SINGAPORE – Singapore and China will launch a mutual 30-day visa-free agreement on February 9, coinciding with the Lunar New Year holiday.
The agreement, signed by officials from both sides on January 25, will allow Singapore and Chinese ordinary passport holders to enter each other’s countries without a visa and stay for up to 30 days.
The exemption was announced in December 2023 during Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s visit to China for the two governments’ annual top-level meeting on cooperation and joint projects. The visa system was scheduled to start in early 2024.
China reinstated a 15-day visa exemption policy for Singaporeans in early July 2023, after it had been suspended for more than three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Currently, Singaporeans can visit China for up to 15 days without a visa, but Chinese ordinary passport holders must apply for a visa to enter Singapore.
In a statement announcing the start date of the Visa Waiver Agreement on January 25, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICA) said there would be no refund of fees for those who had previously submitted a visa application.
Apart from diplomatic, official and service passport holders, who are exempt from visa requirements for stays of up to 30 days, those who hold other travel documents issued by the People’s Republic of China may continue to apply for an entry visa before traveling. You need to apply. to Singapore, the ICA added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said implementing the visa-free system ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on February 10, is a “New Year’s gift” to the peoples of both countries.
Under this system, China currently has “comprehensive” reciprocal visa exemption agreements with at least 22 countries, Chinese media reported.
The Singapore Embassy in Beijing said in a Facebook post that it hopes the implementation of the agreement will further increase business travel, tourism and exchanges between the two countries.
“This will also strengthen our people-to-people ties, foster mutual understanding and create greater economic opportunities for Singapore and Singaporeans,” the embassy said.
More than 3.5 million Chinese tourists visited Singapore in 2019, but arrivals have not recovered to those levels post-pandemic. Figures released by the Singapore Tourism Board show that from January to November 2023, the republic received just 37% of the tourists who came from mainland China in 2019.