Enlisting before 18 years old

Your son or ward may choose to enlist for National Service (NS) before he’s 18 years old. He may apply for the Voluntary Early Enlistment Scheme (VEES) with your consent.

To be eligible for VEES, your son or ward must meet these requirements:

1. Be at least 16.5 years old.
2. Assessed as medically and physically fit for NS.
3. Submit the VEES application form, which includes a short write-up on why he wants to apply for VEES, and parental or guardian consent.

To apply for VEES, your son or ward should:

1. Download the VEES application form.
2. Email the signed and completed form to contact@ns.gov.sg.
3. Receive a notice in the mail to either begin registration, pre-enlistment documentation, or schedule his medical screening, or all 3.
4. Attend a medical screening and be assigned a Physical Employment Standard (PES).

Each VEES application is assessed and approved on a case-by-case basis. Successful applicants for VEES will be scheduled for enlistment in the next available intake, subject to training capacity.

If your son or ward enlists through VEES, he will not be able to disrupt from full-time NS to pursue studies of up to GCE ‘A’ Level, polytechnic diploma or their equivalent pre-university qualifications. This means that once he enlists, he has to complete his full-time NS. He will not be able to pause his full-time NS to pursue his studies. He can only pursue his pre-university studies after he completes his full-time NS.

Have a chat with your son or ward to discuss his future plans if he’s considering VEES. Give him the time to think through his application carefully and seriously, to make sure he knows what he wants for himself.

Visit the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) website for more information on VEES.