My First Year as a Filipino in Singapore: What I Wish I Knew
The cheat sheet nobody handed you at Changi — housing, MRT, banking, remittance, food, and how to survive the first six weeks of homesickness without draining your savings.
My first year as a Filipino in Singapore came down to six things: housing, transport, banking, remittance, pass rules and homesickness. This is the cheat sheet I wish someone had pushed into my hands at Changi.
Where you live will define your first year
A private room in a shared HDB flat, what most Filipinos here rent, runs roughly S$800 to S$1,500 a month depending on neighbourhood and condition. A bedspace (a bunk in a shared room) costs less.
Utilities may or may not be included. Ask upfront. If not, budget an extra S$60–120 a month.
Deposit is usually 1–2 months of rent, on top of the first month. You need that cash before your first paycheck lands.
Agent fees vary, typically half a month to a full month's rent. Filipino-to-Filipino rentals via Facebook groups often skip this.
Start the search before you land. SRX, PropertyGuru and Filipino rental groups on Facebook carry the listings.
Transport is your friend once you learn it
Buy an EZ-Link card at any MRT station or 7-Eleven the day you arrive. MRT plus buses get you almost everywhere, while Grab eats through your budget within a week.
Download MyTransport.SG, Grab and Google Maps, which shows accurate bus arrival times here.
Banking, PayNow, and why you want both
Open a local bank account within your first month. DBS, OCBC and UOB are the three majors; POSB, a DBS sub-brand, is everywhere, so many Filipinos pick it.
You'll need your passport, Employment Pass or Work Permit, and a local address (your rental lease works).
Then set up PayNow, the instant transfer system tied to your mobile number or NRIC/FIN. It moves money free between local accounts, for split bills and rent.
SIM cards: get prepaid first, decide later
The big three are Singtel, StarHub and M1, plus Circles.Life for digital-first plans.
For your first month, grab a prepaid SIM at the airport or any 7-Eleven (S$15–25 with decent data). Switch to postpaid later if it's cheaper, or stay prepaid if you live on WiFi.
Remittance: use more than one method
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Lucky Plaza remittance shops: fast, with a paper receipt, good for sending to a specific bank or pickup point in the Philippines
Instarem, Wise, SingX: app-based, usually better exchange rates for larger amounts
GCash/Maya via digital remittance services: convenient for recipients on e-wallets
Compare rates before sending. On a S$2,000 remittance, the rate gap between shops and apps costs real pesos over a year.
Hawker centres are how Singapore eats. A decent meal runs S$4–7, while regular restaurant meals will wipe you out.
Lucky Plaza and Peninsula Plaza have carinderias serving kanin plus ulam under S$10. Jollibee has several outlets, and Filipino grocery stores stock Lucky Me to Del Monte ketchup at a 1.5x to 2x markup.
Know your pass rules
Each pass type (Employment Pass, S Pass, Work Permit, Dependant's Pass) has its own rules on moonlighting, side businesses and even legal working hours. Breaking them can cancel your pass, which means leaving.
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Before you accept any side gig, freelance project or paid sponsorship, read the rules at mom.gov.sg or ask MWO. Don't rely on what a friend told you.
The homesickness is real, and it does get better
The first six weeks, you will call home too much and spend too much on milk tea. What helps:
Find your Filipino pocket. Church groups, FIS events, Facebook groups and the Sunday Lucky Plaza crowd want to meet you.
Say yes to a kababayan the first time they invite you. That one Sunday lunch often becomes your community.
Protect your rest days. Working seven days a week leads to burnout, and the second crash hits harder than the first.
