Singapore travellers via land checkpoints not required to show physical copy of vaccination certificate

[ASEAN NOW News]

View of the Causeway past Singapore's Woodlands Checkpoint towards Johor on Apr 1, 2022. (Photo: CNA/Marcus Mark Ramos)

 

SINGAPORE: Travellers entering Singapore via the land checkpoints from Malaysia are not required to produce a physical copy of their COVID-19 vaccination certificate, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Tuesday (Apr 5) reported CNA. 

 

"As long as these travellers have submitted their SG Arrival Card, their vaccination records will be validated backend with the MOH (Ministry of Health) system," the agency added.

 

ICA said it was issuing a clarification on the matter following a WhatsApp message circulating about a traveller's experience through one of the land checkpoints. 

 

The message claimed that travellers entering Singapore were required to produce physical copies of their vaccination records, a COVID-19 recovery memo or a softcopy record of the SG Arrival Card. 

 

It said a physical vaccination certificate was needed as ICA's systems and MOH's systems were "not linked", and travellers should not assume that ICA would have access to travellers' vaccination records. 

 

The message also claimed that a softcopy record of the SG Arrival Card was needed as ICA's systems were not able to detect the traveller's submission.

 

On Tuesday, ICA stressed that returning Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders who were vaccinated here are not required to produce a physical copy of their vaccination certificate.

 

Residents and foreign visitors who were vaccinated overseas and have successfully uploaded their digital vaccination certificates while submitting their SG Arrival Card, are also not required to produce a physical copy to ICA officers. 

 

Under the current Vaccinated Travel Framework, travellers who have recovered from COVID-19 do not have to provide a recovery memo when travelling via land checkpoints, said ICA. 

 

"As SG Arrival Card submissions are automatically reflected in our immigration clearance system, travellers need not show proof of their submission to ICA officers," the agency added.