SINGAPORE: Imagine clearing immigration on your next trip overseas without fumbling around your bag looking for your passport.
Some travellers are a step closer to this reality, with passport-less immigration clearance kicking off at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on Aug 5.
Singapore residents will be able to get through selected automated lanes at Terminal 3 using only their facial and iris biometrics – a move meant to cut the time taken to clear immigration by 40 per cent.
It’s all part of a wider plan by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to digitalise border clearance. In the coming months and years, the planned initiatives will be rolled out at the other checkpoints across the island.
But do you still need to bring along your passports, and can your children make use of these new lanes?
Here’s what you need to know:
Does this apply to all travellers?
According to ICA, Singapore residents will be able to clear immigration at the country’s air and sea checkpoints without their passports at both arrival and departure, while the same applies to foreign travellers, but only when they depart Singapore.
The new method of going through immigration will be “progressively implemented” at the other terminals at Changi Airport by the end of September this year, said ICA.