Expats Working in Singapore & Living in Johor

[Polar_Ice]

Hello

I am interested to hear from any expats that have been living and working in Singapore and have now chosen to move to Johor and commute to the office.
This is an avenue I am now exploring. What are the tax implications combined with Employment Pass implications?
Are there any issues with Malaysian Immigration?

Recently I went over to visit a friend in Nusajaya to see the condo that he has rented for the price and found it to be a fairly persuasive argument to relocate from a financial perspective thus far.


Thanks for any discussion on this matter.

[the lynx]

Hello

I am interested to hear from any expats that have been living and working in Singapore and have now chosen to move to Johor and commute to the office.
This is an avenue I am now exploring. What are the tax implications combined with Employment Pass implications?
Are there any issues with Malaysian Immigration?

Recently I went over to visit a friend in Nusajaya to see the condo that he has rented for the price and found it to be a fairly persuasive argument to relocate from a financial perspective thus far.


Thanks for any discussion on this matter.

If you are a Malaysian, it should be easy for you. But you haven't mentioned if you are Malaysian or not.

This thread has in-depth discussion about your question. Do check it out and come back here if you have specific questions that have not been answered here.

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic ... asc-0.html

[NicSG]

hi all,

i am also looking at practical information about moving to johor in february when our lease in singapore ends.

Currently we pay 3000 sgd/month for our condo, we can't afford to pay more, and not very keen to move to a hdb.

we are not singaporeans/malaysians, and are both working under EP.

We have 2 very young kids, 1 will start preschool in about 18 months, the second one is just one month old.

I work in Suntec and my wife in Chai chee (east)

I would like to get some feedback from those who already made the move to johor state.

Our idea is to rent there first for 6 months to 1 year to see how it goes, and eventually buy a place there if we like the lifestyle and can cope with the commuting hassle.

For what i understand, the second link is easier to commute than woodlands, and there are a number of popular places around there, from Ledang heights to Horizon hills.

My questions are:

Immigration:
What is your status in Malaysia?
How do you legally stay in Malaysia and work in Sg (out of MMH2 program) ?

Rent a house/condo:
Related to the above, can you rent legally ?
What websites besides . do you recommend for househunting? Do you recommend to get an agent too and how the fees thing work?

Commuting/Car:
Since we are not singaporeans/PR, it seems we can enter a car with malaysian plate as long as it is registered under our name.
Can i buy a car legally? Anyone tried to get a lease car? (since we want to have a try first on living there, would prefer not to invest in a car at the beginning)
Could you get the MACS card and does it make the commuting faster?
Or do you rather do carpooling or catch a shuttle somewhere?

Helper:
We would like to keep our helper (filipino), she is great with our kids, can we get a pass for her ?

Income tax:
Our income is in Singapore, are we still taxable in Sg, in Ml, both, none???

that's quite a number of questions, thanks in advance for your input!

[the lynx]

hi all,

i am also looking at practical information about moving to johor in february when our lease in singapore ends.

Currently we pay 3000 sgd/month for our condo, we can't afford to pay more, and not very keen to move to a hdb.

we are not singaporeans/malaysians, and are both working under EP.

We have 2 very young kids, 1 will start preschool in about 18 months, the second one is just one month old.

I work in Suntec and my wife in Chai chee (east)

I would like to get some feedback from those who already made the move to johor state.

Our idea is to rent there first for 6 months to 1 year to see how it goes, and eventually buy a place there if we like the lifestyle and can cope with the commuting hassle.

For what i understand, the second link is easier to commute than woodlands, and there are a number of popular places around there, from Ledang heights to Horizon hills.

My questions are:

Immigration:
What is your status in Malaysia?
How do you legally stay in Malaysia and work in Sg (out of MMH2 program) ?

Rent a house/condo:
Related to the above, can you rent legally ?
What websites besides . do you recommend for househunting? Do you recommend to get an agent too and how the fees thing work?

Commuting/Car:
Since we are not singaporeans/PR, it seems we can enter a car with malaysian plate as long as it is registered under our name.
Can i buy a car legally? Anyone tried to get a lease car? (since we want to have a try first on living there, would prefer not to invest in a car at the beginning)
Could you get the MACS card and does it make the commuting faster?
Or do you rather do carpooling or catch a shuttle somewhere?

Helper:
We would like to keep our helper (filipino), she is great with our kids, can we get a pass for her ?

Income tax:
Our income is in Singapore, are we still taxable in Sg, in Ml, both, none???

that's quite a number of questions, thanks in advance for your input!

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic83751.html

Your post is pretty long. I will take a while before I dissect one by one to answer your questions. In the meantime, do refer to the thread, it has been discussed before by those in your shoes.

[NicSG]

thanks, yes i tried to cover all the questions i have

I did read most of the related posts in here but could not find really practical information, specially on immigration.

Are you living in Johor yourself?

[the lynx]

thanks, yes i tried to cover all the questions i have

I did read most of the related posts in here but could not find really practical information, specially on immigration.

Are you living in Johor yourself?

Nope. But I'm from that country

Anyway what passports are you and your family hold? That will help with the immigration part. If neither of you are Malaysians, it will be tricky because your nationality would be of a Country A, you reside in Country B and you work in country C. Very complicated.

HDB is not a bad idea, trust me. I stay at a 20-year-old HDB and it is much roomier and comfortable than a condo I stayed in Woodlands.

[NicSG]

yes i guess the ABC thing is tricky but since there are apparently many expats doing that, i guess there is a solution.

i am french, my wife is thai, and our kids are french.

i have seen a few hdbs and i agree they can be pretty large and nicely renovated but i would miss so much the bbq next to the pool!

[wildpower]

Hi Nic, I will try to answer your qns as I am staying in Malaysia now

Immigration:
What is your status in Malaysia? I am a social-visit pass holder, granted 30 days each time I go in.
How do you legally stay in Malaysia and work in Sg (out of MMH2 program) ? I am a Singaporean... I bought a property there

Rent a house/condo:
Related to the above, can you rent legally ?
What websites besides . do you recommend for househunting? Do you recommend to get an agent too and how the fees thing work? I do not recommend you go through agents as many are not honest and reliable. There are many foreigners/expats living in my area, they usually rent through friend's contacts

Commuting/Car:
Since we are not singaporeans/PR, it seems we can enter a car with malaysian plate as long as it is registered under our name.
Can i buy a car legally? Anyone tried to get a lease car? (since we want to have a try first on living there, would prefer not to invest in a car at the beginning) Best if you could carpool or drive a sg car. MY cars have a lot of restrictions when you drive into Singapore. driving in MY using MY car is definitely ok.
Could you get the MACS card and does it make the commuting faster? Yes, it is not a card btw, it's a page that will be embedded in your passport
Or do you rather do carpooling or catch a shuttle somewhere?

Helper:
We would like to keep our helper (filipino), she is great with our kids, can we get a pass for her ? Yes, but depends on how much you are willing to pay and time waiting for the docs to be ready.

Income tax:
Our income is in Singapore, are we still taxable in Sg, in Ml, both, none??? If you do not have any income earned in MY, you do not need to pay income tax. Only liable to pay taxes in Singapore as u r a pass holder here.

Hope to see you around soon!

[NicSG]

Hi Wildpower, thanks for your post. Since i posted, i have found some information and went there to get a feeling, my conclusion is that the hassle is not worth the benefits:
- We went to see different places, Ledang East, Nusa something, Horizon Hills. Taking into consideration the cost of driving a car, we could afford only a terraced house, without garden, and facilities are not a the door step like a condo.
- With 2 young kids, 20 months and 3 months old, it would be difficult to manage, we would be out of home early in the morning and coming back late, plus safetywise, we could not come back home fast in case of emergency

In the end, we decided to stay in Singapore and just hope that the rent will go down

[bayguy]

i have enough stress dealing with the local traffic conditions. Making cross border runs just to get to work and home is simply beyond me. Guess I have to live in where I am now for a long time.

[fatmouse76]

Hi Wildpower, I am thinking of buying a house or condo in Nusajaya. Went to see Ledang Heights last week, nice feeling, but too quiet ,it will be a big change from Singapore life.

How is Puteri harbour ? Where did you buy your unit ?

[colinlee]

BTW, anyone can share how much is the rental in JB look like ?