In August 2019, it was announced that passport application fees for all Singaporean children born on or after Jan. 1, 2020 will be waived as a gesture of support for families.

Now, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has announced that it has reviewed the eligibility criteria in view of appeals.

ICA will waive the application fee of the first passport for all applications submitted from Jan. 1, 2020, as long as the application is submitted on or before the child's first birthday.

This means that Singaporeans who are born in 2019 will also get to enjoy the waived application fee as long as they apply for their first passports in 2020.

Notice of eligibility for waiver

From Oct. 15, 2019, parents who are collecting their child's birth certificate from the hospital or at the ICA Building will be notified of the revised eligibility criteria.

From Jan. 1, 2020, parents who have an eligible child will receive an electronic notification via MyICA about the waiver.

Parents can also log on directly to ICA's passport e-Service to apply for their child's first passport, and will similarly receive an electronic notification about the waiver, if their child is eligible.

Children below six years old need not be present for passport collection

In addition, from Jan. 1, 2020, children below the age of six will no longer need to be physically present to collect their passports.

Parents can make an appointment to collect their child's passport at the ICA building after they have completed the application process.

However, older children aged six and above are still required to be present for the collection of their passports, as they will need to provide their biometric identifiers (fingerprints and iris images) at the point of collection.

Top image from Gov.sg.