Effective 8 June 2020, the Governments of Singapore and China have established a Fast Lane Arrangement to facilitate short-term essential business and official travel between Singapore and six Chinese Provinces & Municipalities (Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang).  The arrangement will be gradually expanded to other Chinese Provinces and Municipalities.

Applications for fast lane travel must be sponsored by either a Company or a Government Agency in the destination country (i.e. Singapore or China) and to be filed with the relevant authorities.  A Controlled Itinerary (between workplace and place of accommodation) must be submitted along with other required documents and travellers must adhere to the Controlled Itinerary for the first 14 days after arrival.

Currently, business or official travellers sponsored by government agencies for inbound travel to Singapore may submit applications through the respective sponsors starting 8 June 2020.  Applications for company-sponsored travellers can be submitted at a later phase (to be announced). Processing time for fast lane travel applications will take approximately 3 working days for Singapore and approximately 2 to 4 weeks for China (application process and documents required will vary depending on the local provincial/municipal authorities).

Note: Travellers to China who need to travel between other fast lane regions in China within the first 14 days upon arrival, must obtain advance approval from the relevant provincial/municipal authorities of the next destination through the host company or government agency.

Below are the key arrangements that travelers with approved fast lane travel (i.e. SafeTravel Pass for Singapore, Letter of Invitation for China) need to make:

• Visa Requirements

Travel to Singapore: Visa required nationals will need to apply for an entry visa with the SafeTravel Pass through the usual channels (Singapore Overseas Missions, Authorised Visa Agents, Local Contact or Companies) at least 4 working days before departure. If the applicant already has an existing valid visa, the visa suspension will be lifted when the SafeTravel Pass is approved, and the traveler does not to apply for a new visa.  Those who do not require a visa prior to the COVID-19 pandemic will not need to apply for a visa for fast lane travel.

Travel to China: Approved traveller will need to apply visa with the Letter of Invitation issued by the Chinese Government Authority and submit health declaration with the Embassy of P.R. China in Singapore.

• Travellers to Singapore must remain in any of the fast lane region in China for at least 7 days prior to arrival in Singapore (exclusive of the day of arrival) and submit his/her pre-trip health and travel history declarations as well as declare his/her accommodation electronically via the SGArrival Card within three days prior to the date of arriving in Singapore.
• Travellers are required to undertake the COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test within 48 hours before departing from home country and upon arrival in the destination country.  Travellers to China will need to undertake the serology test in addition to the PCR test.  At the destination country, travellers are required to remain isolated at place of accommodation or designated location by the local authority until the test result is released.
• Travellers must download and use the local app (i.e. TraceTogether, Health QR Code) during their stay in the country.
• Travellers must not use any public transportation with exception of private hire/cars/taxis or company transport.
• Travellers must adhere to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures as set out by the local government authorities during their stay in the country.
• Travellers are subject to the entry and quarantine requirements as set out by the government authorities (e.g. health & travel history declaration, COVID-19 test, etc.) upon returning back to their home country.

All relevant parties (i.e. Hosts/Sponsors, Travelers) must comply with the all terms and conditions on the Fast Lane arrangement between Singapore and China, all prevailing immigration and health policies of the country at all times.  Failure to comply, approval on travel via fast lane arrangement may be revoked and/or future applications will be rejected.

For additional information regarding this topic, please contact apac@tandslaw.com.