Every new school term usually starts off on a busy note. But for the Government, Government-aided and Independent schools (GOV Schools), the administrators will have a pretty good reason to be less hassled before the new school term begins in January next year. This is because they will be able to apply for Student’s Pass (STP) for their international students electronically with effect from 2 November 2009 – thanks to SOLAR+!

SOLAR+ for all

2. The Student’s Pass Online Application & Registration plus system, or simply, SOLAR+ for short, is yet another e-initiative by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to bring convenience to its users. It is a value-added service that aims to offer schools and international students the hassle-free way of submitting applications for STP online, anytime and anywhere.

3. Since 2003, the ICA has progressively introduced SOLAR+ to international students studying in Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), Private Education Organisations (PEOs), MOE-registered Kindergartens, Childcare Centres under MCYS, Foreign System Schools (FSS) and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE). Following months of planning, SOLAR+ is ready to be extended to the international students studying in GOV schools. ICA has collaborated with MOE to help ICA assess the user-friendliness and effectiveness of the system, and to finetune it.

An easy and fuss-free but secured STP application

4. With effect from 2 November 2009, international students registered with GOV schools will be able to hop onto the “e-bandwagon” to enjoy the convenience of SOLAR+ to apply for their STP online! Gone are the days where students receive the hardcopy Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from their schools and travel to ICA Building to submit their application forms. Then they had to wait for the approval letters via snail mail before going back to the ICA Building to collect their STP, often in the midst of peak period since the government schools commence the school term around the same time.

Secured Channel

5. SOLAR+ is devised with security in mind. Hence, the school administrator has to login the portal with Singpass to register an international student. The system also allows the administrator to amend the student’s information where necessary. Instead of the LOA, a registration letter will be printed for the student. Using the unique SOLAR+ registration reference number on the registration letter, the student will then login to the portal to complete the application form before routing it to his/her local sponsor. The local sponsor, a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, will need to access the portal with his/her Singpass to sponsor the application and submit to ICA electronically.

Integration with e-Appointment

6. Another key feature of SOLAR+ is the integration with the e-Appointment system that enables the student to book an appointment at his/her convenience when collecting the STP upon successful application. With e-Appointment, the student’s time is better managed as the waiting time is much shorter. SOLAR+ also allows both the student and sponsor to check the application status online and facilitates the sponsors to print the In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter for the student to collect his/her STP.

Fee

7. Users will have another reason to smile as SOLAR+ offers convenience to them at no additional cost as there is no change to the current fee!

Others

8. Check out the ICA internet at http://www.ica.gov.sg for more information on SOLAR+! A screen shot of the SOLAR+ home page is appended in Annex A for reference.


END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
October 2009

ANNEX A