Wary of current situation in terms of layoffs, need some advice wrt international relocation

I have been receiving "Exceeds Expectations i.e. 4/5" rating since the beginning and "Superb i.e. 5/5" rating once.

Unless your company ratings are stupendously inflated, this is a very good sign and you should be proud of this accomplishment! This makes your standing much stronger as companies will generally go out of their way to make exceptions for high-performers with more experience. For example, Meta initially only allowed well-performing E5+ (senior+) engineers to apply for full-remote work.

As for the relocation thing, I feel like you may be worrying too much about it unless you gave it as an ultimatum (i.e. "Give me this relocation or I'll quit"):

1. If the finances aren't there, they will probably just retract the relocation.
2. A lot of engineers want relocation - It doesn't make sense to punish them for it, especially if they're high-performers.
3. January 2023 is next month, so you'll figure out the decision here soon anyways. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays!

Now afraid if this was another way I shot myself in the foot by asking for more in times of cost-saving and probably being conservative.

It's true that you can end up on bad terms with management when requesting more time on projects, but that's generally from when you do it poorly:

• The failure mode is you go to your manager or TL and just say, "We need more time to do this." This comes off as lazy and puts the onus on them to figure a way out by either crassly shooting you down or going back to the drawing board.
• However, if you embed in your request a detailed list of reasons why additional time is needed (e.g. "This crucial legacy service needs to be patched up with some additional safeguards, otherwise we put 10M+ users at risk of privacy leaks") alongside a set of suggestions to solve the issue (e.g. bring in more resources, cut scope, etc), this will usually put you in good standing with a competent manager or tech lead.
• At a high-level, make it crystal clear whenever you think additional time on a project is the right move. The primary motivation most of the time is system quality.

Zooming out, it seems like you're getting in your own head (totally understandable in this climate, I get it). If you have a good relationship with your manager, I would simply ask them about all these angles:

• How the company is doing and prospect of layoffs over the next year
• The status of your relocation request
• Your standing amongst the team (i.e. are you a valued high-performer?)

Is Singapore a remote location or is it the HQ? Where are more engineers in the company located? If Singapore is the bigger location, I think this is a great career move long term.

I would not be too concerned about getting laid off or completely wrecked simply because you are in a remote location. (I'd be concerned if you were at a tiny startup with no track record, but if you're at a large-ish company with a history of doing good by employees, I would not be concerned.)

Some considerations:

• At larger companies, promotions are typically not determined by cost-savings. If you have clear evidence of your work at the next level, and you have manager + peer support, you'll typically get the promo.
• Will your manager change if you switch? Having a manager who is in a different timezone and doesn't understand your work can make your promotion harder.