As part of the marriage and parenthood package announced in August 2019, the Government also announced that it will waive the application fee for the first passport of Singapore Citizens born on or after 1 January 2020, if the application is made before their first birthday. This is meant to be a small token to celebrate the birth of a new citizen.

2.         The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has reviewed the eligibility criteria in view of appeals. To benefit more families, the ICA will revise the eligibility criteria for the waiver of the first passport application fee to include all applications submitted from 1 January 2020, as long as the application is submitted on or before the child’s first birthday. This change will benefit Singapore Citizens who are born in 2019 and who are applying for their first passport in 2020. This waiver will be applicable only for online applications submitted through the ICA website at www.ica.gov.sg from 1 January 2020.

Notification of eligibility for waiver

3.         From 15 October 2019, parents who are collecting their child’s birth certificate from the hospital or at the ICA Building will be notified of the revised eligibility criteria. From 1 January 2020, parents who have an eligible child will receive an electronic notification via MyICA^[1] about the waiver on their personal dashboards. They can then click on that notification to directly access the passport application process, to apply for their child’s passport, without having to pay the application fee. Parents can also log on directly to ICA’s passport e-Service to apply for their child’s first passport, and will similarly receive an electronic notification about the waiver upon entering their child’s birth certificate number, if their child is eligible.

Children below six years old need not be present for passport collection

4.         From 1 January 2020, children below the age of six years will no longer need to be physically present for the collection of their passports. Parents can make an appointment to collect their child’s passport at the ICA Building after they have completed the application process and received an email notification or pink card from ICA. Older children aged six and above must still be present in person for the collection of their passports, as their biometric identifiers i.e. fingerprints and iris images will be enrolled at the point of collection. This will allow them to use the automated lanes for immigration clearance at the checkpoints.

5.         For more information on the waiver of the first passport application, visit the ICA website at www.ica.gov.sg.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
15 OCTOBER 2019