retiring to our fav city

jo hubbard · Post by **jo hubbard** » Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:51 pm

We have decided to move out of this hell hole UK has become and was considering singapore as an alternative. We have been there many times and loved it to bits. We ahve saved enough for us to live the next twenty years in reasonable comfort. However we are unsure about the quality of life for retired people in terms of access to healthcare, home support, shopping, disabled access etc etc. Is it worth us moving there. Life here has deteriorated so much that we fear crime and unemplyment will rise, the society is decaying, the far right extremist party will be in power soon and we dont want to be a part of that society. We have always admired the multicultural harmony singapore has and would like to be a part of it.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:10 am

How do you plan on getting a visa to stay here? You cannot just live here on a tourist visa.

Vaucluse · Post by **Vaucluse** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 9:49 am

May I suggest Malaysia instead, they have something called Malaysia 2nd Home scheme, and you can go a lot further with your savings . . . and you can buy yourselves a nice place in Johor, spitting distance from Singapore

ksl · Post by **ksl** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 7:51 pm

It's been a while since i looked into it, but yes you can retire here, if you have around 3 million Sing$ half maybe invested in property. I had a person from the UK contact me and i sent him the application forms.

Although it was over 2 years ago, so i am not up to date on the procedure or requirements just now. Cash for the next 20 years will be taken into account, i'm sure! I'll see if i can locate the office to contact!

You actually purchase the Permenant Residence, it was brought in so wealthy people can retire here on permenant residence and spend their money. It's all part of the hospitality of Singapore

Johore isn't really a safe place for retirees is it, I would have thought they would be setting them selves up as potential targets, but agree its much cheaper. Although not much money is needed in Singapore really if you can adapt to a local way of life...

durain · Post by **durain** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 9:33 pm

healthcare - good but expensive. you pay for everything, even for a band-aid in A&E.

home support - you can get a maid (subject to your visa condition) or a daytime maid for a few hours, etc.

disable access - not as good but slowly getting there.

food shopping - easy and you can get online food shopping with delivery.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:03 pm

Local doctors fee is okay prescriptions more expensive than UK, Hospital Bills expensive unless you have medical cover..although for major operations I would choose Taiwan, half the price, even India is not out of reach.

Thailand is expensive becuase they have built up a tourist hospital health care industry, like Singapore.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:46 pm

I find medical expenses very inexpensive here (but I'm comparing with the US and not with a country with National Health care) Course if the idiot in the white house who is bankrupting the US has his way, we'll have national health care as well pretty soon.

bigfilsing · Post by **bigfilsing** » Sat, 20 Jun 2009 2:27 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:How do you plan on getting a visa to stay here? You cannot just live here on a tourist visa.

Actully you can. It just means a hop across a border every 30 days

Plavt · Post by **Plavt** » Sat, 20 Jun 2009 2:49 am

bigfilsing wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:How do you plan on getting a visa to stay here? You cannot just live here on a tourist visa.
Actully you can. It just means a hop across a border every 30 days

Isn't it every 14 days if you mean by land to Malaysia, or have they changed that ruling now? Either way very inconvenient and I would imagine could be subject to some kind of scrutiny, whatever that might entail.

bigfilsing · Post by **bigfilsing** » Sat, 20 Jun 2009 1:00 pm

I think it depends on where you're from. I think ozzies get 60 days.

The 14 days is for land trips although i've managed a couple of 30 day visas last year by hoping to JB and back while waiting for my PEP to come through

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sat, 20 Jun 2009 1:22 pm

That's good for a couple of trips until immigration wises up. Then they will remind you as you leave the on your return you will only get a 3 days visa and not to return for several months. Additionally, you cannot rent legally, get a bank account (can but very difficult/strict I think) and lot's of other problems as well. Not the way to retire I wouldn't think.

jo hubbard · Post by **jo hubbard** » Sat, 20 Jun 2009 7:54 pm

thank you all for your feedback. My lovely mrs will work part time in a certain library as an assistant...bless her! We have the means to have to never rely or burden anyone, pay for our health and buy an apartment and hopefully a small car. We would like to over time devote our time to do some voluntary work with the hospitals too like they do here. We have contacted the ministry who advised work visa will be granted for two years i believe and can then apply for permanent residency. In addition it makes it easier to be close to our kids (grown up adults actually) who are settled in hong kong. We have not considered malaysia on the pretext of crime rates and lack of facilities for the disabled.....being me!. looking forward to spending time in the warm sunshine and getting out of this mad house and live in a harmonious multi cultural society.

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:00 am

Don't want to burst you're bubble but it would be very unlikely you'll be granted PR as you don't fit the criteria by a long way.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:02 pm

Saint wrote:Don't want to burst you're bubble but it would be very unlikely you'll be granted PR as you don't fit the criteria by a long way.

I don't know, saint. They let you in didn't they!

jo hubbard,

Okay, after having go at saint this morning, I'll just say this. At easy reading it sounds like wishful thinking on your part. I'm not sure which "ministry" you were referring to, but getting a job as an assistant librarian seem a bit far fetched unless we are talking about assistant curator of the National Archives. We are not saying it can't be done, but based on our collective anecdotal evidence it does seem highly unlikely.

However, if you are an extremely high net worth individual (which, it would seem so) and you are willing to spend an inordinate amount of money on a place in Sentosa, and also have substantial liquid assets, then yeah, the Government has been recently changing it's stance a bit.

They used to welcome Fat Indonesians who parked their illegally gotten gains in Singapore banks and condos, but now that they are trying to gain concessions for military training grounds in Indonesia, it would appear that they may have to scale back on that practice and look for other sources of non-manufacturing capital influx to the country. So you may well be okay. I remember when MM Lee swore there would NEVER be a casino in Singapore. Shortly we will have two! The times, they are a'changin.

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Sun, 21 Jun 2009 1:02 pm

bigfilsing wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:How do you plan on getting a visa to stay here? You cannot just live here on a tourist visa.
Actully you can. It just means a hop across a border every 30 days

It is not much of a solution. Besides the fact you may eventually get caught by immigration you still have major problems in Singapore. You cannot rent without a valid permit of some sort (hotel and Service Apartment excepted). You cannot get a drivers license. If you really want to live in Singapore you need a valid permit to be able to do/register for many things.

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retiring to our fav city

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