Singapore · Visa required
Emigrating to Singapore
Singapore doesn't select you but your job: without an employer who applies for a pass there is no route, and every pass hangs on a salary threshold that rises with your age. This page shows the passes, and the trade-off that comes with them: a tax that stops at 24% and leaves your Dutch pension alone — against zero accrual, no safety net for pass holders, and an AOW that halves for single people.
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- Kind of journey
- Work pass via your employer — Employment Pass, S Pass, EntrePass or ONE Pass
- Lead time
- About 6 to 8 months; the application itself takes ten business days
- Note
- The treaty allocates pension and AOW to Singapore, which taxes nothing — but the single person's AOW drops to 50%
Last updated: 5 October 2026
Will your departure date work?
Choose your country and your date. You see how much time the plan needs and which steps take longest.
Five phases, from the salary threshold to your FIN
The order is different from what you expect: not the application but the job takes time — a contract that clears the threshold for your age and an employer that clears the points. After that it goes fast: ten business days, an In-Principle Approval, and a pass that only exists once you have an address in Singapore.
- Orientation
Everything hangs on a pass
There is no retirement, nomad or investor visa: you live in Singapore on a work pass that an employer applies for on your behalf. The Employment Pass asks a fixed salary from S$ 5,600 a month at 23 to S$ 10,700 from age 45, the S Pass starts at S$ 3,300, the EntrePass asks a business of your own with investors or own technology, and the ONE Pass S$ 30,000 a month. In this phase you make the trade-off explicit: tax up to 24% and a city that works in English — against a pass that hangs on your job, healthcare with no system underneath and a car that costs tens of thousands of dollars in permit.
- Your visa
Ten business days — and the thresholds before it
Your employer submits, pays S$ 105, and the ministry decides for most applications within ten business days: no legalisation chain, no examination beforehand, but a salary that clears the threshold for your age and a company that scores 40 COMPASS points. The family comes along on a Dependant's Pass from S$ 6,000, with certificates that need one stamp in apostille country Singapore. And two conversations you have now: who insures you and your family — MediShield Life is only for citizens and PRs — and whether your partner needs a pass of their own to work.
- Closing the Netherlands
The treaty lets go, the SVB doesn't
This is the phase in which Singapore shows its double face. The tax treaty from 1971 allocates your company pension, your annuity and your AOW to Singapore, which doesn't tax foreign income — but article 5 limits the Dutch relief to what you also remit there. There is no social security treaty: the single person's AOW drops to the married rate, irreparably. There is no CAK route, the protective assessment has no automatic deferral, all allowances stop, and on a work pass you build up no CPF. Hence the most important step without a form: your own pension plan, laid down before departure.
- The move
The border is strict on other things
Used household goods pass without the 9% GST if the Declaration of Facts is with customs before the container and the shipment arrives within six months of your first arrival. The real list is what differs from home: chewing gum and vapes are banned, sleeping pills and antidepressants need a prescription on paper, and a car older than three years doesn't get into the country — and whoever still wants one first pays a COE of more than S$ 130,000. The dog has no quarantine, provided the titre test is on time and it lands within five days of you. Travel day itself: the SG Arrival Card within three days, and the In-Principle Approval in your hand.
- Arrival in Singapore
First an address, then the pass, then everything at once
The pass only exists once it has been issued, and that can only happen with an address: then the examination if the IPA asks for it, within two weeks the fingerprints, and the card with your FIN within five working days. That number opens Singpass, the bank, the tenancy agreement — a condo for at least three months, an HDB flat for at least six, within the non-citizen quota — and the school. Your driving licence converts within twelve months after a theory test, your first tax return comes between 1 March and 18 April, and you learn to live with the clocks of your pass: renewing from six months ahead, and ninety days on dismissal.
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Singapore journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
AOW and pension: the treaty points to Singapore, the SVB to half
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: contribution by income, see the SVB
Two treaties decide your old age here, and only one of them exists. The tax treaty from 1971 allocates pensions and annuities (article 18) and all other income, so including your AOW (article 21), "only" to your state of residence — Singapore, which does not tax foreign income. So the Netherlands lets go, with one proviso that decides your payment route: article 5 limits the Dutch relief to "the part of the income that is remitted to or received in the other State". Have your pension paid to Singapore, request the exemption from withholding at the Belastingdienst with a certificate of residence, and put the construction once in front of a tax adviser. An ABP pension from government service stays Dutch (article 19). The social security treaty does not exist: Singapore is not on the SVB's list of treaty countries, so the law pays the married rate outside the Netherlands — a single person drops from 70% to 50%, irreparably, because it hangs on your country of residence. And the accrual stops: every year outside the Netherlands cuts your later AOW by 2%, repairable with the voluntary insurance, to be applied for within a year of departure, for at most ten years.
What this step rests on
- Tax treaty Netherlands–Singapore (1971, with protocols)
- NederlandWereldwijd — pension from the Netherlands: who taxes, and the exemption from withholding
- Belastingdienst — request for exemption from withholding of wage tax
- SVB — the treaty countries (Singapore is missing)
- General Old Age Pensions Act, article 9a — the married rate outside the Netherlands
- SVB — voluntary insurance
And this is the dashboard that step lives in, here with the plan for Spain.
This is step 3.2 of 37. The other 36 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
See all 37 steps for SingaporeFive mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Singapore: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Singapore really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Calculate what your move to Singapore costs
Answer a few short questions about your situation. You immediately get a range of what it costs. Free, no account needed.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Singapore, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Singapore starts with leaving the Netherlands tidily. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank, pension fund — 16 kinds of letters from details you enter once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- What an emigrant has to ask for and an ordinary canceller doesn't: your no-claims years in English, your medical file, the school report.
The knowledge base on Singapore
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Your visa5 min
The visa routes to Singapore: an employer, a business or a very high salary
Singapore has no retirement, nomad or wealth visa. Staying is only possible with a pass from the Ministry of Manpower: the Employment Pass (from S$ 5,600 a month, rising with age, plus the COMPASS points framework), the S Pass, the EntrePass for your own business or the Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass from S$ 30,000. Partner and children come along on a Dependant's Pass from a S$ 6,000 salary.
Updated 5 October 2026
- Your visa4 min
School in Singapore: the state school via an admission test, or the international school
Compulsory education applies only to Singaporean children, but the state schools are open to foreign children: via a registration exercise for Primary 1 and via the AEIS admission test in September for the higher years, with no guarantee of a place. A non-ASEAN child pays S$ 1,049 a month at primary school in 2026 and S$ 2,212 at secondary school. International schools run their own admissions.
Updated 5 October 2026
- Your visa4 min
Working in Singapore: one employer, no side job, and the week in which your pass lapses
A work pass ties you to one employer: MOM prohibits any side job and any other income, including as a freelancer. Changing jobs is only possible if the new employer applies for a new pass. If you resign, your employer must cancel the pass within a week of your last day, withholds your final pay for the tax authority, and you have at most 90 days as a visitor. No minimum wage, no pension accrual, and the labour law protects professionals only partly.
Updated 5 October 2026
- Your visa4 min
Healthcare in Singapore: MediShield Life is not for you, so you insure yourself
Singapore has a good healthcare system with a compulsory basic insurance, MediShield Life, but it is only for citizens and permanent residents. As a pass holder you fall outside it, get no hospital subsidy, and there is no CAK route from the Netherlands, because Singapore is not a treaty country. Only an S Pass holder is insured by the employer; an Employment Pass holder arranges it themselves or in the contract.
Updated 5 October 2026
- Closing the Netherlands5 min
AOW, pension and tax in Singapore: the 1971 treaty and the single-person trap
The tax treaty with Singapore assigns your company pension and annuity to your country of residence, and Singapore does not tax foreign income. A government pension stays taxed in the Netherlands. There is no social security treaty: your AOW accrual stops, and whoever is single gets only the married-rate AOW in Singapore. Singapore taxes your salary progressively up to 24%, and the CPF builds up nothing for you.
Updated 5 October 2026
- The move5 min
Your pet to Singapore: the titre test, the five-day rule and the breed that decides the flat
The Netherlands falls into Schedule II at Singapore's animal service AVS: your dog or cat needs a microchip, a rabies vaccination and a titre test taken at least 90 days and at most 12 months before departure. Quarantine is avoided if the animal arrives within five days of you and has already lived with you for more than six months. The import licence costs S$ 100, and in an HDB flat only one dog of an approved breed is allowed.
Updated 5 October 2026
21 more articles about Singapore and about leaving the Netherlands
Aankomst in Singapore
- 4 min
Car and driving licence in Singapore: why you leave the car at home and convert the licence after a year
A used car may only enter Singapore if it is less than three years old, and then you pay 9% GST, 20% excise duty, a registration tax of 100 to 320% of the value and a Certificate of Entitlement for ten years. The Netherlands refunds no bpm on export outside the EU. Your Dutch driving licence is valid the first year with an international driving permit; after that you must convert it after the Basic Theory Test.
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Bank and payments in Singapore: an account on your FIN, PayNow and what the Netherlands keeps doing
You open a Singapore bank account on your FIN, the number on your work pass, and with Singpass you fill in the application via Myinfo with data from government sources. Paying works almost everywhere with PayNow and FAST, directly between banks, on a phone number. Deposits are insured up to S$ 100,000 per bank. You keep your Dutch account and DigiD, because the Belastingdienst, SVB and pension fund keep asking for them.
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Buying a house in Singapore: only a condo, and then 60% extra stamp duty
As a foreigner you may only buy a condo or flat in a private development without approval; for a house with land you need approval from the SLA, which asks for at least five years of permanent residence. On top of that, since 27 April 2023, comes the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty of 60% for foreigners, next to the ordinary stamp duty of up to 6%. On a S$ 2 million condo that is together almost S$ 1.27 million in levies.
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Renting in Singapore: condo or HDB flat, the minimum term and the quotas
You can rent with a pass that is still valid for at least six months, but not for short: a private home may not be rented for less than three consecutive months, an HDB flat not for less than six. For HDB there is also a quota for foreign tenants per neighbourhood and per block, and a maximum of two years. What the median rents are, what the stamp duty costs and why an airbnb gets you into trouble.
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Your first weeks in Singapore: first an address, then the pass, and the clocks that run after that
You land on an in-principle approval and have six months to have the pass issued, but that is only possible once you have a residential address. After that everything follows in a fixed order: two weeks for fingerprints and photo, five working days until the card, then Singpass, then the bank. Further out run the clocks of the container (six months), the driving licence (twelve months) and the tax authority (183 days).
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Registration and numbers in Singapore: collecting your pass, your FIN and Singpass
Singapore has no municipality where you register. You exist administratively the moment your employer has your pass issued: then you get your FIN, the number the bank, the landlord and the tax authority ask for. After that you have two weeks for fingerprints and photo, the card arrives within five working days, and with your FIN you open a Singpass account.
Updated 5 October 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 5 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 5 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 6 min
Emigrating on a Dutch benefit: what comes with you and what stops, with Turkey as the example
A WIA, WAO or WAZ benefit comes with you to the EU and to a country the Netherlands has a treaty with; beyond that it stops. WW comes along for three months at most within Europe, Wajong and social assistance stop. Per benefit what you report, when, and what is left of it in Turkey.
Updated 5 October 2026
- 4 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 5 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 4 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 4 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 25 September 2026
- 5 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what travels with you, and who taxes it
The AOW travels in full to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a 2001 treaty. Your company pension too, but where you pay tax on it depends on the tax treaty, and you arrange the exemption yourself.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 4 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 4 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 5 min
Partner coming along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you go along without a job of your own. Administratively you are no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and when "simply staying registered" is allowed.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 4 min
Stopping benefits on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Rent benefit, healthcare benefit, childcare benefit and the child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run receives a claw-back months later — this is what you arrange per benefit.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 5 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 26 September 2026
- 5 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 26 September 2026
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