China Overseas Chinese Network, May 8th. According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore citizens aged 16 and above who apply for passport renewal from October 1, 2021, will receive a Singapore passport with a validity period of five years from the current five years to ten years.
The Bureau of Immigration and Checkpoints issued a statement on the 7th that increasing the validity period of the Singapore passport will reduce the frequency of passport renewal and provide greater convenience for Malaysians.
The application fee for passport renewal remains unchanged at 70 Singapore dollars.
The validity period of passports for children under the age of 16 is maintained at five years.
After the validity period of the passport is increased to ten years, the remaining validity period of the existing passport of Singaporeans cannot be added to the new passport.
Singapore shortened the validity period of local passports from ten years to five years in April 2005, and cooperated with the launch of passports using biometric authentication technology.
Passports with a shorter validity period helped the authorities monitor the stability of this technology and incorporate necessary technological improvements when renewing passports.
As Singapore has adopted biometric authentication passports for 15 years, the authorities have stated that this technology has been stabilized and has been widely used by immigration authorities in many countries.
In light of these developments, extending the validity of a Singapore passport will not compromise the security or global credibility of the passport.
(Lin Jingwen)