Singapore relocation checklist: first 7, 30, and 90 days

Relocation is a project with dependencies, and the order you do things in matters more than the speed. Treat this as sequencing rather than a replacement for your employer's onboarding list. Where the two disagree, HR wins.

First 7 days

The week-one goal is narrower than it feels. Be legally here, be reachable, and be able to receive money. Nearly everything else can wait a fortnight without consequence.

• Finish the pass formalities, collect and activate your pass card, and install SGWorkPass the same day rather than "at the weekend"
• Get a local SIM sorted early, because a lot of what follows depends on receiving an SMS
• Open or activate banking as far as the paperwork allows. Credit cards will wait for payslips, which we get into in credit cards for foreigners
• Check into temporary housing and photograph everything: chute seals, aircon unit counts, any mould. It takes twenty minutes now and settles arguments months later
• Save the HR contacts you'd need in a hurry and find your nearest clinic and dentist before you need one. If you flew in with controlled medication, keep the HSA approval letter with your passport
• Start Singpass setup if you're eligible. It needs a FIN and an issued pass, so an IPA on its own often won't get you through

First 30 days

Month one is where the reversible decisions quietly become permanent ones, so this is the stretch to take slowly.

• Stamp the tenancy agreement and file the Stamp Certificate somewhere you'll find it again, which we walk through in the renting process
• Move chronic medication onto a local GP or specialist before your imported supply runs out, not after (HSA medication rules)
• If you're still in a serviced apartment, start the long-term search in earnest. Negotiate the diplomatic clause into the LOI and get landlord FWTES consent at the same time. You want both, not whichever one comes up first
• Chase school applications and waitlist follow-ups, and queue up translations and apostilles early if ICA or MOM are going to ask for them
• Register with a GP and read your insurance cards properly, dental carve-outs included
• Get utilities, telecom, PayNow and GIRO running
• Do a commute dry-run at real rush hour rather than on a quiet Sunday
• Tell MOM your new residential address and mobile within 5 days of any move, using the EP notify guide, and mirror that same address to your bank and HR so the three don't drift apart
• If you renew your passport, update EP eService before you rely on the automated immigration gates
• Trailing partner: get the work rights confirmed in writing. Remote work for an overseas employer and work for Singapore clients are not the same question (side income rules)
• Work out your equity tax points if RSUs vest in year one (RSU and ESOP tax)

First 90 days

By the third month you know what life here actually costs, and that's precisely why optimisation belongs in this quarter rather than the first one.

• Settle utilities, fibre, your OEM plan choice and the recurring payments
• Build some kind of community foothold: a club, a hash, an interest group, the neighbours
• Compare your budget against what you actually spent, unsubsidised healthcare and dental included
• Apply for a local credit card once salary is landing and you have payslips behind you (credit cards for foreigners)
• Only then go chasing Multiplier-style bonus interest (high-interest salary accounts)
• Look at pass expiry and the PR long game last, once you know what living here is genuinely like