Obtaining the Certificate of Clearance

As mentioned in yesterday's post, we headed down to obtain our Certificate of Clearance today.

We've driven past the complex many times and never noticed any public carpark nearby. In fact, we've often seen cars illegally parked along the road outside Cantonment Complex. The irony of that.

Anyway, we made the decision to park at Singapore General Hospital and walk over to Cantonment Complex. (or park in the other area I've marked out in red)

At the complex, you'll have to exchange your IDs for visitor passes before you're allowed into the complex proper. Once in, head for the bank of lifts and go on up to level 2. You can't miss it once you step out of the lifts.

First thoughts upon seeing the office? It was small and it was packed. I couldn't help wondering if the people there were all Singaporeans looking to leave our little red dot or if there was some other reason to obtain a CoC. The next inevitable question to pop into my mind was to wonder at their destination.

Grab a queue number and wait for it to be called. At this point, it is worth mentioning that if you had headed there without first filling out an application form, they have a stack of them there for your usage. If you had forgotten the passport photos that you were supposed to bring, there's a machine there that does it for $8 for 5 or 6 photos. Might I mention that that was a lot cheaper than the $15 I paid for my 6 photos, snapped on a small digital cam by a camera shop assistant.

We faced roughly a 30 minute wait before our number was called. There's no interview or anything like that. Simply submit your application. Pay the $55 per person and then it's back to waiting. This time for the fingerprint impressions.

If you're worried about getting black ink all over your digits, you can rest those fears because everything's gone digital. I was done with mine in a jiffy but J had some difficulty getting her fingerprint impressions done. She's one of those who can't use or should I say, has great difficulty getting the biometric sensors at the airport to recognize her fingerprints.

So there you go. In and out within an  hour. $55 poorer per person. Another 14 days of waiting.

Once we got home, we forwarded evidence that we were in the process of getting the CoC to the case officer and settled down again for the wait.

Update  24/3/15: Received email confirmation from case officer that the CoC need not undergo certification that it is a true copy and can be uploaded immediately once we've received it.