Step-by-step plan · Visa required

The step-by-step plan for Singapore

From "we want this" to being settled, in 37 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

37 steps5 phases101 official sources10 only for your situationchecked on 5 October 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 399 one-off, no subscription.

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Singapore: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

Orientation
5 steps
Open · You are here
Your visa
6 steps
In your plan
Closing the Netherlands
14 steps
In your plan
The move
5 steps
In your plan
Arrival in Singapore
7 steps
In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

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. Whoever accepts that gets a city that works in English, a tax that stops at 24% and asks nothing about your Dutch pension — and an AOW that halves for single people, because there is no treaty about it.

By the end of phase 1 you know which pass fits you, what the trade-off really involves, and the family stands behind the decision.

Doing this together?

Invite your partner with a link. You then each tick your own steps, on your own phone or laptop, and see at every step whether the other has already done it. No account needed.

We only store which step numbers you ticked, under a random code. No name, no email. Anyone with the link can see the ticks. After six months without use we delete it.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: everything hangs on a pass

Lead time:: reading step
Costs:: none

There is no retirement visa, no nomad visa and no investor visa: in Singapore you live on a work pass, and your employer applies for that pass for you. The Ministry of Manpower says it without detours: an employer or an appointed employment agent applies, not you. The first Employment Pass is valid for up to two years, a renewal for up to three. And the pass is exclusive: "all work pass holders must only work for their designated employer" — no second job, no freelance assignment, no small business on the side. If the job falls away, the pass falls away. Permanent residence does exist: whoever holds an Employment Pass or S Pass may apply for it with the ICA, but that is an assessment of months, not a right. This is the character of the country; the rest of the journey follows from it.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Done

Step 1.2

Choose your pass: employee, specialist, entrepreneur or top talent

Lead time:: an evening of comparing
Costs:: none

Four passes, and all four hang on a number. The Employment Pass is the standard: a fixed monthly salary of at least S$ 5,600 at 23, rising to S$ 10,700 from age 45 (in financial services S$ 6,200 to S$ 11,800), and from 1 January 2027 one step higher. The S Pass starts at S$ 3,300 (up to S$ 4,800 from 45) and brings the employer a quota and a levy. The EntrePass is for whoever brings a business of their own that is venture-backed or owns its own technology: at least 30% of the shares, and expressly no coffee shop, bar or employment agency. And the ONE Pass is for the top: a fixed salary of S$ 30,000 a month, twelve consecutive months, or an outstanding track record in sports, the arts or research. Choose on what your employer can prove — the thresholds are hard and rise with your age.

The visa routes to Singapore: which pass fits you

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Done

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:: 1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:: none

The government asks remarkably little here: the pass costs hundreds, not thousands of dollars, and your employer usually pays it. The money is in housing — a rental deposit, the rent of a condo or a whole HDB flat in one of the most expensive cities in the world — in the international school, in health insurance with no public safety net underneath, and in the realisation that a car of your own costs tens of thousands of dollars in permit alone here. Budget the first months generously.

Your budget, worked out

Done

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:: no fixed one; take your time
Costs:: none

Discuss the things the recruitment stories skip. The tax is low, but not zero: the rates start at 0% on the first S$ 20,000 and end at 24% above S$ 1 million, and income from outside Singapore — including your Dutch pension — is "generally not taxable" there. The car is a luxury: the right to own one, the COE, cost S$ 133,009 for a small car and S$ 135,001 for a large one in September 2026 — for ten years, on top of the car itself. Healthcare is private for you: MediShield Life covers "all Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents", and you are neither. And the farewell to accrual is real: no CPF, no AOW years, and an AOW that drops to the married rate for a single person, because there is no treaty about it. For many people the trade-off is worth it — but make it out loud.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Done

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:: five minutes, below
Costs:: none

Choose below the date on which you want to be standing in Singapore. The plan works out whether that is feasible with what still has to happen — and because the application itself takes ten business days, the answer hangs mainly on the job and on the school. A target date is yours: moving it is always allowed.

When do you want to leave for Singapore?

Is your situation slightly different?

A partner who stays in the Netherlands, work that carries on, a house you keep, children who stay at school here: I'm happy to talk those through, even before you have the plan. Email me what's going on for you; I read it myself and reply within two working days.

If you then take the plan, I'll work what we discussed into your personal plan.

Email me about your situation → info@vertrekklaar.nl

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Singapore. The full plan has another 32 steps ready for you: Your visa, Closing the Netherlands, The move and Arrival in Singapore.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Singapore

€ 399

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Continue with the full plan · € 399

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to me.

✎ I read along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. I read it myself and answer within two working days. Or talk to me for fifteen minutes: within 24 hours your situation is in the plan.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Your visa0 of 6 steps open

Your employer makes the application, and the ministry decides in ten business days. The time is before it — the contract that clears the thresholds and the company that clears the points — and beside it: the family, the school and health insurance with no system underneath.

2.1The job and the contract: read the thresholds before you signas long as applying for jobs takes
2.2The application: your employer submits, you deliverten business days for most applications
2.3With your family: the Dependant's Pass and the certificates with apostilleonly if this applies to you
2.4Health insurance: there is no system underneathquotes 1-2 weeks
2.5With children: choose the system before the neighbourhoodonly if this applies to you
2.6Partner wants to work: a pass of their own, no free rideronly if this applies to you

Open all steps · € 399

Phase 3 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

This is the phase in which Singapore shows its face, and it is a double face. The tax treaty from 1971 allocates your pension and your AOW to Singapore — which taxes neither — but only for what you also receive there. There is no social security treaty: the AOW drops to half for single people, there is no CAK route, and all allowances stop. None of this is a surprise — if you read it now.

3.1Healthcare: there is no treaty route — insure privatelyarrange the cover before departure day
3.2AOW and pension: the treaty points to Singapore, the SVB to halfan afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
3.3The tax office: providing security, and deductions that lapsewith pension or substantial-interest assets: arrange this with an adviser
3.4Allowances and child benefit: everything stopsan hour, online
3.5Deregister with the municipalitypossible from 5 days before departure, up to and including departure day
3.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines to the Netherlandsan afternoon
3.7Build your own safety net: no CPF for pass holdersa decision, not an afternoon — start before departure
3.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
3.9Partly staying in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
3.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keeponly if this applies to you
3.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
3.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
3.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
3.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years

Phase 4 · The move0 of 5 steps open

Singapore's border is strict on what most Dutch people don't expect: chewing gum and vapes are banned, a sleeping pill needs a prescription, and a car older than three years doesn't get into the country. The household goods pass tax-free if they arrive within six months of your first arrival — and the dog has to land within five days of you, otherwise it is a commercial shipment.

4.1The household goods: GST-free, with a declaration beforehandonly if this applies to you
4.2Medicines and banned items: know the listprescriptions and papers 2-3 weeks before departure
4.3Travel day: the SG Arrival Card and the In-Principle Approvalthe arrival card within three days before landing
4.4The pet: titre test, licence and the five-day ruleonly if this applies to you
4.5The car: sell it — importing isn't allowed, owning is a COEselling and deregistering, 1-2 weeks

Phase 5 · Arrival in Singapore0 of 7 steps open

First an address, then the pass, then your FIN — and then everything opens at once: Singpass, the bank, the tenancy agreement, the school. After that the real work begins: living on a pass that hangs on your job, in a city that pays ahead, with the discipline to be your own pension every month.

5.1Get your pass issued: address, examination, fingerprints, card2-3 weeks with smooth planning
5.2Singpass and the bank: your FIN opens the doorsSingpass immediately; the bank 1-2 weeks
5.3Housing: a condo or a whole HDB flat, with a minimum termsearching and signing, 2-6 weeks
5.4Your driving licence: twelve months, then the theory testthe test and the conversion in the first months
5.5School and childcare: supporting the startonly if this applies to you
5.6Tax: resident after 183 days, return in Marchthe first return comes in the spring after your arrival
5.7Live with your pass: resigning is leaving, renewing is being tested againreading step

10 of these 32 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Five 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.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 32 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Singapore: 37 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

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