{"id":1523,"date":"2019-04-08T20:01:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T03:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loopnewsletter.com\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2019-04-08T20:01:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T03:01:03","slug":"immigration-exemption-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/immigration-exemption-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration Exemption Order (IEO): What Can It Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>High standard of living, safety, over 14 million tourists visiting annually, it\u2019s no surprise why so many people and <a href=\"https:\/\/loopnewsletter.com\/reasons-startup-singapore\/\">businesses<\/a> find Singapore so appealing that they begin moving here. Did you know there are other ways of living in the country other than carrying the standard employment pass, work permit, or student pass? I have what\u2019s called an Immigration Exemption Order (IEO).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1196 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920-1024x569.jpg\" alt=\"Hammer used in court of law\" width=\"1024\" height=\"569\" srcset=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920-768x426.jpg 768w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/gavel-2492011_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An IEO is an Immigration Exemption Order that is given to families of foreign military personnel or diplomatic staff who need to be in Singapore.\u00a0 Normally, work passes are administered through MOM (Ministry of Manpower) but I obtained my IEO through the MOD (Ministry of Defense). With an IEO you don\u2019t get a physical pass. You get a FIN (Foreign Identification Number) written in your passport.<\/p>\n<p>So what can I do with my IEO? Well, lots! I can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Buy a car without having to pay the COE<\/li>\n<li>Rent property without having to pay a property tax<\/li>\n<li>Open a Singapore bank account<\/li>\n<li>Get a phone plan<\/li>\n<li>Work<\/li>\n<li>Go through a quicker line at customs when we\u2019re traveling<\/li>\n<li>Enroll my children up for school<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are a lot of perks of having an IEO which makes it very easy and convenient to live here. However, in the beginning we did face a lot of challenges when we tried to engage a service such as even opening a bank account because an IEO is not as common as a <a href=\"https:\/\/loopnewsletter.com\/services\/application-review\/\">work pass<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/loopnewsletter.com\/services\/immigration-plan\/\">dependent pass<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/loopnewsletter.com\/services\/permanent-residency\/\">PR<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1479 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract-1024x620.jpg\" alt=\"Paper titled Contract on a board on a table\" width=\"1024\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract-1024x620.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract-768x465.jpg 768w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract-1536x929.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Contract.jpg 1818w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Our family can purchase a car but we have to sit through a five-hour driving course and purchase the car upfront because we are unable to get a loan.<\/p>\n<p>We eventually moved our family into a condo but needed to work with a relator that has experience working with families with IEO status.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, before we could rent our property we needed to open a bank account. We couldn\u2019t open a bank account without a physical pass\/an employment pass OR a lease. The bankers and supervisors that were helping us were unfamiliar with our status and would turn us away. We had to go to a bank near Woodlands\/Sembawang. Banks in Sembawang understand the unique status of IEOs for US Military Service Members in Singapore. Many other banks elsewhere on the island had no idea because when non-locals obtain a work pass, the norm is that it is with MOM not MOD\/MFA.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1507\" src=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/rawpixel-594836-unsplash-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/rawpixel-594836-unsplash-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/rawpixel-594836-unsplash-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/rawpixel-594836-unsplash-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/rawpixel-594836-unsplash.jpg 854w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As an IEO holder, I can work but the company needs to sponsor me and apply for an LOC or Employment Pass. Enrolling my kids and getting a phone plan was not hard but I did need to carry around my passport all the time.<\/p>\n<p>There are different ways of getting into the country: an IEO, dependent pass, long term visit pass, EP, PR \u2013 you need the right immigration advice. Chat with us to talk about your options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High standard of living, safety, over 14 million tourists visiting annually, it\u2019s no surprise why so many people and businesses find Singapore so appealing that they begin moving here. Did you know there are other ways of living in the country other than carrying the standard employment pass, work permit, or student pass? I have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transformborders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}