More Singaporeans are travelling overseas after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
This has resulted in long queues at the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Building as the number of passport renewal applications shoots up.
To better manage the crowd, only passport applicants with appointments will now be allowed to enter the building.
Source: Google Maps
They will need to bring supporting documents to prove they’re allowed to enter.
In a press release on Saturday (11 Jun), the ICA said the new measures would take effect from Monday (13 Jun).
Passport applicants entering the ICA Building should’ve been notified by the ICA to visit for one or more of these three reasons only:
This applies only for passport services.
Those visiting the ICA Building for the above reasons must still show proof with supporting documents.
For passport collection, visitors must show one or more of the following:
For submission of documents, visitors must show an email notification to do so, while those re-submitting photos must have an online notification.
Even if you may be allowed to enter the ICA Building to collect your passport, it may be a good idea to avoid doing so to avoid the long queues.
Thus, the ICA is encouraging people to collect their passports at post offices, 27 of which offer this service:
No additional fees are payable to collect passports at post offices.
ICA noted that passport applicants who still insist on visiting the ICA Building to collect their passports should do it alone.
Source: Google Maps
Children, seniors and those needing special assistance can be accompanied by one person only.
Singaporeans applying for passports, but haven’t been notified to enter the ICA Building, will have to contact ICA by other means.
For example, those who need to travel urgently and can’t wait for the minimum time of six weeks can submit an appeal online here to expedite their passport application.
If they can’t go online and don’t have help in doing so, they may visit the ICA Building for assistance on online submission.
Those who would simply like to check their application status can log on to MyICA.
All other enquires on passports can be handled via the ICA’s Live Chat from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, and 8am to 1pm on Saturday.
If the new measures seem strict, ICA explained that they’re necessary as they currently issue more than 5,000 passports daily.
That’s almost three times the number that they issued in 2019, before Covid-19.
ICA said this is “an unprecedented rate” for the production and issuance of passports, which means that more officers are being redeployed for this work.
However, hordes of people are still visiting the ICA Building for other purposes, like checking passport application status and requesting faster clearance.
The long queues have resulted in the deployment of additional ICA officers for crowd management.
Source: Google Maps
With the new restrictions on entry, it’s hoped that the manpower used for crowd management and on-site requests can be diverted to processing and issuing new passports more quickly.
Since borders reopened, many Singaporeans might have heard of horror stories involving passport renewals and long queues.
Thus, it might be wise to cooperate and go down the ICA Building only when necessary.
By handling passport renewal matters online as much as possible, it helps our swamped ICA staff do their work more efficiently.
Hopefully, everybody will be able to go on their long-awaited overseas trips smoothly.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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