The Global Ready Talent Programme in 2026: Company Funding Closed, Overseas Internships Continue

Most conversations we have about Enterprise Singapore grants revolve around exporting a product or setting up a foreign office. The Global Ready Talent Programme (GRT) addresses a quieter but equally real constraint on growing overseas: most Singapore SMEs simply do not have enough people with international exposure to run a market outside Singapore competently. GRT was set up to help build that bench, by co-funding structured internships, both locally and in a company’s overseas outfits, for promising students and young talent. The programme has changed sharply in 2026: company funding applications closed on 31 January 2026, local internship support was discontinued from 1 April 2026, and GRT now supports only overseas internships, through allowances paid to students via their institutions.

This guide sets out what still runs, what companies with approved internships must do to claim, and where GRT fits alongside other support for growing overseas, now that the Market Readiness Assistance grant has been replaced by the EDGE Grant.

What the Global Ready Talent Programme Funds Now

GRT is not a general hiring subsidy. It supports structured, full-time internship placements with Singapore enterprises for students who are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents enrolled full-time in an undergraduate diploma or degree programme at an eligible institution, or full-time NITEC and Higher NITEC students. Only one internship stint per student per organisation is supported. The programme’s purpose is explicitly developmental: exposing promising young talent to real overseas market experience early, so they are more likely to take on international roles for Singapore enterprises later in their careers.

Local vs Overseas Internship Tracks

GRT used to support both a local internship track and an overseas track. Enterprise Singapore has discontinued local internship support with effect from 1 April 2026, and GRT now supports overseas internships only. Under the company rules, a local stint had to be at least four continuous weeks in Singapore and an overseas stint at least two continuous weeks at the company’s overseas outfit; a hybrid internship had to meet both minimums, and the whole internship could not exceed 12 calendar months. Overseas placements are supported in Southeast Asia, China, India and other developing markets, and not in developed markets such as Western Europe and North America.

Funding Support

Company funding (the internship stipend support) was 50% of the minimum monthly internship stipend for SMEs and 30% for non-SMEs from 1 April 2024, capped at S$400 a month for NITEC, Higher NITEC and diploma students and S$500 a month for degree students. Applications for this company funding closed on 31 January 2026, and supported internships had to start by 31 March 2026 and end by 30 March 2027.

The overseas support that continues is paid to students, not companies: a one-time travel allowance of S$1,200 plus a subsistence allowance of S$32.90 per day, disbursed through the student’s institution. Students arrange this through their institution’s career centre (see Enterprise Singapore’s GRT page for individuals).

Which Companies Benefit Now

GRT suits Singapore enterprises that already have, or are actively building, a genuine overseas outfit where a student can do meaningful work. With company stipend funding closed, the benefit now is mainly access to students whose overseas travel and subsistence are supported through their institution. It complements, rather than replaces, market-entry support: a company typically sets up the overseas footprint first, now with EDGE support for overseas expansion, and then hosts overseas interns as it scales.

How Applications Worked, and How Approved Companies Claim

Company applications were made on the Business Grants Portal (BGP 2.0) through an Approved-in-Principle (AIP) partner, and were approved first come, first served, subject to eligibility and available funding. According to Enterprise Singapore’s GRT page for companies, applications for company funding closed on 31 January 2026, and applications received from 1 February 2026 are not accepted. Enterprise Singapore has not published a new company application window. Students seeking overseas internship support should approach their institution’s career centre.

If your company has an approved GRT internship, the claim must be submitted on BGP within six months from the latest internship end date, and Enterprise Singapore does not allow extensions of the claim deadline. To correct details after approval or to end an internship early, submit a change request on BGP. Disbursement takes about 14 working days by PayNow Corporate or up to eight weeks by GIRO (see the GRT FAQ). Keep contemporaneous records, timesheets, mentor feedback and a short internship report: they support the claim, and falling short of what was approved can trigger a grant clawback.

Where GRT Fits in a Wider Grant Strategy

SMEs rarely use GRT in isolation. A common sequencing we saw: a company first used the Market Readiness Assistance grant to fund initial market entry, then, once a genuine overseas outfit existed, used GRT to bring in Singaporean student talent to help run and eventually lead that outfit. MRA ceased on 29 September 2026 and was consolidated into the EDGE Grant, which now funds overseas market entry; see EDGE support for overseas expansion. GRT remains a separate programme with its own rules. For other current schemes, see our directory of Singapore government grants.

Companies should also be careful not to conflate GRT with general work pass planning for young hires: a GRT intern is here on a training attachment tied to their course of study, not on a Training Employment Pass or any other standalone work pass, and the two frameworks have different eligibility conditions that should not be assumed to be interchangeable.

Common Pitfalls

The most frequent problem we saw was a mismatch between the enterprise’s stated overseas outfit and what could actually be verified, such as an “overseas office” that was really a distributor’s premises rather than the company’s own outfit. The second was treating the internship as a cost-saving headcount substitute rather than a genuine development placement. For approved internships, the costliest pitfall now is missing the claim deadline: six months from the latest internship end date, with no extension allowed.

How Raffles Corporate Services Can Help

If your company has an approved GRT internship, we can help you prepare the claim and any change request on time. For new overseas plans, Raffles Corporate Services helps SMEs map out a grant strategy across market entry, talent development and productivity schemes, so each application supports the next rather than competing with it.

Information checked against official sources on 6 November 2026.

The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services

For a related funding option, see salary and allowance support under the Overseas Markets Immersion Programme.