From Monday, some passengers arriving at Singapore's Changi Airport will now not be required to present their passport upon entry.
As a part of a trial, Singaporeans arriving at Terminal 3 and using the lanes designated for the country’s recent token-less clearance program can can enter the country using biometric eye and facial recognition as a substitute of a passport, based on the country's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
For the needs of this system, “residents” include residents, everlasting residents and season ticket holders.
According to Singapore authorities, this system will probably be rolled out in all terminals at Changi Airport by September and at Singapore's Seletar Airport and the Marina Bay Cruise Centre by December 2024.
Who is eligible?
Under the brand new passportless immigration program, Singapore residents will now not be required to present their passports when entering and exiting the country at air and sea checkpoints.
Foreign nationals may also take part in this system, but only after they leave Singapore. Foreign travelers must also register their iris, facial and fingerprint data at manual immigration counters, based on Singapore's Immigration and Enforcement Department.
However, based on the authorities, children under the age of six are usually not allowed to make use of the biometric security checks or the automated control lanes when entering the country.
A “paradigm shift” on the borders
Passportless immigration clearance is an element of Singapore's broader “New Clearance Concept”, announced in May, which goals to modernise and automate immigration services within the country.
The concept, which authorities described as a “paradigm shift in border management,” effectively ends the era of human-led passport checks, a practice the city-state has been increasingly moving away from for years.
By early 2026, Singapore's immigration authorities expect that 95 percent of travelers will have the ability to go through automated screening lanes. The remaining 5 percent are those that are usually not eligible, akin to young children.
Although biometric processing is supported by someAccording to authorities, it is an element of Singapore's efforts to strengthen its border security while improving the travel experience. Immigration officials say the biometric scan will reduce waiting times at immigration by 40%.
About 85 percent of airports will use some type of biometric processing in the following three to 5 years, Sumesh Patel, Asia-Pacific president of SITA, told Squawk Box Asia in March.
Two varieties of passport freedom
The introduction of biometric-only processing is the second type of passport-free immigration processing now available in Singapore.
Since May, travellers on the island have been capable of use self-generated QR codes to enter and exit Singapore at two land checkpoints between Singapore and Malaysia.
A token – like A QR code is obligatory on the land borders, the authorities explained, because they’d no advance details about who desired to enter or leave Singapore.
Both programs are part of a bigger initiative to modernize border control procedures within the city-state to accommodate increasing travel volumes amid shortages of an aging workforce.
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