Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Whether Singapore Passports Can Clearly Indicate the Surname of the Passport Holder, by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether Singapore passports can clearly indicate the surname (or the patronym or matronym) of the passport holder to avoid confusion and ambiguity when the passport is presented at foreign immigration checkpoints or when completing official documents.

Answer:

1. The Singapore Passport complies with the standards and requirements set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

2. In the name field of the passport biodata page, the passport holder’s name is displayed according to how it is registered in his/her birth certificate or National Registration Identity Card (NRIC). The passport holder’s surname, if it is specified at birth, will be clearly identified in the machine-readable zone (MRZ) at the bottom left of the passport biodata page after the letters “PASGP”.

3. Any foreign authority that scans the MRZ of the passport during immigration clearance will be aware of the passport holder’s surname, regardless of how the surname is sequenced in the name field.