With Singapore and Malaysia deciding to reopen to international travel from 1 April, one key question was how the land border would be affected.
Travellers across the Causeway are currently required to travel via the VTL-Land arrangement, which requires pre-departure and on-arrival testing, as well as travel via designated bus services.
It’s now been announced that from 1 April 2022, Singapore and Malaysia will reopen their land border to fully vaccinated travellers, without any quarantine or testing, for all modes of travel (yes, including private cars and walking).
From 1 April 2022, for travel across the land border between Singapore and Malaysia, both countries will allow fully vaccinated travellers to enter without the need to undergo quarantine or testing, including pre-departure and on-arrival tests. This will apply to all categories of travellers and modes of transport via the land border.
-Statement by PMO
Do note that this post refers to the land border; if you’re planning to travel via air, refer to the post below.
Complete Guide: Singapore – Malaysia quarantine-free air travel from 1 April
Singapore-Malaysia land border to reopen
From 1 April 2022, fully vaccinated travellers (of any nationality) will be permitted to cross the Singapore-Malaysia land border via any mode of travel, without pre-departure or on-arrival testing. It means that for all intents and purposes, cross-causeway travel returns to pre-COVID days.
Fully vaccinated travellers are allowed to cross the Malaysia and Singapore land border from 1 April 2022. pic.twitter.com/c6LuTw5IFq
— KKMalaysia🇲🇾😷 (@KKMPutrajaya) March 24, 2022
Further answers to FAQs can be found here.
Prior to the pandemic, more than 415,000 people crossed the Woodlands Causeway and Tuas Second Link daily, with short trips making up the bulk of movements.
As a reminder, Singapore considers travellers to be fully vaccinated if they meet the following criteria:
| Vaccine | Doses Required | Min. Interval between Doses |
| Pfizer/ BioNTech | 2 | 17 days |
| Moderna | 2 | 24 days |
| Astrazeneca | 2 | 24 days |
| Covishield | 2 | 24 days |
| Janssen | 1 | N/A |
| Sinopharm | 2 | 17 days |
| Sinovac | 2 | 13 days |
| Covaxin | 2 | 24 days |
| Novavax | 2 | 17 days |
| Any WHO EUL vaccine (mixed) | 2 | 17 days |
Children aged 12 and under in the current calendar year are treated as fully vaccinated regardless of their actual status, provided they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent.
A booster dose is currently not required to be considered fully vaccinated.
Malaysia recognises similar vaccines to Singapore, so anyone vaccinated in Singapore will have no issues travelling to Malaysia. Singaporeans can download the MySejahtera app to register an account, then upload their Notarise vaccination certificate to get fully vaccinated status (Helpdesk -> Option N).
It has been confirmed that there will be no need for travel insurance for travellers arriving in Malaysia from Singapore (whether by land or air) from 1 April.
Singapore reopening borders via Vaccinated Travel Framework
In case you missed today’s other big announcement, Singapore will be reopening its borders from 1 April 2022 under the Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF).
| ✔️At a glance: Vaccinated Travel Framework (Starts: 1 April 2022) |
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| ICA: VTF Checklist |
Do note that while air travel to Singapore requires pre-departure testing, there will be no testing required for land travel.
Conclusion
Singapore and Malaysia will finally be completely reopening their land border from 1 April 2022, which means no more taking designated buses or pre-departure/on-arrival tests.
It’s great news for those who love to do weekend Johor trips (though I’m sure the queues for the first few weekends will be insane!), and will hopefully make it easier for families to reunite and see each other more frequently.
Time to top up those Touch ‘n Go cards!
Anyone planning a Johor grocery run?
Absolutely lots of great news today! Cheers for the travel community and for those who need to visit their friends and family overseas
Malaysia still seems to not have announced scrapping of quarantine requirements for air travel from Singapore though. Which means we still have to book VTL flights from Sg to Msia. Or is my understanding wrong?
https://milelion.com/2022/03/10/malaysia-reopening-borders-on-1-april-details-and-implications-for-vtl/
I’m confused. Is there still any testing requirements and quarantine for the fully vaccinated people entering Malaysia from April 1st?
my understanding is VTL no longer relevant from 1 Apr, but PDT still required (which can be ART) if you are flying. however, there are so many versions floating around now, so best to wait for the dust to settle 🙂
Isn’t it paradoxical that locally, one have to be boosted after 270 days after the primary doses to be considered vaccinated but travellers with only 2 doses are considered boosted! Silly bureaucracy with no scientific basis!
That is not to exclude folks who have not had access to boosters in their country unlike us.
Their vaccinated status only lasts 30 days – not sure but I suppose after 30 days the booster requirement for 270+ days will kick in? It’s a reasonable concession for short term visitors. The only thing is my understanding is that the 30 days thing is only given once. So someone who is not SG based but darts around in and out of SG every now and then will find the need to ingest the Vax certs quite annoying. I don’t really understand why those certs that MOH doesn’t require a serology test for can’t be ingested by ICA on… Read more »
Anyone knows which bus company is accepting bookings already?
Time to go JB pump petrol!
(But please remember 3/4 tank rule)
Please don’t waste time if your sole purpose is to pump that 1/4 tank of fuel
Amazing news. But what type of vaccination proof does Malaysia accept? And is there any requirements beside
Sian!!! There goes the 2 years of blissful silence living next to the Causeway. For us living close to the Causeway, enjoy our last few days of beautiful silence without blaring horns in the mornings, peak hours & eve of public holidays. So NOT looking forward to this & yes the horrors of Friday 29 April leading into the long long weekend of public holidays of Mon1 May & Tues 2 May. The rest of u in SG, please pray for us living next to the Causeway.
Finally my BTO might have a better outlook for collection. Spare a thought for us who still are desperately waiting to get out own home, you have to deal with ocassions we have to deal with this daily until the day.
You can always choose to live elsewhere, get ur insular mindset out of this place.
You chose to buy your house next to the Causeway.
So don’t complain.
Roses are red, violets are blue and you my friend is an ignorant, selfish and inconsiderate little prick!
Asked people’s to pray so that u can hv peaceful. That’s absurd. In first place why u choose to buy house near to causeway!
Will this include walking over the bridge?
Yes.
Hi Aaron. For Sinovac, a booster is required for both SG and MY to be considered fully vaxxed. There’s a line in the article quoting KJ:
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/03/24/khairy-two-million-set-to-lose-fully-vaccinated-status-on-april-1-mainly-si/2049360
i can’t confirm for MY, but for Singapore, a booster is not required for Sinovac. ICA states only 2 doses required. You need a booster to be eligible for VDS (dining in at restaurants for eg), but not to enter the country.
edit: in fact, that might not even be true. see here (https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/arriving/general-travel/fully-vaccinated). it seems you get 30 days of VDS privileges?
There, the immigration officer will register your overseas vaccination status (temporary vaccinated status for 30 days) on the HealthHub or TraceTogether mobile application for use in vaccination-differentiated settings in Singapore (details in Stage 4).
Good point, Aaron. Guess we will know when Travellers with 2 Sinovac doses only check in at airport for flight to Singapore. If barred from boarding, then……..
ICA website says very clearly that 2 doses of sinovac is ok for travel to SG. i’m not worried about that.
They probably did that so tourists that got vaccinated with 2 doses of Sinovac can still come in.
Is insurance needed for the land crossing?
No news on that
How do you proof your vaccination status when you arrive in Malaysia? Is there a requirement to download contact tracing apps
Get the mysejahtera app and get it updated. I done mine using the cert from health hub, 5 days and it’s updated, otherwise I believe the notarised form of the same cert shall work per what air travel is now.
Does it work for the TraceTogether app too?
Hi Aaron, any idea about the latest requirement of the “ill-fated” “off & on” vehicle entry permit to drive into Malaysia? What is the latest stance? Thanks.
Ya,l am also wondering if l drive in to JB must l need to obtain the VEP from 1st April?
no official word on VEP yet from the malaysia side.
I was also wondering on this, I’ve registered for the VEP, it’ll be interesting how long it takes to get an appointment, you’d think there would be some grace period…
A still don’t fully understand if SG registered motorcycles are exempt from requiring the VEP.
Does this mean the public transport services will be up as well? Not all of us own a private transport.
Current VTL bus services will still continue to run. No news yet on SBS, SMRT or Causeway Link buses. As for KTM, I believe they’re doing some upgrading from JB Sentral to Gemas so the trains can’t run.
ST initially said that service 170 will resume before hastily removing it.
Any info if need to purchase COVID insurance for land travel into Malaysia after 1st Apr?
per my understanding this is still a requirement until further notice.
I m very curious about how people who already bought VTL tickets from tanstar. I already email to transtar to return my money cause i already bought 3 tickets. SIN
You still can use them if needed.
Aaron ..msian who are entering spore still hv to do covid test on departure?
This 1st April will be no more quarantine for Malaysia. Sarawak will be the same no quarantine???
Hope is not APRIL FOOL Joke …
Interesting that no reference is given at all to non-vaccinated travellers…Do they no longer warrant any consideration?! Especially given the widespread dropping of restrictions.
Can I just check the ART predeparture test from Singapore to Malaysia test is for all airlines, or just for specific ones? Thanks