Getting my Singapore EP Pass 2 --- After report to work at Singapore

My company is a Singapore based company. With the In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter for my Employment Pass (EP), I am allowed to start work with my Short Term Visit Pass (normally 30 days as stamped in our Malaysian passport). But without a valid EP, I am not able to rent a room as in Singapore, the owner of HDB flat is only allow to rent the house for valid work permit holder (to avoid illegal foreign workers)

Hence, after the new company orientation, the HR representative shall request the issuance of EP online (because they are my sponsor for this EP). SGD30 per year shall be paid by the company to Ministry of Manpower (MOM). A Notification Letter shall be generated.

After that, I shall need to make an online appointment to visit the EP Service Centre for fingerprint and to submit:
a) Notification Letter
b) Photo as the format required
c) Medical report (if required. For me, not needed, just need declared that I am healthy...)
d) Immigration White Card (IMM27), the one that we filled when we first touched down to singapore

With all my documents ready, the only outstanding task was to take a photo, i.e. Passport size but with white background.

Since I was not very familiar with the photoshop in Singapore, I took my photo in a small studio in a shopping mall, SGD16. My colleague advised me to take it at a photo booth, which is cheaper. But to play safe (normally studio aware of the requirement of the photo format), I decided to take in the studio...

Getting my Singapore EP Pass 1 --- Before arrived at Singapore

I am thinking of posting my experience of getting my Employement Pass (EP) few months ago.

I've started my EP application way before I report in to work in my new company when I am still in Malaysia. (This is one of the way for efficient statutory application process...)

The new company's HR sent me a form from MOM (Ministry of Manpower, SG), namely Employment Pass / S Pass Application Form (Form 8). It is just a typical government form, filling up your education qualification, working experience, family members, employer's detail, etc.

In Singapore, they classified the work permit by our fixed salary, S Pass for fixed salary >SGD1,800 per month and EP for fixed salary >SGD2,500 per month (there are another 3 categories for EP based on fixed monthly salary range).

Together with my scanned pass port, degree certificates,  professional certificates (if any) and passport photo (taken within three months) were sent to my new employer. (Important: Any non-English documents are required to submit a copy of the original and an official English translation certified by our embassy)

As applicant are not required to be present in Singapore while our application is being assessed, the employer can applies the EP by manual or online. My new employer perform the application online. There is a e-Government portal for online application with administrative fee of SGD10. My supporting documents shall be requested if required. A six month validity of In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter shall be generated electronically within seven days. It shall spell out the specific supporting documents to be submitted to MOM when I come over to collect my EP.

Therefore, we can start apply our EP even when we are still serving notice period in our previous company without travelling to Singapore.

Initial Preparation to Work in Singapore 3 --- Travelling Over and Local Transport

Next, plan your Travelling:
It is always cheaper to book your return ticket from Singapore to Malaysia in Ringgit Malaysia. If possible, plan and book it together with your Malaysia to Singapore ticket. We should try to travel a few day earlier to Singapore and if possible even travel one months earlier to have a look around and make sure the accommodation that we found is suitable as described in the web site or photos.

Lastly, plan your Local Transport Route:
The rented place should not be too far from our working place. Without our own car, travelling early morning to work via public transport might be a nightmare. We need to wake up early and rush with the huge number of people (You shall know what I meant, ). We can buy a Street Directory and Bus Travelling Guide (only SGD2.50) as I did or just login to their web site for direction. Prepare few alternative route, especially for bus because it may be too full to get in. It is best to stay near by a SMRT station (expensive rental) or within walking distance (I am talking about walking distance of 15 to 20 minutes).

Hope these help! 

Initial Preparation to Work in Singapore 2 --- Monthly Expenses

Secondly, prepare our budget for monthly Expenses:
This is very subjective and it is depending of individual living life style and purchasing power. Nevertheless, here are some estimated budget breakdown on a monthly basis:
1. Accommodation = SGD600
2. Food = SGD500
3. Local Transport = SGD80
4. Travelling = SGD160 (once per month two ways, back to home town by flight)
5. Handphone = SGD30
6. Entertainment and Shopping = SGD300 (subjective)

As initial, the amount of SGD that we need to bring over (before our first pay cheque) shall be around 2.5 months rental, our daily expenses for a month (as listed above), SGD500 (or SGD1,000) for minimum deposit of opening account (for our salary and waives SGD2 for falling below minimum deposit). If we plan to travel back on the first month, try to book our return ticket together with our initial travelling from Malaysia. The first month expenses may total up to SGD2,110 (minus off the Entertainment and Shopping for first month as well as the Travelling back to home town). It is not a small amount, almost RM5,000 as our initial cost...

Hope these help! 

Initial Preparation to Work in Singapore 1 --- Accomodation

After getting our job offer in Singapore and accepted it. We need to make some preparation ourselves to work in this new environment. If we are going to the new frontier alone without any relative originated from Singapore, some help from our friends are crucial. For our friend that already built a career in Singapore since day one, it is a supprise to hear from us (may be the first time after graduation). We not normally meet them and they are seldom joining any gathering activities due to work commitment and far from KL.

Firsti of all, we must settle our Accomodations:
HDB is everywhere, prime city area and new developed areas should cost around SGD450-600 per room (with or without utilities). In Singapore it is different from Malaysia, we may staying with the house owner, thus, our rental normally covered all the utilities, i.e. electricity, water, gas (for light cooking) and sometimes Internet. We should try to get a fully furnished house to reduce our trouble of getting our own bed, table and cupboard (unless we are a Johorian). Besides, ask for a house that has other electrical appliances, i.e. TV, refrigerator, washing machine, iron, etc. These are the basic needs of living. Try to get as much as possible from the fixed amount of rental that we are going to pay, since it is more than RM1,000 per month.

There is also lower end for tighter budget and higher end for luxury and comfort stays. We can still find rooms with price SGD400 per room in remote or old areas. Anyhow, Singapore is not very big, it is still not too bad, just that we need to wake up early to travel to work. If you can afford a luxury place, apartments and condos are the choice to go, SGD800-3,000 per room is the current market price. Normally comes with swimming pool, gym and other facilities.

Below are some useful sites:
FlatsDB.com
Singapore HDB Flat
RoomsDB.net
EasyRoommate
sg-house.com

Hope these help! 

Should we take out the job in Singapore?

We change our job for several reasons, it may be for career advancement, it may be for gaining new knowledge and skill, it may be for better organization prospect, it may be for family reason,...etc. Nevertheless, one main reason shall be for more $$...

In most of our thoughts, a Malaysian working in Singapore shall earn a lot more, because of the stronger SGD compared to RM. By getting SGD1,000 is equivalent to getting RM2,300. For fresh grad engineer in Malaysia with 1st class honours, we are getting around RM2,800. It is the same for Singapore, fresh grad engineer is getting SGD2,800 to SGD3,000.

I have read an article on comparing your purchase power using Big Mac Index. It is comparing the value of the money that you earn by comparing the price of a Big Mac in the country that you are working at. Why Big Mac? Because it is sell in over 120 nations world wide and it is the most easy accessible item in a country. It is a good representation of the "real" value of the currency in your monthly income.

For example: If you are earning RM3,000 in Malaysia and you have been offered a job in Singapore at SGD3,000. It seems like you have got a good deal, with a currency conversion of RM2.30/SGD, it resulted in a pay raise of RM3,900 or 130%. But actually by comparing using the Big Mac Index, it shall shows something much less...

From the above, Malaysian's Big Mac Index is 2.08 and Singapore's Big Mac Index is 3.19 as compared to USD. So the Purchase Power Parity (PPP) ratio is 0.6520. Where your actual value of SGD3,000 new salary has only a value of RM4,601. Big Mac Index shows that RM is actually undervalued. Thus, your actual income raise is actually only 53% instead of earlier 130%. It is still not a bad deal though...

[Note: There are other factor to be considered as well when make this comparison, namely some factors between two countries are inflation rate, value-added tax (GST), personal tax, supply and demand of Big Max etc. We are comparing just on one consumer product, i.e. Big Mac, for the value of our salary, it may not be too representative. Nevertheless, it is a good base guide...don't rush to make decision when job hop to other country]