Salary expectaion for engineers with 9-year experiences

Rent will be your biggest outlay in Singapore. Count on S$2500-3500/month for this.
If you live frugally, food and daily expenses will be around S$600/month per person, so S$1800/month for the three of you.
Thus including your desired savings of S$1900/month, you need over S$6000/month, better S$7000.
Not included is travelling, support for relatives back home (if any), having a maid (approx. S$1000/month incl. all incidentals), a car (not under S$1000/month) and school fees - foreign kids can rarely get into government schools and private ones start at S$1000/month.
A good ASIC engineer with 9 years experience (and a relevant university degree) can get around S$8000/month - but people from third world countries are often paid less.

Hi beppi,

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Beppi,
Hi everyone,
I am a mechanical engineer with 4+ years of experience.I have a interview next week for the position of product support specialist.I was wondering if they ask for my salary expectation, what could be the appropriate amount to say?would appreciate suggestions from people here.Thanks.Btw my wife will also be accompanying me to Singapore if i get the job.

They will ask for your salary expectations - that is a standard interview question in Singapore.
If you give an answer, you risk being too low or too high, which is both bad for you.
You can say "Please give me a fair offer and I will consider it" - and some employers will then not give you the job because of this.
Whatever you do, it can be wrong!

Since you mentioned you want to bring your wife:
- You need an EP and salary above S$5000/month to get a visa for your wife.
- Two people need S$6000-8000/month to survive with a simple lifestyle.

Thanks for the reply.Yes 5000+ was in my mind too.I will give them this answer during the interview.Is this salary range well deserved for my level of qualifications experience and prospective job title?Also is it good enough to obtain an Employment pass?Please kindly suggest

You can check Singapore salary surveys, which are regularly published by various headhunters and consultancies, to find out the salary range for your qualifications. It is also required to earn in the correct range to be eligible for EP.

However, please note that S$5000/month is just enough for one person, NOT for a couple!

Hi again Beppi,

My interview went well but I might only get 50K SGD per year. With that, I won't be able to get a dependent pass for my wife. This has become very complicated situation for me. I told the employer about my situation and the new law on dependent pass and that I need atleast 5000SGD atleast but I haven't heard back from them. Do you think there is any way that I can bring her along with me as well as get her to work in Singapore?

If she finds a job and gets her own work pass, she can of course come along with you.
But unless you have a combined salary of S$7000-8000/month (more if you want savings!), you won't have enough money for two people. Singapore is very expensive! S$5000/month or slightly more id DEFINITELY not enough for two!

Yes, I agree with you Beppi. If she gets a employment pass herself then that would the best. However, for now, my only concern is regarding dependent pass. Do you think that the employer could show that my fixed monthly salary is SGD 5000 just for visa processes? One option could be by not giving me any bonuses or other allowance but adding those in my fixed monthly salary so that this meets the required criteria for dependent pass. Do you know if this is possible or similar case that has happened before to others?

Highly unlike that a Co will not give bonus to their permanent staff in order to them adjust ur salary to $5k. No reputed Co will ever do that to risk their own reputation. But yes certainly that they can consider to give u $5k as basic salary if the position which they r offering to u, falls within the cap limit.

Wish u both good luck as I believe u should take the offer as there is a high possibility that ur wife can get a job while she is in visiting pass depends on the qualification n experience she have had in past.

Thank you surya2k.

Well, I guess this is the only option left now. Lets see how it goes.