Working Visa Eligibility

[double13]

Hello,

I'm a newbie and would like to ask about the update on
the Employment Pass and PEP.

I posted a question regarding monthly expenses as per below
on a different website and one person replied
that a salary of Sing $5000/month is probably too low to satisfy the visa
requirement. Can anyone confirm this please?

If so, then the min. salary of S$2,800 for an EP should be taken only
as a guideline?

Thank you very much,

========================================

I've been reading the posts about the high price of rent and Western food.
I am looking for a job and plan to visit there but I would like to know what
would be the salary range that would get me by "comfortably" but not necessarily "luxuriously". I'm a single male, 30's, no kids, not a big drinker (one or two beer), leisure would be spent going to a gym and movies, some travel if I can but can travel cheap.

I'm an Asian Canadian and I don't think the food price will be much of a problem for me as I can eat spicy Asian food. Though I would like to eat some pasta once in a while. My worries is the rent. If I want a single one-bed or a studio in a safe area, what kind of monthly expense should I be looking for?
Would Sing $ 55K-60K yearly salary be enough?
Assuming no housing allowance etc.

I am just trying to get some idea of the budget, hence salary I should be looking for.

Also if someone could point me to the right section on where to look up tax rate, I would appreciate it.
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page01.aspx?id=88

Thank you very much,

REPLY FROM A GUEST:
You won't be able to get a work permit with a S$5,000/month salary. There has been a tightening of the eligibility criteria. So you may end up wasting your time and money looking for a job.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Depending on your qualifications, 5K is certainly enough to get an employment pass, even with the new criteria. Anybody telling you differently is just full of BS. Full Stop.

It is enough to live on? This is subjective as you well know. But based on the limited data set you have provided, assuming you will rely on public transport and you don't need the fastest, hippist, mostest TV/Broadband setup, you can live easily on 5K/mo here. This especially so if your are a CBC and eat Asian foods and are not a heavy drinker.

You only stumbling block is having a skillset that the employer can justify hiring a foreigner with. The Employment process is a 2 part process. First the Employee has to be qualified for the Pass initially, and then the employer need to justify why they need to hire a foreigner if there are suitable number of similarly qualified local/PR's around to do the job.

Good luck.

[JayCee]

You mention employment pass and PEP, maybe that person replying meant that 5K a month wouldn't be enough for a PEP, which they'd be correct about. However, 5K a month is plenty if you can find a company to sponsor you.

If you want a one-bedroom or studio apartment in a 'nice' (by which I assume you mean central) area then you're going to be out of luck unless you can spend a minimum of 3K a month. You'd be better off looking to rent a room sharing with others in a condo, getting your own place on 5K a month is going to be tight if you want to be able to save some money and travel too

[double13]

You mention employment pass and PEP, maybe that person replying meant that 5K a month wouldn't be enough for a PEP, which they'd be correct about. However, 5K a month is plenty if you can find a company to sponsor you.

If you want a one-bedroom or studio apartment in a 'nice' (by which I assume you mean central) area then you're going to be out of luck unless you can spend a minimum of 3K a month. You'd be better off looking to rent a room sharing with others in a condo, getting your own place on 5K a month is going to be tight if you want to be able to save some money and travel too

Thank you for the info. JayCee

Which web site do people use to find roommates?

I've had some hit and miss finding roommates from Craigslist when I was living in the US so now I got some experience recognizing the kind of people whom I get along with.

Is around Sing $1500 a good estimate for a shared condo, hopefully including air conditioning, internet, electricity and water?
I'm sure it depends on location, 30 min away by subway from the center would be super nice but I can deal with longer distance.

[JayCee]

Do a search of the forum, all your questions have been answered before

[beppi]

You can find condo rooms (sublet) for S$800-1200 and the remainder is enough for utilities. Try ..com.sg - it is NOT free, despite what the webpage says, but much cheaper than engaging an agent.
No subway (called MRT here) travels further than 30min from the city - the country ends there. Only if you're not near an MRT station and have to transfer from a bus, will your commute be longer.

[richie303]

http://www...com.sg/
http://singapore.gumtree.sg/

Either of these would be fine for a flat share!