Complete Guide: Singapore – Malaysia land travel from 1 April

Singapore and Malaysia will reopen their land border from 1 April 2022, allowing fully vaccinated travellers to cross with no testing, quarantine or travel insurance requirement. This covers all modes of travel, including private cars, motorcycles and walking. 

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. 

If you’re planning to join that number, here’s all you need to know about crossing the land border. For those planning to travel by air, refer to the article below instead. 

Complete Guide: Singapore – Malaysia quarantine-free air travel from 1 April

Land travel to Malaysia

Fully vaccinated

All travellers to Malaysia must be fully vaccinated, as defined by the following table:

For example, someone with 2 doses of Pfizer would be considered fully vaccinated if he/she is aged 18-59 years old, but partially vaccinated if he/she is 60 years or older.

Children aged 17 and below are considered to meet the vaccination requirement, regardless of actual vaccination status. 

MySejahtera app

Travellers to Malaysia must:

• download the MySejahtera app (Android | iOS)
• create an account (when registering, enter the Malaysia address you’ll be staying at)
• complete the digital pre-departure form via the “Traveller” icon on MySejahtera
• verify their COVID-19 vaccination certificate. 

Most of the steps are pretty self-explanatory, except perhaps the last one. Anyone who was vaccinated outside of Malaysia needs to upload and verify their digital vaccination certificate before departure.

This can be done via the MySafeTravel portal, and involves uploading the QR code of your vaccination certificate.

Singapore travellers are only required to upload a single QR code; the instructions say to choose the last EUDCC one on your cert (i.e. Dose 2 for double dosed travellers, Dose 3 for triple dosed travellers). In my case, my “offline QR verification (EU DCC-compatible)” code wasn’t accepted, so in the end I used the one labelled “online QR verification” and it went through just fine.

Take note that every comma, every hyphen must be included! If the name on your vaccination certificate is:

Tan Ah-Kow, John

be sure to enter it exactly that way on MySafeTravel, or verification will fail. 

Once approved, it takes about two days for your MySejahtera app to be updated. 

Those who were vaccinated in other countries can refer to this guide for the steps required. 

Road Charge

Singapore-registered cars must pay a Road Charge of RM20 (~S$6.45) on entry, but this will be waived until 7 April 2022. From 8 April 2022 onwards, the Road Charge is payable.

This concession is meant to give Singaporeans the opportunity to top up their Touch ‘n Go cards, which may have become inactive during the two years the land border was closed. 

Vehicle Entry Permit

The much-discussed Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) is theoretically required for all non-Malaysian registered vehicles entering Malaysia, but enforcement has been delayed until further notice. The Malaysian government is urging motorists with Singapore-registered vehicles to register ASAP via this portal.

Registered vehicles will receive an RFID tag (cost: RM10, excluding delivery and service charges), tied to an Touch ‘n Go e-wallet. This allows them to pay Road Charges seamlessly.

VEP registration is valid for five years starting from the day the VEP RFID tag is activated. 

How is this different from VTL travel?

If you’ve travelled to Malaysia under the VTL-Land previously, here’s the key differences of the new arrangement.

It’s a much simpler process, now that all modes of transport are valid, the travel insurance requirement has been scrapped, and there’s no more pre-departure or on-arrival testing.

Land travel to Singapore

Fully vaccinated

Travellers are considered fully vaccinated if they meet the following conditions at least 2 weeks before arrival in Singapore:

1. Received the full regimen of WHO EUL Vaccines (see below) and met the minimum dose interval period; or
2. Travellers who contracted COVID-19 before being vaccinated must have received at least one dose of any WHO EUL Vaccines (below) at least 28 days from their first diagnosis of a COVID-19 infection. Travellers must produce acceptable proof of their first positive COVID-19 diagnosis.

Children aged 12 and under in the current calendar year (i.e. those born in 2010 and later, for arrivals in 2022) are treated as fully vaccinated regardless of their actual status. 

A booster dose is currently not required to be considered fully vaccinated.

Travellers vaccinated in Malaysia may upload their digital certificate for COVID-19 vaccination on the MySejahtera app during the SG Arrival Card submission (see below). 

TraceTogether

All travellers to Singapore must download and register for TraceTogether (Android | iOS). This is required for checking into venues and displaying your vaccination status, which is necessary to access shopping malls, restaurants and other vaccinated-only venues. 

Travellers who were vaccinated outside Singapore will be granted temporary vaccinated status lasting about 30 days if they successfully uploaded their digital vaccination certificates as part of their SG Arrival Card (see below) or manually presented their vaccination certificates and the manual immigration counters.

Do note that if you’ve taken 2x Sinovac/Sinopharm doses outside of Singapore, you will still be granted temporary vaccinated status for 30 days, notwithstanding the domestic requirement for vaccination recognition is 3x doses. 

SG Arrival Card

SG Arrival Card

All travellers to Singapore (regardless of nationality) must complete an SG Arrival Card within three days before arrival in Singapore. 

The SG Arrival Card has been simplified, and now features only three sections: 

• Personal particulars
• Submission of vaccination proof (not required for those vaccinated in Singapore)
• Health declaration

Completing the SG Arrival Card is free of charge, if you do it via the official website. Beware of lookalikes out there which charge a fee! 

Vehicle Entry Permit

Drivers of foreign-registered vehicles require a valid Autopass card and LTA’s approval email to enter into Singapore, as well as valid road tax and a certificate of insurance for the vehicle. 

Applications can be made via the OneMotoring website. 

Autopass cards can be collected at LTA’s Johor Bahru Service Centre before entering Singapore, and serve as an electronic VEP to record entry, and pay all tolls. Each Autopass card  is tied to a single vehicle, and costs S$10 (with a pre-loaded value of S$4 and a non-refundable cost of S$6). 

VEPs have a validity period of 14 days, starting from the date of entry into Singapore. To extend the stay of the vehicle in Singapore, renewal is required. 

Entry Tolls

The following toll fees are charged for entering and exiting Singapore, and apply to both Singapore and overseas registered vehicles. 

Cars

Motorbikes

How is this different from VTL travel?

If you’ve travelled to Singapore under the VTL-Land previously, here’s the key differences of the new arrangement.

Conclusion

Singapore and Malaysia will be reopening their land border from 1 April 2022, with no testing, quarantine or travel insurance required. Travellers may cross the causeway whichever way they wish- even walking!

This should make mattress runs much easier, if nothing else.