Update (15 Oct): The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has revised the eligibility criteria to include all applications submitted from 1 Jan 2020, before the child’s first birthday.
This means Singaporeans who are born in 2019 will also get their passports free, so long as they apply for their first passport from in 2020.
Having children hasn’t put a damper on new parents’ love for travel.
Public statistics show that 80% of Singaporean children have their passports applications made before they turn 1.
With that being said, there’s good news for currently expecting couples — your newborns will get their first passports for free.
Parents will no longer have to pay $70 for passport application if their babies are born on or after 1 January 2020.
So long as they submit applications before their newborn’s first birthday. they get to enjoy the “discount”.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, who’s in charge of population matters, said this was a small gesture for parents to “relax and enjoy”, and even go on a holiday with their babies too.
She was quoted as saying such in The Straits Times.
Despite news of drastically lower birth rates in Singapore, surveys from Marriage and Parenthood, and National Youth Council, show that marriage and having children remain key goals for many young Singaporeans.
However, expectations of having to balance family and career well can become deterrents for couples who are considering to have kids.
To further support parenthood, the government has also put in place subsidies that’ll help ease costs of sending children to pre-schools or childcare.
This is done by:
All these will also take in effect starting Jan 2020.
This year, Singapore was named the world’s best country for children. This is further cemented by the way the country is evolving to ensure children can successfully thrive our modern society.
Apart from measures to support parenthood, it’s great to see interesting schemes being rolled out to nurture digitally adept children, such as the introduction of coding programmes. It starts next year too.
All these are small, but necessary steps towards helping our kids grow up well. MS News wishes the younger generation of Singapore, Happy Children’s Day.
Featured image adapted from Zit Seng and Young Parents.
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