Singapore expands VTL to new destinations, restores quotas for land and air travel

Tessa Oh
Published Wed, Feb 16, 2022 · 09:30 PM

SINGAPORE is introducing new Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) with countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and restoring quotas for existing ones - including the land link with Malaysia - as it presses on with border reopening.

The Republic will also simplify its country categories for inbound travellers and free up entry for long-term pass holders - excluding work permit holders - as part of a wider review of border measures, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 announced on Wednesday (Feb 16).

Firms and business leaders said the move will alleviate the labour shortage that they are facing.

From 11.59 pm on Feb 21, only work permit holders and short-term visitors eligible to travel via VTLs will still need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP). Other long-term pass holders, including foreign workers on Employment Passes or S Passes, will no longer need a VTP or Entry Approval to enter Singapore.

Lam Yi Young, chief executive officer of the Singapore Business Federation, welcomed the latest announcements, calling it "a further step towards living with Covid-19 as endemic". "The latest measures will facilitate business travel and business growth," he added.

Ang Yuit, vice-president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, expects that the removal of these requirements could ease the administrative hoops that firms are facing when trying to bring in workers to Singapore.

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Winston Ang, director of construction firm Unicon Group, is similarly positive that the latest move will help with the labour crunch, but said it is too early to tell how big the impact would be.

He was hoping that the eased restrictions would apply to work permit holders as well, but added: "Any news is good news... For me, this is just a testing ground for them to try if this filtered number is okay or not."

From Feb 25, new air VTLs will begin with Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Applications for these VTLs will open on Feb 22.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung clarified that Hong Kong used to be in Category 1, which allows quarantine-free travel, but has been reclassified due to its Covid-19 situation. The unilateral VTL will thus open the way for travellers from Hong Kong to continue entering Singapore without quarantine.

Also on Feb 25, 2-way quarantine-free sea travel between Singapore and Indonesia will resume through the VTL (Sea) from Bintan and Batam. Applications for these will open at 10 am on Feb 22.

For a start, the VTL (Sea) will allow up to 350 travellers weekly from Batam, and another 350 travellers weekly from Bintan to Singapore's Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, on designated services operated by regional ferry operators Batam Fast and Bintan Resort Ferries.

Indonesia already allows travellers from Singapore to travel under its travel bubble to Nongsapura International Ferry Terminal in Batam and Bandar Bintan Telani Ferry Terminal in Bintan, without the need for quarantine.

In a separate statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said VTLs with the Philippines and Israel will open up from March 4, with applications from Mar 1.

Singapore also plans to expand its VTL with Thailand to all cities, said Minister for Transport S Iswaran, without giving details.

Quotas for air VTLs - previously halved due to the Omicron wave - will be fully restored with immediate effect, and return to 15,000 travellers by Mar 4, said CAAS. Meanwhile, quotas for the land VTL with Malaysia will be restored from Feb 22. Additional bus tickets go on sale with immediate effect.

Ong said that border measures were previously aimed at controlling imported case numbers. But now that imported cases make up only 1 per cent of Singapore's total daily cases, the rules should focus on whether visitors will burden the healthcare system here if they are infected with Covid-19.

"Hence, we should actually emphasise less on stay-home notices and tests on travellers and more on ensuring that they are fully vaccinated and boosted," said Ong, adding that this marks a "fundamental change" in Singapore's travel schemes.

"Our ultimate goal is quarantine-free travel for all vaccinated travellers," said Iswaran.

The first step in this is to continue having more VTLs, before eventually moving to a vaccinated traveller scheme, said Ong.

Under the simpler border protocols, which take effect at 11.59 pm on Feb 21, travellers arriving on VTLs will no longer need to go through the enhanced testing regime, and - along with travellers from Category 1 countries - will no longer need to take an on-arrival polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Instead, they only need to take a supervised self-swab antigen rapid test (ART) at one of the designated test centres within 24 hours of arriving in Singapore.

Other changes include a shorter travel history period of 7 days, down from 14 currently, and a standardised 7-day stay-home notice for arrivals from all countries and regions.

Categories 2, 3 and 4 will be combined into a single "general travel" category, while a new "restricted" category will be created for countries and regions with developing Covid-19 situations that require stricter border controls. For now, there are no countries under the "restricted" category.

Meanwhile, travellers from Category 1 countries, which have very low infection rates, can continue to enter without quarantine.

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