Leaving Singapore: the countdown from three months out

Three dates drive everything else: your last working day, the day you hand back your home, and your flight. Fix those first, then work backwards. The leaving Singapore planner does the arithmetic and puts each task below on a calendar date.

The order matters more than the speed. Lease notice and mover surveys have the longest lead times, and much of what follows depends on them.

Three months out: read the fine print

• Confirm your last working day in writing. It’s the date your employer puts on the IR21 tax clearance form, and IRAS’s notes on the form say it isn’t the day your pass is cancelled. Your employer must file at least one month before it, and from the day it knows you’re leaving it has to withhold all money due to you. The IR21 guide explains what that means for your final pay.
• Read your tenancy agreement. Look for a diplomatic clause: how many months must pass before you can use it, how much notice it needs, and what proof. In CEA’s recommended template, notice has to come with documentary evidence, such as a letter from your employer. The diplomatic clause guide covers the rest.
• Taking a pet? Check your destination’s import rules now, because they set the timeline. Pet relocation specialists are listed in the directory.
• Giving up PR status? ICA takes up to four weeks to process a renunciation, and advises staying in Singapore until it’s complete, so leave room for that.
• Children in school? Check each school’s terms for how much notice it needs before a withdrawal.

Eight to six weeks out: decide what goes

• Sort before the survey. Under FIDI’s guidelines for international movers, the surveyor records what you show or describe, and the quote follows the survey. Decide what you’re shipping, selling, storing and throwing away first, using ship, sell, store or throw away. Then invite two or three movers from the directory.
• Give notice, if you’re using a diplomatic clause. Two months is common, but your agreement sets the number. Serve it the way the agreement says and keep a copy.
• Start selling. List the things you won’t miss first, and keep the bed, fridge and washing machine until the final days.
• Book the mover and your packing date, and ask for its list of items it won’t take. What movers won’t ship explains the common ones, and what to do with them here.
• Car, telco and other contracts. Find out each one’s termination terms now. The last two weeks guide covers selling or deregistering a car.

One month out: paperwork and bookings

• Check the IR21 has been filed. IRAS suggests asking your employer.
• Set up your bank account for refunds. IRAS pays refunds electronically only. It advises leavers to keep an active Singapore-dollar account and link it to their FIN (foreign identification number) through PayNow, at least 30 days before departure.
• Book appliance collections. ALBA, the e-waste recycler licensed by NEA, collects large appliances such as fridges and washing machines from homes for free, but on weekdays only, booked 7 to 14 working days ahead.
• Don’t count on the town council. In an HDB flat, free bulky-item removal is capped at three items a month at the town councils we checked, and Aljunied-Hougang’s excludes house-moving, as do the other two.
• Sort out where you’ll sleep. If the flat has to be empty before your flight, URA notes that hotels have no minimum stay and serviced apartments have a seven-day minimum.

Two weeks out: packing day and the final bookings

• Packing day. Before the packers arrive, set aside everything that flies with you: passports, pass cards, tenancy and employment documents, medication, valuables and laptops.
• Book the final clear-out. Whatever didn’t sell, find a new home or fit in the container still has to leave before handover. Junk to Clear, the team behind Relocado, clears anything from a few items to a whole flat, seven days a week.
• Keeping a few things in Singapore? HomeToMoved, run by the same team as Relocado, matches you with vetted movers for single items, such as the things going to a friend’s place or into storage.
• Book the move-out clean and the aircon service. CEA’s template expects the flat thoroughly cleaned at handover, with receipts for air-conditioner servicing, which it requires at least every three months. Your agreement may say more.

The last two weeks guide walks through this stretch in more detail.

The final week: clear, clean, hand back

• Clear, then clean. Once the flat is empty, the clean can reach every cabinet and corner.
• Keep the power and water on for the joint inspection. CEA’s template says the tenant shouldn’t close the utilities account before then, and has the landlord apply to close it afterwards. Agree the arrangement with your landlord.
• Return every key and access card. Under CEA’s template, the tenancy doesn’t end until you do, and rent runs until then.
• Take dated photos of each room at the handover, and keep them with your inventory list.
• Your pass. Your employer must cancel your work pass within a week after your last day of notice, and your family’s passes are cancelled with it. If you’re staying on for a while, ask HR to request a Short-Term Visit Pass. The HR departure checklist sets out what your employer has to do.

After you land

• Keep an eye on your tax account. If the money your employer withheld doesn’t cover your tax, IRAS says the balance is due within seven days of your Statement of Account.
• Follow up the deposit. Agree before you leave how it will reach you, and keep that bank account open until it has.
• If you gave up PR status, you can close your CPF account and transfer your savings once the renunciation is complete. If you don’t, CPF Board closes it the following month and the savings stop earning CPF interest.

The countdown at a glance

Relocado is run by the team behind Junk to Clear, HomeToMoved and HomeToClean. Where this guide links to one of them, it’s because the step calls for that service, and we say so in the sentence. Enquiries sent through the form go to the same team. How Relocado works