Woman collects her new passport after 7-week wait, only to find it expires soon

[UPDATE June 3] The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) told AsiaOne that it is aware of a TikTok video by a young woman who claimed that her passport's expiry year was mistakenly printed as 2023 instead of 2032.

"ICA would like to assure the public that there was no printing error in the woman's passport," said an ICA spokesperson. "We have got in touch with the woman, who has turned up at ICA Building today (June 3) and closed the case with her."

The TikTok user Zenitsuwuwuwu has since closed her TikTok account.

With travel restrictions easing, many Singaporeans have been frantically renewing their passports in recent times – some even queuing outside the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building for hours to expedite the process. 

For this Singaporean woman, she patiently waited seven weeks for her passport, but now her travel plans may be in danger of being disrupted once again. 

In a TikTok video shared on Wednesday (June 1), Zenitsuwuwuwu wrote that she discovered a glaring error on her new passport.

"They printed my [expiry date] as 2023 instead of 2032," the 20-year-old said.

In the video, the date of issue on her passport is 19 May 2022 with the date of expiry on 1 March 2023.

Singapore passports for citizens aged 16 and above have a validity period of 10 years, according to ICA. 

The agency has also advised Singapore citizens travelling overseas to make sure that their passport is valid for at least six months before departure.

Adding that she needs her passport "urgently" for a university exchange trip to Germany, Zenitsuwuwuwu said: "Guys, I'm going to ICA on Friday (June 3) to [enquire]... wish me luck."

With the 15-second clip garnering over 28,000 views, several netizens expressed their sympathy towards the woman's plight with one saying that he's going to check on his renewed passport now after watching her video. 

Another netizen suggested that ICA will be able to change her passport "on the spot".

AsiaOne has reached out to ICA and Zenitsuwuwuwu for comment.

The agency said on its website last month that the average waiting time for passport processing is at least six weeks from the time of application.

This is due to an overwhelming spike in passport applications – 7,000 applications for passports each day compared to 2,000 before the pandemic   – since the easing of travel restrictions, ICA added.

ALSO READ: Singaporeans put off travel plans as surge in passport applications and processing time continues

chingshijie@asiaone.com