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Renewal of Singapore Re-Entry Permit (REP)
Streamlining the REP Renewal Process
Renewing the REP Enables a Singapore PR to Retain His/Her Singapore PR Status While Away from Singapore
A Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) must have a valid Re-Entry Permit (REP) to keep his/her Singapore Permanent Residence status while they travel out of Singapore. Maintaining the validity of the REP is essential for every Singapore PR. A Singapore PR who remains outside Singapore without a valid REP will lose his/her PR status.
At Galactic Spark, before you engage us for REP renewal applications, we will have a complimentary one-to-one consultation session with you to clearly understand your profile and conduct a profile analysis with you. By doing that, you will be in a better position to make an informed decision before engaging us.
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Frequently Asked Questions for Singapore REP Renewal Applications
A Singapore PR must ensure his/her Singapore REP is valid when leaving Singapore and also when remaining overseas. You risk losing your Singapore PR status if your REP has expired while you are travelling overseas. Therefore, you should always renew your Singapore REP before its expiry.
Although your Singapore PR status offers permanence, the REP attached to it does come with an expiry date, necessitating renewal to maintain its validity. Typically, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA) grants a five-year validity period for a REP.
The REP renewal applications are subject to ICA’s approval. It is possible that a Singapore PR’s REP may be renewed for a duration shorter than the standard five years, or the REP renewal application may be rejected by ICA.
You should submit your online application through ICA’s e-Services for renewing your REP within 3 months before the expiry date of your current REP.
You must renew your REP online using ICA’s e-Services within three months prior to the expiry date of your REP. You are not required to submit any documents unless requested by ICA. If ICA requests documents for your REP renewal application, ICA will send you an email setting out a list of the documents required for your REP renewal application, as well as instructions on the upload of documents. In that case, please forward us ICA’s email sent to you, so that we can guide you on how to prepare and upload the requisite documents.
The REP renewal application form is a straightforward online form. After we work with you to get all the information ready, we will guide you in filling in the online application form for your REP renewal application. It is crucial to fill in all the details on the form accurately.
ICA does not require the applicant to submit any cover letter for a REP renewal application. REP renewal application is a much more straightforward application compared to a Singapore PR application. Hence, we normally do not provide any cover letter for REP renewal applications.
The submission of your REP renewal application will be done online through ICA’s e-REP system if your REP is still valid at the time when you submit your REP renewal application.
At Galactic Spark, we will not request your SingPass login credentials, as you should keep your SingPass login credentials strictly confidential.
For submitting your REP renewal application, we will arrange a meeting with you (either a Zoom meeting or a face-to-face meeting). Most of our clients prefer having a Zoom meeting with us for the online submission process, during which we will guide you step-by-step for the online submission.
At the end of the application submission, you will sight ICA’s acknowledgement webpage containing an application reference number. You can check the status of your REP renewal application by logging into ICA’s “MyICA” services using your SingPass.
If you miss the due date by less than 30 days, you should make an appointment with ICA through ICA’s e-Appointment system and then submit your REP renewal application in person at ICA.
The general processing time for REP renewal application is within 1-2 weeks. However, some cases may take longer to process.
You can check the status of your REP renewal application by logging into ICA’s “MyICA” services using your SingPass.
At the time when the outcome is available, ICA will send the outcome email to your email address stated in your REP renewal application form.
All REP renewal applications are subject to ICA’s approval. Like any other immigration consultancy firm, Galactic Spark cannot guarantee the success of your REP renewal application. Our key role is to provide valuable guidance to assist you in your REP renewal application.
If your REP renewal application is successful, you will receive an email from ICA, setting out the next step of actions that you need to take, including making payment to ICA before the due date set out in the approval email (for the issuance of your new REP) and downloading a PDF copy of your new REP from ICA once the payment is made.
After you have downloaded a PDF copy of your new REP from ICA, you may wish to print out a hard copy of your new REP and put it together with your passport for safekeeping.
If your REP renewal application is not successful, you will receive a rejection email from ICA.
The rejection email from ICA usually does not state any reason for rejecting your REP renewal application.
Based on our experience, the rejection reasons could be that the applicant has been absent from Singapore for a prolonged period, and he/she does not have any family roots in Singapore.
Upon receiving the rejection email from ICA, please forward us the said email as soon as possible. We will discuss with you the next course of action.
No, you do not need to renew your REP after you have become a Singapore citizen. REP is a permit that is only relevant to Singapore PRs.
In the oral reply (published on 3 February 2020 on the website of Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs) to parliamentary question on Re-Entry Permit applications by retired Singapore Permanent Residents (by Ms Sun Xueling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development), it was stated that “A Re-Entry Permit (REP) may be renewed if the Permanent Resident (PR) meets the prevailing criteria for renewal, including whether he or she is gainfully employed and still contributing to Singapore, and his or her family roots here. For PRs who have retired, we will generally renew their REPs, in recognition of their contributions to Singapore”.
If you have any questions or want to discuss your application case with us, please get in touch with us now for a complimentary one-to-one consultation session!
