Questions on a Sing job offer

[Pioneer]

Hi everyone,

First time posting so hope someone will be able to help out.

I have just been offered a job in Sigapore with the following conditions.
monthyl salary $6500
monthly Living allowance $1000
Free flights once a year for the family back to Europe (wife and 2 year old son)
Free schooling for our son providing he is in a local goverment managed school (which the Company claims are very good)

So my questions are:

1. Does this look an attractive offer?
2. What % of income tax would I expect to pay?
3. How does the living allowance work, is this straight onto your salary or somehow taxed and renumerated differently?
4. Do local companies normally provide private medical insurance?
5. Her in UK a lot of companies have pension schemes, is this the same for local sing companies?
6. Could we enjoy a good standard of living on this?

I am sorry if this is all basic stuff, but want to try and get as much info as possible as there are lots of conflicting opinions?

Cheers

[KY]

Hi there,

Will try and see what all i can answer.

The monthly salary of 6500$ is pretty good. With regards to your allowance, you need to clear it up with your company whether they mean 6500 + 1000 or is it all inclusive. Local schools are quite good but do check up with a few of the other expats too if they are sending their kids to these schools.

With regards to income tax, check out singapore expats

http://www.singaporeexpats.com/guides-f ... riates.htm

Private medical insurance depends company to company. My husband's ex company provided insurance just for him, whereas his new company covers both of us.

Out here they have something called CPF, kinda like your pension, which is applicable once you become a PR.

As for standard of living, its quite reasonable, definitely cheaper than back home, for us atleast. On your salary structure, it should be fine. If you are getting more than what you are getting right now, go for it. Singapore is a safe country, good place to live, tad boring though.... hope that helped, any other qs, feel free to shoot back..

KY

[Pioneer]

Hi KY,

Thanks for the reply, since posting I have negotiated a better deal along the lines of $8000 basic, $1000 living $300 travel plus 1 set of free flights to Eupore per year for the family, so total would be $9300/m.

On that basis I presume from your reply that I would be on a good deal worthy of a good standard of living.

The next question is regarding medical insurance, it is provided for me by my company but not the family. Any idea what the rough cost of annual insurance would be, just to give me an idea.

As part of the re-negotiation, I have dropped the goverment managed school fees part of the offer, mainly because my son is only 2 and would not need them yet, but do you have any idea what the cost would be, so that I can compare this against an International School?

Thanks once again, nice to hear from someone who has already been through the mill

[riversandlakes]

That's a helluva mullah!

[KY]

Hi Pioneer,

Wow, u managed to get a real good deal, and yes, u definitely would be very comfortable here on that package.

With regards to insurance, I am not too sure which one I am on right now....since my husband's company is providing it, all i had to do was sign but the last deal we got from Aviva General Insurance was something like 33S$ a month and they cover quite a bit in that, so maybe u cld write to them and they will let you know abt it.

As for schools, won't really be able to help much in that department, no kids, so u need to check with someone who has kids. Friend of mine sends her 3 year old to kindergarten here and she pays about 500S$ a month for that, 4 hours a day.

So when are you guys landing here? Have a nice day!!!

[Pioneer]

Hi Ky and Riversandlakes

Thanks for both answering...whats a mullah???

As far as landing, I will be deciding as to whether to take the position by the end of this week at the latest. I wanted to be sure I was'nt going to end up with any shock financial suprises when I arrived.

After that I am on 3 months notice with my present Company, plus 2/3 weeks to get the EP sorted should see us in Singapore by sometime mid / end of January.
The next hurdle is to sell the house, decide what we want to bring with us (and what needs to go on ebay...lol) and then see how cheap we can get it for as relocation expenses are down to us. Then the search for accomodation will be on, we have already started looking (Company is based near the Redhill MRT) but it is a minefield

The other issue that is slightly worrying us is that my wife would like to work at some point and not just stay at home watching the clock. She is a Graphic Designer by occupation and while I have read that it is possible to work on a dependants pass with a Letter of Consent, it seems that a lot of Singapore Companies are either oblivious to it or not to keen, either way making it hard work. Do you have a view on this and are you working?

Once again Ky thanks for the invaluable advice, it is very much appreciated, hopefully one day we can repay you with a beer or such like.

[riversandlakes]

i can't help you with much; moi single and renting a $280-room here

mullah is slang for money i think? do i get that beer now?

[KY]

Was working for 2 months, then hubby changed job and my DP got cancelled, alongwith which my LOC got cancelled too, n the company wasn't ready to wait all over again for me to get DP and a new LOC....true, it is quite tough getting a job on a DP here....the only reason I got lucky was coz my friend was working for the Indian branch and referred my name to the company here, got called for an interview and I was thru. Most HR guys know zip abt LOC, I had to inform my company abt it when my S pass got rejected. The HR lady was quite adamant there was no such thing. You cld ask your wife to start applying for jobs right now (incase u do decide to come here), else she better be prepared to wait it out a few months before she gets a job. Definitely not trying to dishearten u, but that's the way it is here. I have a friend who's an architect and an MBA, with 6 years experience, but she's been here 4 months and hasn't got any responses from companies out here. Check out with few of the consultants here and see if they can help. All one can do is stay positive I guess.

As for the beer, name the day, time and place, I shall be there to collect...