Singapore Expats

Hello everyone

I am moving to Singapore for work next year, and would like my girlfriend to come too. The issue is that we haven't been living together, and it would be very difficult to bring her over (and support her financially) unless she gets a job.

She is a young, but very experienced human resource management/development professional, who has completed her degree with honours in Australia. She is an amazing worker, and has glowing references from all past employees.

My question is: are there many companies that would employ her on a liveable salary? She only speaks English - would this make things difficult?

Kindest Regards!

bump. anyone who works in HR is welcome to help

I imagine that she needs to contact employers directly. Unless she expects to be the Director of an OHR, she should expect pretty low pay at local standards.

OHRs are pretty big here and there are lots of jobs. That being said, in about 99.9% of the organizations here OHRs are the most unpopular things to be found (from other employees perspective).

nowaydude wrote:I imagine that she needs to contact employers directly. Unless she expects to be the Director of an OHR, she should expect pretty low pay at local standards.

OHRs are pretty big here and there are lots of jobs. That being said, in about 99.9% of the organizations here OHRs are the most unpopular things to be found (from other employees perspective).

sorry, but what's an OHR? I'm unfamiliar with that terminology.

She wouldn't be going for a directorial position, as she's still quite young, with only four years of experience (albeit good experience)

Office of Human Resources. Singa is a place full of acronyms.

There are ton of locals - including Malaysian Chinese with similar experiences and more working years. Unless she can offer something incredibly special, expect local-rate pay.

As stated before, she would need to contact employers directly - look online for postings, etc.

Good luck.

frenzal, i cant reply your PM cos i need more posts!

frenzal wrote:Hello everyone

I am moving to Singapore for work next year, and would like my girlfriend to come too. The issue is that we haven't been living together, and it would be very difficult to bring her over (and support her financially) unless she gets a job.

She is a young, but very experienced human resource management/development professional, who has completed her degree with honours in Australia. She is an amazing worker, and has glowing references from all past employees.

My question is: are there many companies that would employ her on a liveable salary? She only speaks English - would this make things difficult?

Kindest Regards!

First of all, you can't "bring her over". Since you are not married, and do not even meet the criterial for common law marriage, she cannot get a DP and must apply on her own merits.

As others have said, there are millions of folks in the HR business and IMHO, 90 percent of them are incompetent.

There is a resource for expats (CRCE) at the American Association of Singapore. It is oriented towards trailing spouses on DP's so the companies that advertise know what they are getting. Perhaps she can take a peek there. http://www.aasingapore.com

PrincessJ wrote:frenzal, i cant reply your PM cos i need more posts!

oh, how strange. can you read my PMs? If so, I'll PM you my email addy

Strong Eagle wrote:

frenzal wrote:Hello everyone

I am moving to Singapore for work next year, and would like my girlfriend to come too. The issue is that we haven't been living together, and it would be very difficult to bring her over (and support her financially) unless she gets a job.

She is a young, but very experienced human resource management/development professional, who has completed her degree with honours in Australia. She is an amazing worker, and has glowing references from all past employees.

My question is: are there many companies that would employ her on a liveable salary? She only speaks English - would this make things difficult?

Kindest Regards!

First of all, you can't "bring her over". Since you are not married, and do not even meet the criterial for common law marriage, she cannot get a DP and must apply on her own merits.

As others have said, there are millions of folks in the HR business and IMHO, 90 percent of them are incompetent.

There is a resource for expats (CRCE) at the American Association of Singapore. It is oriented towards trailing spouses on DP's so the companies that advertise know what they are getting. Perhaps she can take a peek there. http://www.aasingapore.com

Thanks for the info. That is certainly a consideration: I understand that I can't take her with me unless she gets a job herself. Apparently my company can do something to help bring her over, if we have been living together for over a year, but I'm not sure what specifically that is.

frenzal wrote:Apparently my company can do something to help bring her over, if we have been living together for over a year, but I'm not sure what specifically that is.

You'd best check what your company is ACTUALLY offering, unless you want a long distance relationship!!

From my VERY old knowledge living with each other for 12 months doesn't constitute a relationship in AUS, UK, or USA, but I'll throw it open to the forum to correct this.

Sounds weird. I would not trust your company saying they can help bring her over - they can do nothing unless they give her a job. Your relationship has no immigration-standing. Your initial thoughts were right - she needs to gain her own immigration status on her own.

My guess is that your gf's long-term career development prospects and salary will be less here than your home country, so both of you may have to do the old difficult evaluation about whether your want to throw your lives and fortunes together forever - moves to new cities often necessitate this for better or worse.

sierra2469alpha wrote:

frenzal wrote:Apparently my company can do something to help bring her over, if we have been living together for over a year, but I'm not sure what specifically that is.

You'd best check what your company is ACTUALLY offering, unless you want a long distance relationship!!

From my VERY old knowledge living with each other for 12 months doesn't constitute a relationship in AUS, UK, or USA, but I'll throw it open to the forum to correct this.

I think in Australia it is only one year living together if I'm not mistaken, before she can make claim to half my money :p .

nowaydude wrote:Sounds weird. I would not trust your company saying they can help bring her over - they can do nothing unless they give her a job. Your relationship has no immigration-standing. Your initial thoughts were right - she needs to gain her own immigration status on her own.

My guess is that your gf's long-term career development prospects and salary will be less here than your home country, so both of you may have to do the old difficult evaluation about whether your want to throw your lives and fortunes together forever - moves to new cities often necessitate this for better or worse.

Interesting. It's a very reputable company, so maybe they do find a job for her, albeit a crappy one?

It is likely that we'll need to break up for the period of time I'm in Singapore. We're still very young, so it's not too bad an option to experience life a bit more and experiment, before finally settling down with each other.

I would not trust the company's word in the case of helping your GF coming here - it is likely just words to help convince you to sign the contract. Unless they put it in writing, they will likely do nothing once you have signed.

I do think that with your last words - your plan sounds good. Frankly, I think that your GF would be compromising her future job opps and earnings - and one should not do this unless your are committed for life.

Best of luck.

sierra2469alpha wrote:

frenzal wrote:Apparently my company can do something to help bring her over, if we have been living together for over a year, but I'm not sure what specifically that is.

You'd best check what your company is ACTUALLY offering, unless you want a long distance relationship!!

From my VERY old knowledge living with each other for 12 months doesn't constitute a relationship in AUS, UK, or USA, but I'll throw it open to the forum to correct this.

Frenzal,
Take good not of what sierra2469alpha says, the attitude in Singapore is more restrictive than the three countries he/she mentions. A former forumer of Australian nationality when living with her partner was unable to partake of any paid employment at all. You will have to get married before your girl-friend is recognized as a partner.

A matter of fact, Australian law is not applicable in Singapore even though both are British-based. Like others, I advise you to re-read your employment contract because I sincerely do not believe in such an opportunity.

My life-mentor runs an executive search company and I have never heard such a thing from him before.