Travelling to Singapore will be more convenient for visitors from certain visa-required countries starting from 26 August 2008, when the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) introduces a new visa facilitative measure, known as “e-Visa”.

‘e’-xisting procedure

2. Currently, a foreigner from a visa-required country intending to travel to Singapore needs to submit his visa application through his local contact or our trusted partners in Singapore using our online facility, “SAVE” (Submission of Application for Visa Electronically).

3. Upon successful submission of the visa application through SAVE, the local contact will print a copy of the application form and send to the applicant for signature. The application form, duly signed by the applicant and his local contact, will be submitted to ICA together with a copy of the applicant’s passport biodata page.

4. After the visa application is approved, the local contact or trusted partner will proceed to collect the physical visa sticker at the ICA Building. The visa sticker will then be sent to the applicant before he embarks on his trip to Singapore.

‘e’ is for electronic, ‘e’ is for easy

5. With the introduction of e-Visa, foreign nationals from the countries listed in Annex A will no longer be issued with the physical visas. Instead, the sticker visa will be replaced by an electronic visa (see sample of new e-visa below). Local contacts or trusted partners will continue to submit visa applications via the user-friendly SAVE system.




 e-Visa                               




  Existing Visas

e-Visa Existing Visas

X No need to make a trip to ICA Building

6. The local contact or trusted partner can print the electronic visa through SAVE at their convenience so long as they have access to a PC, printer and internet connection set up. Local contact no longer needs to submit the application form and supporting document to ICA. There is also no need for the local contact or trusted partner to make a trip to ICA Building physically for the collection of the visa. 

X  No hassle

7. The SAVE system comes with a “Status Enquiry” function to enable the local contact or the applicant to check on the status of the visa application online. It also allows the printing of the e-Visa through this user-friendly function in a few simple steps.

X No more worries of lost or damaged visa stickers

8. With the electronic visa, local contacts/trusted partners no longer have to send the application forms or physical visas to the applicants. Applicants also need not worry about lost or damaged visa stickers, as the local contact/ trusted partner can print multiple copies of the e-Visa when required.

‘e’ is for extra savings

9. The most tangible benefit to the users of the e-Visa is the savings they will enjoy as they no longer need to incur additional costs to send application forms or to courier documents or visa stickers. In addition, the local contacts/trusted partners will be able to enjoy the savings from transportation costs as they no longer need to make any trip down to ICA Building. As the e-Visa allows individual applicant to print the visa online, this will translate to an estimated annual saving of $800,000 to the government.

‘e’-ligibility

10. Nationals from the countries listed at Annex A are eligible for e-Visa. The eligible applicants must have a local contact who is a Singapore Citizen, Singapore Permanent Resident or representative of a Singapore-registered corporation. The local contact will need to have a valid SingPass account to submit the visa application online via SAVE. ICA will continue to evaluate our visa requirements and will consider extending this e-nitiative to more visa required counties in future.

‘e’ is for enhanced service
- Quotation from Commissioner, ICA

11. “ICA is always looking into ways to enhance our services for the convenience of the public. In December 2006, we introduced e-XTEND, which enables foreign visitors to apply for an extension of their short term visit pass online. In March this year, we launched the e-Appointment system, which significantly cuts down the waiting time for some immigration/registration facilities at the ICA Building. The e-Visa system is yet another example of our efforts to serve the public better and more efficiently. The important thing is that we are able to improve our service standards without compromising security. For the e-Visa initiative, security is enhanced as it deals with the possibility of the visa sticker being forged or tampered with. Information on the visa applicants is transmitted electronically through the secure network to all checkpoints to facilitate immigration clearance. Visas may still be necessary for some foreigners but the e-Visa will make it more convenient for visitors to obtain them,” said Mr Eric Tan, Commissioner of ICA.

END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
25 August 2008

ANNEX A

List of visa required nationals eligible to use e-Visa

(1) Commonwealth of Independent States+ (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)

(2) India*

(3) Myanmar*

(4) People’s Republic of China+ (PRC)

(5) Holders of Hong Kong Document of Identity

(6) Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Travel Permit

*Holders of Diplomatic, Official and Service passports are exempted from visa requirements.

+Holders of Diplomatic, Official, Service and Public Affairs passports are exempted from visa requirements for a stay of up to 30 days.

(This information is correct as of 25 August 2008)

For latest update on our visa requirements, please refer to ICA website: http://www.ica.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=96&secid=94