Singapore residents, departing visitors can clear checkpoints without using passports from 2024

SINGAPORE — Singapore residents and departing visitors will be able to clear checkpoints without having to use their passports from 2024.

Instead, they will clear immigration via the new contactless Automated Border Control System (ABCS).

During its workplan seminar at the Singapore Expo on Friday (May 5), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the manual counters at all checkpoints will be progressively replaced by about 800 automated lanes using ABCS from the first quarter of 2024.

The ABCS is part of the ICA's New Clearance Concept (NCC) which was announced in 2019.

The goal of the NCC transformation plan is to provide faster and more secure immigration and Customs clearance. The system was trialled at Tuas Checkpoint and Changi Airport Terminal 4 in 2019.

The seminar's theme this year was "Remembering Our Past, Securing Our Future".

The event on Friday also saw ICA celebrating its 20th anniversary, having been formed in 2003 from a merger of the Singapore Immigration and Registration and the checkpoint operations of the Customs and Excise Department.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam, the guest of honour at this year's event, said the checkpoints are expected to get busier, with more challenges posed for the ICA.

He added: "Terrorism threats remain very real, we never know when the next pandemic may strike and there is a limit to how much manpower we can call on, given that Singapore is an ageing population.

"And really, the answer to all of these is further transformation."

He is confident that the ICA will be able to step up to tackle these challenges.

"ICA's development over the years has been possible only because ICA has been, and remains, agile, clear-sighted, bold, and at its core, has officers who are continually being developed with the ultimate commitment to serve our citizens wholeheartedly," he said.

"I think we all can be confident that ICA will continue to deliver on its mission as a world-class border and immigration agency, and I look forward, we all look forward, to the continued transformation."

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Other aspects of the NCC that were featured during the seminar on Friday included the Automated Clearance Initiative which was implemented in May 2022.

ICA said the initiative has allowed more than four million foreign visitors from 51 jurisdictions to enrol and clear immigration using automated lanes.

During Budget 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it will be spending more than $1 billion on development projects this year, including the ABCS.

Special Assistance Lanes, which were introduced at some passenger halls at Changi Airport since December 2022 and allow multiple travellers to perform self-immigration clearance as a group, will also be extended to other checkpoints from end 2023.

As for passengers entering Singapore by car, ICA said it trialled the Automated Passenger In-Car Clearance System (Apics) in 2022, with about 94 per cent of travellers able to use the system without assistance from officers.

ICA will be working with the Home Team Science and Technology Agency to further improve the system before rolling Apics out in phases at the land checkpoints.

The first phase, which is expected to be rolled out in early 2024, will introduce QR code scanning in lieu of passport scanning.

Travellers can create a profile and generate a QR code via the MyICA mobile app, allowing them to scan the code at immigration car counters.

ICA officers then conduct facial image checks on the travellers using data from the QR code to clear them.

The same QR code can be used for future trips if their passport details do not need to be updated.

From 2026, Apics lanes will be introduced at Tuas Checkpoint, allowing travellers to scan their generated QR codes and present their biometrics for identity verification, removing the need for officers to be stationed at every car lane.

Apics lanes are expected to be introduced at the redeveloped Woodlands Checkpoint from 2028.

For cargo, ICA said it cleared over 9.7 million containers, consignments and parcels in 2022, with the volume expected to increase in coming years.

To help officers better detect potential threats and stop their entry into Singapore, ICA is trialling the use of artificial intelligence to track anomalies in the scanned images of cargo, parcels and baggage.

Another transformation plan featured at the seminar is the ICA's Services Centre Next Generation (SCNG), which aims to provide a "No Fuss; No Visit; No Waiting" experience.

As part of the SCNG, all of ICA's core application services such as birth and death registration and passport renewal can be made online as of end 2022.

A new ICA Services Centre, which will be located next to the existing ICA Building in Kallang, is expected to begin operations in 2024, serving as a one-stop service centre for all of ICA's services.

The centre will also allow for self-collection of ICs and passports.

ICA said: "Over the past 20 years, ICA has continually adapted and innovated, to be able to secure our borders even in the face of rising traveller and cargo volumes, and while facilitating these movements.

"ICA will press on with our journey to transform border clearance and immigration and registration services, to bring about a fundamental, positive change in how ICA interacts with the public at all our touchpoints."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.