Do Singapore Citizens pay school fees?
Singapore Citizen students in Government and Government-Aided schools do not pay a monthly school fee. What still applies is the miscellaneous fee, charged at $13 a month for primary, $20 at secondary and $27 at pre-university level.
What is AEIS and who needs it?
The Admissions Exercise for International Students is the centralised route into Singapore schools at Primary 2 and above for children who are not citizens or PRs. Places are allocated where vacancies exist rather than by parental choice, so it is not a way of targeting a particular school.
Will getting PR before registration improve my child's chances?
It moves your child out of Phase 3 and into the phases open to citizens and PRs, which is a material change. The application has to be decided before the registration exercise opens, and processing times mean that is a matter of planning months ahead rather than weeks.
Official Sources and References
- MOE - Revised school fees for non-citizens, 2024 to 2026
- MOE - P1 registration for international students
- MOE - School fees
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School registration windows are fixed and PR decisions are not, which is why families who want their child in the earlier phases start the immigration side a long way ahead. If you are weighing the timing for your own family, Catalyst Immigration can map the application against the registration calendar you are working to.