Singapore Passports With Increased Validity Period Of 10 Years From October 2021

The validity period of the Singapore passport, issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), will be increased from the current five years to 10 years for Singapore Citizens aged 16 and above who submit a passport application on or after 1 October 2021.

This will reduce the frequency of passport renewals, and offer greater convenience to Singaporeans. There will be no change to the passport application fee, which will remain at $70. The validity period of the passport issued to children below 16 years old will remain at five years.

For citizens aged 16 and above, the passport validity will be capped at 10 years, in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) recommendation. Therefore, when a citizen renews the passport, any remaining validity in the old passport cannot be added to the new passport. 

In April 2005, the validity period of the Singapore passport was reduced from 10 years to five years, in conjunction with the introduction of the biometric passport. Reducing the validity period in 2005 was to allow ICA to monitor the stability of the technology and incorporate enhancements, as necessary, when Singaporeans renew their passport. 

It has been 15 years since the introduction of the biometric passport. There is now widespread use of biometric screening technology by immigration authorities around the world to validate travellers’ identity and detect stolen and forged passports. Also, biometric passport technology has stabilised. We now have greater confidence in the durability of the passport microchip. In view of these developments, ICA has assessed that it is now viable to increase the validity of the Singapore passport to 10 years without compromising security or global confidence in the Singapore passport.

Above message from ：https://www.zaobao.com/realtime/singapore/story20210507-1144990