Singapore · Visitor

Singapore entry visa

Singapore entry visa is issued by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). VisaAI tracks 20 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.

Last verified against the official source on .

VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.

Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s own page before you apply.

Conditions you must meet

  • Your travel document, not your citizenship, decides whether you need a visaICA's list is a list of issuing countries and places for TRAVEL DOCUMENTS. A person holding a document issued by one of them needs a visa regardless of any other nationality they hold.
  • Every traveller needs their own travel document, at any ageCollective travel documents are not accepted, so a child cannot travel on a parent's document.
  • The visa is permission to travel and ask, not permission to enterICA states this twice on the same page, in two different forms. The decision to admit is taken by an officer at the checkpoint, after the visa is granted.
  • A valid visa does not guarantee entryThe plainest sentence on the page, and the one most often assumed away.
  • How long you may stay is decided at the checkpoint, not by the visaThe period of stay comes from the electronic visit pass issued on arrival. A visa valid for two years does not mean two years of stay, and extending the stay is a separate application.
  • Your visit pass arrives by email, and nothing is stamped in your passportSince 11 March 2022 the pass is digital. The email address given on the SG Arrival Card is where the period of stay and last day of stay are stated, so a wrong address means not knowing when you must leave.
  • The SG Arrival Card is not a visaICA says so on the visa page itself, because the two are routinely confused. Submitting an arrival card does not obtain a visa, and a visa does not remove the arrival-card obligation.
  • For 14 nationalities a letter of introduction is only case-by-caseArmenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Read from ICA's own detail pages and re-provable with scripts/visa-registry/sg-entry-visa-groups.mjs.
  • Who may issue that letter of introductionA Singapore citizen or permanent resident, at least 21, with a Singpass account. For a business visit the contact must act for the Singapore-registered business. ICA also allows the applicant's own embassy to issue the letter where no local contact can be secured — the escape hatch that keeps this from being a hard sponsor requirement.

Official forms

  • Form 14A, completed and signed by you (14A)The application form itself. ICA states that the application is decided on what this form declares, and that it may ask for the form to be produced.Official form
  • For 19 nationalities a completed Form V39A letter of introduction is required (V39A)Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. Not case-by-case: the form is on the required-documents list. Same visa, same fee, same processing time as the other 14 — and a Singaporean sponsor is needed before the application can be made at all.Official form

Documents you must provide

  • A passport-sized colour photograph taken within the last three monthsThree months, not the usual six.
  • A photocopy of your passport biodata page, valid at least six months from entryThe six months runs from the date you enter Singapore, not from the date you apply.
  • Originals plus official translations, and copies for ICA to keepICA names who may translate — the issuing country's embassy, a notary public, or a private translation attested or notarised — and says plainly that it endorses no translation company and that insufficient documentation may mean the application is not accepted.

Steps in the process

  • The application cannot be handed in at an immigration counterThere is no over-the-counter route at the border.
  • Submit online through a Singapore local contact or a strategic partnerThe e-Service is not opened to the applicant directly. Somebody in Singapore with a Singpass or Corppass account submits on your behalf.
  • Without a local contact, apply through an authorised visa agent or a Singapore overseas missionICA names the alternative rather than leaving the applicant stuck, and directs the detail question to the mission rather than answering it centrally.
  • Apply within 30 days before arrivalICA's own advice, on both regimes' pages, and it cuts both ways: too early is as much a problem as too late.
  • Processed within three working days, excluding the day you submitICA qualifies its own figure twice: the submission day does not count, and some applications take longer.

Government fees

  • S$30, non-refundable, paid online by Visa or MastercardSGD 30Non-refundable means it is spent whether or not the visa is granted, and ICA names the only two card networks it takes.

Official sources

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