Hello Team,
Singapore is one of those countries where the passport contain a single name field. For such passports, the general immigration rule is to look at the MRZ information first to determine how it aligns with the Visible Identification Zone (VIZ) information. The MRZ format will guide the reader how the name is broken down:
MRZ line one will always put the last name first, followed by double chevrons, then the first name components separated by single chevrons, such as seen here:
Hence, although the name was written as “Linda Ng Zee Zee” in the VIZ area, the MRZ confirms that the passport-issuing authority has determined that “Ng” is the family name and the rest of name components are part of the first name in a specific order as “Linda Zee Zee”. Hence, checks for Singapore passports should be done within this context, which is slightly different than the approach taken with most other countries.
Most Singaporean citizen of Chinese descent usually have an English or Christian name, so the format is [Christian Name] [Last Name] [First Name], and those without Christian names are written as [Last Name] [First Name]. Those of Indian and Malay descent will have their names in the standard [First Name] [Last Name]. A comma is not used to separate the last name and first name in the VIZ (unlike in certain countries like Saudi Arabia, which also use a single name field).
