There is no need to show a passport to enter Singapore from 2024
Agency
May 10, 2023 
There is no need to show a passport to enter Singapore from 2024
NCC's transformation plan aims for faster and safer immigration and customs processes.- File photo/Unsplash
SINGAPORE: Starting in 2024, Singapore will implement a new immigration screening technology starting in 2024 where residents and visitors will no longer need to show their passports.
Instead, passengers will use the QR code at ground checkpoints if traveling by car or the new contactless or contactless Automatic Border Control System (ABCS) in the passenger compartment.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said manual checkpoints in all passenger compartments will be replaced with as many as 800 automated lanes using ABCS starting in the first quarter of 2024.
In the meantime, ABCS lanes will use biometrics for checking. This is part of the ICA's new inspection concept (NCC) announced in 2019.
NCC's transformation plan aims for a faster and safer immigration and customs process.
In 2019, the system was tested at the Tuas Inspection Center and Changi Airport Terminal 4.
In the first phase in 2024, passports will be replaced with QR codes for scanning at manual car counters. Visitors will fill out a profile and generate their QR code through the MyICA mobile app.
Then, they can scan the code at the counter with the help of an ICA officer matching the image of the traveler's face with the data extracted from the QR code.
In 2026, the APICS route will be introduced at the Tuas Checkpoint as part of the second phase. Visitors will be able to scan the generated QR code and present their biometric details for identity verification.
In 2028, this line will be introduced at the Woodlands Checkpoint which is being rebuilt.
Currently, the ICA will work with the National Team Science and Technology Agency to improve APICS before gradually rolling it out at all land checkpoints.
