Travel to Singapore: new rules for fully vaccinated Australian visitors
Singapore has added Australia to its list of countries able to visit the city-state quarantine free. Here’s how travel will work.
Slowly but surely the world is reopening to travellers, with Singapore to allow fully vaccinated Australians into the city-state from November 8.
The announcement that Australia would be added to Singapore’s list of “vaccinated travel lane” (VTL) countries came as Canberra flagged the removal of the “do not travel” ban from November 1.
A number of requirements remain in place for Aussies planning to visit Singapore however, on top of the double jab with a vaccine recognised by the World Health Organisation.
These include Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
Children under 12 are exempt from the vaccination requirement, provided they are accompanied by a passenger who is fully compliant.
In addition, would-be visitors need to fill out a “vaccinated traveller pass” (VTP) which will become available from November 1, and travel on a VTL-designated flight.
Applications for the VTP must be made at least seven, and no more than 30-days before the intended day of arrival into Singapore.
Travellers should also be aware that a PCR Covid test with a negative result is required 48-hours before their flight, and then again upon arrival at Changi Airport.
This test must be pre-booked and paid for before flying to Singapore.
Following the test at Changi, travellers must proceed directly to their accommodation by private car, taxi or private hire car and isolate until the test result is confirmed as negative.
Other requirements, including taking out specific Covid-19 travel insurance to cover the cost of medical treatment in Singapore, with a minimum coverage of $30,000.
Finally visitors must download and register for a “tracetogether” app to assist with the contact tracing process while in Singapore.
To assist with the process, Singapore Airlines has announced it will operate two daily “vaccinated travel lane” (VTL) flights from Melbourne and Sydney, while Scoot will also do daily VTL services from Melbourne and four times a week from Sydney.
Singapore Airlines’ regional vice president Louis Arul said the VTL flights would enable quarantine-free travel to Singapore.
“Flight schedules for the VTL flights will be published on our website. These flights are open for booking but will be indicated as VTL flights on our website progressively,” Mr Arul said.
“As we continue to support all levels of government in planning for Australia’s reopening in a safe, sustainable and scalable way, we will remain nimble in deploying capacity to markets as demand warrants.”
Since starting its VTL regime, Singapore has approved more than 15,000 applications from people in Germany, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, US, UK, Spain and the Netherlands.
Australia joins Switzerland as the latest additions to the VTL and Singapore Tourism Board executive Oliver Chong they looked forward to welcoming more visitors.
“We know Aussies are avid travellers and can’t wait to travel overseas, so we hope this will encourage them to make plans to visit Singapore as soon as they can,” Mr Chong said.
“We are confident that this Vaccinated Travel Lane will be warmly welcomed by everyone as we continue to move towards a safe and calibrated reopening of our borders.”
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