When travelling across the Causeway, one pertinent question most people will have in mind is “will the immigration queue be super long?”
Once the border fully reopens and travels may resume after the Covid-19 outbreak, high human traffic at immigration counters is set to be a huge cause for concern.
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In a time of a pandemic outbreak when social distancing is a major safety measure, it’s best to have more counters to ease possible congestion at the complex.
That is what Johor hopes to achieve soon, as they have plans to increase the counters at the Custom, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex at Sultan Iskandar Building from 25 to 40.
According to Malaysian English daily New Straits Times, the plan to increase immigration counters aims to hasten the arrival and departure process for Malaysian and non-citizens using the Causeway.
Malaysia’s Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin recognises the importance of having more counters, as around 400,000 Malaysians will be using the Causeway to commute to Singapore for work when the border opens.
He was quoted as saying,
We have also agreed to increase the number of immigration counters from 25 to 40 so that when the border fully opens, the facilities will be ready.
Work on the increase of counters will be held in stages soon.
This is among several projects approved by the Special Committee on the Causeway Congestion that had to be put on hold due to Covid-19.
Among these also includes building a covered walkway at the Causeway. Authorities will seek to expedite this.
Since 17 Aug, travellers can resume cross-border travel under the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) schemes.
If you need a refresher, RGL allows people to travel between Singapore and Malaysia for essential business and official purposes.
PCA lets residents of both countries, who are long-term pass holders, to enter.
To better track movement of foreigners entering and exiting the country, Malaysia is also seeking to install facial recognition and biometric systems into their immigration system by 2023.
With this, they will easily identify foreigners who have been blacklisted from entering the country, reports The Malay Mail.
Same goes for those who overstay. This would address the weakness of the current immigration system, which can’t monitor movement in and out of Malaysia.
Hopefully with more immigration counters, Malaysia will be able to better facilitate Covid-19 safety measures at the CIQ complex too.
Looking forward to a swifter immigration process once the border fully reopens.
What do you think of Malaysia’s latest plan? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured image adapted from AirBnb.
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