WHAT IS VTL?
Last year in November, Malaysia and Singapore opened theirs borders for vaccinated travelers via the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme starting with air travel between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). It was then extended to land travel via VTL-Land Designated buses and was launched concurrently with air travel on 29th November 2021.
Recently, on 4th March 2022, it was announced that Singapore has now extended the VTL to Penang as well! As excited as we are about the good news, it is best to know the exact facts on how to travel between Singapore and Malaysia via VTL to avoid any unnecessary hassle or issues. As the requirements are constantly changing, we always advise checking for updates and the latest announcements.
The main questions that go through your mind are, who can use the VTL and how do I apply? Let us break it down for you so you can focus on planning your getaways instead!
WHO CAN TRAVEL UNDER THE VTL?
Travellers must be fully vaccinated with a Covid-19 Vaccine recognised by the Ministry of Health or World Health Organisation. Unvaccinated children below 12 years old must be accompanied by vaccinated adults. Travellers must have been in Malaysia/Singapore for the past 14 consecutive days before departure to travel to the other country. VTL travellers do not need to be in the country they travelled to for 14 days prior to returning to the country of origin. VTL is only for travel between Malaysia and Singapore. Travellers from other VTL countries with Singapore are not eligible for VTL and transit to Malaysia.
HOW CAN WE TRAVEL UNDER VTL?
VTL Land
VTL-Land allows travellers to travel from Malaysia to Singapore and vice-versa safely without quarantine via land. It is only available via Woodlands Causeway between Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI), Johor Bahru and Woodlands Checkpoint, Singapore. It is also only available via designated VTL buses and tickets can be purchased with CausewayLink or Transtar.
In Singapore, the boarding and disembarkation points are at Queen’s Street Terminal and Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange (WTBI). In Malaysia, it can be found at Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal.
VTL Air
VTL Air travellers are required to travel only on designated VTL aircrafts which are operated by either Malaysia or Singapore Aircrafts. The airlines are AirAsia, Jetstar Asia, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air, Scoot and Singapore Airlines (SIA). The tickets can be purchased from the respective airlines.
What are the differences between VTL Air and VTL Land in terms of eligibility and requirements?
There is a difference in the pre-departure Covid Test. For VTL Air, only professionally administered Polymerase Chain Reaction RT-PCR is accepted whereas for VTL Land professionally administered Antigen Rapid Test (ART) is also accepted.
Next is the eligibility, for VTL Land, it is only available for Malaysia & Singapore citizens, Malaysia & Singapore Permanent Residents and Malaysia & Singapore Long-term Pass Holders whereas for VTL Air it is eligible for all nationalities.
There are differences in the VTL requirements from Malaysia entering Singapore and vice versa.
REQUIREMENTS FOR TRAVELLING FROM MALAYSIA TO SINGAPORE
- Purchase return air tickets and bus tickets.
- Purchase travel insurance with a minimum coverage of SGD30,000 for Covid-19 related medical treatment and hospitalisation costs.
- Short-term visitors (travelling for business or leisure) or holders of Long-Term Passes (such as a student's pass or work pass) must apply for a free Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) between 7 - 60 days prior to departure. The VTP is valid for 13 calendar days from the traveller’s chosen date of entry. Applications can be done here.
- Travellers are required to submit their health, travel history, and accommodation declarations electronically no earlier than three days prior to their date of arrival. Submission can be done here.
- Take a professionally administered Covid-19 ART/PCR Test (for VTL Air only PCR is accepted) within 2 days prior to departure at an accredited centre. Children aged 2 years and below are not required to take any Covid-19 test.
- Take a Covid-19 test upon arrival in Singapore. Travellers can register and pre-pay for the test here.
- Fully vaccinated recovered travellers may qualify for exemption from Covid-19 tests. You may refer here for detailed information.
- Travellers are then required to take private transportation, taxi or private hire car to the place of accommodation as declared in the VTP for isolation until the result is confirmed negative. Strictly no public transportation is permitted.
- Travellers must download and register themselves on the TraceTogether app to aid contact tracing while in Singapore.
- For more detailed information, please visit these links for VTL Air and VTL Land
We hope you have found this helpful. Do check for updates! In the meantime, head over to Malaysia Travel or Singapore Travel to find amazing deals and travel ideas.
