Australian self-service passport facility on trial for Singaporeans

SINGAPORE — Singaporeans visiting Australia can now zip through immigration checks, after Canberra extended the use of a self-service passport-processing option at eight major gateways to the country.

The extension of SmartGate to Singaporean travellers who own a biometric passport makes the Republic the first country in Asia to be given this access, Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said yesterday. It is currently available to Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom citizens on a permanent basis and to United States and Swiss electronic passport holders under trial arrangements.

The move will come as a boon for many Singaporeans — more people from the Republic than from any other country in South-east Asia visited Australia last year. There were 385,300 visitors to Australia from Singapore, an increase of 12.1 per cent from 2012.

SmartGate operates on facial-recognition technology that matches the image taken of travellers at a kiosk screen on arrival with the digital facial image stored in the electronic chip in their biometric passport.

The biometric passport also contains an integrated chip on which data of the passport and passport holder is stored. The system removes the need for a traveller to queue in front of a customs officer, which can speed up immigration processing, particularly during busy periods.

Under the trial, SmartGate is available for all Singaporean e-passport holders aged 16 years and above travelling to eight Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns and Gold Coast.

The length of the trial will depend on whether there are any technical issues that need addressing and when they are resolved. If there are no technical issues, the use of SmartGate for Singapore passports will become permanent.

Singaporeans who travel to Australia frequently have welcomed the new self-service immigration option. “I think it is good as it will speed up the process and will reduce the queue for Singapore citizens, ” said Ms Jenny Lim, 40, who has been to Australia on six previous occasions.

A spokesperson from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the move as it will facilitate Singaporeans’ travels to Australia.

“This move underscores the close bilateral relations between Singapore and Australia, including strong economic and people-to-people ties,” the spokesperson said.