The questions kababayans in Singapore ask every week

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• Driving Into Singapore From JB? From 6 October, No VEP Means You Turn BackFrom 6 October the SG Arrival Card will not go through if your Malaysian-registered car has no valid VEP, and ICA can turn you around at the checkpoint.
• 2026 Singapore to Batam Day Trip Guide: Ferry Fares, Arrival Card and a S$150 Budget ItineraryA one-day Batam trip from Singapore for Philippine passport holders: the new HarbourFront ferry terminal, fares by operator, the All Indonesia Arrival Card, a time-stamped itinerary and a full budget.
• Tagalog Mass in Singapore: Full Schedule by Church (2026)Every Tagalog and Filipino Mass we could confirm on a parish website, sorted by week of the month, with MRT stops and community contacts.
• Philippine Passport Renewal in Singapore: 2026 GuideWhere to go, what it costs, how long it takes and what changed this year. Checked against the Embassy's pages and 2026 Citizens Charter on 4 October 2026.
• S Pass Salary Requirement 2026 and 2027: Minimum Pay by AgeThe S Pass floor is S$3,300 now and S$3,600 from January 2027. Check your exact minimum by age, sector and renewal date before you sign anything.
• Singapore Moved the Border Check to Your Departure Gate. What Kababayan Should KnowSince January, ICA can tell your airline not to let you board a Singapore-bound flight. For most of us, it changes one thing: check your passport.
• Send Your Balikbayan Box Now So It Reaches Home for ChristmasSea cargo takes four to ten weeks, so the box you send this week is the one that lands by Noche Buena, duty-free if you pack it by the rules.
• S Pass and EP Salary Floors Rise in January 2027Singapore raises the minimum salary for S Pass and Employment Pass holders from January 2027. See the new floors and the timeline that gives you room to plan.
• Get TESDA-Certified Without Flying Home: How OFWs in Singapore Prove Their SkillsTESDA now runs competency assessments in Singapore, so caregivers and health workers earn a National Certificate without a trip to Manila. Here is how it works.
• Booking the Christmas Flight Home From Singapore in 2026Fares to Manila for December keep climbing the longer you wait, so lock yours in and keep enough for padala and pasalubong.
• Can't Take Leave for Your Passport? The Embassy Now Opens Late the Last Friday of Every MonthThe Philippine Embassy runs consular and labor services until 8:30pm on the last Friday of each month. Book ahead and skip the Sunday queue.
• Seeing a Doctor in Singapore Without the Sticker Shock: What Filipino Workers Actually PayGP, polyclinic, or A&E? Where you walk in decides the bill, and your employer may already cover more than you claim.
• Home Leave for Kasambahay in Singapore: Your Right, and the Levy Waiver That Makes It CheaperHome leave sits in most contracts, and a levy waiver takes about S$10 a day off your employer's bill while you are away. Know your right before ber-month fares climb.
• Lost Your Work Permit Card in Singapore? The Free MOM App Every Filipino Should Set Up FirstYour Work Permit lives on your phone the moment you set up SGWorkPass. Do it before you lose the physical card and start the one-week replacement scramble.
• Skip the Passport Queue to JB: Set Up Your MyICA QR Code FirstSince January 2025 one QR code from the MyICA app clears you and up to nine kasama through Woodlands and Tuas, and you still bring your passport.
• Renting a Room in Singapore as a Kabayan: What a Fair Deal Looks Like in 2026Common rooms run about S$800 to S$1,300, HDB approval is not optional, and one rule that helps you expires on 31 December. Rent without getting burned.
• AXS Machines Stopped Reloading Your EZ-Link Card. Here Is Where Kabayan Top Up NowFrom 29 August, AXS Stations no longer top up EZ-Link and SimplyGo cards. Your card still works. Here is every place you can still reload, and the one setting that ends the problem.
• Bringing Your Parents to Singapore? One Hospital Stay Can Cost More Than the Whole Trip. Buy This FirstForeigners get no subsidy in Singapore hospitals. A private appendectomy runs past S$23,000, and flying a sick parent home can cost six figures. The cover to buy before they board.
• The Fake Work Permit Scam Is Hitting Filipinos in Singapore. Learn the Signs Before SeptemberSix men paid over S$14,000 for permits that never existed. With eight new job categories opening to Filipinos on 1 September, the syndicates selling fake jobs have a fresh wave of targets.
• Pregnant on a Work Permit in Singapore? The MOM Rule Kababayans Should KnowThe rule that a domestic worker cannot get pregnant here without MOM approval is real, and knowing it in time protects your job, your health, and your plans.
• The Philippines Closes Twice This August. Here Is What Filipinos in Singapore Should Do Before the 21st and the 31stTwo long weekends back home, on Ninoy Aquino Day and National Heroes Day, will freeze banks and government offices right at month-end. Sort your padala and paperwork first.
• Singapore Work Pass Changes in 2026: What Every Filipino Should CheckNew S Pass and EP salary floors, a higher Local Qualifying Salary, and eight new job categories. Here is how the 2026 rules touch your pay, your pass, and your next renewal.
• Miss This and You Get Offloaded: The Complete PH-Singapore Travel Checklist Every Filipino Needs in 2026Ticket and passport are not the whole list. Here is every document you need flying home and flying back, plus a separate checklist for Singapore PR holders.
• You Got Scammed in Singapore. What to Do Next, Step by StepThe first hour after a scam decides how much you lose. Save these numbers now, and call them in this order.
• Earning S$6,000 in Singapore? You Can Bring Your Family OverThe Dependant's Pass lets Filipino professionals reunite with a spouse and kids in Singapore. The salary line, who qualifies, and what it costs in 2026.
• Going Home for a Long Stretch? The Re-Entry Permit Rule That Keeps Your Singapore PRSingapore changed the Re-Entry Permit rules on 1 December 2025. Miss the 180-day window while you are back home, and the PR you waited years for can slip away.
• Best SIM-Only Plans for Filipinos in Singapore 2026: Which Telco Actually Covers the PhilippinesMost telco comparisons rank plans by price and data. For kabayan, the question that matters is whether the plan covers calls and roaming to the Philippines. We checked all 17.
• S Pass in 2026: What Filipino Workers in Singapore Must Check Before RenewalThe salary floor rose this year and jumps again in January 2027. Know how the changes hit your renewal, your quota, and the pesos you send home.
• Ten Free Apps We Built for Filipinos in Singapore (and When to Use Each)Rates, baggage limits, rest-day pay, leave planning, JB and Batam budgets. All free, all on your phone, no sign-up.
• Older Filipino Workers in Singapore: You No Longer Age Out at 60Singapore lifted the Work Permit age cap to 63 and removed the maximum years you can stay. Here is what the reform means for Filipinos who feared aging out.
• Before You Fly Back to Singapore: The Arrival Card You Cannot SkipThe SG Arrival Card is free and takes minutes, but skipping it before you fly back to Changi can cost you at the boarding gate in Manila.
• The JB Train Is Coming: A Kabayan Guide to the RTS Link and Your Border RunsA five-minute ride across the Causeway with both immigrations cleared before you board, plus how much it may cost and how you will ride it.
• Marrying in Singapore as a Filipino: ROM, MOM, and the Embassy, in the Right OrderTwo kabayan or a Singaporean fiancé, the office you clear first changes, and skipping one can cost you the wedding, or your pass.
• TESDA Now Comes to You: How Filipinos in Singapore Can Get Their Skills Certified Without Flying Home228 kababayans just earned TESDA certificates in Singapore through the Overseas Assessment Program. Here is what the paper does for your career and how to get yours.
• Going Home This Year? The Singapore Maid Levy Rule That Shapes Your LeavePlanning your bakasyon back home? A little-known MOM rule can waive your employer's monthly levy while you are away. Here is how it works and why it matters to you.
• Your Employer Can Now Cancel Your Work Permit in Minutes. What Happens NextFrom 20 July, cancellation on the myMOM Portal takes effect the same day instead of up to three. Your Special Pass, your transfer and your final pay all move on that new clock.
• Renting a Room in Singapore: The HDB Rules That Decide Whether You Can StayUnapproved rentals cost Filipinos their deposits and their homes. What HDB actually requires from your landlord, and what to check before you hand over a cent.
• The COMPASS Grace Period Is Over: What Filipino EP Holders in Singapore Face at Renewal From July 2026From July 1, every Employment Pass renewal is scored under the full COMPASS points test. Here is what Filipino professionals should check before their pass expires.
• Living in Johor Bahru: A 2026 Guide for Filipino Citizens, Singapore PRs, and EP HoldersJB rent runs a third of Singapore's, and the RTS Link is almost here. What it takes to live across the Causeway depends on the passport and pass you hold.
• Converting Your Philippine Driver's Licence in Singapore: The 2026 ProcessThe Traffic Police want the steps in one order: pre-assessment form, Basic Theory Test, then an appointment at Ubi. Skip one and you go home without a licence.
• How to Find a Job in Singapore as a Filipino: Every Site, the Real Process, and Why It Is HardThe full list of job sites that work, the honest comparison between flying here to look and applying from home, and the rules that decide whether an employer can hire you at all.
• The Embassy Made a Free Handbook for Newly-Arrived Filipinos in Singapore. Here Is What Is InsideThe Philippine Embassy's first 2026 OFW Handbook is a free digital guide to landing, working, and getting help in Singapore. Save it before you need it.
• Underpaid or Charged a Placement Fee? Singapore's 2026 Audits Are Coming for ThatMOM is using data analytics to catch salary under-reporting, illegal deployment, and excessive recruitment fees in 2026. See what changes for Filipino workers and how to act if it happens to you.
• Changed Jobs or Renewing in Singapore? Your Contract Still Needs DMW Verification in 2026Verifying your employment contract is what lets you generate your OEC and keeps your work on record back home. Here is who needs it, what it costs, and how to do it through MWO Singapore in 2026.
• The Government Wants to Turn You Into an Agripreneur: What the DA-DMW Program Offers OFWs in SingaporeThe DA and DMW now help Filipino workers in Singapore turn their savings into a farm or agribusiness back home. Here is what they offer and how to get in.
• Flying Home From Singapore This Year? The Paper OEC Is Gone, Replaced by a Free Digital PassThe airport exit clearance OFWs once queued for now lives in an app. If you work in Singapore and fly home in 2026, here is how the OFW Travel Pass works, and who still needs the old OEC.
• Want Your Family Here in Singapore? The S$6,000 Rule That Decides If You Can Bring Them in 2026Singapore lets some work pass holders sponsor a spouse, children, or parents to live here. Whether you qualify in 2026 comes down to one number on your payslip.
• Singapore Scholarships for Filipinos: Which Ones You Can Win and How to ApplyFrom the ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship to SINGA for PhDs, Singapore funds students from the Philippines. What each one covers, who qualifies, and how to apply in 2026.
• Your OWWA Membership Can Send Your Child to College. The Scholarship Most Kababayans in Singapore ForgetAn active OWWA membership can put your child through a Philippine college on a grant worth around ₱60,000 a year. Who qualifies, and how to apply from Singapore in 2026.
• Helper Pay, Levy, and Rest Days in 2026: The Numbers That Decide a Fair DealNo law sets a helper’s salary in Singapore, but levies, rest-day rules, and market rates draw the lines. What Filipina MDWs and their employers should both know.
• No More Aging Out at 60: What Singapore's New Work Permit Rules Mean for Filipino WorkersSingapore scrapped the maximum employment period for Work Permit holders and raised the age cap to 63. If you or your kasambahay worried about aging out, here is what changed.
• OWWA's 2026 Help for OFWs Coming Home: Loans, Franchises, and Skills TrainingThinking of moving back from Singapore? OWWA reintegration offers low-interest loans, franchise access, and training. Here is the shortlist.
• Offered a Better Job Abroad? Why Filipinos in Singapore Should Check Before They QuitThe Department of Migrant Workers has pulled down 70,000 fake overseas job offers this year. Many of them target OFWs who already hold a steady job in Singapore. Three checks can tell a real offer from a trap.