SINGAPORE — With Covid-19 cases declining in Singapore and some other places around the world, several agreements have been struck to progressively ease travel restrictions for people who wish to leave or enter the Republic for various purposes.

The latest and most significant agreement to date was announced on Thursday (Oct 15). Under an in-principle agreement for an air travel bubble, travellers here will soon be able to make leisure trips to Hong Kong without needing to complete a quarantine or stay-home notice (SHN) period.

More details, including the start date, will be announced later. It is the first agreement so far which allows people from Singapore to visit another destination for leisure, and the 10th place to have a travel arrangement with Singapore to date.

TODAY looks at the different types of special travel arrangements which Singapore has with various places:

RECIPROCAL GREEN LANE (RGL)

• With Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia

The RGL agreement allows people that have stayed in Singapore or these countries for 14 days to travel between them for business or official reasons for up to 14 days. For people travelling from Singapore to Indonesia, applications start on Oct 26. Applications have opened for Brunei, Japan and Malaysia.

Travellers must abide by restrictions such as following their declared itinerary. Their visit must also be applied for by a company or government agency. Upon arrival, they must take a Covid-19 test and isolate themselves for one to two days until their test results are out.

Before departing, travellers must:

• Stay in their departure country for the last 14 days before departure

• Test negative for a Covid-19 test done within 72 hours from departure

• Get approval from the destination country for their itinerary and accommodation

• Travel to the country on a direct flight without transit

• Download the destination country’s relevant contact tracing application

FAST LANE

• With China, South Korea

Similar to the RGL, the fast lane allows legal residents of Singapore and the host country to visit these countries for short-term essential business or official reasons applied for by a company or government agency.

However, unlike RGL, the fast lane arrangement allows visitors to stay longer than 14 days, depending on their visa or visit pass. During the first 14 days, they must abide by their pre-declared itinerary.

While the fast lane arrangement in China applies to only five provinces and municipalities (Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang), visitors can travel for business or official reasons to other regions within China after 14 days based on domestic travel restrictions.

PERIODIC COMMUTING ARRANGEMENT (PCA)

• With Malaysia

Residents in Singapore and Malaysia can travel across the border for longer-term work and business-related travel under the PCA.

Applications must be submitted by their companies and the travellers need to remain on the other side of the border for at least 90 days.

In addition to health screenings and applications, they will be subjected to a seven-day SHN, and can only travel using the two land border crossings at the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints.

When Singapore citizens and permanent residents complete their 90 days of visit and travel back home for a short-term home leave, they may apply for a waiver for their SHN. They will take a swab test upon arrival instead at their own cost.
 

AIR TRAVEL PASS

• With Australia (except Victoria State), Brunei, New Zealand, Vietnam

This unilateral agreement allows short-term visitors from the countries on this list to visit Singapore for leisure, business and official purposes.

Visitors must have spent 14 day consecutive days in the departure country before coming to Singapore. They can visit Singapore for up to seven days.

However, border restrictions are still in place in Australia, and travellers must apply for an exemption to leave their respective country. New Zealand meanwhile advises its citizens to avoid travelling.
 

AIR TRAVEL BUBBLE

• With Hong Kong

This arrangement allows people to travel between Singapore and Hong Kong on dedicated flights without having to serve a quarantine or SHN upon arrival.

The two governments are working out the details, including the start date, and these will be announced in the coming weeks.

As part of the arrangement, there will be no restrictions on the purpose of travel. Travellers from both sides, however, must produce negative results on mutually recognised Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
 

ENTERING S’PORE: REQUIREMENTS FOR TRAVELLERS FROM CERTAIN PLACES

Singapore has on the other hand imposed stricter requirements for visitors who have recent travel history to certain places. As of Thursday, these places are Indonesia, Philippines, India and the Malaysian state of Sabah.

As there has been a spike in cases in Sabah, all travellers with travel history to Sabah in the last 14 days will have to serve a 14-day SHN at dedicated facilities from 11.59pm on Oct 14. This will also apply to Singapore-based travellers returning under the RGL and Malaysian citizens and PR entering Singapore via the PCA with travel history to Sabah.

As for other parts of Malaysia, travellers outside of the RGL will have to serve a 7-day SHN at their place of residence.

For non-Singaporean or PR travellers with recent travel history to Indonesia and Philippines, a pre-departure Covid-19 test must be taken within 72 hours from departing for Singapore.

This will be effective from 11.59pm on Oct 19.

With effect from Oct 12, travellers from India transferring through Singapore will also have to present a negative Covid-19 test result. Previously, only non-Singapore citizens or PRs with recent travel history to India were required to present negative valid Covid-19 results to enter Singapore.