Page 3 of 3

Posted: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 5:29 pm
by littlegreenman
Saint wrote:
Didn't actually know you could transfer UK pensions in to CPF??

Good luck if you can and report how!
Okay the pension you have in your NI contributions (maybe 5 quid a month by the time you retire) are non transferable... unless you contracted them out to a private pension provider beforehand. Theoretically you could do that still and then take the money from there and transfer it into CPF but that would be a lot of hassle and the pension providers usually only accept it if you have an active pension you still pay in monthly.

If you have a private pension though you can transfer it out to your CPF as CPF fulfills all the requirements, ie. your money is basically locked up until retirement... yes I know you can use it to buy a HDB or for your child's education but for the purpose of transferring from Britain let's just take it as that.

What you will have to do is contact your pension provider and explain to them that you are living permanently overseas with no intension of ever moving back (so they will be keen to get rid of it as well to save the cost associated with holding your pension) and then they will ask you to write a letter providing your details, where it should be transferred etc and you also have to provide a copy of your PR... and this is how you set the wheels in motion. You will also have to contact CPF to get details on how to receive a foreign pension on the transferee side. This is what I found out so far but can't do it yet as I am not a PR with a CPF account yet. Also I am still UK resident while I do my masters here... So your first step would be to contact your pension provider. If you have mutual funds you might have to liquidate them first as only cash and not securities might be transferable... then I guess you will have to wait for ages HMRC will need to sign off... but it should be possible and this way you can also avoid paying income tax later when retired which you will have to pay on your annuity you have to take up if it is in the UK.

One thing to note: with the exchange rate being slightly up but still below three you might want to wait with actually transferring it. My personal opinion is that there has been a major shift in economic underlying that the sterling will stay down for a prolonged period (maybe 10 years). The recent recovery might be an incentive to get out of sterling and also shed any sterling investments as they will underperform over the next years (Equity Derivative and Hybrid Structurer here).

ksl wrote: Oh how i hate that ---------------------place they can keep every penny i have paid in! They are all f----g idiots at the highest level in the civil service and believe me its got much worse, because now they are not civil service, but contractors with no offices open but just a phone line, which you pay a 50 pence per minute for. It's a blah blah blah disgrace. Worse than f------A------a

Littlegreenman says: Ladies and gentlemen,

please feel free to say hello to the latest SPR (ie. me)." Hello!" from a Lancasterian and welcome to Singapore, you really must have suffered in that backward Country! For me every visit is like stepping into a time machine.
Spot on mate, the two years here felt like eternity. I can't believe what I am seeing and the lazy attitude, nobody wants to take responsibility for anything here, and just push it to someone else or ignore it. Sure you could argue that it is the same in Singapore, but I lived there for over three years and Singapore is just much better as people still want to help but just don't want to do anything that is not by the book. I am staying here one more year to do my Masters at Birkbeck as the home student rate (to get at least something out of this country) while the wife finishes her charter-ship and once I am done in August next year I am out of here.There is a tiny light at the end of the tunnel though: BT has included 0845 and 0870 in your unlimited nation-wide calls to landlines... so you don't pay anything any more after 7pm or on weekends from a BT landline. That saved me millions when listening to stupid music while waiting for someone to answer the phone after 45 minutes to an hour, who then does not have a clue. Don't get me started about BT customer service though. When we moved I had to call them because our phone line wasn't working. I called them five times in 3 days as they kept f**king up and never called back either. Average waiting time (even a 8am) was an hour to talk to someone. So I was standing in the payphone...

Posted: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 8:05 pm
by IreSg
As I previously quote hopefully will be in the same boat as littlegreenman!!! Guess what... I am now..!! Rang ICA this morning hoping for a good answer, I am too at the final stage of the process, the letter will be in the post.

Posted: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:00 am
by littlegreenman
Hey congrats mate! Good things come to those who wait :wink:

FYI, you can do your medical in Ireland. All you need is this form http://www.ica.gov.sg/data/resources/do ... Report.pdf which you will also receive with your letter.

Posted: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 2:40 am
by IreSg
Cheers littlegreenman! Thanks for the info. I will look into my pension here as well see how it goes about. But of coz first have to get my letter first. \:D/

Posted: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:05 pm
by sahil_style
IreSg wrote:As I previously quote hopefully will be in the same boat as littlegreenman!!! Guess what... I am now..!! Rang ICA this morning hoping for a good answer, I am too at the final stage of the process, the letter will be in the post.
Hi All,

I am an indian,having +6 Years experience of Computer Networking and presently working in Malaysia for the last 1 year.

I have also applied for Landed PR in the starting of June...means 2 months already gone !!

I dont know the chances,as Me & my wife,both are indian and I have applied just on the basis of my work Experience.

if someone has applied the same way,thanks to share your experiences.

Hi IreSg/littlegreenman,

Can you please share the ICA contact number as well ,because I also wana hear that Good news that my application is at final stage ;-)

Thanks,
Sahil

Posted: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 5:12 pm
by littlegreenman
Hi Shahil,

contact number and opening times can be found here

Please note though that the landed PR scheme is entirely different from the usual PR application. One would think you have to contact SMC Consultants to get an update instead.

Posted: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 3:15 pm
by littlegreenman
And it happened just like that:

I went to ICA, my appointment was 8.30am but I was there at 8 and I scanned in my letter to get called up straight away. I was out within an hour, can collect my IC in 7 days. It was very fast and streamlined. After that I went to Ubi to exchange my driver license with the FIN number for a new permanent one which took exactly 3 minutes. As ICA does not take credit cards I had a cash card which made everything very easy.

A few things to note: the entry permit and re-entry permit you get look dirt cheap. Especially the re-entry permit which is not an endorsement in your passport but just a printed black and white A4 page which you could have printed at home. So you have to carry that every time as well, but in the end it doesn't matter as you can use the automated gantries anyway. Your old FIN number does not have anything to do with your new NRIC number, totally different. Regarding NS as a spouse of a Singaporean I was told that if you are over 25 they just want you to register with Mindef so they can count you towards their troop strength in case of war but you usually do not have to do NS. They gain more from you working and paying taxes and starting a family as soon as possible. Another thing I was surprised about is that I had to pay additional $30 for a visa at ICA. I was told nationals from Britain, Canada, the US, Oz... need to as well and the exempted countries were China, India...

A personal note: I had been out of Singapore for two years. When I had come back I was amazed. In the two years during which the rest of the world seems to have crumbled, Singapore has added to its portfolio (Marina Barrage, Circle Line, the whole Marina Bay area, Sengkang and Punggol as the new HDBs there are actually really nicely built, they shows Bruno in GV in PS UNCUT!!!). Singapore is still progressing and I was stunned. I know Singapore talks about the credit crunch and feels it as well but in nowhere near as much as Britain and the rest of the western world. I can't wait to move back after finishing my Masters next year and I can only say that I appreciate the fact that I am now a PR. Singapore was my home for 3 years from 2004 to 2007 and it still is.

Posted: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 3:38 pm
by Saint
littlegreenman wrote:
A few things to note: the entry permit and re-entry permit you get look dirt cheap. Especially the re-entry permit which is not an endorsement in your passport but just a printed black and white A4 page which you could have printed at home. So you have to carry that every time as well, but in the end it doesn't matter as you can use the automated gantries anyway
I've never taken my seperate REP doc with me when leaving/coming in to Singapore, just my passport and never been asked for it.

How do these automated gantries work? Just off your passport/NRIC or need to apply for something else?

I've always just gone through the normal residences channel, normally quicker than the automated gantries!

Posted: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 3:56 pm
by Strong Eagle
Saint wrote:How do these automated gantries work? Just off your passport/NRIC or need to apply for something else?

I've always just gone through the normal residences channel, normally quicker than the automated gantries!
All you need is your passport. I find the airports and leaving Tanah Merah faster using the automated facilities, almost always faster using the Singapore line at Tanah Merah coming back.

You are supposed to keep the PR letter with your passport but it seems that half the customs officers look for the stamped entry anyway.

Posted: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 4:46 pm
by littlegreenman
Yeah they scan your passport anyway and see all the details flashing up and also that you have a valid REP. Honestly, the REP is so dodgy looking, I think they never check it as you can easily do one at home and in the end as long as it is in the computer they don't care about a dodgy looking piece of paper. The only reason I think you have it is that if you go to Malaysia through land crossing they want to see your exit stamp or last time my student pass. So Malaysian immigration might want to see it to avoid overstayers who just leave at Woodlands and come straight back in without going into Singapore at all (you can do that).

Posted: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 9:06 am
by curious0ne
Thanks to Saint for the right direction!

I've been through the posts and it would appears majority applies via singapore high commission (residing in uk) or locally in singapore (residing in sg)

My wife is actually flying to sg end of month for a week and I had also booked an appointment online for her PR application. Does that mean she will be able to forego a 'second' interview when her application is approved? or would she ever need a 'second' interview? Or is it recommended to apply in the UK? Any advice on that would be much appreciated.

Sounds like it is useful to have a medical before she flew back as well as getting all relevant documents certified in advance by the high commission.

Posted: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 2:21 pm
by Saint
curious0ne wrote:Thanks to Saint for the right direction!

I've been through the posts and it would appears majority applies via singapore high commission (residing in uk) or locally in singapore (residing in sg)

My wife is actually flying to sg end of month for a week and I had also booked an appointment online for her PR application. Does that mean she will be able to forego a 'second' interview when her application is approved? or would she ever need a 'second' interview? Or is it recommended to apply in the UK? Any advice on that would be much appreciated.

Sounds like it is useful to have a medical before she flew back as well as getting all relevant documents certified in advance by the high commission.
The 'second interview' isn't actually an interview but an appointment to complete the PR process e.g hand over medical stuff, get your REP, apply for your IC, hand over some dosh etc. The PR will have been approved by this time.

One thing to be aware of is the timing legistics, if/when you receive the PR approval letter it states you have months to complete the above formalities at the ICA so you will have to factor in a trip back to Singapore for this.

Posted: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 2:27 pm
by Saint
curious0ne wrote:Or is it recommended to apply in the UK? Any advice on that would be much appreciated.

The biggest advantage of submitting forms and getting them certified at the Oversea's mission in London is if anything is amiss it's a lot easier to re-submit in the UK. I would hate you to go all the way to ICA and find you have a missing cert etc. By then not sure how easy it is for you to get to London?!

Sounds like it is useful to have a medical before she flew back as well as getting all relevant documents certified in advance by the high commission.

No need to have medical done before submitting PR forms as it's not needed at this stage, only when you go and complete the PR process at the end

Posted: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 4:59 pm
by econoMIC
Saint wrote:
curious0ne wrote:Or is it recommended to apply in the UK? Any advice on that would be much appreciated.

The biggest advantage of submitting forms and getting them certified at the Oversea's mission in London is if anything is amiss it's a lot easier to re-submit in the UK. I would hate you to go all the way to ICA and find you have a missing cert etc. By then not sure how easy it is for you to get to London?!

Sounds like it is useful to have a medical before she flew back as well as getting all relevant documents certified in advance by the high commission.

No need to have medical done before submitting PR forms as it's not needed at this stage, only when you go and complete the PR process at the end
Saint is right. Other pros for submitting through your local high commission/embassy: shorter processing time, the approval letter gets sent to your home address, not a Singapore address, money saved on not having to fly to Singapore, convenience, appointments can be made as short as a day in advance.

Regarding the medical: do it only when you are back in SG. You can do it at Raffles Hospital at Bugis for SGD65 with same day results (you go there 8.30 and can pick them up by 5pm). Note that the results have to be recent results, no less than three months old. For myself and IreSg it took roughly 3 months to get it approved, so by that time the medical would have been for nothing and it would have to be done again.

Bottom line: I have to firmly recommend to do it through the local high commission/embassy, it will be faster and much more hassle free. Plus it seems like they more or less only rubber-stamp the applications coming in from the high commissions if you are the spouse of a Singaporean.