Moving to Singapore - Rookie Needs advice

[blu370n3]

Hi All,

I work in US but decided to move to Singapore in June to be close with family in Singapore and Indonesia. There are several things that I am trying to sort out and I probably need a little help:

1. How can I ship my personal items to Singapore? I contacted several moving company, but some are really expensive due to the professional service they provided. I am single, so my items are mostly books and docs so I don't have big items to ship. Can anyone suggest who to use?

2. Do you also suggest to open an offshore account such as HSBC offshore account to move my US funds and for easy access while I am in Singapore? or is there a more efficient way to manage your US fund while in singapore?

Thank you in advance.

Regards..

[Matney]

If you are just moving book and documents, can't you pack these things yourself? Get the boxes/ paper from the moving company and DIY. I'm sure that will save you some money. No big move is cheap.

As far as banking, I'm sure there would be some US banks in Singapore, I'm not familiar with them though. Check with some of the big named ones and check out where they have locations.

Good luck and welcome to Singapore!

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

It seems obvious but, make sure you pack things you really can't replace in your carry-on luggage. Back-ups of your address book, check book registers, jewelry, documents, photographs, etc... Also, it's not cheaper to pay for an extra suitcase on the plane rather than shipping, but you'll have it right away and it's not that more expensive. You don't even need to put the items in a suitcase, just in a box. Make sure your bags have even weight dustribution, check with the airline before you go on the weight restrictions.

[blu370n3]

thanks all. I think I am gonna ship my boxes of books and documents using forwarder since it;s probably cheaper that way considerign the weight and the number of boxes. anyway, do you have any issue shipping dvd/movies? I have colleciton of dvds, but I read some where in the forum that they will be taxed? I will do more research about this, but just wondering if you know anything. thank you again.

regards.

[blu370n3]

just one more question. for those moving from US to singapore, do you guys need to get somekind of documentations for the items you shipped from the singapore embassy? thanks again.

regards.