Singapore

As a matter of fact, beginning from 2025, Singapore citizens will be required to obtain an ETIAS Visa Waiver in order to commence their journeys towards Europe’s Schengen Area for short term journeys whose purpose is tourism, business, transit or medical care alternatively.

Such provision and connected rights are strictly linked to the traveler’s nationality of passport therefore holders of Singapore temporary or permanent Residence Permit must still check whether their Passport Nationality is among those eligible to apply for an ETIAS Visa Waiver.
Those who hold a passport of a country that is not included in the EU Visa Waiver program will still be required to apply for a Schengen Visa even though in possession of a valid Singapore residence permit.
An ETIAS will be required to Singapore Nationals travelling to the ETIAS area regardless of the nation they will be arriving from and whether they reach Europe via land, air or sea; although no ETIAS will be required to the Singapore citizens who already possess a valid Schengen Visas or Residence Permit issued by one of the Schengen Area current and de facto Member Country (therefore temporarily excluding National Visas and Permits of Stay issued by the future Schengen Member Country of Cyprus).

Although ETIAS is not meant to be used for long term study programs in the EU/Schengen Nations, it must be highlighted that ETIAS Visa Waiver can be used by Nationals of Singapore for short training programs (such as language courses or corporate training courses) if the stay in the ETIAS countries area will not exceed the limit of stay as previously summarized.
Nonetheless it is important in such cases, to check if the school or institution where Singapore visitors will be studying accepts to enroll scholars travelling on a ETIAS instead of demanding for them to hold a Student Visa.

The ETIAS application process is electronic exclusively and was outlined to be easy to handle and should not require more than 10 minutes for each candidate to input their data.

The required data for ETIAS application include:

• Full name and surname
• Surname at birth
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Birth country
• Passport number
• Passport’s authority and place of issue
• Passport’s issue and expiry date
• Contact details including
• Valid e-mail address
• Planned arrival date in ETIAS Area
• First country of intended stay in ETIAS Area
• Background and general eligibility questions

When the ETIAS request is sent through the EU institutions and Security Databases will be controlling all the relevant information and provide an outcome, that will be exclusively sent via e-mail, to each applicant in usually no longer than 72 hours.
Once issued ETIAS to Singapore citizens is valid for multiple travels and for an overall validity of maximum 3 years or until passport expiry date.

Upon each single journey taken on an ETIAS all the Visa Waiver’s limitations of use and eligibility criteria must be complied with.
On top of all this, Singapore visitor’s passport must at all times have a remaining validity of 3 months minimum during the entire stay in the ETIAS Area Countries.
Being digitally linked to the Singapore biometric passport of the applicants ETIAS Grant Notification is not required to be printed and carried with upon travelling.
Still, when reaching the EU/Schengen Area from abroad, Border Control Officers could exercise the faculty of requiring ETIAS visitor with Singapore passport for additional documents such as:

• Return ticket to the country of origin
• Onwards ticket to a non-ETIAS country
• Proof of sufficient funds to support one’s stay in the ETIAS Area

A health insurance, while mandatory for those whose possess a Schengen Consular Visa, is recommended but not strictly necessary to those who travel on an ETIAS Visa Waiver.
Once inside the ETIAS Area no border control is usually applied when moving from one Schengen Country to another; still it is always advisable for each voyager to carry, upon such transfers, a hard copy of their valid Visa Waiver and all the other recommended additional documents as listed above.