Changi Airport now lets Singapore residents and departing foreign visitors skip the passport desk and use face and eye scans instead, cutting immigration wait time by 60%.
KEY POINTS
IN SIMPLE TERMS
Changi Airport has switched to scanning your face and eyes instead of checking your passport when you leave. It's much faster — taking just 10 seconds instead of 25 — and over 1.5 million people have already tried it since late September.
WHY IT MATTERS
WHERE DO YOU STAND?
Should Singapore require all travellers to use biometric clearance instead of passports for both arrival and departure?
👍 👎 Vote ↓Changi Airport has gone high-tech, ditching passports for face and eye scans to speed up travel.
In a press release by ICA, big changes have come to Changi Airport.
Since 30 Sep 2024, Singapore residents can pass through immigration without showing a passport.
Foreign visitors can pass through without showing a passport during departure.
This new system uses face and eye scans instead.
It’s fully implemented in all four terminals at Changi Airport.
This change makes travelling faster and easier for many people.
The passport-less system is not for everyone.
Singapore citizens, permanent residents, and long-term pass holders can use it.
Foreign visitors can use it when leaving Singapore.
But they still need to show their passport when they arrive.
This new system is part of Singapore’s plan to make airport checks faster and safer.
| Before | Now | Time Saved |
|---|---|---|
| 25 seconds | 10 seconds | 15 seconds (60% faster) |
The new system is much faster than the old one.
It used to take 25 seconds to check each person.
Now it only takes 10 seconds.
That’s 15 seconds faster for each traveller.
This might not seem like much, but it adds up when there are many travellers.
The new system is already popular.
By 15 October 2024, about 1.5 million travellers had used it.
That’s a lot of people in just a short time.
Do you think passport-less travel will become common worldwide in the next 10 years?
Should Singapore require all travellers to use biometric clearance instead of passports for both arrival and departure?
Be the first to weigh in.
