I’m sure most of you whose passports have expired during the pandemic have not booked an appointment with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to renew them.
After all, so many countries were under lockdown back then and there was no point for us to renew our passport since travel was out of the question.
Plus, we had to go all the way down to the ICA building to collect the passports after renewing them.
That or pay a fee between $6 to $12 to have the passports delivered to our nearest SingPost outlet.
But, well, guess what? COVID-19 isn’t all bad news; here’s some good news to kickstart your process.
From 1 October 2021 onwards, you no longer have to pay extra just to collect your passport or your NRIC from any of the 27 designated post offices!
Providing Convenience
In a statement released by ICA, Singapore’s border superheroes say that they will waive the additional service fees so that the process is more convenient for Singaporeans and permanent residents.
This move was also made to encourage more people to collect their Singapore passports and/or NRIC from their nearest post office.
Once your documents are ready for collection, all you have to do is to make an online appointment via ICA’s e-Appointment portal and you can select the post office you would like to collect your documents from.
Here is the list of 27 designated post offices that you can choose from:
Not Everyone Is Eligible
While most Singaporeans and permanent residents would be able to enjoy this new convenience, some residents may still have to collect their documents from the ICA building directly.
As SingPost staff members rely on biometrics to verify your identity before giving you the documents, those who have had prior unsuccessful biometric verification in transactions with ICA would have no choice but to collect their documents from the ICA building.
But what if I don’t remember? How do I know my eligibility then?
Don’t worry, your eligibility will be made known to you via the e-Appointment site once your documents are ready for collection.
If you can select the various post offices, then it means that your identity can be verified using biometrics.
If you can only select the ICA building for collection, then it means you have indeed had unsuccessful biometric verification previously.
Reduced Passport Renewal Frequency
Other than absorbing the service cost, ICA will also increase the validity period of Singapore passports for Singapore citizens aged 16 and above from five years to 10 years, as long as you submit an application on or after 1 October 2021.
Through this extension, Singapore citizens will no longer have to renew their passports as frequently as before.
Which kind of makes sense since, well, we don’t know if we can travel anytime soon, yeah? And even if we can, most would probably wait for the prices to drop a little before going all out.
For those aged 16 and below, the validity period of the Singapore passport will remain at five years.
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