1. The Immigration (Amendment) Act 2023 (“the Act”) was passed by Parliament on 18 September 2023. The Act introduced amendments to the Immigration Act 1959 (“IA”) to enable the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to improve immigration processes and strengthen border controls.
2. The provisions in the Act are being operationalised in phases. Three sets of amendments have been operationalised on 31 December 2024, 30 May 2025 and 31 July 2025. The remaining amendments to the IA will come into effect on 1 December 2025. These are summarised below.
No-Boarding Directives
3. The amendments provide for ICA to issue No-Boarding Directives (NBD) that instruct transport operators to deny boarding to undesirable or prohibited immigrants, and those who do not meet Singapore’s entry requirements. This enhances Singapore’s border security by preventing such individuals from travelling to Singapore in the first place, thereby removing the need for ICA to manage and remove them upon their arrival. ICA will start issuing NBD notices to airline operators at Changi and Seletar Airports from January 2026, and to vessel operators from 2028. More details on the NBD can be found in ICA’s press release issued today.
Revisions to the Re-Entry Permit Application Process
4. The amendments clarify when a Permanent Resident (PR) is deemed to have lost his PR status and set out that a PR who is outside Singapore without a valid Re-Entry Permit (REP) must apply for an REP within the prescribed 180-day period if he wants to retain his PR status. He can retain his PR status if his REP application is approved. This differs from the existing process today, where a PR who is outside of Singapore without a valid REP is deemed by ICA to have lost his PR status immediately. Details of these changes were announced in an earlier
press release on 29 September 2025.
Updates to EP and REP Conditions
5. ICA will update the Entry Permit (EP) and REP conditions for all PRs, which will be published on 1 December 2025 on ICA’s website. All PRs should respect and abide by these permit conditions, and Singapore’s laws generally. Committing criminal offences, including the consumption of controlled drugs, or engaging in undesirable conduct, including interfering in Singapore’s domestic politics, importing foreign politics into Singapore, and undermining Singapore’s social harmony, would constitute a breach of the conditions of the EP and REP, and may result in the revocation of PR status.
6. For more information on the Act, please refer to the Annex.
Annexes
Information on the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2023
1.
MHA Press Release on the Revisions to Permanent Resident Re-Entry Permit Application Process from 1 December 2025
