Can I enter SG as a short term visitor while my EP application is still being processed

[scotsm]

Hello all, my husband and I are in our 40s. Both of us received job offers from Singapore companies a couple of months ago. Our respective employers submitted our EP applications and my husband's EP was approved very quickly. My EP is still pending approval for 2 months and I don't know when it will be approved. Soon my husband will have to go to Singapore to start his job. I would like to know:

1) if I can travel with him and enter Singapore as a short term visitor (I am a UK citizen so I don't need a visa) while my EP application is still being processed?

2) if I can do the above and my EP is approved when I am inside Singapore, do I have to leave the country and re-enter with the EP approval letter?

We will be travelling via a VTL (vaccinated travel lane) flight and have already got the VTP (vaccinated travel pass). We are aware of all the pre-departure and post-arrival CoVID testing requirements.

Thanks for your help.

[Ignorant1]

Hello all, my husband and I are in our 40s. Both of us received job offers from Singapore companies a couple of months ago. Our respective employers submitted our EP applications and my husband's EP was approved very quickly. My EP is still pending approval for 2 months and I don't know when it will be approved. Soon my husband will have to go to Singapore to start his job. I would like to know:

1) if I can travel with him and enter Singapore as a short term visitor (I am a UK citizen so I don't need a visa) while my EP application is still being processed?

2) if I can do the above and my EP is approved when I am inside Singapore, do I have to leave the country and re-enter with the EP approval letter?

We will be travelling via a VTL (vaccinated travel lane) flight and have already got the VTP (vaccinated travel pass). We are aware of all the pre-departure and post-arrival CoVID testing requirements.

Thanks for your help.

1) yes. You can .

2) you don’t need to leave country and re enter. Just keep the entry card ( if they still give that ) with you As you may be asked for that .

[scotsm]

Thank you so much.

[Lisafuller]

Yes you can, make sure to retain all your documentation.

[scotsm]

Thanks for your replies. I am happy to say that I finally received my EP in principle approval just the day before I was supposed to fly! I am now in Singapore. I will be checking this forum a lot from now on!

[intoview5]

Hi,

How fast did your husband's EP got approved? HR submitted my EP application today and i wonder how long it'll take. I am also travelling from UK. What Moving Company did you use? Thank you.

[scotsm]

My husband's job offer was from a big Singaporean bank, the EP was approved in around two weeks (maybe one or two days more). My job offer was from a small consultant firm. It took two months from the official date of submission. I can't blame the MoM because there are some extra requirements for candidates whose degrees are from India or China, and my company's HR person had to go back and furnish those requirements. I think that's what caused the delay.

I used a shipping company based in my city in Scotland. The chief seemed to be quite clued-in on what was required. Now I just have to wait for a couple of months or maybe more -- apparently shipping lanes are quite busy.

[intoview5]

Can you share with me what process do you have to do upon entering Singapore with the IPA? Do you have to report to ICA building within a period of time and submit the IPA and replace it with a work ID? Thought i read it somewhere on the internet.

[scotsm]

Can you share with me what process do you have to do upon entering Singapore with the IPA? Do you have to report to ICA building within a period of time and submit the IPA and replace it with a work ID? Thought i read it somewhere on the internet.

I will recap my experience from what I can still remember -- please note I may not remember exactly:

I don't know what travel lane you are using to enter Singapore and if your country is on the visa-required list of countries -- I have a British passport and I used the Vaccinated Travel Lane to fly from Amsterdam to Singapore. Assuming that you fulfil the requirements of the 'Safe Travel Lane'/'Vaccinated Travel Lane' etc. what happens at the immigration at Changi Airport is that you show your passport and boarding pass and they check against their systems (because they should have already received your electronic arrival card from you). I asked if they wanted to see my IPA letter, but they said something like they already had it (didn't hear them clearly). Then they let you go and you rush off to fetch your luggage and do the on-arrival PCR test and whatnot. You will soon receive the electronic Visit Pass by email, ie the electronic version of the passport stamp that tells you how long you can stay in Singapore on this entry. The idea is that you must get your EP or work pass issued within this time frame.

For issuance of the EP, your company has to submit a few documents on your behalf in the MoM portal. Note that you do not need to have a residential address in Singapore at this point, as the EP can be issued to the office address of the company as a temporary measure. Your company HR should ask you to send them your VTL approval (if applicable), your SG arrival card and the electronic Visit Pass that I mentioned above. They may also ask you for a SG mobile number to reach you on, but that is also not strictly necessary, as far as I could ascertain from the MoM website. It is enough that somebody is named as the contact person and their contact details provided. Anyway, you can get a prepaid SIM if you want.

Once these details are provided to MoM, then you will be sent a declaration form that you should review (because it will be already filled in) and sign and date if everything looks okay. Your education dates are set by default for the first day of the month, so don't worry about that. Your company HR will send on the signed declaration form and then you'll very soon receive notification that your EP has been issued. The notification letter will tell you to go to a website and make an appointment with the Employment Services department for 'card registration'. Be sure to print or save as pdf the confirmation of the appointment when you have booked it. You have to show up with your original travel document (by which I assume passport), the notification letter and the appointment confirmation, and any other docs that are mentioned in the notification letter. My appointment is next week.
Note that as soon as you receive the notification that your EP has been issued, you can start working legally. But you have to do the card registration within a certain number of days mentioned on the notification letter. Your physical EP card will be sent to the address that your company provided.

I hope this helps. I found that I had to do a bit of homework myself by viewing the MoM website and assisting my company's HR as they weren't sure about some things themselves.

[intoview5]

This is very helpful. Thank you very much. Hope all goes well in your appointment.