Just sharing that my PR was recently approved. Letter was dated 6 Feb 2024. I applied on 3 Jul 2023 so I guess it took me around 7 months.

Facing the same conundrum. Without extended family in SG, it’s quite surreal to pack up your bags and return.

Ah yes. One thing is that Singapore is unrelenting in its pursuit for new engines of growth and not afraid to cut out non-performing sectors or companies.

May I know the soucr of this news?
Because many companies que on the waiting list?

Oh that’s right, you’re working in Singapore too! And did I recall correctly that you have kids that are already SCs?

Apologies in advance if I mistook you for someone else!

Oh, good then... I'm not senile (yet). Can I ask then, with kids being SCs, what's holding you back from trading in your Malaysian IC for a Singaporean pink one? Or have you already?

Sry ya tumpang tred

How much should we ask if we decide go back msia
Let say earning 4k SGD
Can't be RM14K what...

Or just follow back msia market.. if market is RM8K
then really hard for ppl to go back home country

Yes .. rental is crazy now .. I think I have spent around 100k on rental .. I have contributed to about 33% of a bto

Actually bro, we have nothing left in Malaysia apart from the RM550,000 in our Maybank Taman Perling account. I’ve hung on for as long as I have to my IC and passport simply out of sentimentality….

But, with early retirement in Australia planned for within the next 1 to 2 years, this may not be a bad time to finally throw in the towel and swap the blue for a pink one.

Pigeon hole today, freehold landed detached property in the future.

I do feel it and that’s why I’m thinking hard on my next step to ensure that I have the right to return to Singapore in the future.

Having permanent residency (PR) can make your job more secure. Many companies, especially in the manufacturing and maintenance sectors, prefer to hire employees with PR.

It wasn’t an easy decision, and I don’t mind telling you now that behind the scenes, I’ve written letters to appeal to keep my freehold landed property to SLA and even the Ministry of Law, but the law was very clear, with no room for negotiations as my property was bought after they enacted the ownership law on landed houses.

I’m luckier than you then. We actually have a couple of shophouses (HDB types) with the 2nd floor being let out for residential use, but we were classified as commercial from the word go. The argument my lawyers put forth was that the shophouses were purchased without the use of CPF, ie, bought as a wholly commercial entity, and thus should be treated as such. We do not get residential rates on the property taxes - we pay commercial rates, but because of this classification, I was free to buy (with permission) our freehold landed property and keep the rest of our shophouses.

It’s pretty stupid … if your shophouse is anything like the ones we own, then you’ll know there isn’t a front entrance to the 2nd floor and the back entrance is the one that faces where they throw the trash and the trash collection is… how to let out to commercial entities that can only access the space via a back entrance!?

I agree, there are a lot of attractions that Singapore has to offer. Botanic Gardens, Gardens by the Bay, the treetops walk at MacPherson, the Ridges walk at Henderson, Pulau Ubin, the southern Islands, Sentosa, MBS, Sembawang Hot Springs, even Jewel at Changi, the back lanes and alleys along Arab Street, Lorong Haji, Prinsep Street ... so on and so forth.

But, unfortunately, you cannot escape or avoid the fact that Singapore is a very small island, and it's geared up for money, work, success ... and all the rest is secondary. Good place to make some money, carve out a career and be successful professionally and financially, but what are you going to do after that?

In your case, you've already mapped out your eventual return to Malaysia.

Many Singaporeans are jealous of the fact that Malaysians have that "backdoor" to retirement where the perception is the houses are bigger, the land is bigger, the air is fresher.

Updates:

PR application turned 4 lines on 1st July 2024.
Received email notification on 7th July that there had been changes to PR application status.
Logged into ICA and PR application changed to Approved!

Noticed that the PR IPA is dated 4th July, which means PR status is actually approved 4 days after 4 lines appeared.

The email from ICA actually gave me a heart attack as it only mentioned changes in status, without stating success or fail. The reason for that is my EP was cancelled on 7th, as i will be issued a new EP on 8th. For a moment I thought my PR application was rejected immediately because my EP was cancelled. That few minutes to login into ICA website I was feeling so anxious.

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the club ... but alas, it's a club I'm leaving soon.