Whilst, the whole point of my blogging is to test out the HTML course and web page creation that I am taking, I still can't seem to make it work in any of the sites I have tried namely, this one that I am using now and the first one I tried which is Google Sites.
I might really need supervision and further instruction from my IT/network engineer partner :p
Right now, I shall contend myself to writing away. 2nd topic of this blog is the Long Term Social Visit Pass or LTSVP in short.
If you're reading this, then you should and probably already have your EPEC approval email. Just to reiterate, EPEC will be sent to you via the old mailing system, meaning a physical document with the cute stamp and all, :) Though MOM doesn't really use a physical stamp, just that stamping with the date on it etc, usually seen with legal mails.
Anyway, the following is the account of how I obtained my LTSVP.
On May 20, I received the EPEC application approval email. The next step is to update it via the e-services of ICA with this link
https://ltpass.ica.gov.sg/eltsvp/newAppPreLogin.do. Among the choices on that page, you will choose "Holders of Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate" which will then lead you to the next page that will ask you to fill in your passport and EPEC particulars. Note that it is asking for the EPEC issue date. At that time of filling it up (May 23), I didn't yet have the EPEC document and I was quite worried as to what to put in the issue date. Anxious and impatient I entered May 20 (the date I received the approval notification); later on I would see in the EPEC document issue date of May 25. Anyway, going back to the first step: I filled in those four fields (passport and EPEC particulars) and tan-ta-da-dan!!!!--------- first payment: application processing fee of SGD 30.
On June 4, I received the In-Principle Approval e-mail from ICA. In this e-mail, you will be given a specified period during which to make the payment otherwise this approval will be considered withdrawn and the EPEC will be deemed invalid since you've already opted to activate it when you made the procedure in the preceding paragraph. With regard this period, in my case I was given 2 weeks exactly to make the payment in the amount of SGD 90.
I made the payment on June 16, and received the confirmation e-mail that the LTSVP has been approved that same day.
When the LTSVP is activated, you will only need to complete a few more formalities in-person at the Immigrations and Checkpoint Authority. The e-mail I mentioned from the preceding paragraph will contain the link to be able to print out the documents that you will need to fill-up and bring to the ICA. What are they?
Medical Examination Report- This can be done in your home country provided that the information encoded is in english. It would be wiser to have this done in your home country actually as it might be cheaper. You can opt to have it done here as well since all clinics here are can perform the only two procedures for the medical exam which are the x-ray and blood testing for TB and HIV detection respectively. It cost me SGD 58 for these two alone. Ugh! I know!
Form 14 - The tricky part here was the one in the last page Part V. Declaration by Local Sponsor. It is a declaration that the signing person will be responsible for all your expenses for the entire time that you are in Singapore. I'm not really sure if this is a required field. I decided to take a chance and have my boyfriend sign it (I was in doubt because he wasn't a local here, but he's all I have here, awwwwww!!! :p)
Approval Notice - you just have to print it out. It will basically contain the appointment date that you choose via the e-appointment service.
Terms and Conditions of Issuance of the LTSVP- Like the previous one, you just have to print it out and sign it.
Again, all these documents are in the link that the e-mail sent to you will contain.
I set-up my appointment a few days before my 30 days social visit pass was to expire so that I could take advantage of the free days. I'd like to commend the government staff here in Singapore for really being efficient and on-time. My appointment was 3:15PM and I was entertained at exactly that time. If you miss your number, they will have an instruction for you on who to check with. :) By the way, ICA is exactly adjacent to the Lavender Station of the MRT EW Green Line. Talk about convenience!
Not to move to far from the topic coz Im not yet finished actually. :) When I got there, I was a bit worried because the other people before me really had companions, I was assuming they were their 'local sponsors' and the applicants would really call their other companions after a brief talk with the staff. They all looked 'locals' to me. I was really worried that time because I was there by myself coz my boyfriend had work that time. I decided to take a chance. I thought the worse that could happen is that I had to go back another day with my bf in tow. After all, I still had a few more days until the 30 days expire. One by one they were finished until it was finally my turn-----and yaaay! I was not asked to present my local sponsor!! (Although, there was a notification posted on the wall of the sort of customer service area for that floor stating the need for local sponsor to be present when applying for the LTSVP. However, since it was not stated in the approval notice that they sent me, perhaps it is not necessary for e-applicants. Remember though to always check everything printed in the documents sent to you so you are always well prepared.) So the first staff took my documents and told me to wait until my number (a new one she issued) appears on the screen so I can collect my LTSVP card. And when it did, ... :( I was told I had to make 30SGD payment.
At that point I was a bit confused because there was nothing in the e-mails nor papers that stated that another payment was to be made upon collection of the card. To top that up, they don't accept cash nor credit card, rather NETS card. After a few wrong trips from and to the e-payment lounge in the first floor of the building, I found my way to a 7-11 store (in the MRT building) that sells NETS card. The card itself costs 10SGD with a prepaid value of 5SGD so I only had to add 25SGD more plus the 50cents that 7-11 charges for the top-up or loading transaction. After that, I went back to get my LTSVP card (yes, it's the same day, just took about 2 hours in total) and paid with the NETS card.
All in all, for the card itself, I paid a total of SGD150.
That's all for now. Hope I helped. :)
