Foreign-Born Children Aged 12 and Below Must Undergo New Vaccination from 1 Feb 2019
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Singapore will be implementing a new requirement for all foreign-born children. Beginning 1 February 2019, all foreign-born children aged 12-years and below must be vaccinated for diphtheria and measles with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) before they can apply for Singapore’s Dependent Pass (DP) or Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP).
Families must show evidence of immunity before they can lodge an application for a DP or LTVP with MOM. Foreign children who are born in Singapore or already holding an existing DP or LTVP pass issued before 1 February 2019 will be exempted from this requirement.
Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) requires that documentation of diphtheria and measles vaccination be submitted as a pre-requisite for the DP or LTVP application. All foreign-born children aged 12-years and below, and those applying for Singapore’s Student Pass (STP) issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) must submit documentation to show proof of vaccination. These documents will then be verified by the HPB in accordance with the National Child Immunisation Schedule in Singapore.
Before lodging the application for DP or LTVP, parents will need to access the Verification of Vaccination Requirements eService website (www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/fcine/) which will be available from 1 February 2019 onwards. You will then be required to register for an account for your application and submit the following documents:
- Immunisation Registration Form certified by a medical doctor
- Copy of child’s vaccination records
- Copy of child’s birth certificate
- Copy of child’s travel documents
- Copy of parent’s Singapore National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) (if applicable)/passport.
These documents should be uploaded and submitted through the Verification of Vaccination Requirements eService to Health Promotion Board (HPB), Singapore. The documents submitted to the Immunisation Registration Form must be certified by a doctor, and your child’s vaccination records or evidence of immunity for diphtheria and measles must be submitted to HPB through the Verification of Vaccination. If your child is medically unfit for vaccination, you will need to submit a document certified by a doctor to HPB through the Verification of Vaccination Requirements eService: https://www.nir.hpb.gov.sg/fcine/
Understand The processing of Verification of Vaccination
The processing time for the verification of vaccination records by the HPB takes around 10 working days. Processing times start from the time the completed documents are submitted to HPB. There will be a non-refundable application fee which will be charged. The documents must also be submitted in English. Any documents which are not in English will require a translation. HPB accepts translated copies by the Embassy of the document-issuing country or a local Notary Public, privately translated copies attested by the embassy of the document issuing country or notarized by a local Notary Public You will be notified of the application’s outcome via email.
If your child is aged 12-years and above, however, you do not need to submit vaccination records for HPB’s verification. You can proceed directly to MOM or ICA for application of long HPB’s verification.
The validity period of the “Verification of vaccination requirements (for entry to Singapore)” document differs based on your child’s age:
- 6 months old and below (Valid for 3 months)
- Above 6 months old to 18 months old (Valid for 6 months)
- Above 18 months old to below 10 years old (valid for the period before the child turns 10 years old)
- 10 years old and above (valid for 24 months)
When applying for a new long-term immigration pass with MOM or ICA, the “Verification of Vaccination Requirements (VR) (for entry to Singapore)” document must be valid. Otherwise, you must re-apply for it with HPB. If the child’s DP has expired before 1 February 2019, the child will need to apply for the HPB’s “Verification of Vaccination Requirements (VR) (for entry to Singapore)” document.
For more information about the vaccination, please visit the HPB website.