Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

[Wd40]

My wife plans to keep her PR going as long as possible by renewing her REP. We know there is a risk of rejection or shorter duration given. She plans to retain ties to Singapore in terms of her business. Her genuine intention for being in the US is to accompany our children who are studying there. However, we could probably come up with another purpose, such as expanding her Pte Ltd by increasing exports to the US (she already exports to the US now). CPF isn’t substantial enough to worry about liquidating, so that’s not a consideration.

I’ve been on an EP for more than half of my life. Both of our kids started out on DP’s. I did apply for PR once but it was rejected, and after that, the incentives for me to reapply fizzled out (with my employer, I needed to get PR in the first 5 years to make it worth my while… beyond that, I’d be on the losing end, financially). Our first child got PR just before P1 registration, but a year later the rules changed and there was no longer any point in getting PR for our second. So half my family is PR and the other half isn’t.

We didn’t intentionally plan any of this, it was like nature taking its course — everyone is dealt with certain cards in life, and everyone should play their hand as best they can. In our case, US citizenship was the only option for our kids at birth. If living in Singapore has taught me anything over the years, it is to take advantage of whatever opportunities you have in this life, and that is exactly what we are doing.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting how inspite of being one of the most deeply rooted expats here on social basis, on a financial and asset basis you managed to keep almost zero footprint here.

It just feels as if you planned this whole thing to perfection. Normally someone who has lived here so long would have all their financial and real assets here and it would be impossible for them to move them entirely to another country and severe all ties.

[malcontent]

It just feels as if you planned this whole thing to perfection. Normally someone who has lived here so long would have all their financial and real assets here and it would be impossible for them to move them entirely to another country and severe all ties.

I almost started down that path in my early years, but everything changed after I learned about the tax and reporting complications that U.S. citizens face with any non-US investments/assets. From that moment onward, I consolidated (sheltered?) everything under my wife and only kept one single account here for depositing salary. I now have a few other accounts, generally by necessity, but still kept to a minimum. My wife still has a lot of “scrubbing” to do before next year, but we should be in pretty good shape.

[malcontent]

I was finally approved for a UOB Singtel card after a lot of rigmarole (UOB loves red tape), and it is now set up to auto pay my $12/mo Singtel bill. That means no risk of the account going dormant or annual fee hassle while I’m away from Singapore. And, because my SRS is with UOB (company required) this card is needed for online banking access. Considering how anal UOB is about proving employment, having this line of credit might be good if I decide to retire here on a LTVP in the future.

I’ve also gotten a DBS debit card, because I plan to cancel my DBS Esso card which I had used for ATM access. That leaves just one other credit card, the Trust card, which I can keep active by using overseas (since there are no foreign transaction fees), and it has no annual fee to deal with. An interesting thing about the physical Trust card is that it has no expiry date printed on the card - only in the app, so presumably they won’t even need to ship me a new card. This makes it especially appealing.

Other than that, I’ve already gotten rid of everything else that I could. I feel pretty good about what I’m keeping. As a US person, I can’t avoid FATCA reporting, SRS alone guarantees that.

Is there anything I am forgetting?