My first opportunity to review the new Electronic Arrival Card, which replaces the traditional paper immigration form, came a few weeks ago when I was flying through Singapore on the way to Vietnam.
The Electronic Arrival Card is currently available to all foreign visitors as long as they are not arriving on a cruise ship, and you can register your visit up to 14 days in advance.
I found it to be a simple process taking 5 minutes and saved on filling out paperwork on the plane. Your profile is saved in the app so future submissions are even faster.
In this post:
Getting The Singapore Electronic Arrival Card App
The official SG Arrival Card app from the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) of Singapore is available as a free download for both Android and iOS.
Setting Up Your Profile
The first step is setting up your profile, which is essentially entering your passport and contact details.
There is also the option to take a photo of the Machine Readable Zone of your passport to autofill but this wasn’t working for my Australian passport using the current beta version.
Registering Your Visit (Individual or Group)
The SG Arrival Card app allows you to register an individual visit or for a group of up to 10 travelling together.
Details required are the same as you would find on the paper form including date of entry and exit, flight details and last port of embarkation.
For my visit, the entry and exit dates were the same (as I was just going to visit Jewel, the new shopping mall at Changi Airport) which the app accepted without any issues.
Entering & Leaving Singapore
The experience is identical to entering using a paper immigration form. I lined up at the immigration desks at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and advised the immigration officer that I had registered my visit using the new app.
They were able to process my entry in the customarily efficient Changi style and I was through in a few minutes.
Departing Singapore a few hours later, the immigration officer asked me where my white card (the part of the immigration form they return to you when entering, and required to leave the country) was. I told him I had registered my visit using the new SG Arrival Card app and he was able to process me without further issue.
Tip: Let the immigration officer know that you used the SG Arrival Card app when departing Singapore to save being asked about your ‘white card’
Alternative For Frequent Visitors To Singapore
If you have an Australian, New Zealand, American or British passport and visit Singapore at least 2 times in the past 24 months, you are eligible for the Frequent Traveller Program.
Once you’ve completed the registration form and enrolled in person (a 10 minute process), you will be able to use the automated clearance system eIACS. It’s basically the Singaporean version of Australia’s Smart Gate, using fingerprints instead of facial recognition to authenticate the traveller.
You will no longer need to fill out an immigration form, paper or electronic, for each visit.
Summary
The new Electronic Arrival Card makes visiting Singapore even easier for the occasional visitor. It takes minutes to set up your profile and register your first visit, with future visits being even simpler.
If you are a frequent visitor to Singapore, you may find it worthwhile to register for the Frequent Traveller Program to skip the occasionally long lines at immigration and no longer need to fill out an arrival card at all.
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WOW Milton that’s great, I hope other Countries adopt this process, so quick and easy.
Thanks Jodie, agreed. Australia has done well to eliminate the departure card and SmartGate is very smooth.