Lawrious

I arrived into Singapore today and had the exact same experience. Immigration process was smooth, swift and everyone seemed genuinely happy to see more passengers coming into Singapore again. Not one utterance of the middle name disparity with the names on the VTP and Vaccine Certificate matching.

I entered a passport lane, gave them the documentation, did the usual photo and thumb prints and carried straight on through to baggage reclaim and the arrival Covid-19 test. It was a relatively stress-free experience tbh.

Hope this helps those that are still concerned.

Cheers,
Lawrious

Singapore_Air

Great - thanks a lot !

SingaporeDon

Any updates on this issue?

DS lives in Washington DC, got his vaccinations at a Federal Vaccination site in Maryland, and not sure as to how to get a Smart Vaccination Certificate

Also at what point is QR code required? When applying for VTP? And/Or on arrival at Changi?

Looks like both SQ pre-boarding at JFK/LAX/SFO and Changi ICA officers on arrival will accept paper Vaccination certificates. Is that right? Will the CDC handwritten card do for this?

Lawrious

During the VTP application you will be asked to upload QR codes to verify you're eligible to enter Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane. You will then need to present the official confirmation of your vaccinations at the border with either an official printed letter or a digital version, ideally these will have valid QR codes to attest to the authenticity just in case they do double check at the border. A handwritten card given at the time of vaccination will not be sufficient proof I'm afraid.

This is important since you cannot do anything (or at least very little) in Singapore at the moment unless you are vaccinated. Once you clear your paper work at customs you will be able to activate the SG government's 'Trace Together' app on your smartphone. Once your arrival test is confirmed negative, your app will also update your vaccination status as "Vaccinated", generating an NFC-enabled passport to confirm this status in Singapore; you scan ipads/smartphones/NFC readers with your smartphone and it will confirm to the attendant you are vaccinated. It is pretty cool technology if I am honest, a stark contrast to our test and tracing (in)capabilities in the UK.

As for the issues around getting the SMART Covid passport, it seems like a mess if there is no standard applied at a federal level. Seems a bit silly to let individual states do their own thing for something that should be used to reflect the vaccination status of a US citizen/resident. Still the VTLs will open up to only the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria in November.

SingaporeDon

Thanks. I have sent an inquiry to the Singapore Safe Travel Center raising this question and will call them up tomorrow too to find out what they are planning to do about many pax who are vaccinated in USA but don’t have a Smart Covid passport

pWei

From the POV of the separation of concerns, it does make sense that the sovereign states, with their own health departments, handle vaccination records. It's similar to the UK, where I believe England NHS is a different entity than say, the Scotland / N Ireland?

SingaporeDon

Quick follow up
1. I spoke with the Safe Travel Office. They said that not having the middle name in Smart Passport is not an issue any more
2. They did however tell me that Singapore will not issue VTP to anyone who does not have a Smart Passport with the QR Code. Period.
3. They said if you are a family member of a Singaporean or PR, they can sponsor you for a non VTL/VTP visa under the Familial Ties Lane facility, but incoming passenger must do and pay for PCR for at arrival @ Changi and 5 days into home quarantine. The only concession is he can do 7 day quarantine at home with his family in Singapore, but cannot go out of home for 7 days.

Lawrious

This is true, however, because the UK is the collective nation on the world stage the NHS vaccination status for passengers is somewhat standardised across the board. My formal vaccination status letter has the NHS authorities for each of the 4 nations in the to-right hand corner.

aromahops

Did anyone encounter a similar error to me when trying to fill out the VTP form and its saying it does not accept special characters in your name?

My name has a dash in it on all my official documents (passport, licenses, smart QR vaccine code). But of course the error I get when I try to upload the SMART QR code is "name does not match" because in the VTP application I had to remove the dash.... There is not way to add the dash on the VTP form, it just doesn't let me hit submit.

jeangoyal

have you figured a way around the missing middle name. I'm experiencing the same issue. Passport has middle names but California QR code is only first and last and with no way to add it. And I just can't hit "submit" at all

SingaporeDon

please see post # 10 in this thread for CA workaround

Update: FIXED!

On the California Govt page where the Smart Health card is downloaded, there is a function to report error. I submitted the form along with passport copy, and relevant docs. Website said it needed 2-3 weeks.

I went to the healthcare provider's electronic login and updated my name to include the middle name (they said the info will update the CA site)

After 72 hours, the card was modified to include my middle name.

I dont know if this was sheer good luck but at least this is a data point for what worked for me. Happy Travels!

Itoo Power

FWIW... I just submitted VTL application successfully and it appears to be ignoring the middle name.

I applied from California for my 12 year old. The passport has middle name but the COVID smart card does not have middle name.

I entered the full name including middle name in the VTL application and uploaded the COVID smart card without middle name, it just worked... no errors.

progapanda

Did you get your approval? I submitted three applications with same kind of individual credentials for each, got approval for one immediately, but nothing on the remaining two.

Itoo Power

Yes got approval instantly.

progapanda

Thanks, for some bizarre reasons all three approvals went to one e-mail address even when I had provided separate e-mail addresses for each applicant. No problems (yet) with a missing middle name on the vax QR code.