eSIM for Singapore

The SG Arrival Card, filed before you land

Singapore's Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) asks all travellers to submit the SG Arrival Card, which carries an electronic health declaration, before they arrive. The window is three days and counts the arrival day itself, so someone landing on a Friday can file from the Wednesday.

ICA offers two official routes: its SGAC e-Service on the web, or the MyICA Mobile app, which can keep your profile and fill it in again on later trips. Submission costs nothing. ICA has warned that commercial websites charge people to file the card for them and says those services have no link with it.

The exemptions are narrow. Passengers who transit or transfer through Singapore without seeking immigration clearance do not file, and at the Woodlands and Tuas land checkpoints ICA's exemption names residents only: Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders.

#WiFi@Changi when you step off the plane

Changi Airport's free network, #WiFi@Changi, reaches both the public and the transit areas of every terminal, and the airport says you need not register, pay or hand over personal details. Pick #WiFi@Changi in your settings, open a browser and type any web address to bring up the login page, then press CONNECT NOW.

It belongs to the airport, so it stays behind once you head for the train or the taxi rank; directions into town and the first messages home then run on your own data.

Tapping in on buses and trains, and charging up

SimplyGo, the fare system for Singapore's public transport, accepts foreign-issued contactless American Express, Mastercard and Visa cards, also inside a mobile wallet, with no SimplyGo account needed. Switch on overseas use for the card before you travel. Maestro and Cirrus debit cards are refused, a daily admin fee is added on days you pay fares with a foreign-issued Mastercard or Visa card, and the reader should see only one card, so take any others out of the phone case.

Sockets take the three-pin Type G plug on a 230 V supply. Hotels often fit universal sockets that accept other plugs too, yet Singapore's Consumer Product Safety Office warns that hair dryers, travel irons and kettles rated for 100–120 V will not run safely at 230 V, so read the label before plugging in.

A stopover, a city stay, or on to Johor

For a visit that never leaves the island, the local plans are for Singapore only. If you cross the Causeway to Johor Bahru or carry on north, some regional plans that include Singapore also cover Malaysia and Thailand, and others add Indonesia and Vietnam. For a stay of a few days, look at the daily plans: each is described by an amount for each day rather than by one balance for the whole trip, and its card shows that amount.

Your phone must accept an eSIM and be unlocked; the compatibility guide shows how to check, and the activation guide covers when a plan starts counting.