Bill tabled to grant Changi Airport access to travellers' info, reducing need for passports when departing S'pore

SINGAPORE — Travellers departing from Changi Airport may no longer need to show their passport for checks at multiple points such as at bag-drops, immigration clearance and flight boarding, with the authorities opting for a new end-to-end biometric-enabled process.

To facilitate this process at Changi Airport, a new Bill tabled in Parliament on Wednesday (Aug 2) will allow the airport access to travellers’ personal and travel information.

This data will be retained for a short time and purged thereafter, with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure data security. 

Under this end-to-end biometric-enabled process, a passenger's digital information and flight information will be processed backend to produce a unique token — akin to a data code.

This information is then retrieved using the passenger's biometrics to verify his identity and travel details at various automated touchpoints, from bag-drop to immigration and boarding. 

In a press statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2023 proposes amendments to help ICA digitalise immigration processes and respond to evolving challenges such as pandemics more effectively. 

It will also help strengthen border controls as well as allow more efficient administration of immigration passes issued to foreigners and permanent residents, said MHA. 

The proposed changes only apply for certain checks on travellers departing from Singapore's Changi Airport, which means that travellers will still need to bring along their physical passports in order to clear immigration counters at their destination countries, as well as for other parts of the departure process not covered by the new concept.

WHY IT MATTERS 

The Immigration Act was first enacted in 1959 to facilitate the movement of people in and out of Singapore while keeping criminals at bay. 

It was last amended in 2018 to strengthen border security by empowering ICA to collect personal information of travellers transiting through Singapore, among other things. 

However, given the higher volume of travellers expected following the opening of borders in 2022 and a shrinking labour force, the demand for secure and efficient immigration clearance is expected to grow, said MHA. 

Also, while ICA has strengthened immigration controls over the years to deter and manage undesirable people from entering or staying in Singapore, there remains a significant number of immigration offenders. 

ENHANCED BORDER CONTROL 

MHA said that the Bill will help enhance ICA’s ability to manage potential safety threats and situations such as pandemics. 

To do this, the Bill will provide ICA the powers to: 

• Collect advance passenger or crew information across all modes of entry, including bus operators and passengers entering by land  
• Require all travellers to provide particulars about themselves upon arrival if needed 
• Issue “No Boarding Directives” to transport operators to deny the boarding of individuals who pose a safety threat, to stop them from travelling to Singapore 

Transport operators who do not submit accurate and timely advance traveller information or comply with a No Boarding Directive will receive penalties. 

The Bill will also clarify or make explicit that: 

• It is an offence to give false or misleading information to ICA even if the information was provided when the person was outside Singapore 
• The Minister for Home Affairs can prohibit the entry or transit by foreigners on public security or public health grounds without having to cancel their permanent residency status or immigration pass 

To strengthen border controls, the Bill will provide ICA officers the powers to detain people or vehicles involved in non-immigration offences, no matter where they took place. 

Currently, ICA officers can only arrest people involved in immigration offences, or non-immigration offences committed within or in the vicinity of an authorised area such as a checkpoint. 

Instead, police officers carry out the arrests or detention of people or vehicles involved in a non-immigration offence outside an authorised area. 

RE-ENTRY PERMITS FOR PERMANENT RESIDENTS 

MHA said that the Bill will also make clear when a permanent resident is deemed to have lost his permanent residency status if he is overseas without a valid re-entry permit. 

Permanent residents hold both an entry permit and a re-entry permit, which is issued for a fixed validity period to allow him or her to re-enter Singapore during that period. 

Currently, a permanent residency status is lost as soon as he or she is overseas without a valid re-entry permit. 

ICA would give the person a grace period of one month after the expiry to apply for a reinstatement of his permanent residency status, with some flexibility given to those who missed the deadline with "legitimate reasons" such as overseas hospitalisation.

Under the Bill, if a permanent resident is outside Singapore without a valid re-entry permit, he is given six months to apply for one before his status is lost. 

If successful, he remains a permanent resident. However, if he fails to apply for one before the end of the period or is unsuccessful, his entry permit will be cancelled. 

The Bill will also remove the right to make statutory appeals for decisions made by ICA on the grant and revocation of permanent residency status, as well as the variation of conditions attached to permanent residency permits.

"This will align the treatment of such permanent residency-related decisions with decisions on other immigration passes and citizenship, for which there is no statutory right of appeal," said MHA.  

However, permanent residency applicants and permanent residents may continue to seek ICA's reconsideration of its decision. This process is not the same as a statutory appeal. The applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Bill will also simplify the process for imposing or varying conditions on permits by allowing ICA to notify permit holders of the change. 

This is compared to the current process where written representation by permanent residents must be considered before proceeding.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of the article stated that seamless clearances at bag drop, immigration, and flight boarding checkpoints are part of ICA's New Clearance Concept. ICA has clarified that only the immigration clearance aspect is a part of the new concept, and the rest are initiatives by Changi Airport Group.