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Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

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Wd40
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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Mon, 11 Nov 2024 8:44 pm

malcontent wrote:
Mon, 11 Nov 2024 12:58 pm
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.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Mon, 11 Nov 2024 10:59 pm

Wd40 wrote:
Mon, 11 Nov 2024 8:44 pm
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.
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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Sat, 04 Jan 2025 12:44 pm

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?
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm

For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am

malcontent wrote:
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm
For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:56 am

Wd40 wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am
malcontent wrote:
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm
For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.
My pass was cancelled on Jan 1 and I’ve not received any notifications to update my address.

For tax reasons, UOB sends me some info by registered mail in late Jan each year… not sure what’ll happen to that.
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by smoulder » Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:02 am

Wd40 wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am
malcontent wrote:
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm
For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.
A job change results in your pass being canceled. So every time you change jobs this would be triggered. We know that doesn't happen.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Sat, 18 Jan 2025 9:52 am

malcontent wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:56 am
Wd40 wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am
malcontent wrote:
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm
For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.
My pass was cancelled on Jan 1 and I’ve not received any notifications to update my address.

For tax reasons, UOB sends me some info by registered mail in late Jan each year… not sure what’ll happen to that.
If there is a return mail, I think it triggers some alerts at your bank. If I remember correctly, I had a fund supermart account and I didn't update my address when I moved houses. They sent me email asking me to provide my updated email or else they would block my account or something.

I think it is best to contact each of those institutions with whom you want to keep relationship and ask them if they accept overseas address or whether you can provide them a local address of another contact.

I think brokerages/banks etc need to withhold tax if your residence changes and that's why they want to know your status.

One of my past colleagues had a brokerage account with SAXO. He relocated to Netherlands and was asked to close his account and open SAXO Europe account.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Sat, 18 Jan 2025 9:57 am

smoulder wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:02 am
Wd40 wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am
malcontent wrote:
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:19 pm
For those who left Singapore but kept your local bank account, did any of you change the address on the account to your new overseas address?

I’m just wondering what (if any) implications there would be to doing this. Would this put the account at risk of termination?
I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.
A job change results in your pass being canceled. So every time you change jobs this would be triggered. We know that doesn't happen.
This the SMS I received. Regarding school, I remember someone telling me when their child's DP was cancelled, their school got to know about it and they had to immediately withdraw the child. Cannot verify whether it is true or not.

Image

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by smoulder » Sat, 18 Jan 2025 2:40 pm

Wd40 wrote:
Sat, 18 Jan 2025 9:57 am
smoulder wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:02 am
Wd40 wrote:
Fri, 17 Jan 2025 6:44 am

I think it may be the opposite. Once your pass is terminated, I think banks, telcos, schools all get notified. Then they ask you for your latest status/address and you need to provide it to them.

I could be totally wrong though. I will be in this same situation in June this year. So please let us know in case any bank/telco contacts you. Usually they send you an SMS/email.
A job change results in your pass being canceled. So every time you change jobs this would be triggered. We know that doesn't happen.
This the SMS I received. Regarding school, I remember someone telling me when their child's DP was cancelled, their school got to know about it and they had to immediately withdraw the child. Cannot verify whether it is true or not.

Image
Interesting. It's never happened to me. The last time I had an EP change was in 2018. That was a job change. And an EP renewal (same employer) in 2017. I wonder if this is a new thing.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Sun, 19 Jan 2025 11:21 am

That phone service text message is surprising. I’ve had the same service with Singtel for around 20 years — it’s an old corporate (CIS) plan which is no longer available but they grandfathered me. My EP has changed many times over those 20 years and I never got any notices. Hopefully they let me stay on the plan, because it’s now tied to my UOB Singtel card and gets me no annual fee for life. UOB is stuck with me because I’ve got an SRS account there and won’t be closing it anytime soon. Government SRS guidelines say that I can, so I don’t expect any issues there.

So far I’ve not gotten any communications about anything. The only thing that has happened is my SingPass died. My EP originally had an expiry date later this year, that may trigger something, I fear.
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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Sat, 25 Jan 2025 12:57 pm

malcontent wrote:
Sun, 19 Jan 2025 11:21 am
That phone service text message is surprising. I’ve had the same service with Singtel for around 20 years — it’s an old corporate (CIS) plan which is no longer available but they grandfathered me. My EP has changed many times over those 20 years and I never got any notices. Hopefully they let me stay on the plan, because it’s now tied to my UOB Singtel card and gets me no annual fee for life. UOB is stuck with me because I’ve got an SRS account there and won’t be closing it anytime soon. Government SRS guidelines say that I can, so I don’t expect any issues there.

So far I’ve not gotten any communications about anything. The only thing that has happened is my SingPass died. My EP originally had an expiry date later this year, that may trigger something, I fear.
Updating your bank with overseas phone number and address shouldnt be a problem. There are lots of people overseas who hold a Singapore bank account and they just update their overseas contact details.

There maybe a side effect of doing that, for example the fatca rules/other tax related stuff kick in.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by Wd40 » Sun, 02 Feb 2025 3:45 pm

I am just curious if Singpass dies how do we know if we owe anything to IRAS? Login to IRAS is via Singpass right?

I have a digital bank account with maribank and they use Singpass face authentication for large amounts transfers. So that will also not work.

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Re: Don't let your overseas drivers license expire!

Post by malcontent » Mon, 03 Feb 2025 4:23 am

I’m wondering the same thing. I do know it is possible to create a foreign nonresident Singpass, but I assume this could not be tied back to your details as a former pass holder.
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus

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