Spending majority of year in Sing as a Retired Tourist?

[PNGMK]

I'm here because of my children. That will ceases soon enough.

I saw in a previous post that you are very close to this date. How are you feeling about leaving soon, after being here for so many years?

We are now four years out (my doter needs to complete her O levels). I will be relieved. I wish we could leave earlier. I feel life is slipping me by.

[NYY1]

I'm here because of my children. That will ceases soon enough.

I saw in a previous post that you are very close to this date. How are you feeling about leaving soon, after being here for so many years?

We are now four years out (my doter needs to complete her O levels). I will be relieved. I wish we could leave earlier. I feel life is slipping me by.

Why do you want her to finish the Os now?

USC, just go finish HS in the US. Years 9-11 or 10-11 are key. Quite frankly, if not planning to stick around here I would have the kid go spend Years 7-12 there (absent other family considerations that are tying people to SG).

SG O to Community College or Uni is possible; not sure it is any better than Year 12 in US HS to the corresponding (all things considered one has the choice)?

[malcontent]

Perhaps most importantly, I strongly oppose the immigration policy here, it's not right that Singapore advertises itself as a progressive melting pot of many races when in reality the government only wants Chinese people. The American in me says this is wrong, and the longer I spend my time (and money) here, the more I am implicitly supporting this policy. No more.

As a minority in Singapore, I've no issue with the immigration policy (ie. keeping existing ethnic balance) as I can see why it works for Singapore's unique context.

To each his own. Enjoy your retirement wherever it may be

The immigration policy here ain’t perfect, but I agree with Jalan — it is sensible and maintains a delicate balance — and it’s not just ethnic, it’s cultural. When you have limited space and a lack of babies being made, the fabric of your society can quickly unravel risking societal unrest/instability. That is something you just can’t afford on this tiny island. You can see their prime objective is to build a tightly woven society that can stand the test of time, even if that means sacrificing promising immigrants with greater financial means or talent.

I believe they learned from mistakes made in the early/mid 2000’s when they let in too many PRC Chinese that lacked the necessary cultural aspects to properly integrate here. And today it’s clearly not just Chinese for the sake of Chinese. They have also improved in terms of the importance they place on family ties. Again, not perfect, but like many things in Singapore, there are sensible reasons behind the seemingly unique policies that appear out of step with other countries.

[hangmann]

As a minority in Singapore, I've no issue with the immigration policy (ie. keeping existing ethnic balance) as I can see why it works for Singapore's unique context.

To each his own. Enjoy your retirement wherever it may be

Thanks for the well wishes. Curious if you are you a PR/Citizen here, given you said you are a minority race?

[hangmann]

My PhD wielding PRC friend would beg to differ as she got rejected twice for PR so far. While my Caucasian husband and a couple of Indian acquaintances (not married to locals/PRs) I know got PR this year. And one of the Indian forum members, smoulder, got SC this year and saw some other Indians in one of the community sessions he attended as part of his citizenship journey.

I know there might be some cases of Chinese being rejected, but the data speaks for itself:

[hangmann]

The immigration policy here ain’t perfect, but I agree with Jalan — it is sensible and maintains a delicate balance — and it’s not just ethnic, it’s cultural. When you have limited space and a lack of babies being made, the fabric of your society can quickly unravel risking societal unrest/instability. That is something you just can’t afford on this tiny island. You can see their prime objective is to build a tightly woven society that can stand the test of time, even if that means sacrificing promising immigrants with greater financial means or talent.

I believe they learned from mistakes made in the early/mid 2000’s when they let in too many PRC Chinese that lacked the necessary cultural aspects to properly integrate here. And today it’s clearly not just Chinese for the sake of Chinese. They have also improved in terms of the importance they place on family ties. Again, not perfect, but like many things in Singapore, there are sensible reasons behind the seemingly unique policies that appear out of step with other countries.

I would have no issue with it if they were upfront about it. My problem is when someone says one thing, but does the opposite. Many countries are composed of primarily a single race and have protective immigration policies, for example Japan, but they make no claims about being otherwise.

[PNGMK]

I saw in a previous post that you are very close to this date. How are you feeling about leaving soon, after being here for so many years?

We are now four years out (my doter needs to complete her O levels). I will be relieved. I wish we could leave earlier. I feel life is slipping me by.

Why do you want her to finish the Os now?

USC, just go finish HS in the US. Years 9-11 or 10-11 are key. Quite frankly, if not planning to stick around here I would have the kid go spend Years 7-12 there (absent other family considerations that are tying people to SG).

SG O to Community College or Uni is possible; not sure it is any better than Year 12 in US HS to the corresponding (all things considered one has the choice)?

Lots of reasons but one is that my wife has a good job here as well.

[MOCHS]

I know there might be some cases of Chinese being rejected, but the data speaks for itself:

If you calculate the ratio, they are still maintaining the consistent CMIO percentage of 75%, 15%, 7.5%, and 2.5% over the years though.

Visual graphs can be misleading at first glance until you look at the numbers.

[jalanjalan]

Thanks for the well wishes. Curious if you are you a PR/Citizen here, given you said you are a minority race?

Citizen now. Angmo married to SG-born Indian (he sponsored me under family ties).

[malcontent]

The immigration policy here ain’t perfect, but I agree with Jalan — it is sensible and maintains a delicate balance — and it’s not just ethnic, it’s cultural. When you have limited space and a lack of babies being made, the fabric of your society can quickly unravel risking societal unrest/instability. That is something you just can’t afford on this tiny island. You can see their prime objective is to build a tightly woven society that can stand the test of time, even if that means sacrificing promising immigrants with greater financial means or talent.

I believe they learned from mistakes made in the early/mid 2000’s when they let in too many PRC Chinese that lacked the necessary cultural aspects to properly integrate here. And today it’s clearly not just Chinese for the sake of Chinese. They have also improved in terms of the importance they place on family ties. Again, not perfect, but like many things in Singapore, there are sensible reasons behind the seemingly unique policies that appear out of step with other countries.

I would have no issue with it if they were upfront about it. My problem is when someone says one thing, but does the opposite. Many countries are composed of primarily a single race and have protective immigration policies, for example Japan, but they make no claims about being otherwise.

I hear you. And they have at least tried to give some broad hints as to how they make decisions, but I doubt it will ever be completely unopaque.

Probably the biggest issue I see is not adequately addressing the resulting consequences of the policy shift around larger expectations for PR to become SC. It’s not that I disagree with the policy, but they have to address the square pegs that no longer fit in those round holes.

What about those in the existing PR pool who aren’t ever going to be given SC even though they have put in the time? Maybe this is why they are not giving out PR as easily today, so that in some future state, the vast majority of the PR pool can be reasonably assured of eventual SC after x years, but you’ve still got to address the slag.

What about those want PR as more of a long-term EP but have no intention of converting or staying beyond retirement? For someone on EP for 10 years or more, what are they supposed to do? I think they should become eligible for a 5 year LTEP that has job portability and either CPF or mandatory SRS. That way you can keep from polluting your PR pool with quitters.

[sundaymorningstaple]

They tried the CPF for EP holders back in the 1980's Ran into a lot of flack from the locals for the obvious reasons. Those locals working on the same jobs with the same salary rates also contributed to CPF as well. (Back in those days the deduction/contribution rates was 20% by both the employee and the employer. This made a sizeable interest earning stash for the EP holder as when their contracts were up or they decided to return to their own countries, it made for a tidy windfall as EP holder were able to withdraw everything (including earned interest and medisave as well). This did not sit too well with the locals who couldn't even catch a whiff of the pot of gold until they were 55 (except for making mortgage payments). This requirement was stopped in the late 1980's and EP holders were no longer required or eligible to contribute or have contributions made by the employer. I don't remember for sure as I was still working offshore so was part of the 11 years I lived here on a bog standard 30 SVP. Maybe PNGMK can fill us in there as he was here in the mid 1990's (1995?) and he knows a considerable amount about SRS (as does Mal who may also be well versed when it started).

[NYY1]

For EPs, I would think it is less about CPF/SRS and that the bigger issues are changing EP goal posts, portability/more time on the back-end of losing your EP, and the ability to buy a house without getting whacked on ABSD. Really, how do you buy a house with ABSD and SSD if you don't know you have long-term staying power here? Without debating the merits of the ABSD changes over the years (there are costs to going either way), it is not hard to see why one group got the short end of the stick.

For PRs, are there really that many "stranded" or "stuck" PRs (i.e. unlikely to be given SC)? For the Western PR holders (non-FTS specifically), I doubt many will actually convert even if they can. I think they obtained PR in a different time, and the fact that they haven't converted is not a surprise to the gov't and there are no bad feelings either. It's only a question of when they fall out of the 500k base.

Some others may not be able to get SC, but I don't think it is due to policy changes. The time to convert is when you are relatively young/still working and have kids on the application. However, many parents either aren't ready or prefer to leave the decision up to the kids (both understandable). If all of the kids subsequently convert, maybe the parents can still get it (either on own or aged parent of SC). I think the gov't is more interested in people that want to be here, not people that have played out their other options for decades only to now decide they are worthless (or worth less than the benefit of converting).

We did see one Indian family that applied for SC twice but didn't get it and decided to move on to Australia, so the cases do exist.

[jalanjalan]

They tried the CPF for EP holders back in the 1980's Ran into a lot of flack from the locals for the obvious reasons. Those locals working on the same jobs with the same salary rates also contributed to CPF as well. (Back in those days the deduction/contribution rates was 20% by both the employee and the employer. This made a sizeable interest earning stash for the EP holder as when their contracts were up or they decided to return to their own countries, it made for a tidy windfall as EP holder were able to withdraw everything (including earned interest and medisave as well). This did not sit too well with the locals who couldn't even catch a whiff of the pot of gold until they were 55 (except for making mortgage payments). This requirement was stopped in the late 1980's and EP holders were no longer required or eligible to contribute or have contributions made by the employer. I don't remember for sure as I was still working offshore so was part of the 11 years I lived here on a bog standard 30 SVP. Maybe PNGMK can fill us in there as he was here in the mid 1990's (1995?) and he knows a considerable amount about SRS (as does Mal who may also be well versed when it started).

I think I was in one of the last batches to get full CPF as an EP holder (early '95). Midway through my year's contract they changed the CPF rule for foreigners, but existing EP holders were not affected til they renewed. As luck would have it, I got PR before the year was up, and according to the rules at the time, those who become PR while paying full CPF, continue to do so (no tiered system). So I just squeaked in under the wire and have paid full CPF throughout.

[sundaymorningstaple]

JlnJln, Thanks for that. I knew about it but was unsure of the dates when it stopped as I was never affected by it. 8 of the first 11 years I was here I worked for an offshore Diving company in the Oil Exploration Industry. The other three that took me to 1995 when I got PR was working with the UNHCR. The agencies from the different countries working under them (I worked for the US Agency doing resettlement of the VN Boat people throughout ASEAN to resettle in the US. Had to pay US SS taxes but not the CPF. Got my PR on FT (local wife and two kids born here, both in the local school system at the time. It was only after taking up a local position that I actually started contributing to CPF and yeah I was on the graduated rate for the first two years before the full contribution rate was in effect.

[Addadude]

When I first came to SG at the tail end of '93, I was paying CPF as an EP holder. The rules changed so when I got a new job in '97 on a new EP, I know longer had to pay CPF- and of course neither did my employer. My CPF account remained dormant up until I became a PR in 2004 and it's being building up quietly ever since. When my wife and I bought our flat, I was fortunate enough not to have to touch my CPF and I paid my monthly mortgage in cash, so my current CPF nest egg is quite healthy.