At least one month waiting time for Singapore passport applications
Singaporeans who apply for a new passport might need to wait for about a month, according to the latest update from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
Its website on Monday (April 4) said: "Due to overwhelming passport applications, please expect a longer processing time of at least one month."
This comes as ICA last week said it received an unprecedented number of applications in March, with one million passports either expired or expiring, amid an easing of border restrictions and implementation of a Vaccinated Travel Framework.
Some 6,000 applications are reaching the authority each day, triple the pre-Covid-19 average two years ago of 2,000, it noted.
ICA advised Singaporeans who have plans to travel in the next few months and need to renew their passports to do so early. This can be done via its website.
The application fee is $70.
Once the passports are ready, applicants will be notified and they can make an appointment to collect them at any of 27 designated post offices without paying additional fees.
ICA added that there is no need for Singaporeans who have no plans to travel overseas for the next six months to renew their passports.
The Singapore passport is not a mandatory identity document, and there is no penalty for not renewing passports that have expired, it said.
Since midnight on March 31, all travellers fully vaccinated with two doses against Covid-19 and children aged 12 and below can enter Singapore quarantine-free with just a pre-departure test, unless they are coming from a country or place in the restricted category.
Currently, no country is classified under the restricted category.
Those who are fully vaccinated can also travel freely between Singapore and Malaysia by land, including by driving and on public transport, without testing or quarantine.
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