STATUS quo

Hubs is now a PR (permanent resident) here and with that comes a whole circus of paperwork for the rest of us. Not his fault actually, I just didn't see the need for me and the children to have that status yet so we had to go back to ground zero to apply their student passes and my long term pass here; which I'm using to apply for the work permit since as a spouse of a PR, I'm not that affected by the limitations of quotas and government levy. Similar advantages are given to DP (Dependant Pass) holders of which I had before when A was holding an EP (Employment Pass). DP holders can work too and just need LOC (Letter of consent) from their employer and no CPF (something like an SSS I think) deducted from their pay. That's still something I have to find out when I'm done with this work permit thing. As for tax, pay isn't taxable if you don't exceed 21or 22K for the year but you still have to file it for control, oops record purposes ;-)

I'm not keen on doing paperwork, however, no matter how irritating the situations may be, it helps me understand more about how things work. There are certain advantages and disadvantages not listed in the websites and me being the detailed interrogator when it comes to paperwork, end up calling the government bodies to explain to me other this and thats. Oh, and I don't limit it to one or two calls. I usually have a third, even fourth to compare number 1 to number 2's answer then move from there.

Why I haven't gone for PR? Well, there might be a couple of strings attached (that may be a disadvantage or not for Keanu one day) and while I'm not sure how it'll affect him directly, I'd rather not put him in the position wherein he can't get out of in the future. So far it works for us anyway to have foreign status and until we're pushed to the wall, then I'll check if I can cross that bridge.