Where can vaccinated Singaporeans travel without quarantine?

From 1 April, Singapore reopens its borders to the world. Here's the places you can visit without quarantine, and some handy resources.

1 April 2022 will mark a watershed moment in Singapore’s reopening, as the country scraps its tightly-controlled Vaccinated Travel Lanes and welcomes all fully vaccinated travellers under the Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF).

For Singaporeans, this means that for the first time in two years, the restriction isn’t on our side of the fence. It’s no longer a question of which countries Singapore will accept, it’s a question of which countries accept us!

โœ”๏ธAt a glance: Vaccinated Travel Framework
(Starts: 1 April 2022)
  • Fully vaccinated travellers can enter Singapore without quarantine, from any country (unless their 7-day travel history includes countries on the Restricted list, of which there are currently none)
  • Unvaccinated travellers mostly barred from entering, with limited exceptions
  • Take any flight to Singapore, no more VTL concept
  • Booster dose is not required
  • Children aged 12 and below will be considered fully vaccinated, regardless of actual status
  • Fully vaccinated short-term visitors no longer need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass
  • No pre-departure test required from 26 April 2022 
  • No more on-arrival testing in Singapore
ICA: VTF Checklist

Fortunately, there are currently 175 countries and territories that will accept fully vaccinated Singaporeans without quarantine. Unless you’re dead set on travel to China, Japan or Taiwan, you’re bound to find something that works. 

In this post, we’ll look at two things:

  1. How to find out which countries accept you without quarantine
  2. How to learn about the applicable pre-departure and on-arrival regulations

Where can I travel to?

Sherpa

For a quick overview of which countries are open to travel, I use Sherpa, a tool that tracks travel restrictions by origin, vaccination status and nationality. 

While Sherpa is generally reliable, it struggles to categorise certain countries properly. For example, it incorrectly states that Singaporeans still need to quarantine upon entering South Korea and Thailand, and that testing is required for Greece and India (you may be randomly tested on arrival, but that hardly counts).

As of March 2022, fully vaccinated Singapore residents can visit 175 countries and territories without quarantine. 

๐Ÿ’‰ How is “fully vaccinated” defined?

The definition of fully vaccinated varies by country, but in general refers to 14 days after completing the primary regimen of a recognised vaccine.

If you’ve been vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna, you don’t need to worry- virtually every country recognises it. Sinovac and Sinopharm can be more marginal. You can use Visa Guide’s vaccine checker tool to see if your vaccination is accepted in a given country. 

Booster jabs may be required for travel to certain countries, should a certain period (typically 6-9 months) have passed since the completion of your primary regime.

No test or quarantine required

Cambodia recently scrapped all pre-departure testing

84 countries and territories do not require a COVID-19 test nor quarantine. 

Instead of reproducing the entire list, I’m going to focus on the countries most relevant to travellers from Singapore:

Test required, but not quarantine

91 countries and territories require a pre-departure COVID-19 test, but no quarantine.

Once again, I’m going to focus on the countries most relevant to travellers from Singapore

Country Pre-Departure Test
(time before departure)
๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฏ Fiji ART (24h)
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Indonesia PCR (48h)
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ Malaysia ART (2 days) [For travel from SG]
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Philippines ART (24h)
๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Qatar PCR (48h)
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท South Korea PCR (48h)
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ Vietnam ART (24h)
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States ART (1 day)

Countries that will join this list shortly include:

Countries still closed

The following countries are still closed to tourists:

What must I do before travel?

Sherpa provides an overview of entry requirements by country, but for the most reliable information, refer to IATA Travel Centre’s Timatic tool. This is the same source that airline agents consult at the check-in desk. 

While Timatic is powerful, it’s not very user-friendly. Information is presented in long, wordy paragraphs, and it may take multiple reads to understand what it’s saying.

Sometimes, “no” doesn’t even mean “no”! Take Indonesia for example- the first bullet point says passengers can’t enter, then in point three it says they can, provided they enter via certain airports!

So Timatic really requires careful reading, and for a more reader-friendly format, you can also try Singapore Airlines’ Travel Advisory tool. Do note that updates here may lag Timatic by a couple of days. 

Travel to Singapore

From 1 April 2022, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to enter Singapore without quarantine under the Vaccinated Travel Framework. They can enter on any flight, and transit in any country en route. 

โœ”๏ธ Vaccinated Travel Framework
Fully Vax.
& Unvax. Children โ‰ค12
Unvax.
  • Most unvaccinated travellers who are not Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents will be barred from entry from 1 April 2022, with limited exceptions
  • Apply for entry approval (required for short-term visitors, or LTP holder aged 18 and above [aged 13 and above from 1 July 2022])
  • Purchase travel insurance with min. S$30,000 coverage for COVID-19 medical expenses (short-term visitors only)
  • Complete SG Arrival Card
  • Present negative pre-departure ART/PCR test taken within 2 days of flight to Singapore*
  • Download and install TraceTogether (Android | iOS)
  • 7-day SHN at home or hotel
  • Take PCR test at the end of 7-day SHN*
*Children aged 2 or under in the current calendar year are exempt

Unvaccinated travellers will still be required to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test within 2 days of departure to Singapore, which can either be:

  • A professionally-administered PCR test
  • A professionally-administered antigen rapid test (ART)
  • A self-administered ART remotely supervised by an approved ART provider in Singapore (when departing from certain countries, for SCs, PRs and LTPHs)

FAQs

Does transit affect things?

Possibly. When travelling out of Singapore, transit in a third country may affect your eligibility for quarantine-free treatment upon arrival at your final destination. You’ll need to read the relevant entry restrictions carefully (I typically google “CountryX covid19 entry restrictions”)

When travelling back to Singapore, transit has no impact on your eligibility for quarantine-free treatment, provided you’re fully vaccinated. 

As a LTP holder, do I need approval to enter Singapore?

Not anymore. LTP holders no longer need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass to enter Singapore ever since 22 February 2022.

Where can I do my pre-departure test when travelling overseas?

For a full list of the cheapest options to do a pre-departure test in Singapore, refer to the article below.

Cheapest pre-departure COVID-19 ART and PCR tests in Singapore

Where can I do my pre-departure test when returning to Singapore?

Pre-departure testing is only required for unvaccinated travellers.

If you’re a Singapore citizen, permanent resident or long-term passholder, you can do a remotely-supervised tele-ART by a Singapore-based provider when returning to Singapore. 

Cheapest overseas tele-ARTs for pre-departure testing to Singapore

Resources

Here’s a list of resources you can refer to when checking travel restrictions. 

Conclusion

From 1 April 2022, fully vaccinated Singaporeans can return home from anywhere in the world without quarantine. This means the restriction now lies on the other side of the table, and with 175 countries and territories allowing quarantine-free entry, you won’t be short of options!

Well, unless you only want to visit Japan.

Man, I miss Japan. 

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Happy Camper

Awesome piece, Aaron! Super useful! ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

Brian

Considering UAE vaccination rate is high + low cases, it’s kind absurd that it still falls in cat 4.

Wen Hui

Plus promoting the UAE to Cat II or III would bring Emirates and Etihad back into the Singaporean market (i.e. to fly to the multitude of European Cat II/III countries) which is something I suspect to be undesired.

Enil Esav

Well, so is Changi. It makes no sense.

Lila

UAE vaccination rate is high but not all vaccines produce good serology levelsโ€ฆ.

Techtonic

Iceland also accepts ART – Checked Cuz I’m heading there soon ๐Ÿ™‚

James Quek

Any chance to have Thailand and Japan to be under VTL?

J L

Can check with my friend Iswaran

Miles

It seems SC/PR/pass holders, who get vaccinated overseas and get the record in Trace Together, cannot use VTL?

Christian

How does transiting Changi fit into things?

bluepanda

The part about highest Cat applies for transit – is it your conservative interpretation or from an official source?

Lila

Itโ€™s from the ICA website, look under โ€œentry guideโ€, item 3A, para 2.

bluepanda

Thanks, and apologies. Realized I asked the wrong question. I meant to ask about โ€œtransit in a third country affecting eligibilityโ€.

Bernard

It does seem that Norway allows fully vaccinated people travelling from Singapore (or from anywhere for that matter, as long as they’re vaccinated) without quarantine or testing, on a close reading of this: https://www.helsenorge.no/en/coronavirus/international-travels/

So it seems possible to get to Norway, perhaps by transiting in Germany.

I guess the Sherpa website might be somewhat outdated…

Last edited 3 years ago by Bernard
Bernard

Hmmmm, may I know which Timatic you’re looking at? I just did a Timatic query, which produced a bunch of entry and transit restrictions, but it also says the following: This does not apply to passengers with: – a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate showing that they were fully vaccinated; or – a digital COVID-19 recovery certificate issued at most 6 months before arrival. The certificate must be: – an EU Digital COVID Certificate with a QR code issued by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Rep.), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,… Read more »

Bernard

Yeah. Really hoping that more EU countries (especially Germany) will let tourists get the EU green pass soon – despite your experience in Munich, I feel like I’ll be running the risk of whatever museum/train/attraction not recognising the Notarise certificate, especially once out of the big cities.

noflights

there are no direct flights between Singapore and Norway anyway

W L

Still confused how and why Poland got upgraded to a Category II country, when it remains pretty much totally closed to travellers from Singapore itself. What is the benefit for Singapore here? There are no special relations between the two countries that I have heard of, so something is very odd about this…

Lila

Maybe because Poland is a good egg on the food security front? Quite literallyโ€ฆ

(First imports of eggs from Poland arrived in June 2020, amid global supply chain disruptions caused by covid.)

Sufi

Hi great article. I canโ€™t find South Korea on any of the lists.

Sufi

๐Ÿ™

Gab

Any predictions on which countries are next best guesses to move from Cat III to Cat II ?

Tan Cheng Bock

Malaysia 100%

W.

Denmark and Switzerland

Miles Tan

Indonesia probably up next

Gideon

Hopefully Spain and Netherlands

JCW

UK wonโ€™t require pre departure test for fully vaccinated individuals from 4th oct.

Gideon

Great overview. One nuance that may be worth highlighting a bit more clearly is that VTL does not exempt children below age 12 from vaccination (and therefore VTL is not suitable for families with children below 12 yrs – or perhaps soon the cutoff will be 5yrs given that Pfizer seems to be getting approved for 5-11yrs). Also, Cat. II and III will allow unvaccinated children below 12yrs and those between 12-18 can also come in unvaccinated I believe as long as they get vaccinated within a month of arriving in SG.

trackback

[…] Thu: fully-vaccinated Singapore residents can visit 143 countries and territories without quarantine. https://milelion.com/2021/09/22/where-can-vaccinated-singaporeans-travel-without-quarantine/ […]

James Seow

How about travel from Singapore to Vietnam next year April 2022 ? Do I have to quarantine at Vietnam if I visit my friend for 1 week ? PCR is fine for me to go 4 days before the departure .

Bot

ask Iswaran pls.

JXX

For Cat II home SHN eligibility, the ICA FAQ page that you had linked to mentions “dedicated toilet” instead of “attached toilet” or “ensuite toilet”.

My reading of this implies that you can use the common toilet in a house as long as no other person uses it (it’s not like they can enforce this anyway, but it’s your family’s own safety I guess), as opposed to forcing you to have a master bedroom with ensuite toilet setup for SHN.

Edit: they might have updated the wording since you first wrote this post.

Last edited 3 years ago by JXX
tsy

oh so this means i can also just do a ART test in Singapore if i m heading to Italy ? No PCR is needed ?

Traveller

I just want to add that for Iceland although the accept ART. But according to Icelandair website, it further says that “self test is not allowed”. I would assume this ART have to be taken at a clinic and not those you can buy from pharmacy and selftest. Am I right? Planning to go Iceland via Netherlands/Amsterdam since both are in Cat 2 and I think SHN 7-days at home to be quite bareable whenn I can work from home.

Anon2

With more countries in Cat2, actually it looks like we now have more countries to travel to if we are fine with 7 days shn. This should be okay for most couples who have no kids and can work from home. Any nearby countries (non US, EU) that fall into Cat2 and allow us to enter without quarantine? Maldives seem to be a suitable choice. I already booked South Korea under VTL for Dec holidays but looking for another place for Nov travel. Too many leaves to clear. Hopefully Australia will allow SG to travel there soon!

Anon2

Sorry, maldives is in cat3. Any nearby countries suitable for a short holiday? ๐Ÿ™

freedom

Turkey removed Singapore from its list requiring pre-departure test after Turkey is upgraded to Cat II. hmmmmm.

Ponnifer

I wonder as months go by how do Singapore citizens get the EU Digital COVID Certificate cause that will make things so much easier.

I hope that when I fly to Italy in Feb, things will be smoother and our certs will be automatically ingested :X

Dave

VTPs can now be requested 60 days in advance.

Sim

Honest question here – without disembarking, would picking up an order at a drive-through in Switzerland en route from Italy to Germany fulfil the VTL criteria?

freedom

hmmmm. People with ABTC can travel to Indonesia without Visa. Is it confirmed? Thanks.

freedom

One noticeable missing from tele-ART is Switzerland. Why is that?

Dave

Ask the MOH and let us know.

Darren

Awese piece.

James Quek

Most leisure travelers will miss Japan. Should have chance to go in the 2nd half of 2022.

Avery

Thanks for compilation! Really very useful!