ICA to roll out new group feature in electronic change of address service from Aug 15

SINGAPORE - Individuals can soon report online a change of address for themselves with a group of up to four people who are all moving to the same address through a new feature in the electronic change of address (eCOA) service.

In a statement on Aug 4, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the new feature, which will be rolled out on Aug 15, will be more secure than the previous “Myself and my family members” and “Others” modules.

Under the new “group” feature, the main applicant will not be able to change another person’s address without applying to change his own address at the same time.

Consent from his sub-applicants is also required.

The eCOA allows Singapore citizens, permanent residents and ICA-issued long-term pass holders, including those who reside overseas, to report online a change of residential address to ICA.

How it works

With the new feature, applicants will be able to add up to four sub-applicants and change their addresses in one application.

Each sub-applicant will then be notified via SMS to consent to the change within the next five days.

The status of consent can be monitored on the main applicant’s dashboard on the eCOA service.

Some time after five days following the date of application, a physical PIN mailer will be sent to the main applicant at the new residential address. He will be required to input the PIN in the eCOA service.

Once the PIN is successfully verified, stickers bearing the new address will be mailed to the new residential address. The applicants are advised to follow the accompanying instruction to affix the sticker on their NRICs.

Sub-applicants who do not give their consent within the first five days of the application will not have their address updated in ICA’s database and will not receive a sticker to affix on their NRICs.

The new feature comes after the “Myself”, “Myself and my family members” and “Others” modules were

suspended in January,

as ICA discovered several unauthorised attempts to change residential addresses.

The “Myself” module was resumed on Jan 14 with an additional security function requiring applicants to verify their identity through Singpass face verification when logging in using their Singpass account.

Individuals who are unable to apply online for a change of address via the eCOA service can submit a request to ICA through FormSG, which can be accessed from the eCOA service landing page, or seek assistance at ServiceSG centres or the ICA Services Centre.