I'm a newbie here, so be gentle will you
My wife and I both work for the same company in Denmark and we're both Danish. We don't have any children. I've been offered a 3-year stationing in our regional HQ in West Tuas in Singapore. The stationing has the possibility of +2 years and further extension, should the company and I agree on the details.
However I haven't signed the contract yet because I haven't seen it
what's been presented to me is a job description, which is almost tailor made for my strong sides in business controlling. So in regards to the job itself it should be really, really interesting. However that all depends on the details in the contract.My wife spend a bit more than a year living and working in France when she was younger, but I have never lived abroad. I've been travelling as a financial controller for several years now, especially in Asia and I just love the different cultures out there, but I especially have fallen in love with Singapore, so this is really no huge decision for me. But and there always seems to be buts right
I do think a lot about my wife and how she will manage this and that brings me back to the contract talks, which will begin in a few weeks time. From what I've gathered so far, I'll (or we will) be offered something like:
> Free housing (max. 4'000 SG$ a month)
> Company car
> All insurances paid
> All transport cost of our furniture and things
> Company expense/representation account
> Up to 5 roundtrips to Denmark every year
> Personal Deloitte representative to take care of financial details
What I don't know yet, is what to expect salary wise and if I can expect the company to give my wife a job as well.
If in fact she doesn't get offered a job, what are the chances of her getting a green card/work permit? She's educated in sales and purchase and speaks several languages. What do you reckon?
Anyways, I'll probably need to get a massive increase salary wise as well, if my wife can't work, as I have to make a living for her as well. Anyone know from experience if this is hard to negotiate?
The back up plan is for her to start studying at the university or similar - does anyone here have experience about studying in Singapore?
In regards to finding a place to live in, what would your recommendation be?
> Do we go for an apartment in a condo in an area where the locals live?
> Or do we go an apartment in a 'expat' area?
We're both really, really open minded and we both feel we can talk to anyone, so one or the other is not a huge difference to us, but if someone has good/bad experiences with either please tell us.
What we do know in regards to housing, is the limit for the costs and if the limit is 4'000 SG$ and we would like to live on the West Island somewhere, where would you recommend us to look? We've talked about what we want in regards to the apartment and we both find the following details important:
> The bigger the apartment the better (sqm)
> Big kitchen with new appliances
> Wooden or tiled floors, not carpets
> Big swimming pool
> Really good gym
> Close to public transport (MRT)
> A condo where people socialise a lot
That's just some of the thoughts I carry around, taken from the top of my mind. I bet there's a lot more questions in there than I've listed here, but I would love to hear your feedback on the above. Any advice will be highly appreciated.
Thanks a million in advance
