VISA EXTENSION ONLINE (Singapore)

It was August 15, 2010 when I arrived in Singapore.  My day 1 of my 30 days visa had just started. As the days passed by, I was already stressed to think that my social visit pass will be expiring soon on September 14, 2010. This was just one of the challenges I encountered here in Singapore. Since, I did not have the Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate (EPEC) because I was rejected, so I needed to extend my visa.

As to what I understand it, EPEC will allow foreigners to stay in Singapore for 1 year to look for a job. It is a 1-year Social Visit Pass that they will give you.  This will be issued only once and cannot be renewed. For more details about the EPEC and application, you may visit Ministry of  Manpower’s website, https://epec.mom.gov.sg/epec/index.do . 

How did I extend my Social Visit Pass?

There were two options for me to extend my stay: to exit to Malaysia or Indonesia or to apply for online extension (e-extend). I chose the latter because for me this was the safest and fastest but of course I could not tell if it was approve or rejected until such time that I receive my result. It was successful.

Based on my experience, here are the things that you need to know for your Social Visit Pass extension:

1. Keep your passport as you will need it at all times. Your passport details are necessary in the application.
2. When I applied my extension, I followed the sequence on how my name was written in my passport.
3. When I arrived in Singapore, I filled in the Disembarkation Card and the IO attached it to my passport. Never lose this one as this is needed for the extension. 
4. I omitted the dash when I wrote the disembarkation card number  in the online application:  1234567890 instead of 123-456-789-0.
5. My Social Visit Pass or Short Term Visit Pass expiry was on September 14, 2010 so, I applied on September 5, 2010 for me to have extra time if my application will be rejected.
6. When I applied I also followed the peak-hour and off-peak-hour. You can find it in the website.
7. After it was approved, I paid $30 using my credit card. 

For further details, you may visit http://www.ica.gov.sg/ .

Good luck!

**Please note that this post is based on my past experience in applying for the extension of my Social Visit Pass. Please take this as a guide only. This does not guarantee that all applications will be successful because all will depend on the Immigration’s decision.  Thank you.