I was never a PR, I paid into the CPF fund before you had to decide to be a PR or not. When I left Singapore for good a few months ago there was no problem cancelling my CPF and getting all the money credited to my Singapore current account. You need to take down your passport to show that you have cancelled your Employment Pass, so they know that you are supposedly leaving for good - so if you intend to return but need the CPF money don't tell them that! It takes a couple of weeks or so for the CPF to be processed and credited to your account, you don't get it on the spot! However, you should have an ID no. so you can check the status on the internet, I was very impressed to be able to do this. However, I had a huge final tax bill to pay so it ate away a lot of the CPF money!
Also the Kiwi guy (I think he was married to a local) who runs the drycleaners took all of his CPF money out when he decided to live in South Africa. He didn't like it there and returned to Singapore permanantly, and they allowed him to rejoin the CPF scheme - and kept the same no. He said as "long as you keep your nose clean you're ok". But I guess if you did want to join 2nd time around they would make you wait until retirement age to draw the $$$!
