Travelling to Singapore? Here’s why you must know everything about Vaccinated Travel Lanes

Vaccinated Travel Lane: International travel was no longer an easy affair after covid-19 hit the world. Countries across the world experimented and came up with various concepts to ensure passenger’s safe movement and travel between different nations. Some of the common ones we know of are–air bubble, vaccine passports, traffic light system, and travel corridors. The latest one to add in the list is Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL). Introduced by Singapore, this process is still in its early stages but experts believe that this could become a pro forma for jurisdictions opening up for travellers who are vaccinated against the COVID-19. Let us dig deeper into the subject.

Vaccinated Travel Lanes: Meaning
VTLs are nothing but basically an extension of travel corridors but are only for fully vaccinated travellers. Singapore has established VTLs with two jurisdictions as of now, Germany and Brunei Darussalam. Which means fully vaccinated passengers from these two places are allowed to arrive in Singapore for any travel purpose that too without quarantine requirements, which are otherwise important for travellers flying to Singapore.

How do VTLs work?
In the simplest languages, Singapore will be designating specific flights for passengers having a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP). These flights will be on the other side of the lane. Fully vaccinated passengers can apply for a VTP from September 1 for travel from September 8 onwards on the designated flights. Citizens from Singapore and permanent residents, however, do not need to apply for the VTP to travel back home under the VTL.

How to apply for VTLs
First things first. In order to apply for a VTP, travellers must be fully vaccinated. An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after they received the full regimen of a vaccine authorised by World Health Organisation (WHO), which includes Serum Institute’s Covishield, for emergency use. Applications must be submitted 7 to 30 calendar days before the intended date to enter Singapore. Although the quarantine will not be required for passengers having VTP, they must still get an RT-PCR test done 48 hours ahead of the departure time and prepay for their post-arrival Day 3 and Day 7 covid PCR tests when applying for the VTP.

What about the passengers who are not fully-vaccinated?
People without VTP will also be allowed to travel in the country but they will be subjected to stringent quarantine requirements upon arrival in Singapore. Lufthansa, a German carrier, will start operating its VTL flights between Frankfurt and Singapore from September 16. It will be flying twice a week on Thursdays and Saturdays. Singapore Airlines will operate its VTL flights between Frankfurt and Singapore on September 7 and between Munich and Singapore on September 8.