Moving to Singapore - a few questions to help me get started

Moving to Singapore? Ask our regular expats in Singapore questions on relocation and their experience here. Ask about banking, employment pass, insurance, visa, work permit, citizenship or immigration issues.
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in3sis
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Moving to Singapore - a few questions to help me get started

Post by in3sis » Thu, 24 Mar 2011 7:17 pm

hey all, thanks in advance for reading the upcoming wall of text ^_^

but yeah, i'm an aussie grad student looking to move to singapore in hopes of finding some work. now i don't have PR or even a employment pass, so as you can imagine, i'm not starting out in the greatest of positions.

luckily though my sister and her family are already established in singapore, so i'll be staying with them for at least a few weeks while i look for work and an apartment (which isn't an immediate concern)- so thats my situtation at the moment.

my concerns revolve around looking for a job, but also how to ship my stuff over to singapore. when i say my stuff, i don't mean large furniture or anything like that. i'm talking about my person belonings, such as my PS3, dvd/blu-ray collection, books and photo albums as well clothes (that i can't fit in my check-in). so my query is, what kind of service would i be looking at to ship this stuff over to singapore (taking into account the price and time - i don't want my stuff in a container somewhere waiting to be filled before it actually ships off, which i hear can take up to a month)

also, would i incur any tax when shipping the aforementioned items into singapore, heard horor stories from friends who shipped their personal belongings over to the UK such as mountain bikes and stuff, and the tax was even higher than the cost to ship it over there for some reason. so is there a way to check if there is such tax/can see how much it'll cost me using a courier or similar service.

finally with the job front, because i don't posess PR or employment pass (which i assume i can get once employed) i'm not sure how successful i can be. i'm a trained interior designer, but am serisouly considering NOT using my bachelors, as i really am looking for a different career path utilising my english skills (despite the manner of this post, i'm actually quite the literary wordsmith ... ... ...) so what can i do really to start working in singapore, because i'm more than willing to begin a career in the publishing, marketing, design fields despite not being formally trained, i do possess abilities that lend to quite a number of jobs, ideally i was trying to work as a design journalist - sort of a dream job for me!

well these are just my own musings before i leave for signapore (early april) and any imput from the community would be more than helpful. with the job hunt as well, i've set up a small online folio, a sampling of my previous works which i welcome people to view and hopefully pass on to potential employers :D

www.nxnlai.com

all the best to the xpat community!

nat

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Post by JayCee » Thu, 24 Mar 2011 7:29 pm

So you don't have any work experience and on top of that you want to start a career that isn't related to your field of study?

Sorry to be harsh but I wouldn't hold your breath, with thousands of local students looking for work here who will likely have the relevant qualifications you need to bring something extra to the table

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Post by beppi » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:22 am

You should not come here if you don't have the financial means to stay for at least 6 months without job and are prepared to return empty-handed after that.
Please read the many threats on this forum about how difficult it currently is for a foreigner to find a job, get and maintain EP or WP, especially for a fresh graduate, before you make the final decision.
You might be lucky, but chances are you won't find anything!

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Post by Saint » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:29 am

beppi wrote:You should not come here if you don't have the financial means to stay for at least 6 months without job and are prepared to return empty-handed after that.
Please read the many threats on this forum about how difficult it currently is for a foreigner to find a job, get and maintain EP or WP, especially for a fresh graduate, before you make the final decision.
You might be lucky, but chances are you won't find anything!
Is that a typo beppi or did you mean that?? :lol:

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Post by nakatago » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:35 am

Saint wrote:
beppi wrote:You should not come here if you don't have the financial means to stay for at least 6 months without job and are prepared to return empty-handed after that.
Please read the many threats on this forum about how difficult it currently is for a foreigner to find a job, get and maintain EP or WP, especially for a fresh graduate, before you make the final decision.
You might be lucky, but chances are you won't find anything!
Is that a typo beppi or did you mean that?? :lol:
Freudian slip?
"A quokka is what would happen if there was an anime about kangaroos."

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Post by beppi » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:51 am

Of course I meant threadth.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:19 am

beppi wrote: threadth.
:???:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by JR8 » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 1:17 pm

It is called irony, and I thought it rather good.

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Post by beppi » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 1:59 pm

Thankth!

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 2:29 pm

Better watch that lisp! :o
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by JR8 » Fri, 25 Mar 2011 4:12 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Better watch that lisp! :o
Whose lips?

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Post by jennys » Thu, 31 Mar 2011 8:48 pm

sg job market is bad if you havent an area of specialisation. best oaid jobs so far are still in finance, as always.

McDs only pay 5 bucks an hour here, unlike the 14 in aussie. be careful!

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Post by JR8 » Thu, 31 Mar 2011 9:18 pm

jennys wrote:sg job market is bad if you havent an area of specialisation. best oaid jobs so far are still in finance, as always.

McDs only pay 5 bucks an hour here, unlike the 14 in aussie. be careful!
KSL!!!

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:02 pm

For the record, nicole.du is posting from where she has always claimed to be posting from.

Jennys is posting from Singapore. As was noobking. And ksl's search on noobking turned up a bunch of noobkings, but none from Singapore. I have to agree with ksl though, something is viral and it's got you both.

:???:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:09 pm

Of course, if she turns out to be a real estate agent later, we ALL knows what happens, but until that happens, we will continue to hear about vinegar and disinfection I guess............ :-|
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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