More American Expats Despite Cost Challenges

Source : The Business Times, April 26, 2008

THE rising cost of living, high residential rents and expensive office space are among contentious issues that plague the American expatriate community here.

However, these cons are outweighed by the benefit of being able to participate in global trade. 'Singapore is a good place to do business, especially for our members who are so regionally focused,' Steve Okun, the newly elected chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Singapore, told BT. AmCham Singapore represents almost 2,700 members from more than 500 companies, and over US$25 billion of investments in Singapore.

Going forward, AmCham will look at broadening its reach to make it even more regionally focused, especially as Asean moves towards integration.

A prime opportunity to do this will be in 2009, when Singapore hosts the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC) meeting in March. It will be attended by local and American government officials, AmCham leaders and representatives of multinational companies and Asian small and medium-sized enterprises.

About 15,000 American expats live in Singapore. And the number has been rising despite a 2006 tax law change in the US that significantly increased the burden on Americans working overseas. APCAC, with other member AmChams, is lobbying to change the taxation, which has been labelled unfair.

'The number of Americans in Singapore has increased 25 per cent in the past two years,' said Mr Okun, raising the possibility that the tax change could have deterred even more Americans from moving overseas.

Another major problem for American expats is the limited number of places at international schools here, which has resulted in waiting lists, employers having to pay to procure 'enhanced placement rights' and even examples of 'key employees' being unable to relocate to Singapore because their children could not get a place in school.

Earlier this week, AmCham announced a new committee to address the education problem and will liaise with the government, foreign schools and AmCham members. This way, 'decision makers can make more informed decisions', said Mr Okun.