Your First Month in Singapore — A Practical Settling-In Checklist

The first thirty days in Singapore are dense. There is paperwork, infrastructure setup, and a long string of small decisions that — taken in the wrong order — turn into expensive corrections later. This is the version of the first-month checklist we wish someone had handed us. It will not match every reader’s situation perfectly. The order and the priorities should be approximately right for most Employment Pass holders arriving with or without family.

The deep dives for each step live in the rest of this site. This article is the map.

Week one — paperwork and proofs

The single biggest constraint in your first week is the Employment Pass card. You cannot meaningfully open a bank account, get a SIM card on a contract, sign a long lease, or register for SingPass until you have it. The IPA letter helps for a few interim things — short-term phone plans, hotel check-in — but real life starts when the physical card lands.

Day 1–3. Land. Settle into temporary accommodation (hotel or serviced apartment). Pick up a prepaid SIM at the airport — Singtel, StarHub, or M1 all sell prepaid travel plans usable from arrival. The post-paid plan can wait.

Day 4–5. Visit your employer’s HR office on or around your start date. Confirm the EP card collection procedure. Some employers handle the collection on your behalf at the Ministry of Manpower; some send you to do it yourself. Do not let this slip — the rest of week two depends on it.

Day 6–7. Once the EP card is in hand, register for SingPass at any kiosk. Look up your nearest one — the airport, several MRT stations, and most CommunityCentres have them. Bring the EP card and your passport. SingPass setup is free, takes about fifteen minutes, and unlocks every government online service from this point onward.

If you have family on Dependant Passes, they have a parallel timeline: the DP cards are typically issued shortly after the EP and follow the same flow. Children’s passes are processed by the lead employee.

Week two — banking, address, and a permanent SIM

By now you have the EP card and SingPass. The infrastructure layer of your Singapore life can start.

Day 8–10. Walk into a DBS, OCBC, or UOB branch and open a current account. Bring the EP card, passport, tenancy agreement (or hotel/serviced-apartment letter if you are still in temporary accommodation), and an initial deposit. Internet banking activates within twenty-four hours; the debit card arrives within five to seven working days. See the dedicated banking guide for the documents and bank-by-bank choice.

Day 11. Open a Wise account online. This takes about twenty minutes. Useful for international transfers and card spending abroad — a low-friction setup that pays for itself the first time you move money home.

Day 12. Visit a Singtel, StarHub, or M1 storefront with your EP card and bank account details to convert your prepaid SIM to a post-paid plan. Most plans run SGD 30 to SGD 60 per month with generous data allowances. SIM-only plans without a phone contract are usually the better deal for new arrivals.

Day 13–14. Update your address with your employer’s HR system. If you are still in temporary accommodation, this step waits for the long-term lease to be signed.

Weeks three and four — housing, schools, and the slower decisions

The second half of the first month is when the larger choices land. Housing, schools, and the social and lifestyle setup that determines what your year actually feels like.

Days 15–21 — housing. If you have not signed a long-term lease by now, this is the week. Refer to the HDB-vs-condo guide and the neighbourhood dossier for the framing. Get an agent — preferably an independent agent acting only on your side — and view at least four properties before signing anything. Read the lease for the diplomatic clause. Negotiate the inventory and condition list before signing, not after. Pay stamp duty within fourteen days of signing through the IRAS portal.

Days 18–25 — schools. If you have school-age children, you have probably been in correspondence with admissions teams since before arrival. The first month is when the visits, taster days, and final acceptances happen. Even if you have a confirmed offer, do an in-person visit during a school day before formally signing. The brochure version of a school is rarely the same as the eight-thirty-AM-on-a-Tuesday version.

Days 25–30 — utilities, healthcare, and small life-admin.

Sign up for SP Group (electricity and water) under your name once your lease starts. Online application via SingPass takes ten minutes.
Choose a primary care clinic (a “GP” in expat parlance). Network clinics linked to Mount Elizabeth, Raffles Medical, or Parkway Shenton are the common choices. Schedule a baseline visit to register, even if you are not unwell.
Confirm your health insurance setup. If your employer provides cover, get the policy details and the panel-doctor list. If you are bridging on travel insurance, get the local-cover policy in place this week — Singapore healthcare is not subsidised for foreigners and out-of-pocket costs at private hospitals are real.
Open the relevant apps you will use daily: Grab (transport), GrabFood or Foodpanda (delivery), TraceTogether (sometimes still required at events), the major bank’s mobile app, the SingPass app, and a transport app like CityMapper or Singapore’s own MyTransport.

Things that aren’t urgent in month one

A few common items can wait until month two or three without consequence.

Driving licence conversion. Most expats use Grab and the MRT for the first year. The licence conversion process is straightforward when you are ready, and you can drive on your foreign licence for up to twelve months while you decide.
Long-term mobile plan optimisations. The default post-paid plan is fine. Telco-shopping for the optimal plan is a year-two activity.
PR application. Possible after two years on EP. Not a first-month conversation.
Local credit cards. Your home-country cards work fine in Singapore for the first six months while a salary history accumulates with your local bank, after which your credit-card application gets approved in two days.

Decisions that compound

The choices in your first month that look small at the time but compound into year-two quality of life:

The neighbourhood you sign your lease in. Fifty percent of your weekday life happens within walking distance of the front door.
The school you commit to for your children, if relevant. Switching schools in Singapore mid-year is possible but expensive and emotionally costly.
The social circle you start cultivating. Joining one structured group — a sports club, a parent-school committee, a hobby community — within month two is the single most reliable way to find your tribe. Waiting for it to happen organically usually delays the first real friendship by months.

What “settled” actually feels like

There is a quiet point, somewhere between months three and six, where the city stops being a series of administrative tasks and starts being where you live. The MRT routes stop requiring a phone. The hawker centres develop favourites. The morning routine has rhythm. The first month, well-handled, gets you to that point faster — typically by a margin of weeks rather than months.

Use the rest of the site for the depth on each step. This article is the map; the routes are detailed elsewhere.