Seeking advice for Newbies looking to relocate to Singapore

[craigamarsden]

Dear All,

I am new to this forum, and have so many questions about moving to Singapore; finding a job; raising a family, that I hope many of you have been in a similar situation and can offer me some advice.

My fiance and I (I'm from the UK, she's Canadian) both lived in South Korea for many years before relocating to Canada in 2010. We've been here for just over 2 and a half years and although it's nice living here we both really miss living and working in Asia.

We don't want to go back to Korea (been there, done that!) but we've always thought about the possibility of relocating to either Hong Kong or Singapore. However, the more I read online about Singapore, the more I am convinced that out of the two places, Singapore is the best place to raise a family.

There are no kids on the agenda yet, but we've agreed that if we are to make the leap and relocate then we should find a place that will become our home for good, and not keep relocating every couple of years.

So why move? Well, we had a good life in Korea. Standard of living was great; work was hard at time, but we were well compensated for it; and our taxes we extremely low. Now we work just as hard and get taxed a lot.

I know what you're thinking, is our reason for moving financially related? In a way yes. But, as I'm sure most of you who have lived and worked abroad, once you know how good something can be, it's hard to adapt/forget it. Does that make sense?

As for jobs, I'm a Business Development Manager and my fiance is a qualified teacher. So what advice am I seeking? Well, how do we go about starting this? Do Singapore companies seek overseas hires? I have come across many job sites but there's no indication of Visa sponsorship. Would my fiance be best to find a job first, get a Visa, then I could move with her on a Spouse-visa? Does that even exist?

I apologize for the length of this message, but like I said I have so many questions. I just hope someone out there has been through this situation and can point me (us) in the right direction.

Thanks.

[offshoreoildude]

oh gawd.

Find a job that pays enough for them to sponsor your for a permit.

Capiche?

You need job seeking skills first and foremost and you need a unique set of skills that are not duplicable by the local populace. A generic BDM and teacher is not it.

[wwww]

There are plenty of BDM jobs here, but companies wont fill such positions overseas, as there are sufficient candidates available locally (=far less trouble). Your only realistic chance would be to relocate first, make sure that you are able to support yourself for at least 3-4 months and start applying while you are here.