ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Blog

To enter Singapore, you may be required to apply for entry visa. However, Singapore has made visa-free (or visa-on-arrival) arrangements with many countries. The list of countries whose citizens would need a visa can be found here (however, please still check with Singapore Overseas Mission in your country of residence whether your passport will need a visa—such information is usually available in the mission’s website).

If you needed to apply for visa, we would encourage you to submit your visa application as soon as you received letter of invitation from the conference organizers. If you have not requested for the letter of invitation, you can request it from Mr Lawrence Por at tcpor[at]i2r.a-star.edu.sg with your accepted paper information, full name as in your passport, affiliation, postal and email address. Check out Singapore Overseas Mission’s website at your country of residence for the full requirement for Visa application.

Additionally, when you arrived in Singapore, you also need to make sure that you have the following documents (from here):

• Valid travel document (minimum validity of 6 months);
• Onward / return ticket;
• Entry facilities to next destination (that means visa to the next country of destination, if needed);
• Sufficient funds to stay in Singapore; and
• Visa for Singapore (if applicable)

If your travel documents allow visa-free access to Singapore but you plan to extend your stay for longer (for business or social purposes), you should check that the visa-free entry period allows you to do so. If not, you would need to apply for a visit pass.

Finally, due to recent swine flu hit, be sure to hit the Ministry of Health website from time to time to make sure that no additional restriction has been imposed for your country. For example, recently, Singapore has imposed visa requirement and a short-term quarantine order for visitors from Mexico (this requirement has been lifted in the past week). Furthermore, short-term quarantine order was also applied to visitors with recent travel to Mexico (has also been lifted). To avoid frustration and disappointment, keep a close watch on Ministry of Health and Immigration and Checkpoint Authority press releases. We will also post updates to the blog when such event occurs.

We will also be posting about visa requirements to surrounding ASEAN countries very soon.

Disclaimer: While we try to ensure that the information we post is as accurate as possible, there may be unforeseen changes that we did not catch. Hence, we would still encourage you to visit the website of Singapore Overseas Mission in your country of residence for the most up-to-date reference.

Acknowledgment: Image courtesy of Steel Wool (license: CC).