Hi,
I am new to the forum so please be gentle to me. I am in the final stages of completing my PhD in a business field from a major American university. The final defense would be sometime later in the year, and so at the time I only have a couple of masters.
I have been offered a position to teach at the Singapore campus of another American university and the pay quoted to me is for a 9 month contract and is quoted in US Dollars. I will be paid in the US. The contract also provides free housing at a Serviced Apartment complex for the whole duration. The salary for the duration of the contract will be between USD $50K to $65K (about SGD $65K to SGD $84K on current exchange rates) depending on when I get my PhD. Again this is a 9 month salary (8.5 to be exact), not for the whole year.
The rack rate for the housing being offered is about SGD $11K per month. I don't know how much the school is paying for it. But, if I decide not to take the Service Apartment they will pay me a flat SGD $4K per month as housing allowance.
I have about 6 years teaching experience at the university level in the US (on average 5 classes a year), but will most likely not have my PhD in hand before I join. The university will turn in a manual application next week through their local affiliate.
With this background here are three questions that I would appreciate answers to:
1. Will this salary and qualifications be sufficient to get a P1 pass? I am still not clear about the basic and fixed salary part of the application form. My employer asked me to leave that blank. If that includes housing I believe I will clear their income threshold.
2. I believe everything in the application is in order (two people in charge of the Singapore program here checked it). Will the application decision take the 5 weeks time as is given on the MOM website, or is there a possibility of this getting through earlier?
3. If the local partner is one of the four big local universities will that make the process faster?
Thanks for your help in advance.
