VISA EXTENSION - MALAYSIA EXIT (Singapore) - Whats and Hows Answered

I have been blogging here and there, only to realize that some points are missing in my post,

VISA EXTENSION - MALAYSIA EXIT (Singapore).

That was, on 10.10.10, more than two (2) years ago. Let me figure out what exactly we did during my Malaysia exit in order to extend my Singapore Visa. My apologies because my memory is fully loaded to recall but here are some of the important details behind my successful U-turn.

We left Singapore around 12 noon and took the bus at Kranji Station. It was easy for me to pass the Immigration Officers in leaving Singapore and entering Malaysia. We had lunch and went shopping because that was really my friend's birthday.

We were at Malaysia Immigration at around 4 o'clock and that was my sort-of-dooms day. Guess what? The officer did not allow me to exit Malaysia. He said it was illegal because I only arrived and left Malaysia at the same day. I should have stayed there longer. He was telling me that I should fly to Kuala Lumpur and go back to Philippines. Even I reasoned out that my stuffs were in Singapore and my scheduled return to Philippines was on the 13th of October. He still insisted until my friend came to rescue me. That was a long conversion. I was trembling and was about to cry. Ouuucch!  Since, I was new in Singapore and Malaysia, understanding Singlish or their English was hard for me. I'm sorry to have said this. But it was until I heard my friend say, "How much will it cost us?" Everything became clear. He asked me to pay him $50, put it inside my passport and went at the end of the line again.

What a relief. Whuew! It was not yet the last, I still have to face another officer in Singapore. It is true that you take all the risk with you when you have to extend your visa thru Malaysia exit. I took the risk, my prayers and faith with me.

OMG! I wanted to cry. I was so scared when we arrived Singapore Immigration in Woodlands. The magic trick was, choose your Immigration Officer and face your fear. Really, we chose our officer. They said that Malay men are nice and attracted to girls. Though he was a Malay but we were in Singapore, so we thought we were safe. While we were lining up, one person before us was at the officer's counter for a long time. I was scared and wanted to transfer but it might be obvious. Face my fear. He only asked about what I did in Malaysia and if I wanted to extend my stay in Singapore. My answer was firm, "...NO, I'm going back to Philippines on the 13th."

That saved my day. 


Dear Readers,
This is for your reference only. All things are subjective. I could not assure you that this will be effective to you.

VISA EXTENSION - MALAYSIA EXIT (Singapore)

My online extension was about to expire on October 14, 2011. So, I needed to risk everything since I was already waiting for my interview result. I had my online extension and I had one (1) option left - to exit or what they say, the U-turn technique. The choice where to exit is still a question. I had been reading forums and it scared me on where to go but of course not to go back to Philippines. Finally, I decided to go to Malaysia.

"U-Turn - this is the common term for the technique to extend a social visit pass. It is by going to a nearby country to exit for a few hours or days and going back to the country of origin hereafter."

Some said that I have to stay there for a maximum of five (5) days and some said, hours stay was already enough. But then, If you think about it, everything was so uncertain. Everything was by luck because  the outcome will depend on the Immigration officers.

I only had limited bucks in my pocket, so I decided to exit to Malaysia.

What did I bring during my exit?

1) Passport 

2) Return Ticket - My exit date to Malaysia was October 10, 2010 and my return ticket was dated October 13, 2010. You should get a real one (though it cost a lot) because some officers might verify your tickets online.

3) Friend - My PR friend accompanied me during my exit to Malaysia. She's a permanent resident already who just came from a training in the United States. She celebrated her birthday the day after my exit so we got a lot of reasons to tell the immigration officers. 

4) Full-packed reason why you want to go Malaysia. We went there to celebrate my friend's birthday, to do shopping for stuffs and presents to my family in the Philippines.

It was 10-10-10 and was my lucky day. I survived all the questions of the immigration officers. It was a nerve wrecking experience but thank God, I passed it.

continuation: 

VISA EXTENSION - MALAYSIA EXIT (Singapore) - Whats and Hows Answered

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.