Thoughts on REP Renewal

[Strong Eagle]

Time is getting closer for me to renew my REP... September... so I jump online at ICA, enter all my information, hand ICA a credit card number, and my REP is INSTANTLY renewed... I print off the REP thirty seconds after give them my credit card... good for five more years.

This leads me to believe that the database consolidation that SMS has spoken of is a real thing. Consider:

a) It asked if I had resided in SG for three years. Yes. Then, it asked me for my address... I can easily be matched to PR records, tax records as having occupied my residence continuously.

b) It asked it I was employed in Singapore for the last three years. Yes. I gave the company name. I can easily be matched to IRAS records, and my company matches to the ACRA registry... in fact, I'd bet money that my entry was scanned against the ACRA... it took time.

c) I had to specifically say if my business was in a HDB flat, landed property, and a bunch of other non office buildings. I was "none of the above", meaning, I get one more point for having a business not being run out of a home.

In short, if you actually have been living here and working here, the entries you make into eREP can be instantly verified... company, address, income, taxes paid. But if you are living in BFE, working for a non-Singapore company, with no Singapore address, I'd guess the red lights and the "tilt" buzzer will come on.

[Mi Amigo]

Congratulations SE; good to hear that it went so smoothly. The process sounds very interesting indeed, and does seem to confirm what SMS and others have discussed before about linked databases. Impressive! I'm just imagining what would happen if they tried to do something like that back in my old homeland. Oh, I remember now, they did - and it was a complete disaster.

... the "tilt" buzzer will come on.

You're showing your age there!

[Strong Eagle]

... the "tilt" buzzer will come on.

You're showing your age there!

I tell ya, sir... no video game can replace the intense feelings of jamming a pinball machine left, right, up and down to get the best score. After a few quarters, one would learn exactly what the machine would put up with.

[Mi Amigo]

Aye, I agree with you there. Part of the reason my youth was 'mis-spent' was because my dad decided to buy a pinball machine, which was duly installed in a spare room at home. Oh the hours my mates and I spent on that thing after school. Very little homework got done, hence my 'disappointing' grades and oft-repeated comments like "he is capable of much better" in my school reports.

Of course, as the machine was ours, I could also take it apart and bypass the tilt switch - hence no more buzzer! Amazing how resilient those machines were - I wish we'd kept it.

[Arsenal_fan]

I renewed my REP the last weekend and it was the same as SE, instant renewal. Was surprised as the FAQ's said that it would take one working day for the renewal to go through.

What I did notice was that the REP had some points to note, one of which states that the REP is renewed based on the fact that all the information that you have entered in the form is true. Makes you wonder if all the checking is online is there a need for the clause.

Just guessing maybe all the databases are not yet linked,just major ones like the cpf and IRAS.

[sundaymorningstaple]

No, it's a legal requirement that you are notified and should you come up wanting, it's in your lap. This is why there are "audits" done on EP's on occasion. See one of the other active threads concerning this). You might have gotten away with the submission of a bogus doc but if they subsequently find out, it's your head on the block. The 5 main databases as I was given to understand it are ICA, MOM, IRAS, CPF and the MHA database (military/births/deaths).

[Saint]

Just renewed my REP online using e-REP and all successfully done within an hour. Mine was slightly different from SE as I'm not under PTS. Just had to enter basic info and wife's IC, all good for another 5 years!

[singaporeflyer]

Just renewed my REP online using e-REP and all successfully done within an hour. Mine was slightly different from SE as I'm not under PTS. Just had to enter basic info and wife's IC, all good for another 5 years!

Congrats Saint !

[x9200]

Renewed mine (PTS) together with my 2.5yo son (wife got it independently). An instant approval, 5y.
It probably does the employer/employee cross-check in an on line data base as when I put the name of my employer a bit different fashion it was rejected. Another observation: if you changed the passport (at least for your kid) you don't need to update it first in the system prior to the renewal: the new one was directly accepted.
One more thing: the new REP counts from the day of the approval so if someone wants to maximize the period it's better to wait till the expiry day gets closer.

[sundaymorningstaple]

So, if you are not planning on going on a vacation around the REP expiry date, just let it expire to gain that much more time. I was without an REP for 15 months before renewing mine. When I did, I got a 10 year renewal (just before they quit giving them to PRs).

[x9200]

The risk is on the job side and the potential necessity to go abroad at the same time but unless one gets fired effective immediately there is still some freedom to move on.