Why not? You can buy property in Malaysia using your SG payslip for the loan application mah. Unless you are worried about the cannot own private property if you own HDB rule.

If your head too small for a big hat then buy a smaller hat lor.

I'll admit that buying any property in SG is difficult for us newcomers cos of the 20% downpayment and ~8% stamp duty. So that 600k private condo you need $170+k cash which is a dilemma I'm facing as well. HDB even worse thanks to COV.

However buying in KL can be very easy - the other day I was looking at a condo in Seri Kembangan that u only need rm1,000 downpayment thanks to a 10% "developer discount." (Incidentally I'm not convinced that SK area has strong enough fundamentals to buy, but that's besides the point). Anyways your 700k house in KL needs rm70k downpayment i.e. sgd29k ... save up for a year, swipe all your major expenses to a 0% installment plan, then buy lor

wah didn't know that lol. all i know is that i would need a HELL lot more cash than i have on hand to buy any property in SG so never go into the details of all the up front payable %'ages.

No real reason to purposely hold off moving to SG, IMO. As a fresh grad you might have to compete on price with the locals (i.e. accept lower salary).


Robert Walters Salary Survey http://www.robertwalters.com.sg/wwwmediali...survey-2012.pdf
MOM Report http://www.mom.gov.sg/Documents/statistics...rsd_2011ROW.pdf

That is low. $3k is barely above fresh grad salary scale in major MNC's. Although I suppose your friends are willing to take the sacrifice for some perceived benefit - stronger currency, safer living, etc.

Lots of companies probably don't give AWS. (Anecdotal evidence alert) I have significantly more friends without AWS than those with AWS so it's probably no big deal if you don't have. I also don have.

Some companies encash the employer CPF together with salary for non PRs (like mine) to make their compensation fair to all. You could always after a year or so try to move to one of these companies.

Otherwise, nobody is asking u to get your PR right this very moment. IMO work for 2 years first, see how you like it here, if you decide that SG is for you then only apply PR. Although u are eligible now, if you apply now your chance is pretty much 0% to get approval.

I rather vote bulan than those MCA incompetents lol

Housing is a killer. For me, I signed a 2 year contract so that meant 2 months deposit + 1st month rental + 1 month agent fee. Then I had to also spend a decent amount of money buying miscellaneous furniture, appliances, cutlery, etc.

No harm trying mah. I applied my PR in January (1yr 7mths work in SG), got the approval a few weeks ago, so.... less than 2years. P2 EP.

Those of u who got PR, did your IPA say anything like 'you are invited to apply for citizenship after X years" etc? I'm wondering if that line really means a decent chance of SC approval after X years or whether it's just some standard letter template.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Apr 22 2013, 09:03 AM

It's not that bad cos you can choose whether to immediately 20% employee contribution, or to do a graduated contribution rate (1st year 5% 2nd year 15% 3rd year onwards only 20%)

http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Employers/Gen-Info...n-Rates-SPR.htm


hehe I worked about 6 years in KL / Mauritius / Nairobi / Johannesburg before moving to SG. Anyway it is undeniable that being a PR reduces your take-home pay by quite a bit, think about it as forced savings lor since eventually you (or your kids) get all the money back anyway. Plus 60+% of the contribution goes to Ordinary Account which you can empty out to buy HDB.

When my company brought me over, no sign on bonus but they paid for 1 month expenses (hotel and food), and a relocation service from my place in KL. I guess some companies are more concerned with staff welfare than others (I'm also a very junior hire in the chain here).


Nola I learned the yandou talent of bullsh*tting after working in a 80% indian department for (almost) 2 years. No matter how small and insignificant the 'achievement' was, they have a knack for trumpeting it as if they saved the world. So for my PR application form I also do the same - I got sent to those countries as office boy to fetch coffee for the senior people but I wrote on the PR form as if I am the boss

Your brother 2nd gen SPR need to serve NS right? I thought after u serve NS then Malaysia government will ask u to gtfo off to SG? Or is that only for SC/SPR couples whose kids can choose to hold MY or SG passport


One word of advice if you decide to bring your wife over: do not budget your expenditure on the assumption that she will get a job within a few months. When my fiancee came over with me, we assumed she would get a job easily so we went ahead to rent an whole HDB on the assumption of having two incomes. Let's just say that it took her longer than anticipated to get a job and in that period of waiting it was ... tight.

Having said that, while waiting for a proper job your wife can sort of work (those unskilled jobs presumably) on a dependent pass using a Letter of Consent from MOM:

http://www.mom.gov.sg/pass-navigator/forei...-full-time.aspx

This option wasn't available to my fiancee and I (at the time) cos not merrid means she was holding visit pass.

Generally it is 1/2 month fee for 1 year contract, 1 month fee for 2 year contract.

If your office is around Bedok, stay in Bedok. There's two supermarkets, multiple food courts, shopping areas, a small mall full of restaurants, basically you won't need to go anywhere else during the weekdays.

So no need to look so much at share price, just makan dividends for gambling and beer stocks?


I'm on Canon, 60d and 500d (backup), ef-s 17-55mm and ef-s 10-22mm primarily.

Hmm so Maxis, M1 ... and wait for the next recession in a few year's time?

For me I've taken AA, Tiger and Jetstar to KL multiple times in the past, so far touch wood all 3 also decent. But a lot of our members here dunno why very anti Tiger and won't choose to fly it at all.


How can compare yourself to me? I am low paid nobody in the bank with no access to any information of value, so they don't care whether I can buy or cannot buy. Elite asset managers of course naturally are different and will have all sorts of restrictions to prevent insider trading mah.

All I see from your posts are complain complain complain complain. If you are so miserable here (I recall you felt "forced" to come to SG by your parents and it wasn't necessarily what you wanted to do) then pack up and go back home.

Having said that, perhaps you're just suffering from a little Quarter Life Crisis. You spent the last 5, 10, 15 sheltered years in school imagining what your working life would be, only to find out in the last few weeks that reality isn't as rosy as you hoped.

All I can say is welcome to the real world. All of us to some degree or other have felt what you feel. Heck, when I first started working I was SO SURE that I would be driving an RX8 after 3 years of working life. Now I'm entering into my 8th year and I can't really even afford a car.

There is a HUGE difference between "writing your experiences" and "whining and complaining incessantly." Your posts are bordering on the latter, which is the reason why you've been getting those not-so-supportive responses.

I think of this entire thread, only seantang mackiddo and Fiona Chin can truly be described as elite. The rest of us are just middle class trying to figure out how to save up $120k to buy a HDB without resorting to marrying a Singaporean for BTO. But we accept that not getting everything you want whenever you want it is part and parcel of life, and don't go ranting about perceived injustices like 'oh my god I'm discriminated against because I'm a foreigner, wahhh life is so unfair.'

Our resident construction guy is Ranjit Singh, you can PM him and ask him your questions. He's big boss of MRT tunnel construction.