Most people asking this question do not need a visa, and the ones who do are a short, specific list rather than a judgement call. ICA publishes it. This page reproduces it in full, adds the six travel documents that need a visa whatever passport you also hold, and explains the requirement that actually stops people — which is not the visa, it is finding a Singaporean to submit the application.
Holders of travel documents from 34 countries need a visa. Everyone else enters visa-free and is given a Visit Pass at the checkpoint. Separately, six document types need a visa no matter which country issued them. If your passport is not on either list, you have nothing to apply for.
Verified against ICA on 13 October 2026. This list does change — check it against ICA before you book, and treat any third-party list, including this one, as a starting point rather than the authority.
Source: ICA — visa requirements. Verified 13 October 2026.
This is the part almost nobody writes about, and it produces the most expensive mistakes, because the traveller has checked the country list, found their country absent, and stopped reading. The document in your hand matters as much as the country on its cover.
| Document | Why it catches people |
|---|---|
| Palestinian Authority passport | A visa is required regardless of where you live. |
| Hong Kong SAR Document of Identity | The DOI is not the HKSAR passport. Hong Kong residents who hold a DOI rather than a passport need a visa, which catches people out because their neighbours travelling on an HKSAR passport do not. |
| Macao SAR Travel Permit | Same distinction as above: the Travel Permit is not the Macao SAR passport. |
| PRC Travel Document | Also not a passport. A Chinese citizen travelling on a PRC passport does not need a visa; one travelling on a PRC Travel Document does. |
| Temporary passport issued by the United Arab Emirates | The full UAE passport is a different case; the temporary document needs a visa. |
| Refugee travel document or alien’s passport | A visa is required, and the document itself is separately assessed for recognition before entry. |
Singapore also does not accept collective travel documents. Everyone needs an individually issued one, which matters for school and tour groups.
Free, electronic, and not a visa. Most travellers submit it within three days before arrival. It is a health and immigration declaration, it costs nothing, and any site charging you for it is not ICA. ICA exempts passengers who stay in transit without clearing immigration, and residents arriving through Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints. Our first-time visitors guide covers the filing.
A visa is permission to present yourself at the checkpoint. How long you may stay is set separately, by the Visit Pass an ICA officer issues on arrival, and it is not tied to your visa's validity. Thirty days is the common stamp and some nationalities get ninety; neither is promised by holding a visa, and a visa is not a guarantee of entry.
A different scheme for a different situation. Some nationals of Georgia, India, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the CIS states and selected PRC travellers can transit Singapore without a visa even though entry would require one. It applies to transit, not entry, and it has its own conditions — see the transit visa guide.
The fee is SGD 30, non-refundable, and processing is three working days excluding the day you submit. Those are the easy parts.
The hard part: an online application through ICA's e-Service must be submitted by a Local Contact — a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, at least 21 years old — and the fee is charged to them. If you are visiting Singapore for the first time and know nobody there, you cannot file online yourself. That is not a widely advertised detail and it is the single most common reason a first application stalls.
The alternatives are an authorised visa agent or a Singapore Overseas Mission, which is why a visa agency industry exists around a SGD 30 government fee. Agents are legitimate and often the sensible route; just know that what you are paying for is the filing, not faster approval or a better outcome. Compare two or three, and be wary of anyone promising an expedited decision — the three working days are ICA's, not the agent's.
Apply early rather than close to your dates. Three working days is the published time, some applications take longer, and a visa that arrives after your flight is money spent for nothing.
We have detailed guides for three of these, written around transit because that is what most of the traffic is asking about:
And for two nationalities that are frequently assumed to need one and do not: Chinese citizens and Filipinos.
Thirty-four. ICA lists Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Yemen. Six document types need a visa regardless of nationality. Verified against ICA on 13 October 2026.
No, and the difference decides whether you need one. China is not on ICA’s visa-required list, so a PRC passport needs no visa. A PRC Travel Document does. The same trap applies to the Hong Kong SAR Document of Identity and the Macao SAR Travel Permit, neither of which is the matching passport.
SGD 30, non-refundable, for an online application through ICA’s e-Service. The fee is charged to your Local Contact. An authorised visa agent or a Singapore Overseas Mission will charge their own fee on top of that.
Not online, unless you have a Local Contact — a Singapore citizen or permanent resident aged 21 or over — to submit it for you and be charged the fee. Without one, the routes are an authorised visa agent or a Singapore Overseas Mission.
Three working days, excluding the day of submission. ICA notes some applications take longer, so apply well before your travel dates rather than close to them.
No. It is a free electronic declaration most travellers submit within three days before arrival, and it is not a substitute for a visa or a guarantee of entry. Anyone charging you for it is not ICA.
No. A visa is pre-entry permission to present yourself at the checkpoint. Entry and the length of stay are decided by an ICA officer on arrival, who issues a Visit Pass. The period of stay is not tied to the validity of the visa.
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