Moving from Gurgaon to Singapore - please advise

[ccmoon]

Hello SE folks!

I have been through a lot of the posts on similar queries but need to ask you all for some urgent advice.

I am working for a large Consulting firm and have been offered a transfer to SG (based on my application for a vacancy).

I need to confirm/reject the offer this week and need your urgent advice:

1. I earn INR 18L p.a. Fixed Income and live in Gurgaon. The offer is 100K p.a. in SGD. Is this comparable? What would be good?

2. I am a single mother (still married but separated) with a 2 year old baby. So my father/mother or both may accompany me. I am confused about Visa/Pass for them. I assume they can get LTVP as I will qualify. Please advice, I cannot move without them as my job will involve traveling to APAC countries. So this is very important.

3. What do good child care centres cost for foreigners?

4. I am moving based on my own application to the role so no relocation assistance is being provided. How much money do I need to budget for the initial setting up?

5. I would like to live in a good multicultural area (as I do currently in Gurgaon) with proximity to city centre so I'm not too far from my baby. What rentals apply for a 2 bedroom apartment?

6. I will need to hire a full time maid, how much do they charge? How different is the arrangement from India? I pay quite a lot here too (15K per month) and it's quite a fair arrangement but still safety is always a concern. Can the baby be left with the maid while I work?

7. If my parents come on a LTVP can we buy medical insurance for them? How much should I budget?

Thank you in advance for your advice. I need to take this decision very quickly so your guidance will go a long way in helping me choose.

Cheers,
Apurva

[ecureilx]

1. I earn INR 18L p.a. Fixed Income and live in Gurgaon. The offer is 100K p.a. in SGD. Is this comparable? What would be good?

you have to do some search and decide for yourself, only you know what is good or bad..

2. I am a single mother (still married but separated) with a 2 year old baby. So my father/mother or both may accompany me. I am confused about Visa/Pass for them. I assume they can get LTVP as I will qualify. Please advice, I cannot move without them as my job will involve traveling to APAC countries. So this is very important.

As per new rules, you should still be eligible to get our parents on LTVP, but do look up the caveat at the ICA site. there is always a "MAY BE GIVEN .. " wording ..

3. What do good child care centres cost for foreigners?

Do some search on the internet ..

4. I am moving based on my own application to the role so no relocation assistance is being provided. How much money do I need to budget for the initial setting up?

Subjective. If you are renting, 3000 for an apartment, for example, then bring in atleast 3000 + 3000 + 1500 (one month rental, one month deposit, and half month agent fee)

5. I would like to live in a good multicultural area (as I do currently in Gurgaon) with proximity to city centre so I'm not too far from my baby. What rentals apply for a 2 bedroom apartment?

Again subjective .. do some search on this.

6. I will need to hire a full time maid, how much do they charge? How different is the arrangement from India? I pay quite a lot here too (15K per month) and it's quite a fair arrangement but still safety is always a concern. Can the baby be left with the maid while I work?

if you can't trust a maid, you shouldn't get a maid says me ..

Maids, from 450 S$ a month, though, for peace of mind and more engaged work, paying a bit more works always ..

7. If my parents come on a LTVP can we buy medical insurance for them? How much should I budget?

Yes, on LTVP you can get medical, though if you lower the deductible and excess, you may end up with about 100 $ plus or so a month - do some search on this .. [/quote]




Where art though is Gurgaon ???

[Wd40]

Yes the salaries are comparable. But then the cost of living is quite high here especially if you are looking an appartment of equivalent quality as in Gurgaon.
Those are called condos here and a 2 bedroom will cost you minimum 3k SGD so there almost 35% of your salary is gone!
Maid will cost you atleast another 1k and child care another 1k.
If you drive a car and like the convinience of having one, you will sorely miss it.

So net-net you will have the same quality of life/savings. In terms of quality of life, you gain "softer" aspects like safety and cleanliness and you lose of "harder" aspects like convinience and all fact of needing to uproot yourself from your home.

From my experience, north Indians who lead a lavish life in India, cant make it in Singapore, since they have all the materialistic aspects in India like a driver, maids or servants rather, gardener, milkman... which you can never afford in Singapre.

South Indians on the other hand mostly try to save every penny they can and hence they can do more of that in Singapore, hence love it

[AngMoG]

Just two things, since ecu pretty much said it all already...
Ad 2) While in principle, you can bring in your parents as a P1 pass holder, that is by no means guaranteed. ICA/MOM may reject for reasons of their own, and they would be under no obligation to tell you why. Also, I notice that S$100K is just above the $8K/month threshold for P1, which could be raised any time.
Ad 5) S$ 3K would afford you a 3-BR HDB or a 2-BR condo (that is not too central). Since you want to have a full-time maid, bring your kid AND potentially both your parents, I would suggest at least a 2 1/2 BR apartment. You really pay for proximity to city center here, so most likely you would need to get something at least 30 min from CBD. Then of course it depends whether you get fully or partially furnished, so may have to fork out extra for some furniture.

I think you also need to do the math here, to evaluate whether it is worth it, honestly. You will pay fixed cost at least S$3K for rent (for a relatively small place), another S$200 for utilities, add S$100 - S$150 for internet + cable, S$100 for insurance (per person?) (which you will want - hospitals are very expensive here), and at least S$450 (ecu) + levy for the maid. Add another S$100 - S$200 for traveling to and from work per month. And from the remainder, you will need to take care of an infant and four adults.

[Arsenal_fan]

1. I earn INR 18L p.a. Fixed Income and live in Gurgaon. The offer is 100K p.a. in SGD. Is this comparable? What would be good?

agree with previous poster on this. The cost of living is a lot higher here.

2. I am a single mother (still married but separated) with a 2 year old baby. So my father/mother or both may accompany me. I am confused about Visa/Pass for them. I assume they can get LTVP as I will qualify. Please advice, I cannot move without them as my job will involve traveling to APAC countries. So this is very important.

Even though you qualify, this is not a certainty. One of my friends recently had his parents LTVP rejected. he's indian and pay certainly higher than yours. he has a 4 month old child and wanted his parents to come over to help.

3. What do good child care centres cost for foreigners?

anything from 1.4 - 1.6 k for a full day. The hikes in fees can be pretty steep too. We were paying 700$ for a half day last year, now 800$.

4. I am moving based on my own application to the role so no relocation assistance is being provided. How much money do I need to budget for the initial setting up?

It depends. you might want to stay in a Service Apartment for a month when you search for a place to rent. Service Apartments start from around 5k a month. Also remember when you rent apartments, you will be asked for an upfront deposit of 1 months rent + advance rent for 1 month for a 1 year contract (if its a 2 year contract a 2 month deposit is normally expected)

5. I would like to live in a good multicultural area (as I do currently in Gurgaon) with proximity to city centre so I'm not too far from my baby. What rentals apply for a 2 bedroom apartment?

You look for a place close to your workplace. If it is in the city center the rents surely will be a lot higher. But travel is not like India, the traffic is not as bad (not sure about gurgaon).

6. I will need to hire a full time maid, how much do they charge? How different is the arrangement from India? I pay quite a lot here too (15K per month) and it's quite a fair arrangement but still safety is always a concern. Can the baby be left with the maid while I work?

salary - 450$ -- this will increase for experienced maids
levy -- 270$ -- to be paid to the government
+ others -- air ticket back to home country (we send ours back every year), any bonuses etc (overall 1K+)

[ccmoon]

Thank you all! that's very useful. I am still quite confused about making the move, or not, though if I am able to afford similar quality of life there then it sounds fair. And i do understand that private car is not an option, which is fine, because i hear taxi/public transport is reliable and convenient. So just trying to ascertain if we will be comfortable or will it be a stretch.

Anything else you can think of -please do write.

Also, if my parents dont get LTVP, how long can they stay on tourist visa?

[Wd40]

I agree with the previous posters. For you the biggest risk is going to be, the possibility of your parents not being able to get the LTSVP.

Although on paper P1 pass holders are eligible, but its not a guarantee. Also an additional thing, your employer must be willing to sponsor your parents. Check with your employer. I know many employers who sponsor spouse and kids but not parents or in laws.

If your parents cant get LTVP, the max they get to stay per visit is 30 days and then you can extend it once to another 30 days and then they need to go out of the country and back. Again they can do this few times and then the immigration authorities will get suspicious.

Regarding the stretch or comfortable part, I would suggest do a lot of research about the cost of living and then budget for other incidentals. For your salary the tax would be around S$3500+/- per year so it wont be so much of an issue. Its the rent and the other stuff that your need to calculate.

Use this site as a guide of the general CoL comparison.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/co ... y2=Gurgaon

Do a lot of research on this forum and other sites also about all factors that affect your particular situation related to the cost of living.