VISA REQUIREMENT FOR WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES AFFECTED BY EBOLA

With effect from 5 November 2014, nationals from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will require a visa to enter Singapore.

2              The visa requirement will allow for better oversight of the entry of nationals from these countries, as well as facilitate possible contact tracing. In addition, it will allow Singapore to inform the nationals of these countries during the visa application process, of our Ebola health advisory and actions they should take, should they develop symptoms while en route to or during their stay in Singapore.

3              The visa requirement complements other measures earlier put in place, including:

•             Deployment of Health Advisory Posters and the distribution of Health Advisory Notices (HANs) to nationals from Ebola-affected African countries at all air, land and sea checkpoints, as well as other travellers who self-declare their history of travel to Ebola-affected countries

•             Screening measures against Ebola at our air checkpoints, where nationals and travellers arriving from countries with significant or potentially significant Ebola transmission (currently Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mali), as well as travellers who voluntarily declare that they have recently travelled to these countries will be directed to a screening station, where they will be screened for fever, and requested to complete a Health Declaration Card

•             Travellers who are found to have a fever will be sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for further assessment and testing.  Those who are well but assessed to have a risk of exposure to Ebola will be kept under phone surveillance or quarantined for up to 21 days, depending on the nature of their potential exposure.

4              The Government will continue to monitor the Ebola situation closely and calibrate our preparedness measures.

5              Members of the public who wish to find out more about visa application procedures may wish to visit the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA) website at www.ica.gov.sg.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
3 NOVEMBER 2014