Our Service Commitment
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We secure our borders and uphold our laws on immigration and national registration. In doing so, we will also strive to provide greater convenience and secured services to our customers.
We are committed to delivering the service experience that our customers value by:
- Understanding your needs;
- Processing your applications and clearance efficiently;
- Providing you with accurate information;
- Responding to you in a timely manner; and
- Performing our duties professionally
We will process your application upon receiving all required documents.
For multiple products applied for (e.g. Citizenship, Permanent Residence, Long-Term Visit Pass) within a single application, the processing time will be based on the product with the longer processing time.
We strive to meet the following processing time, but seek your understanding that some applications may take longer to process:
Births & Deaths
| Service | Processing Time |
| Alteration of Child’s Name | Within 3 working days
|
| Reporting of Overseas Death | Within 3 working days |
| Apply for Birth Extract | Within 6 working days |
| Apply for Death Extract | Within 1 week |
| Search for Birth/Death Records | Within 3 weeks* |
Travel Documents
| Service | Processing Time |
| Apply for Passport | Within 2 weeks |
| Apply for Temporary Travel Document | Within 2 weeks |
Identity Cards
| Service | Processing Time | |
| IC First Registration (aged 15)* | For school registrants | For non-school registrants |
| Within 1 month (after biometrics enrolment in school) | Within 7 working days (after biometrics enrolment at ICA) | |
| IC Replacement | Within 7 working days | |
| IC Re-registration | Within 7 working days | |
| Change of Residential Address for IC holder | After application submission | After verification of PIN |
| For PIN mailer to reach applicant Within 1 week | For address sticker(s) to reach applicant Within 1 week | |
| Apply for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Travel Card | Within 9 months | |
Citizenship
| Service | Processing Time |
| Oath-taking for Minors | Within the same day |
| Right of Entry | Within 3 working days |
| Apply for Citizenship | Within 12 months |
Permanent Residence
| Service | Processing Time | |
| Apply for Certificate of Identity | Within 3 working days | |
| Re-Entry Permit | Apply / Renew | Transfer |
| Within 1 week | Within 3 working days | |
| Apply for Permanent Residence | Within 6 months | |
Student's Pass
| Service | Processing Time | ||
| Apply | Renew | Transfer | |
| Government/ Government-Aided/ Independent Schools | Within 1 week | Not applicable | |
| Foreign System Schools | Within 1 week | ||
| Institutes of Technical Education | Within 1 week | ||
| Institutes of Higher Learning | Within 1 week (Within 2 weeks if Visa is required) | Not applicable | |
| Kindergartens and Childcare Centres | Within 2 weeks | Within 1 week | |
| Private Education Institutions (EduTrust and Non-EduTrust) | By EduTrust institutions Within 2 weeks | By Non-Edutrust institutions Within 1 month | Within 1 week |
Visa
| Service | Processing Time |
| Apply for Visa | Within 3 working days |
Visit Pass
| Service | Processing Time |
| Apply for Extension of Short-Term Visit Pass | Within 5 working days |
| Pre-Marriage Long-Term Visit Pass Assessment | Within 1 month |
| Long-Term Visit Pass | Apply / Renew |
| Within 6 weeks* |
You are encouraged to book an appointment with us.
| Waiting Time | |
| With Appointment | We will do our best to keep your waiting time to within 15 minutes of your appointment time, 80% of the time. |
| Without Appointment* | We strive to attend to you as early as we can. We will do our best to keep your waiting time to within 60 minutes, 80% of the time. We seek your kind understanding that you may have to wait longer during peak periods. |
We strive to continuously improve and offer you a seamless and intuitive digital service experience that is available anywhere, anytime.
Our core services are available online. Approximately 95% of our customers have taken advantage of our online services to conveniently apply for ICA products and facilities.
Start accessing and enjoying the convenience of our e-Services. You may refer to the list of ICA’s available e-Services and the estimated time to complete each transaction.
Written Correspondence
Our response time depends on the nature and complexity of the enquiry or feedback.
We will reply to straightforward enquiries and feedback within 3 working days, but may take longer for more complex issues. We will keep you updated if more time is needed.
| Written Correspondence | Response Time |
| Simple, Straightforward Issues | Within 3 working days |
| Complex Issues | Within 15 working days |
Call Centre
Our call centre offers a 24-hour automated answering service for information on our services and procedural requirements.
If you need to speak to an officer, we strive to answer 80% of calls within 3 minutes.
ICA officers are committed to perform our duties professionally. We seek your cooperation to treat our officers with mutual respect.
It is an offence to threaten, abuse or insult a public servant under section 6 of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014.
