Moving to Singapore: A First-Steps Guide for Expats

Singapore does not really have a bureaucracy problem, which after the rest of this series is worth stating first. Government services are online and they work. Immigration processing is fast. English is an official language and the working language of business. Everything is clean, safe and extremely efficient.

What it has instead is a threshold problem: much of the immigration system is built around salary levels, and the country is expensive in a few very specific and very large ways.

The pass system

Singapore’s work visas are structured by salary and skill level.

The Employment Pass is the main route for foreign professionals, requiring a job offer with a salary at or above a qualifying threshold that rises with age and varies by sector, so an experienced candidate needs a higher salary to qualify than a young one. Applications are additionally assessed under a points framework considering qualifications, the diversity of the employer’s workforce and its local hiring record.

The S Pass covers mid-skilled workers at a lower threshold, subject to employer quotas and levies.

There are also passes for entrepreneurs, for individuals with exceptional achievement in their field, an overseas networks and expertise route aimed at top-tier talent that allows working for multiple employers, and dependant passes for family - though family eligibility is itself tied to your salary level.

Permanent residence is a separate application, assessed on factors including your economic contribution, family ties and length of stay, and approval is discretionary rather than formulaic.

Because the thresholds and the points framework are revised, take current figures from the Ministry of Manpower rather than from any article. The Singapore visa section covers the structure, and the employer’s role is in how employer visa sponsorship works.

Arriving

Your employer applies for the pass, and after approval you complete formalities and receive your pass card, which functions as your identity document.

A bank account is straightforward. Government services run through a national digital identity, and the ease of it is genuinely notable - most administrative interactions that would take an appointment elsewhere take a few minutes online here.

Housing and schools are the two things to arrange early, and both take more planning than the paperwork.

Money: low tax, and no CPF for you

Singapore’s personal income tax is progressive with low rates by international standards, and there is no capital gains tax. For higher earners the effective rate is substantially below most of Europe.

The critical point for a foreign worker: the Central Provident Fund - the compulsory savings scheme covering retirement, housing and healthcare - applies to citizens and permanent residents. Foreigners on work passes do not contribute and do not accrue benefits.

That means your retirement provision, and much of your healthcare planning, is entirely your own responsibility. As in the Gulf, the failure mode is spending the low-tax advantage rather than investing it. Set up a plan in your first months - see managing money as an expat and moving your pension abroad.

Singapore taxes on a territorial basis with specific rules for foreign-sourced income, which is a meaningfully different model from the worldwide-income approach of most of the countries in this series - worth understanding properly rather than assuming, alongside your home country’s rules. See tax residency explained. Structure is in the Singapore tax section.

Healthcare

Singapore’s system is well regarded and is built around a mix of subsidised public provision, compulsory savings and insurance - though the subsidised elements largely apply to citizens and permanent residents.

For foreigners on work passes, healthcare is typically covered by employer-provided insurance, and employers are required to provide medical insurance for certain pass holders. As always, examine the plan: coverage limits, whether dependants are included, maternity terms.

Standards in both public and private hospitals are high. Costs without adequate insurance are substantial. Details in the Singapore healthcare section, and the general logic in health insurance for new arrivals.

Cost of living: where the money actually goes

Singapore regularly appears at the top of expensive-city rankings, and the reason is concentrated rather than general.

Housing is the dominant cost. Most Singaporeans live in public housing, which foreigners cannot buy and generally rent only in limited circumstances; foreign residents mostly rent private condominiums, and rents have risen sharply. This is the single biggest line in any Singapore budget.

Cars are extraordinarily expensive by design. A Certificate of Entitlement, bought through a bidding system, is required before a car can be registered, and it adds a very large sum on top of the vehicle price. The policy is deliberate: restrain vehicle numbers on a small island. The practical answer is that public transport is genuinely excellent and cheap, and most residents simply do not own a car.

International school fees are very high, and this is often the decisive cost for families - local schools are strong but places for foreigners are limited and the system is demanding.

Against those three, everyday life is more moderate than the rankings suggest. Hawker centre food is inexpensive and excellent, public transport is cheap, and healthcare with insurance is manageable. Alcohol and imported goods are heavily taxed.

Life on a small island

Singapore is a city-state, and that shapes everything. It is small, dense, extremely safe, hot and humid year-round with no seasonal variation, and there is nowhere else in the country to go.

The compensation is regional access: much of Southeast Asia is a short flight away, and weekend travel is a normal part of life. Long-term residents describe both the convenience and the eventual sense of confinement, and regular travel is how most manage it.

Rules matter here, and enforcement is real. Drug offences carry extremely severe penalties including capital punishment. Various everyday regulations are enforced with fines. This is well known and generally unproblematic if you simply follow them, but it is not a place to assume rules are advisory.

Socially, the expatriate community is large and transient, and English as an official language removes the barrier entirely. Singapore is genuinely multicultural - Chinese, Malay, Indian and other communities with their own languages, festivals and food - and engaging with that rather than staying in the expat bubble is what makes the difference between a posting and a life.

What catches people out

The rent. The school fees. Assuming CPF or public subsidies apply to them. And the sameness of the climate, which sounds trivial and is what long-term residents most often mention - there is no autumn, no spring, and no change.

For regional comparisons, moving to Hong Kong is the direct rival with a similar profile, moving to Japan and moving to South Korea are the north Asian alternatives with harder language barriers and lower housing costs, and moving to Malaysia and moving to Thailand are the much cheaper regional neighbours with very different visa landscapes.

Detail on passes, housing and costs is in the Singapore country guide and the cost of living section. For current pass threshold experiences and rental market conditions, the general forum is where residents compare notes.