Singapore and Malaysia have a long-standing, broad and multi-faceted relationship. COVID-19 has disrupted the people-to-people connection and separated families in the two countries for many months.
To restore the connectivity between the two countries, Singapore and Malaysia will launch a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) across the Causeway from the 29th of November 2021.
The VTL (Land) will be rolled out in a safe and calibrated manner. In the first phase, travellers will travel on designated VTL buses. Travellers have to be citizens, permanent residents or long-term pass holders of the country that they are entering (1).
This is to give priority to those who have been working in either country, to visit their families.
Singapore and Malaysia aim to progressively expand the VTL (Land) to include more travellers, including general travellers, taking into account the public health situation. Subsequently, we will also work towards restoring travel through Tuas Second Link. Together with the VTL between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), this will enhance the close socio-economic ties between our countries and people.
Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said, “Malaysia is Singapore’s closest neighbour and the two countries share deep and warm relations. The Causeway was one of the busiest land borders in the world before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our cross-border activities. The launch of the VTL (Land) is a big step towards reconnecting our people and economies, and will further enhance our bilateral relationship.”
Entry into Singapore via VTL (Land) will be for Singapore Citizens, Singapore Permanent Residents and Singapore Long-Term Pass Holders. Entry into Malaysia via VTL (Land) will be for Malaysian Citizens, Malaysian Permanent Residents and Malaysian Long-Term Pass Holders (2).
Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said, “We understand that many workers from both Singapore and Malaysia have not been able to see their families for many months. The launch of the VTLs between Singapore and Malaysia will enable them to travel home to reunite with their families. We are starting the VTL (Land) in a safe and calibrated manner so that we can progress smoothly. We seek the understanding of workers who may not be able to purchase a bus ticket to travel home immediately due to limited capacity in the initial phase of the launch. We will continue to work with Malaysia to expand the VTL (Land) arrangement to more travellers in the coming weeks.”
More details about the VTL (Land) with Malaysia:
- All travellers entering Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL)(Land) must comply with the prevailing requirements listed below:
Eligibility of Travellers
Only the following groups of travellers will be allowed to enter Singapore under the VTL (Land) arrangement:
- Traveller must be a Singapore Citizen, Singapore Permanent Resident, or a holder of a Singapore-issued Long-Term Pass (i.e. Work Permit, Employment Pass, Student’s Pass, or Long-Term Visit Pass).
- In-Principle Approval Holders of a Singapore-issued Long-Term Pass and Foreign Short Term Visitors are not eligible to travel under the VTL (Land) arrangement currently. These travellers may wish to consider other Safe Travel Lanes for entry into Singapore.
Travel History
Travellers must have remained in Malaysia, any other VTL or Category I country/region as recognised by the Government of Singapore2, and/or Singapore in the last 14 consecutive days before arrival in Singapore.
Testing
Travellers must test negative in a valid pre-departure COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) (3) or Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), within 2 calendar days before departure for Singapore, taken at a laboratory or centre that is accredited or recognised by the Malaysia Ministry of Health (4).
Children aged 2 years and below in the calendar year are not required to undergo these tests (footnote 5)
Vaccination
All VTL travellers must have been fully vaccinated (6) and present a digital proof of vaccination that is recognised by the Singapore authorities (7), issued in any VTL country (8) or Singapore. This is necessary to guard against forgery and verify that the certificate is issued by a trusted issuer and belongs to the VTL traveller.
Unvaccinated travellers who are aged 12 and below in this calendar year can travel to Singapore via the VTL (Land) if accompanied by a fully vaccinated VTL traveller.
Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and Long-Term Pass Holders who have been vaccinated overseas (i.e. issued with foreign digital vaccination certificate outside of Singapore) are reminded to upload their vaccination certificate in the electronic health declaration card via the electronic SG Arrival Card, prior to arriving in Singapore.
Designated Bus Services
Travellers on VTL (Land) must arrive by designated VTL (Land) bus services. Travellers who arrive via other means (e.g. private transport or walking across the Causeway, etc.) will be subjected to prevailing border control measures, which include serving a 7-day Stay-Home Notice.
Designated bus services entering Singapore via the Causeway:
- Transtar Travel Pte Ltd:
Depart from Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Arrive at Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange (WTBI) in Singapore
- Handal Indah Sdn. Bhd. (also known as Causeway Link):
Depart from Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Arrive at Queen Street Terminal (QST) in Singapore.
Transtar Travel will operate 32 daily designated trips (i.e. 16 trips from Malaysia to Singapore and 16 trips from Singapore to Malaysia) between Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange in Singapore and Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru. Handal Indah will similarly operate 32 daily trips between Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru and Queen Street Terminal in Singapore. The maximum capacity for each VTL-Land designated bus is 45 fully seated passengers per trip.
Bus tickets will go on sale on 25th of November 2021 at 0800 hours. Tickets will be released for sale 30 days ahead. Travellers are also required to purchase their bus tickets at least 3 days prior to the date of departure. The websites of the appointed bus operators are:
- Transtar Travel: https://transtar.travel
- Handal Indah (also known as Causeway Link): https://www.causewaylink.com.my
Submission on SG Arrival Card
All travellers are required to submit the SG Arrival Card with Electronic Health Declaration via the ICA website (https://go.gov.sg/sgarrivalcard) or through the SG Arrival Card mobile application that can be downloaded for free from either the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android).
This must be done 3 calendar days prior to their arrival in Singapore.
The SG Arrival Card replaces the paper disembarkation/embarkation card (also commonly referred to as the “white card”) which has been discontinued since 27 March 2020 and is no longer accepted at the checkpoints.
The SG Arrival Card is a free service. The ICA does not support or endorse service providers providing paid services for the submission of the SG Arrival Card.
Travellers should purchase their bus tickets and have the necessary documents ready before they depart for Singapore. Document verification will be conducted prior to boarding the designated buses. A detailed list of the documents required for the respective traveller group is as follows:
For more information, please visit https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg.
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