Complete guide to Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF)

Singapore has made the biggest step to ease border restrictions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an end to its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme on 1st April 2022, in favour of a new Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF) scheme, under which fully vaccinated travellers arriving from any country are now eligible to enter quarantine-free.

All fully vaccinated travellers and children aged 12 and under entering Singapore from 1st April 2022 are now able to travel quarantine-free via any flight from any part of the world under the scheme, as the country re-calibrates travel requirements based predominantly on a traveller’s’ COVID-19 vaccination status, rather than their travel history.

Singapore Vaccinated Travel Framework
Key Points

• Fully vaccinated travellers can travel to Singapore from any country without serving quarantine or an SHN period
• No more VTL flights – arrive on any flight, operated by any airline
• No more Vaccinated Travel Pass for short-term visitors
• No more pre-departure test [from 26 April 2022]
• No more on-arrival test in Singapore

  VTF Process (ICA)

Here’s what you need to know about how the travel process has changed for air travellers, now that the VTL is a thing of the the past and the (far simpler) VTF is in force.

What’s changed?

Before we get into the details, here’s a summary of the eligibility and process changes for quarantine-free arrivals, reflecting Singapore’s transition from the VTL to the VTF.

🇸🇬 Singapore
VTL vs. VTF

Vaccination
VTL	VTF
Be fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine. Booster dose is not required. Children aged 12 or below are exempt from vaccination requirements. Proof of vaccine administration must have been issued in Singapore, or in any VTL country, or in any EU member state, or in any non-EU countries that have joined the EU DCC system. Have an accepted digital proof of vaccination.	Be fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine. Booster dose is not required. Children aged 12 or below are exempt from vaccination requirements. Proof of vaccination can be issued by any country. Digital or paper-based vaccination certificates are accepted.

Travel History
VTL	VTF
Last seven consecutive days spent only in VTL countries, Category 1 countries or travel history approved countries (EEA + 3).	No travel history in restricted countries during the last seven consecutive days. There are currently no restricted countries.

Travel Insurance
VTL	VTF
Short-term visitors must have COVID-19 travel insurance with a minimum coverage of S$30,000.	Insurance is no longer required for any travellers.

Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP)
VTL	VTF
Short-term visitors and selected Singapore pass holders must apply for a VTP within 3-60 days prior to arrival.	A VTP is no longer required for any travellers.

SG Arrival Card (Health Declaration)
VTL	VTF
All passengers should complete the SG Arrival Card, from up to three days prior to departure, and at the latest on arrival in Singapore.	All passengers should complete the SG Arrival Card, from 72 hours prior to arrival, and at the latest on arrival in Singapore.

Flights to Singapore
VTL	VTF
Travel on your final flight to Singapore only on a designated VTL flight. Any en-route transits must be in other VTL, Category 1 or travel history approved countries (EEA + 3).	Travel on any flight to Singapore with any airline through any transit points.

COVID-19 Tests
VTL	VTF
PCR or ART test no more than two days before departure. Self-administered ART test within 24 hours of arrival.	No pre-departure test since 26th April 2022. No on-arrival test.

Post-arrival isolation
VTL	VTF
Isolate at your place of accommodation until a negative on-arrival test result is obtained and reported.	No post-arrival isolation.

Eligibility

To be eligible to travel to Singapore quarantine-free under the VTF, air passengers must be:

• Fully vaccinated against COVID-19; or
• Aged 12 and below (i.e. born in or after 2010, for arrivals in 2022) and not fully vaccinated

Fully vaccinated definition

In order to be considered fully vaccinated for entry into Singapore under the VTF, you must meet one the following conditions at least two weeks before arrival:

• Received the full regimen of WHO EUL Vaccines (see below) and meet the minimum dose interval period; or
• If you contracted COVID-19 before being vaccinated, you must have received at least one dose of any WHO EUL Vaccine (see below) at least 28 days from your first diagnosis of a COVID-19 infection. You must produce acceptable proof of your first positive COVID-19 diagnosis in this case.

Approved Vaccines

Manufacturer / Vaccine	Doses	Minimum interval between doses
Pfizer/BioNTech Comirnaty	2 doses	17 days
Moderna	2 doses	24 days
AstraZeneca	2 doses	24 days
Covaxin	2 doses	24 days
Serum Institute of India (Covishield)	2 doses	24 days
Janssen / J&J	1 dose	N/A
Sinopharm	2 doses	17 days
Novavax	2 doses	17 days
Sinovac	2 doses	13 days
Two doses of different vaccine types, both from the list above	2 doses	17 days

A booster dose is not required to be considered fully vaccinated for the purposes of entering Singapore via the VTF.

Proof of vaccination is preferably via digitally-verifiable means (QR code) for faster arrival processing, but unlike the VTL requirements, non-digital (paper-based) certificates are also accepted under the VTF.

See here for full details.

Visa requirements

If your passport is issued in one of these 36 countries, you will need a visa to travel to and enter Singapore.

• Afghanistan
• Algeria
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Bangladesh
• Belarus
• China
• Egypt
• Georgia
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kosovo
• Kyrgyzstan
• Lebanon
• Libya

• Mali
• Moldova
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• North Korea
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tajikistan
• Tunisia
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan
• Yemen

Remember, the SG Arrival Card (SGAC), which must be completed by all passengers, is not a visa.

Further information on obtaining an entry visa is available at the ICA website.

Additional approvals

If you are a non-Malaysian Work Permit In-principle Approval holder employed in the Construction, Marine shipyard and Process Sector (CMP worker), you will need to apply for Entry Approval from the Ministry of Manpower at least 3 working days before your intended date of departure.

If you are travelling from a country in Africa or South America that is endemic for Yellow Fever, you are also required to produce a valid Yellow Fever vaccination certificate for entry into Singapore. Further details, including a list of affected countries, is available here.

Eligible countries

All countries and regions around the world are currently in Singapore’s General Travel category, meaning there are no travel history requirements for VTF travellers.

This is a welcome change from the VTL scheme, which had specific travel history requirements.

Designated flights

Under the VTL, travellers had to enter Singapore on designated VTL flights approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

This was arguably one of the most complex elements of the scheme, leading to our full list of these services recording over 427,000 views in the five months since we launched the page.

While we are happy this resource was so valuable to so many readers from all around the world, we’re also very happy to confirm that the designated VTL flight concept has been completely done away with in the new VTF scheme.

Travellers can now arrive in Singapore on any flight, with any routing, from or via any country, on any airline and still enjoy the quarantine-free arrival process, under the VTF from 1st April 2022.

This opens up exciting new options including:

• Any flight on a Middle East carrier, adding Gulf Air services from Bahrain and all Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad flights, which had some quarantine-free VTL options but not every day of the week.
• Transits from the USA via Japan on JAL and ANA.
• Transits from Europe and the USA on all Turkish Airlines flights via Istanbul (only Sunday flights had the VTL tick)
• Quarantine-free flights from non-VTL countries already open to tourists, like Singapore Airlines services from Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Additionally, this will hopefully encourage more airlines to restore services to Changi, like Air Mauritius, Ethiopian Airlines and LOT Polish, increasing options and reducing costs for travellers on transit itineraries.

Incumbent Singapore-based carriers may also reopen some non-VTL routes after 1st April 2022, like Scoot to Lombok and Jetstar to Medan and Surabaya. Let’s hope for some announcements like that soon.

Testing

Fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Singapore under the VTF scheme from 1st April 2022 will still require a pre-departure COVID-19 test (until 26th April 2022), but the self-swab ART on-arrival test within 24 hours of clearing immigration has thankfully been removed.

This also cancels any on-arrival self-isolation requirement, leaving you free to roam and enjoy your trip or simply get on with everyday life as a returning resident immediately, like in pre-COVID times.

The pre-departure test (PDT) requirement is:

• A negative clinic PCR test; or
• A professionally administered (clinic) ART test

Within two calendar days of departure (e.g. if your flight departs for Singapore at 11.55pm on Wednesday, you can take the test anytime on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday).