Are you an international student going to Singapore? If yes, this article is a guide to assist you to understand the timeline and how the student pass process works. Some information here is relevant to my university (NUS), so your process may be a little different from mine. Let’s get started!
Step1: You need to accept an offer from the university, and pay an acceptance fee (if applicable).
Step 2: The university will send your information (Name, Course, etc) to ICA so that they know you are going to Singapore as a student soon.
Step 3: Three months before your course starts, go for a medical examination. I have to submit two medical examination reports to ICA and my university.
- ICA requires
1. Medical Examination Report completed by a doctor. Don’t need to fill in the Declaration part.
2. HIV test report
3. TB (Chest X-ray) report. It’s a report with an English description, no need to submit an X-ray film with your skeletons. - My university requires
1. Personal particulars — just to check whether you have any medical history such as allergies, surgical procedures, injuries, etc. You complete this part by yourself.
2. Medical Examination completed by a doctor. You will be examined for Blood pressure, Heart rate, Colour vision, Visual acuity, Abnormalities, Urinalysis, Urine FEME, Chest X-ray, etc.
For the medical examination, I recommend you complete all checkups in one day, so you can do the X-ray one time for both reports. Documents for ICA will be used in the next steps. For university documents, you can just email them, the process is not relevant to the student pass.
Step 4: Two months before your course starts, the university will send an email to you with Student’s Pass Application Number (NU-YYYY-000000000012345). Input your information on ICA Student Pass Application System.
Step 5: Submit eForm16. In this step, you have to input information. Some students asked me what they should input for RACE. This blank field confused me too because I am a mix of Chinese, Thai, and very little French. Well… to play safe just input the word ASIAN (See my reference).
Step 6: Pay SGD30 for Processing Fee. After that, upload three documents in Step 3. You should upload all of them together. I misunderstood and submit only the medical examination report, resulting in an amendment. ICA asked me to upload HIV and TB report again. My mistake delayed the application process.
Step 7: Once ICA reviewed the document, you will receive an In-Principle Approval (IPA) with the application ID (IHL-YYYY-APP-00000XXXX). You have to pay another SGD60 for Student Pass Issuance Fee in 7 days. IPA is a document to allow you to enter Singapore as a student.
Step 8: Having IPA is not enough for you to enter Singapore during the COVID19 outbreak. You must get Entry Approval to enter Singapore! This is the most difficult part that I spent 22 days getting it.😢 If you are stuck with it, read tips here!
Step 9: Once you get the Entry approval, arrive in Singapore and finish quarantine. You must make an appointment to collect your student pass (hard card) at the ICA office. This is Step 3: Completion of Formalities mentioned in IPA.
Step 10: Hooraaayy now you get the student pass which is your ID card for staying in Singapore long-term. Enjoy your study, mate! 😊
TIMELINE
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