All this whining makes me sick.

[offshoreoildude]

Singapore has has one of the most generous attitudes towards foreigners for any Asian country. Now, when it's tightened up just a tiny bit the unlucky ones a bitching. Get a life; go try and immigrate to China or Thailand or Malaysia and see how easy that is. Shit you don't even need to learn a language or pass a culture test to live here!

A an individual with vested interested in Singapore the only people I want her to let in are those that count and contribute. No stepping stoners, no bloody subcontinentals who think it's a right to collect passports and PR's and no money launderers out of Indonesia.

I'm sick of you useless losers and users. The sooner the gahmen cancels your REP or tightens up even more and rechecks all the fakers with forger diplomas and phucks you off the happier I'll be.

/rantoff

[nakatago]

You should visit other expat forums then. It's infested with posts asking how to get visas instead of, you know, how it is to live in the country.

[Callput]

You should visit other expat forums then. It's infested with posts asking how to get visas instead of, you know, how it is to live in the country.

I read that forum too(the generic expats one not limited to Singapore only), quite a few common members in that forum and this

[BillyB]

Singapore has has one of the most generous attitudes towards foreigners for any Asian country. Now, when it's tightened up just a tiny bit the unlucky ones a bitching. Get a life; go try and immigrate to China or Thailand or Malaysia and see how easy that is. Shit you don't even need to learn a language or pass a culture test to live here!

A an individual with vested interested in Singapore the only people I want her to let in are those that count and contribute. No stepping stoners, no bloody subcontinentals who think it's a right to collect passports and PR's and no money launderers out of Indonesia.

I'm sick of you useless losers and users. The sooner the gahmen cancels your REP or tightens up even more and rechecks all the fakers with forger diplomas and phucks you off the happier I'll be.

/rantoff

A few too many shandies last night?!

[ScoobyDoes]

Get a life; go try and immigrate to China or Thailand or Malaysia and see how easy that is.

You have your own experiences of living and working there? From three you list, I've lived and worked in two very easily plus HK in addition so I don't see any problems being able to work regionwide.

I have colleagues that moved from here to the third in your list and also found/find it easy.

I think SG is tightening rules on PEP just at the wrong time and this target is not where the local concern is anyway. Even by the government's own admission the number of affecting people could be quite small, but more important is the impact it might have on local business.

[BillyB]

Get a life; go try and immigrate to China or Thailand or Malaysia and see how easy that is.

You have your own experiences of living and working there? From three you list, I've lived and worked in two very easily plus HK in addition so I don't see any problems being able to work regionwide.

I have colleagues that moved from here to the third in your list and also found/find it easy.

I think SG is tightening rules on PEP just at the wrong time and this target is not where the local concern is anyway. Even by the government's own admission the number of affecting people could be quite small, but more important is the impact it might have on local business.

Other than more administration of applying for P1 passes, can you explain the impact on small businesses as I'm scratching my head to understand this?

[sundaymorningstaple]

If they cannot get the help locally due to shortage of suitably qualified persons, they have to look externally. If the salary requirements are set too high, then the local SME may well not be able to afford that kind of strain on their bottom line, so, at the end of the day, due to the lack of the depth of their pockets comparatively speaking, they may well have to either move or close up shop.

[BillyB]

If they cannot get the help locally due to shortage of suitably qualified persons, they have to look externally. If the salary requirements are set too high, then the local SME may well not be able to afford that kind of strain on their bottom line, so, at the end of the day, due to the lack of the depth of their pockets comparatively speaking, they may well have to either move or close up shop.

But, surely, they'd just apply for a P 1 or 2 pass in that situation.

[nakatago]

If they cannot get the help locally due to shortage of suitably qualified persons, they have to look externally. If the salary requirements are set too high, then the local SME may well not be able to afford that kind of strain on their bottom line, so, at the end of the day, due to the lack of the depth of their pockets comparatively speaking, they may well have to either move or close up shop.

But, surely, they'd just apply for a P 1 or 2 pass in that situation.

Some companies, however, have problems with scaling.

[BillyB]

If they cannot get the help locally due to shortage of suitably qualified persons, they have to look externally. If the salary requirements are set too high, then the local SME may well not be able to afford that kind of strain on their bottom line, so, at the end of the day, due to the lack of the depth of their pockets comparatively speaking, they may well have to either move or close up shop.

But, surely, they'd just apply for a P 1 or 2 pass in that situation.

Some companies, however, have problems with scaling.

Change dentists, in that case

[nakatago]

If they cannot get the help locally due to shortage of suitably qualified persons, they have to look externally. If the salary requirements are set too high, then the local SME may well not be able to afford that kind of strain on their bottom line, so, at the end of the day, due to the lack of the depth of their pockets comparatively speaking, they may well have to either move or close up shop.

But, surely, they'd just apply for a P 1 or 2 pass in that situation.

Some companies, however, have problems with scaling.

Change dentists, in that case

That's what some companies are doing. They found some great oral hygienists in Malaysia.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I've been told that.......

[Callput]

I do agree with OffshoreOilDude, there is no other developed country in the world(other than Australia, at the moment) that lets expats come in with so much ease. UK was the last country that used to do that but now they have removed the HSW Tier 1 as well as the 2 year work visa, if you do your masters there.

8k for PEP was really low, especially for those that are working in the Europe with high taxes. 8k in Europe is probably equivalent to 6k in Singapore, due to the tax differential and the purchasing power parity.

This time around they have rightly set the bar at 18k for outsiders v/s 12k for those that are already here.

[nakatago]

I do agree with OffshoreOilDude, there is no other developed country in the world(other than Australia, at the moment) that lets expats come in with so much ease. UK was the last country that used to do that but now they have removed the HSW Tier 1 as well as the 2 year work visa, if you do your masters there.

8k for PEP was really low, especially for those that are working in the Europe with high taxes. 8k in Europe is probably equivalent to 6k in Singapore, due to the tax differential and the purchasing power parity.

This time around they have rightly set the bar at 18k for outsiders v/s 12k for those that are already here.

The problem is, they're also raising the requirements for lower tiers. Some Singapore businesses are really spoiled by cheap labor and then you see all these 'help wanted ads.'

It may be good for Singaporeans in the long run--wages are raised for everyone. But right now, Singapore--and various companies--has become too dependent on cheap, foreign labor. Moreover, they're changing things way too fast for companies to be comfortable.

[Callput]

I do agree with OffshoreOilDude, there is no other developed country in the world(other than Australia, at the moment) that lets expats come in with so much ease. UK was the last country that used to do that but now they have removed the HSW Tier 1 as well as the 2 year work visa, if you do your masters there.

8k for PEP was really low, especially for those that are working in the Europe with high taxes. 8k in Europe is probably equivalent to 6k in Singapore, due to the tax differential and the purchasing power parity.

This time around they have rightly set the bar at 18k for outsiders v/s 12k for those that are already here.

The problem is, they're also raising the requirements for lower tiers. Some Singapore businesses are really spoiled by cheap labor and then you see all these 'help wanted ads.'

It may be good for Singaporeans in the long run--wages are raised for everyone. But right now, Singapore--and various companies--has become too dependent on cheap, foreign labor. Moreover, they're changing things way too fast for companies to be comfortable.

Yeah, I agree, this will hurt businesses a lot, thats for sure.

The locals have been crying a lot, saying salaries in other developed countries are a lot higher and also they have minimum wage, so now may be salaries here will rise to those kind of levels like in the rest of the developed world.

I am not that good in economics but, I guess lots of businesses will get hit and go away, GDP will take a hit, tax revenues from companies will go down, but personal income taxes will go up in both absolute basis as well as the income tax rates, raising tax rates wont have too much resistance because govt can tell all developed countries tax rates are high and the Govt has high reserves so they can still manage to run the country? Most importantly, their main goal being to get re-elected in 2016.

I feel its not too bad after all if you are a Singaporean and if you are a Singapore PR since as far as jobs are concerned a PR is treated like a Singaporean, so atleast its good news for SCs and SPRs.

For foreigners its bad, but which country takes care of it foreigners to the level that Singapore does.