Hi all,
Recently I'm offered to work in Singapore as an engineer with 1 year++ experience. Salary around SGD 2800. Currently I'm paid around MYR 4000. My concern as below. Pls enlighten this kampung boy with high dreams.
1. Does the company deduct levy or any other deduction from the SGD 2800?
2. What is the breakdown for normal Malaysian work at SG in terms of food, accommodation(As i don't think waking up 4am to travel from jb-sg is healthy), misc etc?
3. How SG manufacturing environment is compared to MY?
4. Assume I had saved around SGD 1500. If i save it and convert it monthly do I get 1500 x 2.9?
5. Am I underpaid at SG? because at MY I earn RM4k net pay.

This post has been edited by State9: May 29 2018, 12:09 AM

Yes, I think you are underpaid.

The harsh truth is that for the past 18 months or so, most of the Singaporean manufacturing sector have been looking upon new Malaysian applicants as people who want to leave Malaysia for socio-political reasons, and thus tend to low-ball.

The silver lining is that if you're OK with that and would like to tough it out, once you work diligently for about 2 years and prove your worth, you'll likely get the 'standard' Singaporean package.

Yes you are underpaid compared to singaporeans but thats the average pay that is offered to malaysians.

The main reason is that singapore gov mandates that any job has to be advertised to singaporeans for 6 months prior being opened up to non singaporeans. All the higher paying jobs have been taken up and these are the ones with less attractive pay therefore it gets opened up to non singaporeans.

Unless you are from nus or ntu. 2800 is the average fresh grad / 1 year experience engineer in singapore for malaysians. But one thing to note is 2800 in singapore has much more cash value compared to 4k rm

Thanks bro.
Since you have work from 2005. Mind to share the culture there? I heard Malaysian are treated bad or treated as pendatang.
Yes, you have should saved in SGD to get x2.9. Haha

As S pass do we need to pay any levy? If yes then the offered SGD 2700 will be lower. Haiz 😣

ask for 4000SGD + 30% jump ship fee. Or else prepare to live like bangla. then you will be in sync with those that complain on social media all the time, going on and on about how high the cost of living is in SG.
but it's totally up to you. everything will be dollar to dollar. just cause they reduce your pay don't expect prices of daily things to be reduced, and take note Jamalsx also said, room rental is a major killer.

This post has been edited by thomasyke: May 29 2018, 11:32 AM

Thanks for reply guys.
Ok lets say i had accepted this average pay of SGD 2800. How much will the increment will be usually? As it's stated that salary revision may be done after probation. Opinion frm current SG Malaysian pls.
Also, the HR said will do my work passes after i am done wt passport. Its likely to be S pass. Is S pass a disadvantage and how it works?

4000sgd? I think its wild. Even fresh SG grad won't get it. Haha
Nevertheless, i think you had experience stay at SG? Can u explain the high cost of living pls?
I was told by the HR that the room rental is 250sgd for share of 3.i don't mind as i just need comfortable bed to rest. 250 is a good deal.
I'm afraid of food prices. Any idea?

Underpaid and not worth. Rm4k for one yr exp in malaysia is not too bad per se. Would suggest you stick around / job hop in MY when opportunity is there.. to get decent pay rise. Sg lifestyle is pretty shit in my pov..

Hi. Thanks. Can u elaborate more on shit sg lifestyle? I never been there.

Hi, may I ask what exactly is your current position and what is the position which is offered in SG?

wait few years in MY first...

later jump over to Singapore.. easily can get 4k SGD

Engineering. Are u working in SG as well? Any opinion?


Hahaha. Not much can save working here in MY. I had worked past 1.5years but quite difficult to save. I thought SG exchange power can do the work?
🤗🤗🤗

1.5 years not enough if u want high salary in Singapore...

3 years should be sufficient

So far my experience with Singaporeans are positive. I really cannot tell you we're treated like pendatang or what because when I started working,
our company was small with some Japanese and Malaysians. There are some Singaporeans worked with us but they did't last long. Only in 2010
our company was dissolved and we were absorbed into a bigger company in Singapore. But we continued to work as a department inside this big company
independently without much intervention.

About the levy for S-pass, you can refer here --> http://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/s...ta-requirements
The levy will be paid by the company. Why do you worry? Did the company asked you to pay the levy?
As an employee, you only need to pay for the income tax.

I should be asking more specifically, what kind of engineer? There's so many types of engineer in manufacturing.

Definitely underpaid. My nephew (1 year experience) just got himself a job at Micron for $3700 SGD.

Suggest you stay in MY first to get more experience and then switch over later.

2.8k is not exactly underpaid for sme. You cant compare to the MNC scale. Increment depends on company. There is guarantee.

Food wise normal coffee shop usually not more than 5 per meal. Per month meal cost around 500. Add in additional 1-200 when you go restaurant makan with friends and colleagues once in a while.

Transport will set you back about 100 per month taking bus and mrt.

Quite underpaid I'd say..

My friend started at SG as Systems Engineer with about 3.5k IIRC, never asked since. He's now a lead engineer.

Good luck to you!

Happy to hear your positive fback.
Noted,the HR mentioned levy paid to me.
I heard income tax is lower compared to Malaysia, whats ur take?
How long it takes for Malaysian to get apply PR at Singapore? I read there will be increment in salary after we became PR. Any idea?

Maintenance engineer. Technical site.

Sgd 3700 is good. I bet ur nephew had tonnes experience before move in sg? I'm just 1 year and i think 2800 is appropriate, correct me if I'm wrg.

Hi. Thanks.. What are the movie ticket price in Sg? 🤔🤔
And phone postpaid price?

Thanks. What is IIRC?

Do you have a degree in engineering? or diploma/SPM? If you have degree it will be faster

Ya underpaid. My fren work at timberland Singapore have paid more than u

Double post

This post has been edited by Witchblade: Jun 11 2018, 02:49 AM

[quote=State9,Jun 10 2018, 11:45 AM]
Happy to hear your positive fback.
Noted,the HR mentioned levy paid to me.
I heard income tax is lower compared to Malaysia, whats ur take?
How long it takes for Malaysian to get apply PR at Singapore? I read there will be increment in salary after we became PR. Any idea?

The criteria to apply PR have changed few times and I only heard it had become less easy compare 10 years ago. Last time they even have landed PR scheme
like Australia or Canada but they scrapped it already. Last time my customer's engineer got the PR after 3 years working in Singapore. They have quota system,
so I think it's easier for Malaysian Chinese to get their PR approved. I'm Malay myself and got my PR 10 years ago. Those that difficult to get PR now is
Filipino, India Indian, Europeans etc. Anyway this is my experience talking to some people when I'm doing grab hitch. Not real statistic.

Of course income tax in Singapore is lower than Malaysia. It's even lower when your 20% income deducted to cpf.

Based on personal experience of a friend, 1800$ is enough to survive in SG, if u want to. He spends 500$ on rent, 500$ for food and transport (cheaper than Malaysia dollar for dollar). And gets to save roughly about 700$ monthly. (< 1800$ no income tax)

After a year or two, his salary incremented to 2400$+ which also upgraded his working permit, then he can get PR if he continues to work for 3 or more years if not mistaken. After that he can save about 1500$ per month. Which is quite a huge saving if converted to MYR.

Most difficult part he mention is the first 2 months in SG, u need a big capital. In the first month, u need 1000$ for rent deposit + first month rent. About 500$ for food and transport. Hence you need around 5K MYR in the first month. In the second month, most probably u need to open up a SG bank account, which will be 500$ deposit, about 1.5K MYR. Total need about 6.5K MYR in the first too months to live, after that should be okay.

Hope this helps!

[quote=Witchblade,Jun 11 2018, 03:40 AM]
Ya underpaid. My fren work at timberland Singapore have paid more than u

[/quote]

Position and experience?


[quote=jamalnsx,Jun 11 2018, 09:45 PM]
[quote=State9,Jun 10 2018, 11:45 AM]
Happy to hear your positive fback.
Noted,the HR mentioned levy paid to me.
I heard income tax is lower compared to Malaysia, whats ur take?
How long it takes for Malaysian to get apply PR at Singapore? I read there will be increment in salary after we became PR. Any idea?

The criteria to apply PR have changed few times and I only heard it had become less easy compare 10 years ago. Last time they even have landed PR scheme like Australia or Canada but they scrapped it already. Last time my customer's engineer got the PR after 3 years working in Singapore. They have quota system,
so I think it's easier for Malaysian Chinese to get their PR approved. I'm Malay myself and got my PR 10 years ago. Those that difficult to get PR now is Filipino, India Indian, Europeans etc. Anyway this is my experience talking to some people when I'm doing grab hitch. Not real statistic.

Of course income tax in Singapore is lower than Malaysia. It's even lower when your 20% income deducted to cpf.

[/quote]

Noted and thanks. I guess min of 3 years of work at SG needed to secure PR. I shall go and work in sg first soon and later see if can stay that long
🤣

[quote=DrZan,Jun 12 2018, 09:37 AM]
Based on personal experience of a friend, 1800$ is enough to survive in SG, if u want to. He spends 500$ on rent, 500$ for food and transport (cheaper than Malaysia dollar for dollar). And gets to save roughly about 700$ monthly. (< 1800$ no income tax)

After a year or two, his salary incremented to 2400$+ which also upgraded his working permit, then he can get PR if he continues to work for 3 or more years if not mistaken. After that he can save about 1500$ per month. Which is quite a huge saving if converted to MYR.

Most difficult part he mention is the first 2 months in SG, u need a big capital. In the first month, u need 1000$ for rent deposit + first month rent. About 500$ for food and transport. Hence you need around 5K MYR in the first month. In the second month, most probably u need to open up a SG bank account, which will be 500$ deposit, about 1.5K MYR. Total need about 6.5K MYR in the first too months to live, after that should be okay.

Hope this helps!

[/quote]

Totally helpful! I am about to earn 2800sgd and i live a very normal Malaysian life,thus i hope i could save up to 1k sgd monthly. Agreed, I'm already saving some capital to live at sg. Any idea how much rent at cheap hotel at sg? Because I'm afraid when i go to check-in to my hostel, i need to stay outside sumwer 1st. 😥

Huge deposit to open an acc. At MY rm20 cukup sudah! Haha. I have a funny or stupid question..

Assume i saved up 1k sgd in my SG bank acc. Can i take it out at MY atm and convert it to MYR over here? Sorry, im totally new at this.

Not too experienced in this department, but I don't think that can be done unless you have an account like OCBC both in Malaysia and Singapore as well. Even then, I think you are still required to perform a bank transfer into the other account first. (Exchange rate of that day applies); On that note, u can probably transfer funds to any account you like I guess. I heard its not wise to do international bank transfer as the rate and fees is horrible.

Long & winded way is probably withdraw SGD in cash, carry back to MY on your trip back, change at money changer again, might get better rates as well. Think there is a 10k USD limit when u cross the immigration. (Money laundering laws, so be wary of this, don't wanna raise any red flags)

Another way I heard is, legally u can go to the money changer in SG and they will transfer it to your MY account for a small fee (~10 SGD) with no limit. Exchange rate is slightly better as well compared to cash rates.

Or just get a VISA/Master debit card or credit card from your SG bank, and swipe/pay directly when you are buying stuff in MY. (Some bank charge overseas transaction, some maybe got exemption for Malaysia spending).

This post has been edited by DrZan: Jun 13 2018, 11:08 AM