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Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

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NYY1
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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by NYY1 » Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:04 pm

smoulder wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:31 am
NYY1 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 7:06 am
Canadian immigration trends...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/i ... 5a6b705a13
NYY, What's your take on it?
I'm not sure. I guess it depends on whether someone is OK with Singapore to work/live/save as long as he/she can or needs to secure long-term immigration rights after whatever number of years. More of a FYI for those who need to consider the latter (as it has been an issue/topic discussed here).

Do people really have a preference between say UK, Canada, and Australia or you just go wherever you can (university, job offer, etc)?

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by jalanjalan » Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:50 pm

Canada immigration still has a backlog of about 2mil applicants, last I checked. You can google for news from CBC on immigration backlog and get an idea of the struggles of people trying to immigrate. I wouldn't recommend anyone going there unless they have a solid job offer and have plenty of money to support themselves for a couple years while they apply for residency.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by smoulder » Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:13 am

Yea I'm also wondering how existing locals are taking the whole large scale immigration in their stride. Granted that Canada is a VERY large place, but the bulk of the population is probably concentrated in a few cities which is where new immigrants are also likely to want to move to. The world over, immigration is a sensitive subject for "local" people. Typically the major underlying issue would probably be integration.

The reason I refer to local in quotes is because almost everyone is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by jalanjalan » Fri, 23 Dec 2022 1:39 am

smoulder wrote:
Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:13 am
Yea I'm also wondering how existing locals are taking the whole large scale immigration in their stride. Granted that Canada is a VERY large place, but the bulk of the population is probably concentrated in a few cities which is where new immigrants are also likely to want to move to. The world over, immigration is a sensitive subject for "local" people. Typically the major underlying issue would probably be integration.

The reason I refer to local in quotes is because almost everyone is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants.
How hard or easy it is to integrate varies province to province, and city to city (or even neighbourhood), where different pockets of immigrants settled and made mini communities.
The stress can be felt in things like the housing market, which is scary expensive, long wait times for public healthcare, etc. And there are apparently quite a few questionable educational institutions fleecing unsuspecting foreign students. This wasn't the case back when I was in uni, where local and foreign students all studied together (how I met my spouse:)

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 24 Dec 2022 1:27 am

jalanjalan wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:50 pm
Canada immigration still has a backlog of about 2mil applicants, last I checked. You can google for news from CBC on immigration backlog and get an idea of the struggles of people trying to immigrate. I wouldn't recommend anyone going there unless they have a solid job offer and have plenty of money to support themselves for a couple years while they apply for residency.
Definitely. Though I'd say that should be the case regardless of where you intend to move to.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 24 Dec 2022 1:29 am

smoulder wrote:
Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:13 am
Yea I'm also wondering how existing locals are taking the whole large scale immigration in their stride. Granted that Canada is a VERY large place, but the bulk of the population is probably concentrated in a few cities which is where new immigrants are also likely to want to move to. The world over, immigration is a sensitive subject for "local" people. Typically the major underlying issue would probably be integration.

The reason I refer to local in quotes is because almost everyone is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants.
Absolutely. In areas where there aren't very many immigrants, it's usually because residents aren't very welcoming of foreigners - this xenophobia wards off foreigners which breeds more xenophobia as locals never get used to the idea of sharing their land.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 24 Dec 2022 1:31 am

jalanjalan wrote:
Fri, 23 Dec 2022 1:39 am
smoulder wrote:
Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:13 am
Yea I'm also wondering how existing locals are taking the whole large scale immigration in their stride. Granted that Canada is a VERY large place, but the bulk of the population is probably concentrated in a few cities which is where new immigrants are also likely to want to move to. The world over, immigration is a sensitive subject for "local" people. Typically the major underlying issue would probably be integration.

The reason I refer to local in quotes is because almost everyone is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants.
How hard or easy it is to integrate varies province to province, and city to city (or even neighbourhood), where different pockets of immigrants settled and made mini communities.
The stress can be felt in things like the housing market, which is scary expensive, long wait times for public healthcare, etc. And there are apparently quite a few questionable educational institutions fleecing unsuspecting foreign students. This wasn't the case back when I was in uni, where local and foreign students all studied together (how I met my spouse:)
Right, regardless of where you settle, if you're a minority, you'll always have a harder time integrating. Though it must be said that some communities are more welcoming of outsiders than others.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 24 Dec 2022 1:33 am

NYY1 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:04 pm
smoulder wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:31 am
NYY1 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 7:06 am
Canadian immigration trends...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/i ... 5a6b705a13
NYY, What's your take on it?
I'm not sure. I guess it depends on whether someone is OK with Singapore to work/live/save as long as he/she can or needs to secure long-term immigration rights after whatever number of years. More of a FYI for those who need to consider the latter (as it has been an issue/topic discussed here).

Do people really have a preference between say UK, Canada, and Australia or you just go wherever you can (university, job offer, etc)?
I believe most people have a preference - even if the way of life is similar between countries there are still many differences like dominant communities, cost, family concerns.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Wd40 » Sat, 24 Dec 2022 8:37 pm

The best thing about Singapore is the weather. Winter is so cold in Canada and Europe and now with the rising energy prices everywhere, I just feel Singapore is more sustainable. The ambient temperature is close to our body temperature, we don't even use Aircon, just standing fans. So no need of artificial heating or cooling. Just perfect.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Sun, 25 Dec 2022 1:51 am

I run hot so I have to disagree. Completely see your point though. I'm in TW now where the weather averages 14 degrees during the day and 7 and night. Perfect for me.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by truthhurts1 » Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:37 am

Wd40 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:05 am
truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 12:29 am
smoulder wrote:
Mon, 17 Oct 2022 8:08 pm
At the moment, MM2H in west Malaysia is not going to be very easy with a requirement of 10k usd per month to qualify. A tall ask when you are retired. You might want to check out the retirement thread.

Also, what's the issue with retiring in India?
Need a lot of money to retire in India with a good standard of living. It’s completely wrong of people thinking that India is cheap, it’s not..
I don’t have a property there and I won’t be able to afford one now, it has become a situation where I have nowhere to go at this time except be in singapore for the long term, I am not thinking about retiring or retirement yet but I can buy a nice property in Malaysia at this time and it will be much cheaper than that in India ..

Also I don’t think I can live in India again a anymore, the traffic, the population , the country not being clean etc etc I get overwhelmed just by thinking about it
I just cant help but come back to your post and think how wrong you are about India.
SGDINR just hit 61.4, I saved about 80K SGD with my normal salary of 145k gross all-in salary, this year, with a family of 3.

80k SGD converts to 4.9Million INR and you could buy a nice house in a city like Bangalore for twice that amount fully paid, no loan.

So just 2 years of my savings is enough to buy a nice house in India. You are single and your salary is 180k.

It is very clear, you have some very idiosyncratic problem with India, maybe you belong to a minority community(Muslim?) I can understand why you would feel about India that way and dont want to even go there and your affinity towards Malaysia. Or may be other family problems which is why you dont even want to go and meet your family. But this is very specific problem to you and it is not a problem with India.

Hey bro sorry for the late response as I didn’t get on this forum for a while.

You are right I don’t have family ties in India anymore as my foster parents are not in touch with me now. I am not Muslim btw, I converted to Christianity a while ago..

My thoughts on India are based on a couple of school friends I have and they been struggling to get out of India for a while without success.
They told me life is tough and they are planning to move to Australia and retire there in a few years, they don’t want their kids to suffer..

My parents are from Delhi and it’s a Brootal place when it comes to cost of living and also buying a new property is more expensive than Singapore in many cases.

Also I do not like the attitude of Indians in India, they will never progress..

Look at china and look at us and you will agree with me.

Let me know what you think

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by smoulder » Tue, 27 Dec 2022 11:15 am

truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:37 am
Wd40 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:05 am
truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 12:29 am


Need a lot of money to retire in India with a good standard of living. It’s completely wrong of people thinking that India is cheap, it’s not..
I don’t have a property there and I won’t be able to afford one now, it has become a situation where I have nowhere to go at this time except be in singapore for the long term, I am not thinking about retiring or retirement yet but I can buy a nice property in Malaysia at this time and it will be much cheaper than that in India ..

Also I don’t think I can live in India again a anymore, the traffic, the population , the country not being clean etc etc I get overwhelmed just by thinking about it
I just cant help but come back to your post and think how wrong you are about India.
SGDINR just hit 61.4, I saved about 80K SGD with my normal salary of 145k gross all-in salary, this year, with a family of 3.

80k SGD converts to 4.9Million INR and you could buy a nice house in a city like Bangalore for twice that amount fully paid, no loan.

So just 2 years of my savings is enough to buy a nice house in India. You are single and your salary is 180k.

It is very clear, you have some very idiosyncratic problem with India, maybe you belong to a minority community(Muslim?) I can understand why you would feel about India that way and dont want to even go there and your affinity towards Malaysia. Or may be other family problems which is why you dont even want to go and meet your family. But this is very specific problem to you and it is not a problem with India.

Hey bro sorry for the late response as I didn’t get on this forum for a while.

You are right I don’t have family ties in India anymore as my foster parents are not in touch with me now. I am not Muslim btw, I converted to Christianity a while ago..

My thoughts on India are based on a couple of school friends I have and they been struggling to get out of India for a while without success.
They told me life is tough and they are planning to move to Australia and retire there in a few years, they don’t want their kids to suffer..

My parents are from Delhi and it’s a Brootal place when it comes to cost of living and also buying a new property is more expensive than Singapore in many cases.

Also I do not like the attitude of Indians in India, they will never progress..

Look at china and look at us and you will agree with me.

Let me know what you think
I guess each of you cannot convince the other about your respective points of view. In my opinion, part of the reason is because your experiences in India are like night and day and therefore you are not on the same page.

I feel that once the heart has decided on something, it's hard to go back or change course. Having said that, you had an opportunity to avoid moving back to India (eventually), but you've been chasing after a goal which is not going to be easy to achieve (SPR).

You've had your chances (you could have bitten the bullet and gotten married to your girlfriend) but you haven't taken them so it's only going to get harder as age becomes a factor.

If I were in your position, I'd assess all my options quickly before age puts them out of reach, then start working and saving up /investing to match the requirements. Else, you could end up running out of luck and very bitter later.

You have to remember that immigration in the late 20th century and at the present time is generally very hard to achieve. It might sound like everyone and his uncle is immigrating, but the reality is that a very small percentage of people are actually immigrating. That includes folks like you who have been able to work and live overseas. Once you get a chance, if you really want it, you grab it with both hands.

PS. I can't really tell whether your preferred path is "anywhere" outside India or only a selection of countries.

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by truthhurts1 » Tue, 27 Dec 2022 7:25 pm

smoulder wrote:
Tue, 27 Dec 2022 11:15 am
truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:37 am
Wd40 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:05 am


I just cant help but come back to your post and think how wrong you are about India.
SGDINR just hit 61.4, I saved about 80K SGD with my normal salary of 145k gross all-in salary, this year, with a family of 3.

80k SGD converts to 4.9Million INR and you could buy a nice house in a city like Bangalore for twice that amount fully paid, no loan.

So just 2 years of my savings is enough to buy a nice house in India. You are single and your salary is 180k.

It is very clear, you have some very idiosyncratic problem with India, maybe you belong to a minority community(Muslim?) I can understand why you would feel about India that way and dont want to even go there and your affinity towards Malaysia. Or may be other family problems which is why you dont even want to go and meet your family. But this is very specific problem to you and it is not a problem with India.

Hey bro sorry for the late response as I didn’t get on this forum for a while.

You are right I don’t have family ties in India anymore as my foster parents are not in touch with me now. I am not Muslim btw, I converted to Christianity a while ago..

My thoughts on India are based on a couple of school friends I have and they been struggling to get out of India for a while without success.
They told me life is tough and they are planning to move to Australia and retire there in a few years, they don’t want their kids to suffer..

My parents are from Delhi and it’s a Brootal place when it comes to cost of living and also buying a new property is more expensive than Singapore in many cases.

Also I do not like the attitude of Indians in India, they will never progress..

Look at china and look at us and you will agree with me.

Let me know what you think
I guess each of you cannot convince the other about your respective points of view. In my opinion, part of the reason is because your experiences in India are like night and day and therefore you are not on the same page.

I feel that once the heart has decided on something, it's hard to go back or change course. Having said that, you had an opportunity to avoid moving back to India (eventually), but you've been chasing after a goal which is not going to be easy to achieve (SPR).

You've had your chances (you could have bitten the bullet and gotten married to your girlfriend) but you haven't taken them so it's only going to get harder as age becomes a factor.

If I were in your position, I'd assess all my options quickly before age puts them out of reach, then start working and saving up /investing to match the requirements. Else, you could end up running out of luck and very bitter later.

You have to remember that immigration in the late 20th century and at the present time is generally very hard to achieve. It might sound like everyone and his uncle is immigrating, but the reality is that a very small percentage of people are actually immigrating. That includes folks like you who have been able to work and live overseas. Once you get a chance, if you really want it, you grab it with both hands.

PS. I can't really tell whether your preferred path is "anywhere" outside India or only a selection of countries.


Honestly I would rather die than go to India ever in my life ..

I am planning to do the ROM but have cold feet,
Women nowadays especially the younger ones are hypergamous
What happens when I don’t earn as much as I earn now or if the girl starts eating more
This is a question
I think I will take the plunge soon
You are right about immigration, one more year and it’s over for me
Thank you very much for your insights

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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by jwoods1864 » Tue, 27 Dec 2022 9:42 pm

If the girl starts eating more?
Seriously lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lisafuller
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Re: Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

Post by Lisafuller » Wed, 28 Dec 2022 1:38 am

truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:37 am
Wd40 wrote:
Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:05 am
truthhurts1 wrote:
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 12:29 am


Need a lot of money to retire in India with a good standard of living. It’s completely wrong of people thinking that India is cheap, it’s not..
I don’t have a property there and I won’t be able to afford one now, it has become a situation where I have nowhere to go at this time except be in singapore for the long term, I am not thinking about retiring or retirement yet but I can buy a nice property in Malaysia at this time and it will be much cheaper than that in India ..

Also I don’t think I can live in India again a anymore, the traffic, the population , the country not being clean etc etc I get overwhelmed just by thinking about it
I just cant help but come back to your post and think how wrong you are about India.
SGDINR just hit 61.4, I saved about 80K SGD with my normal salary of 145k gross all-in salary, this year, with a family of 3.

80k SGD converts to 4.9Million INR and you could buy a nice house in a city like Bangalore for twice that amount fully paid, no loan.

So just 2 years of my savings is enough to buy a nice house in India. You are single and your salary is 180k.

It is very clear, you have some very idiosyncratic problem with India, maybe you belong to a minority community(Muslim?) I can understand why you would feel about India that way and dont want to even go there and your affinity towards Malaysia. Or may be other family problems which is why you dont even want to go and meet your family. But this is very specific problem to you and it is not a problem with India.

Hey bro sorry for the late response as I didn’t get on this forum for a while.

You are right I don’t have family ties in India anymore as my foster parents are not in touch with me now. I am not Muslim btw, I converted to Christianity a while ago..

My thoughts on India are based on a couple of school friends I have and they been struggling to get out of India for a while without success.
They told me life is tough and they are planning to move to Australia and retire there in a few years, they don’t want their kids to suffer..

My parents are from Delhi and it’s a Brootal place when it comes to cost of living and also buying a new property is more expensive than Singapore in many cases.

Also I do not like the attitude of Indians in India, they will never progress..

Look at china and look at us and you will agree with me.

Let me know what you think
Property there is more expensive than in SG? I find that hard to believe...

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