S’PORE HEADING TOWARDS PASSPORT-FREE TRAVEL, AFTER CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION ACT

In recent years, Singapore has been at the forefront of innovative changes in immigration procedures. The amended Immigration Act, a groundbreaking legislation introduced by Second Minister for Home Affairs, Josephine Teo, promises passport-free travel for its residents.

This move aims to modernize immigration processes and enhance border control efficiency. However, the question remains: will other countries follow suit?

The Bill for Immigration Act Amendments

Singapore’s journey towards passport-free travel commenced on August 2, 2023, when Second Minister Josephine Teo introduced the bill for amendments to the Immigration Act in Parliament.

The bill proposed a fundamental transformation of the country’s immigration framework, focusing on digitalization and automation. It sought to address emerging challenges, including pandemics, and to strengthen border controls against undesirable individuals.

A Landmark Decision: Passing of the Bill

The momentous occasion arrived on September 18, 2023, when the bill for amendments to the Immigration Act was successfully passed in Parliament.

This watershed moment marked the beginning of a new era for Singapore’s immigration system. The amended Immigration Act is poised to bring about significant changes that will impact both residents and foreign visitors.

Understanding the Amendments

The primary objective of the amended Immigration Act is to empower the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority to streamline immigration processes.

This includes the issuance of immigration passes and permits to foreigners and permanent residents (PRs). The amendments also pave the way for the introduction of passport-free travel for all travelers, including foreign visitors.

Passport-Free Travel: A Glimpse into the Future

One of the most significant implications of the amended Immigration Act is the elimination of the need for physical passports when departing Singapore. This change is set to take effect from 2024, ushering in a new era of convenience for travelers.

But what about the rest of the world? Will other countries follow suit, or will physical passports remain a global travel requirement?

The Global Perspective

While Singapore is taking a bold step towards passport-free travel, it’s important to acknowledge that the rest of the world may not immediately adopt similar measures.

Many countries still rely on physical passports as a fundamental component of their immigration and border control processes.

Therefore, for international travelers, the necessity of carrying a physical passport may persist when visiting countries beyond Singapore’s borders.

Snippet of Josephine Teo’s speech

Singapore will be one of the first few countries in the world to introduce automated, passport-free immigration clearance. Besides Dubai, which already offers passport-free clearance for certain enrolled travellers, we do not know exactly which other countries have similar plans. MHA and ICA will certainly seek to enable more convenient travel for our people, but it is likely that physical passports will still be required for many countries outside of Singapore. 

To prepare for this New Clearance Concept, or NCC, ICA has been training its officers since 2020. Mr Choo will be glad to know that as a result, around 4,000 ICA officers are able to take on higher value jobs in assessment and investigation, using newly acquired skills such as investigative interviewing and profiling.

Besides levelling up staff capabilities, the key to a successful implementation of the NCC is universal coverage of all travellers. This requires a willingness to phase out traditional methods of identifying and authenticating travellers. The alternative of running two systems in parallel is not only costly but also cumbersome. 

To assist seniors who may not be able to provide certain biometrics or who may not be digitally savvy, I assure Mr Gan, Mr Giam and Mr Yip that immigration officers will be on hand to help. The officers can also conduct manual clearance by exception. 

As immigration clearance becomes more digitalised, ICA is fully aware of its responsibility in ensuring the availability and resilience of its systems. It therefore works closely with the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and GovTech to meet reliability and security requirements in upstream design. 

For example, the next generation Automated Border Clearance System (ABCS) will allow travellers to continue using automated clearance gates if there are any outages. This is possible because they will be equipped with failover capabilities such as UPS or uninterruptible power supply, and can still function if the supporting systems, such as the online biometrics database, is down.  

Nonetheless, some of the NCC capabilities are novel and highly customised to Singapore’s context. Despite our best efforts, disruptions may still happen. Our business continuity plans will then be promptly activated through a combination of measures such as recalling off-duty officers and prioritising traveller clearance according to departure times. This should help minimise service degradation. This is also the careful approach as we undertake the ongoing upgrade of the Multi-Modal Biometrics System (MMBS), which Mr Giam asked about.

In addition, ICA also monitors systems performance to ensure benchmarks are met. With large systems, external vendors may be involved. ICA and HTX can and will pursue liquidated damages from a vendor if the systems fail to meet the required standards. 

To Ms Poh’s query, only Singapore-registered companies can undertake IT projects related to ICA. All employees of vendors undergo a compulsory security screening exercise and must be cleared before they are allowed to work on the project. They are bound by a non-disclosure agreement and may be held criminally liable for any wrongful or unauthorised communication, possession or use of information under the relevant laws, such as the Public Sector (Governance) Act.

To uphold high standards of cybersecurity, HTX also carries out independent Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing exercises prior to commissioning and annually thereafter. This complements the regular audits by ICA to identify and address vulnerabilities. 

I hope Mr Vikram will be reassured to know that ICA will also deploy more advanced scanning technologies and sensors to automate security checks for vehicles. Additionally, AI will also be used to strengthen detection capabilities for cargo. 

Source: MHA