Singapore passport Information & Singapore passport Links at HealthHaven.com

The Singapore passport is a travel document issued to the citizens of Singapore. It is issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore. Only Singapore citizens can apply for this passport.

The passport is a popular target for counterfeits, due largely to the relatively liberal visa requirements accorded to Singaporean travellers to destinations such as the United States, and the tendency for immigration to clear Singapore passport holders more quickly.^[1] It thus adopted several measures to foil forgers, including utilizing digital photos and special ink since October 1999, and the Biometric passport from August 2006.

[edit] Validity

The Singapore passport is valid for a period of five years for passports issued since April 1, 2005 and ten years for passports issued before 1 April 2005. Before biometric passports were issued in August 2006, the passports for male citizens between 11 and 18 were only valid for two years, and had to be renewed or replaced every two years. Biometric passports cannot be modified due to the "write once" policy by ICAO. A new passport is valid for a total period of five years. For the renewal of a passport that has a validity of nine months or less, the new one will have a validity of five years plus the remaining validity in the old passport. However, if a passport is being renewed with a validity of more than nine months, it will be valid for five years and nine months.^[2] To travel overseas, a passport must be valid for at least six months for countries other than Malaysia, and two months for Malaysia.

[edit] Biometric passport

Since 15 August 2006, all newly-issued Singapore passports contain biometric features (BioPass). A major reason for this addition was to comply with the requirements for the US Visa Waiver Program.^[3] The features also help to prevent forgery and minimize the abuse of Singapore passports. A biometric passport contains 64 pages unlike the machine readable passports which contains 96 pages. It costs S$80 for a passport, with a higher cost due to the special features encoded into the passport. There is a ten dollar rebate if one applies for the passport on the internet, by post or by the deposit box with applicants having to collect the passport personally.

The biometric passport is valid for 5 years for first time applicants, compared with 10 years for previously issued passports without biometric features before 1 April 2005. Also, the new passport does not accept modifications such as extensions of validity, and the updating of photographs due to ICAO's "write once" policy.^[4] In a break from long standing practice, the passport number is now unique to each passport, instead of being identical to the holder's NRIC number.^[4] Children are no longer allowed to travel on their parents' passport.^[5]

The biometric passport project costs S$9.7 million.^[6]

[edit] National Service issues

All male citizens are required to serve National Service. Previously, the Singapore government had a policy of limiting the passport validity of boys aged 11 and above, up to their enlistment. To travel, the boys had to apply to extend for 9 months extensions of the validity of their passports. Such extensions were added with a rubber stamp. The stated objective of such exit control measures is to deter NS-evasion, and to act as a "psychological reminder" of the NS obligations.

Since the new biometric passport does not permit such modifications, a decision was made by the Ministry of Defence to do away with limited-validity passports to avoid the inconvenience and costs imposed on families of the boys. The other exit control requirement, i.e. the need for exit permits, still stands. Exit permits are still required for overseas trips which last longer than three months.^[7]

[edit] Visa-free access for Singapore passport

[edit] Africa

Countries and Territories	Conditions of access
Botswana	90 days [1]
Burundi	Visa can be obtained upon arrival at Bujumbura Airport [2]
Cape Verde	Visa issued upon arrival [3]
Comoros	A free 24 h transit visa issued upon arrival at the airport. Within 24 hours this must be converted into a full visa at the immigration office in Moroni (fee payable) [4]
Djibouti	1-month visa can be obtain upon arrival for DJF5,000 [5]
Egypt	30-day visa issued upon arrival for US$15 [6]
Gambia	At port of entry passport 24-72 h transit pass is issued. This must be converted into a full visa valid up to 1 month at the immigration department in Banjul (fee payable) [7]
Ghana	90 days [8][9]
Kenya	3 months [10][11]
Lesotho	14 days [12][13]
Madagascar	90-day visa issued upon arrival for MGA140,000 [14]
Malawi	90 days [15]
Mauritius	60 day (tourist), 90 days (business) [16][17]
Mayotte	90 days [18]
Morocco	30 days [19][20]
Mozambique	30-day visa issued upon arrival for US$25 [21][22]
Namibia	3 months [23]
Réunion	90 days [24]
Saint Helena	90 days
Seychelles	1 month [25]
South Africa	90 days [26]
Swaziland	60 days [27]
Tanzania	3 months [28]
Togo	7 day visa issued upon arrival for XOF10,000 [29]
Uganda	6 months [30][31]
Zambia	90 days in a year [32][33]
Zimbabwe	3 months [34]

[edit] Americas

Countries and Territories	Conditions of access
Anguilla	3 months [35][36]
Antigua and Barbuda	1 month [37][38]
Argentina	90 days [39]
Aruba	30 days [40]
Bahamas	visa-free access [41]
Barbados	6 months [42][43]
Bermuda	6 months [44][45]
Canada	6 months [46][47]
Cayman Islands	30 days [48]
Chile	30 days [49]
Colombia	90 days [50][51]
Costa Rica	90 days [52]
Cuba	30 days [53]
Dominica	21 days [54]
Dominican Republic	Tourist card can be purchased for US$10 on arrival for up to 30 days [55]
Ecuador	90 days [56][57]
El Salvador	90 days, Tourist card must be purchased on arrival for $10 [58]
French Guiana	90 days [59]
Greenland	3 months [60]
Grenada	3 months [61][62]
Guadeloupe	90 days [63]
Guatemala	90 days [64]
Haiti	3 months [65][66]
Honduras	3 months [][67]
Jamaica	visa-free access [68][69]
Martinique	90 days [70]
Mexico	180 days [71][72]
Montserrat	3 months [73]
Netherlands Antilles	14 days [74]
Nicaragua	90 days [75]
Panama	30 days [76][77]
Peru	90 days [78]
Puerto Rico	90 days (same as USA) [79][80]
Saint Barthélemy	90 days [81]
Saint Kitts and Nevis	3 months [82][83]
Saint Lucia	6 weeks [84]
Saint Martin	90 days [85]
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	90 days [86]
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1 month [87]
Suriname	120 days [88][89]
Trinidad and Tobago	visa-free access [90]
Turks and Caicos Islands	30 days [91]
United States of America	90 days, pre-arrival ESTA required [92]
British Virgin Islands	30 days [93]
United States Virgin Islands	90 days [94]

[edit] Asia

Countries and Territories	Conditions of access
[edit] ASEAN
Brunei Darussalam	30 days [95]
Cambodia	30 days [96]
Indonesia	30 days [97]
Laos	30 days [98]
Malaysia	1 month [99]
Philippines	21 days [100]
Thailand	30 days [101]
Vietnam	30 days [102]
[edit] Non-ASEAN
Armenia	120 day visa issued on arrival for AMD 15,000 [103]
Azerbaijan	30 day visa issued on arrival for US$ 100 [104]
Bahrain	14-day visa issued upon arrival for BHD5 [105][106]
People's Republic of China	15 days [107]
Republic of China (Taiwan)	30 days [108]
Cyprus	90 days [109]
Georgia	360 days [110]
Hong Kong	90 days [111]
India	One month visa issued on arrival for US$ 60 (Applicable for entry from Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata airports only)[112]
Iran	14-day visa issued upon arrival (free of charge)[113]
Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan only)	Visa issued upon arrival at Erbil airport [114]
Israel	3 months [115]
Japan	3 months [116]
Jordan	visa issued upon arrival for JOD10 [117][118]
South Korea	90 days [119]
Kuwait	3-month visa issued upon arrival for KWD5 [120]
Lebanon	1-month visa issued upon arrival (free of charge) [121][122]
Macau	30 days [123]
Maldives	30 days [124]
Mongolia	14 days [125]
Nepal	60-day visa issued upon arrival for US$30 [126]
Oman	visa issued upon arrival : 1 month (OMR 6), 1 year multiple entries stay up to 3-week per visit (OMR 10) [127]
Qatar	21-day visa issued upon arrival for QAR 55 [128][129]
Syria	15 day visa issued upon arrival [130]
Sri Lanka	30 days [131]
Timor-Leste	30-day visa issued upon arrival for US$30 [132]
Turkey	90 days [133]
United Arab Emirates	30 days [134]
Yemen	1-month visa issued upon arrival for YER10,500 [135]

[edit] Europe

Countries and Territories	Conditions of access
Schengen Area	90 days per half year [136][137]
Albania	90 days [138]
Andorra	90 days [139]
Bosnia-Herzegovina	90 days [140]
Croatia	90 days [141][142]
Bulgaria	90 days [143]
Gibraltar	6 months [144]
Ireland	3 months [145]
Kosovo	90 days[146]
Macedonia	90 days [147]
Montenegro	90 days [148]
Romania	90 days [149]
Serbia	90 days [150]
United Kingdom (incl. Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey)	6 months [151]

[edit] Oceania

Countries and Territories	Conditions of access
American Samoa	30 days [152]
Cook Islands	31 days [153]
Fiji	4 months [154]
Guam	15 days [155]
Kiribati	visa-free access [156]
Micronesia	30 days[157]
Nauru	30 days [158]
New Caledonia	3 months [159]
New Zealand	3 months [160]
Niue	30 days [161]
Northern Mariana Islands	30 days [162]
Palau	30 days [163][164]
Papua New Guinea	60-day visa issued upon arrival for PGK100 (tourist), PGK500 (business) [165]
French Polynesia	90 days [166]
Samoa	60 days [167]
Solomon Islands	3-month visitor permit issued upon arrival [168]
Tokelau	free cruising permit can be obtain in Apia, Samoa [169]
Tonga	31-day visa issued upon arrival (free of charge) [170]
Tuvalu	1 month [171]
Vanuatu	30 days [172][173]
Wallis and Futuna	90 days [174]
Australia	pre-arrival Electronic Travel Authority required
Norfolk Island	same as Australia [175]