Thursday, October 28, 2010

Singapore - Johor Commute

Toll charges:

We usually take the Tuas 2nd link as it's closer to our house and it's less crowded than the Woodlands link.

A 2 ways trip via Tuas 2nd link will cost around:
- SGD 3.20 each way
- RM 7.50 each way

Travel Time:

Driving time is around 1 hour to get to Singapore CBD area, but this depends on the timing of your drive.

The causeway is normally packed on Saturdays afternoons & public holidays (Singapore to Johor direction), so we'll try to avoid those timings when commuting between the 2 cities.

I've driven from our house in Johor to Changi airport in 1 hour, departing 9 am from home, so it's not that bad.

Cars:

Since we're Singaporean PRs, we have to use a Singapore registered vehicle so we purchased a 2nd hand car from Presto (http://www.prestoexpatmotoring.com/). This is a company which caters to expatriates in Singapore for motoring services. The service so far has been very good and they have been very helpful even post sale, e.g. car servicing, etc. For car insurance, we purchased our insurance from Direct Asia (http://www.directasia.com/) who is the newest insurance player in Singapore market. Based on our experience, their prices are very competitive (if not cheaper) and customer service is very competent.

Immigration:

We used to fill the Malaysian immigration cards for every entrance, however, since getting the MACs (Malaysian Automated Clearance card), we are no longer required to fill in any immigration forms when entering Johor. This automated pass is available for 1st & 2nd link checkpoints entrance only and is available for investors/foreginers employed in the Iskandar project.

The required documents for our applications are:
- 2 copies of Sales Purchase Agreement of our property
- Passport photo for each applicant
- RM30 application fee per applicant
- Photocopy of passports (Details page & last immigation stamp page)
- Passport validity of min 2 years
- Application forms (obtained at the application centre)

We applied through the immigration office in Iskandar Investment Berhad office located at:
G-12 Block 8
Danga Bay, Jalan Skudai
Johor

It took less than 1 hour to have our applications approved and passes inserted into our passports.

For more information on MAC, you can visit:

www.iskandarmalaysia.com.my/malaysia-automated-clearance-system

23 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hi Ronny, thanks for reading my blog. We've not changed our address yet, but my neighbour has recently renewed his PR and did not encounter any issue because he is working and paying tax in singapore, despite residing in Johor.

    Cheers,
    Erika

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  4. Hi Erika
    My husband and I really enjoy reading your blog.We are thinking of buying a house at East Ledang to live in. My husband is an a foreigner and a Singapore PR. He works from home and his head office is based in the USA so he travels a lot. We both live in Singapore. Already he is being taxed in the USA and Singapore, would he be taxed in Malaysia again? We do not plan to apply for Malaysia PR nor MM2H since we would be going in and out of the country rather often, would that post issue living long term in JB, Malaysia?

    Thanks
    J

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  5. Hi J,

    Thanks for reading my blog. I apologise for my late reply as life has been very hectic lately :)

    If your income is not sourced in Malaysia, then you would not be required to pay tax. We've not applied for MM2H as we decided to test living here for a year. I've not encountered any issues so far, but I believe that as non PR/Citizen/Mm2H, we will not be able to employ helpers.

    I hope this helps. Please feel free to leave your questions if you have any further questions.

    Have a great Sunday,
    Erika

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  6. HI Erika,
    Thank you so much for writing back to me despite of your busy schedules. The information you gave is very valuable. Could you write to me at jackiewong64@gmail.com? I have many questions like how do you take-it-from-there? So you see a house you like. It is a sub-sale house, how do you go about making the transactions? Like do you pay the earnest money directly to the owner or via a attorney? Getting consent from the Land Authority? etc etc. It is all so confusing to me right now.

    I really appreciate you taking your time to email me. Looking forward to hearing from you.

    warm regards
    J

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  7. Hi J, I've dropped you an email, please feel free to email me if you have any further questions.

    Best of luck,
    Erika

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  8. Hi Erika,
    I will be working in Singapore soon and glad that i came across your blog which provides some valuable information to me.

    But i would like to ask you more questions about commuting to singapore from Johor on a daily basis for work and what are the expenses that i need to take into consideration?

    Do you mind to email me at anson_83@hotmail.com?

    Thanks

    Regards,
    Anson

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  9. Hello Anson,

    Thanks for reading my blog. I'm very sorry about my late reply. I've dropped you an email, so please feel free to email me questions that you may have about your move.

    Have a great Sunday evening.
    Erika

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  10. Hi Erika:

    Thanks for the wealth of information. I have been reading your blogs for quite some time now. I am looking into buying land at Ledang Heights but understand that the developers have sold off most of the plots. Do you recommend any good agents who may be able to help me with a subsale? If so, I will appreciate if you could email me at avinash_jalan@hotmail.com.

    Thanks,
    AJ

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  11. hi Aj, thanks for reading my blog. I'm checking with my neighbours on the Ledang heights subsale agent. We bought our house sub-sale and we found it via propertyguru SG listing, you can try that in the meantime perhaps. Merry Christmas!

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  12. hi Aj, you can contact tinakward@hotmail.com for some contacts. She knows of an agent who's selling 30 subsale plots in Ledang Heights.

    Cheers,
    Erika

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  13. Hi Erica, thanks or the response. Sorry for my late response as I forgot which thread I used. In any case, I used the search function and it worked. Thanks for the contact. I am about to close in on something. I will definitely contact her if this one does not work out.

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    Replies
    1. How did you go AJ? Hope things are working out well for you.

      Happy Labour day,
      Erika

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  14. Hi Erika,

    I found an agent through iproperty. Very good, for a change. She does a fair bit of work in Ledang Heights. Yes, my lawyer confirmed that the S&P agreement is finally signed. So, fingers crossed, should get possession in 4-5 months, pending State Clearance.

    It is one of the smaller plots, around 11,000 odd sft, having a beautiful view of the surrounding hills .....

    Cheers,
    AJ

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    Replies
    1. hi AJ, that's great news! I hope the transaction will go through smoothly for you. All the best!

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  15. Hi Erika:

    Hope you are well. Got the State Consent so it is pretty much a done deal now. Will officialy close by September.

    Just wanted to ask you if you know of any families sending their kids to the American School. My daughter is High School and just wondering how to best manage her transportation in case we move.

    Cheers,
    AJ

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    1. Hi AJ, apologies for my late reply. Is your daughter attending American school in Johor (Raffles American school) or SG? I believe the international schools (Marlborough & Raffles) here provide transportation service between SG - Johor as well as JH homes to the school. Most of my neighbours seem to drive their kids into SG every morning. Some I've heard uses personal drivers as well.

      Cheers,
      Erika

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    2. Hi Erica,

      No worries! I should be the one apologizing for bugging you every now and then. My daughter goes to the one in Singapore - Woodlands. As we get closer, maybe I will check with the school as well in case they have a pick up point across the causeway.

      Thanks,
      AJ

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    3. No worries AJ, happy to help. Perhaps you can contact the taxi service company that we use sometimes for drop off and pick up to/from SG. You can text Mr Yap at +60167210346/+65 8300 4227 to see if he can work out a deal for you.

      Have a great weekend!
      Erika

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    4. This is Excellent. Thanks for the contact Erika! I will touch base with Mr Yap.

      Cheers,
      AJ

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  16. After having a good time to your great post "Moving from Singapore to Johor' I was highly intended to take a look into other pages and this is another interesting and informative work you done. Toll charges, Travel Time, Travelling means, Immigration everything you pointed out is awesome. Thanks again and would love to dive into your rich texted blog. move on a budget

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