BEIJING: China will resume 15-day visa-free entry for Singaporeans from Wednesday (Jul 26), more than three years after the arrangement was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The arrangement will also be resumed for citizens of Brunei.
Visa-free entry to China will be available for citizens of Singapore and Brunei with ordinary passports travelling for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives and friends, and in transit, the embassies said in notices on their websites on Sunday.
The embassy in Singapore added that it was “confident that more measures to facilitate people-to-people exchange between China and Singapore will be unveiled in the future”.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) welcomed the reinstatement.
“This will facilitate people and business flows between our countries and pave the way for deeper bilateral cooperation, especially following the upgrade in Singapore-China relations to an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership earlier this year during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s visit to Beijing,” said MFA in a Facebook post on Sunday.
China lifted many of its zero-COVID measures last December but only began issuing tourist visas again in March.
In May, Mr Lawrence Wong – in his first official visit to China as Deputy Prime Minister – expressed hope that China would restore the visa-free arrangement for Singapore citizens.
Source: CNA
