QR code immigration clearance for travellers in cars from March 19

Overall waiting time set to be cut by over 30% if most car travellers use this option

- David Sun

Travellers in cars passing through Singapore’s Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints will be able to clear immigration using QR codes instead of their passports from March 19.

The QR codes can be used to clear individual travellers or groups of up to 10 people in the same vehicle, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on March 12.

The initiative requires travellers to first download the MyICA mobile application and fill in their passport details.

Singapore residents can have their details filled in automatically by using Singpass or by using their camera to scan the machine-readable zone – the two or three rows of characters – at the bottom of their passport biodata page.

Travellers can choose to generate either an individual QR code or a group one.

Generating an individual code will require the details of just one person, but to generate a group QR code, the details of each traveller in the group must be submitted through one person’s smartphone.

Details of up to 10 passports can be included in a group code, which can then be saved and given labels such as “Family” or “Friends” in the application.

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