AEIS and S-AEIS for expat children

When P1 registration doesn’t come off, or your child is already past Primary 1 and you’ve arrived mid-stream, the Reddit chorus is “just do AEIS.” That’s half right. AEIS is a genuine MOE route into mainstream schools and plenty of expat families use it. But passing the test does not get you a place at a brand-name school, and MOE will not issue your child an entry permit simply so they can sit the paper. Both of those catch people out, and the second one catches them expensively.

What AEIS is, and what S-AEIS is for

AEIS is the mid-stream exam route, for children aged 7 to 7+ and above as of 1 January in the admission year (MOE admissions hub). One thing worth clearing up early, because it causes a lot of crossed wires: P1 for international students is its own registration path, not this one. It’s for children aged 6 to 6+ on 1 January, runs through an online interest form in a short May window (19–25 May in 2026), and tells you by the end of October whether there’s a place. If there isn’t, MOE’s own suggestion is a private school or AEIS for Primary 2. P1 is covered in local schools for expats.

Where the calendar stands in October 2026

S-AEIS is the mid-year catch if you miss the main exercise. That matters more than it sounds: “we’ll just sit S-AEIS” is not a backup plan you can safely cancel an international-school hold against. It runs the same test-plus-vacancy logic, there’s no Primary 5 or Secondary 3 entry, and it isn’t a quiet side door either. SEAB reported close to 2,300 candidates registered for the 2026 S-AEIS.

There is one useful bridge between the two. A child who applied for Primary 5 through AEIS and was unsuccessful can try for Primary 4 through the following S-AEIS, if they’re within the permitted age for that level, using a B1 Preliminary for Schools score from a test taken within the 12 months before the S-AEIS application.

The eligibility gates parents underestimate

Start with the age band. MOE’s live checker maps your child’s birth date to the paper they’re permitted to sit and the level they could be placed at. Every registration is checked before it’s approved, which takes at least four weeks, and one that doesn’t fit shows up as “ineligible” in the Candidates Portal. Applications also close once the test places are filled, so a mismatch spotted late can cost you the cycle.

For primary applicants, there’s the Cambridge English Qualifications (CEQ) gate, and this is the one that generates the most indignation. You have to hit the published minimum score before you submit the AEIS or S-AEIS application. Being a native English speaker is not a waiver. The recurring forum thread, some version of “my American kid obviously shouldn’t need B1,” runs straight into a published requirement that doesn’t care about the argument. Sort the Cambridge result first, or you don’t have an application.

Here’s what the checker currently asks for, by the level you’re applying for:

The scores are on the Cambridge English Scale, and the timing rule trips people up as much as the score. The Cambridge test has to be taken within the 12 months before the month you apply: from July 2025 for the 2026 AEIS, and from January 2026 for the 2027 S-AEIS. You upload the statement of results with the application. The certificate itself isn’t needed.

Then the one that sounds like paperwork and isn’t: you must already be able to enter Singapore. SEAB’s AEIS and S-AEIS pages say plainly that MOE will not issue entry permits so a child can sit the tests, that you should only register if your child is able to enter Singapore, and that the entry proof SEAB issues is not an entry permit to Singapore. Families sometimes plan the whole thing backwards, assuming the exam comes with a visa.

And if your child was previously an MOE student and there are fee arrears outstanding, those have to be cleared before you submit a readmission request.

Applying, and the fee you will not get back

The application runs through SEAB’s Candidates Portal:

1. Create an account for your child in the Candidates Portal.
2. Submit the online application and upload JPEG or PDF copies of your child’s birth certificate (with an accurate English translation if it’s in another language), their passport bio-data page with at least 6 months’ validity, and, for primary, the CEQ statement of results. Extra documents such as a marriage certificate may be asked for.
3. Pay the fee by credit or debit card, or PayNow.
4. Watch the status. It moves from Pending to Registered at least 4 weeks after you submit, incomplete applications take longer, and MOE says status enquiries won’t get a reply, so check the Remarks column in the portal for document requests.
5. Download the entry proof when the email arrives. For the 2026 AEIS that email went out in August. For the 2027 S-AEIS it’s due in January or February 2027.

The fees are the same for AEIS and S-AEIS, with GST at the prevailing rate on top:

They’re non-refundable, and SEAB’s instructions add that there’s no refund if your child withdraws or has sat any part of the test. If your child doesn’t get a place, the fee is simply gone. Nobody is unkind about it, but nobody refunds it either.

What the test is actually testing

Every paper mixes multiple-choice and open-ended questions, all papers are compulsory, and calculators and dictionaries aren’t allowed. That last one catches children who use a calculator in class at their current school.

This isn’t an intelligence test, and it’s not really an ability test either. Children arriving from other curricula usually don’t fail because they’re behind. They fail because Singapore maths is taught through methods they’ve never seen and, at secondary, because the English papers have an exam style you have to learn on its own terms. A bright child can miss on both counts.

So budget months of syllabus familiarisation rather than a weekend of past papers. Tutoring centres do have a role here, but think of them as translators between curricula. They don’t have seats to hand out, whatever the marketing implies.

On the day, your child needs a printout of the entry proof and a photocopy of their passport data page, not the passport itself. SEAB asks candidates to arrive at least 45 minutes early and to be at their desks 15 minutes before the start. A child with a contagious illness such as chickenpox isn’t allowed to sit, so call MOE on +65 6872 2220 rather than turning up.

Placement realism, which is where the disappointment lives

Admission is subject to vacancies. MOE places children where seats actually exist, using your declared residential area where it can, and “where it can” is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. The popular schools that local families ballot for are rarely what an AEIS outcome produces. Plan for a commute, some culture shock, and Mother Tongue lessons, rather than for the alumni network.

Two more things narrow your options. The school posting is final, and MOE won’t consider requests for a transfer or for the test results. And at primary level, the offer can be a lower level than the one you applied for: the checker lists the possible outcomes for a Primary 3 applicant as Primary 3, 2, 1 or unsuccessful. At secondary, it’s the level you applied for or nothing.

International-student school fees still apply once your child is placed. They sit far below the top international campuses, which is much of the appeal, but they are not citizen rates either. MOE’s published schedule runs to 2026:

Miscellaneous fees come on top, and international-student fees are GST-inclusive. A child starting in January 2027 pays the 2027 rate, so check MOE’s fees checker before you budget (fee context).

Pass rules carry on applying too. If your child holds a valid Dependant’s Pass, Long-Term Visit Pass or Immigration Exemption Order, they don’t need a Student’s Pass and admission is confirmed when you report to the school. If not, admission depends on getting one: the school issues a Student’s Pass Registration Acknowledgement Letter, and you apply to ICA as soon as it arrives. Student’s Pass covers that process, and the Dependant’s Pass guide covers the pass many expat children hold.

And if there’s a SEN profile that needs a structured pathway, be honest with yourself: vacancy-assigned mainstream placement is a poor fit for that, and special needs support is a more useful starting point.

When the outcome lands, and what to do with your hold

The outcome doesn’t arrive by email. You log in to the AEIS Internet System (AEIS-IS) with your child’s passport number or FIN as shown on the entry proof, plus their date of birth. For the 2026 AEIS:

If you don’t contact the offered school within the reporting period, the place may be rescinded. That window sits right across the Christmas break, so if you’re flying home for the holidays, plan to log in and call the school from wherever you are.

The outcome letter leaves you with one of three possible mornings:

• An offer at a school that works. Register within the window, and model the commute properly before you celebrate anything.
• An offer at a school you can’t make work. The posting is final, so the choice is to take it or fall back on your international seat or another cycle.
• No offer. You won’t see the marks, because test results aren’t released.

The fee is gone in all three. So keep the paid international-school hold until the outcome letter names a school your child can genuinely get to. “We’ll cancel right after the test” is precisely how families end up holding neither seat.

Read your international school’s withdrawal clause now and line its notice deadline up against these dates. If notice for a January exit is due before the outcome is out, you’re choosing between paying for notice you may not need and risking having no seat at all. Budget that overlap as part of what trying AEIS costs.

How to decide if you are still relocating

One more thing if your child is at an international school or home-schooled and has a talent you’d hoped would open a door: Direct School Admission for secondary schools (DSA-Sec) is not a way around the admissions exercise. MOE’s DSA-Sec page says international students must also take part in and meet the requirements of AEIS (NUS High, the School of Science and Technology and the School of the Arts set their own criteria), and shortlisted applicants have to attend selection trials in person. And once your child has received a school offer through AEIS-Secondary or S-AEIS-Secondary, they can’t apply in later DSA-Sec exercises.

From here: local schools overview and choosing an international school.