New Trial To Test Different Contactless Immigration Clearance Flows At Changi Airport Terminal 4
The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has commenced a six-month trial for contactless immigration clearance at Changi Airport Terminal 4 (T4)’s arrival hall on 25 November 2019.
2. This is the second such trial for contactless immigration clearance, after the Tuas Checkpoint trial between April and October 2019.
Update on the Tuas Checkpoint trial
3. More than 22,500 Singaporean travellers participated in the trial at Tuas Checkpoint. The trial allowed them to verify their identities at the automated gate for immigration clearance using only their iris and facial images. They did not have to present their passports nor have their thumbprints scanned.
4. About 90 percent of these travellers were able to clear immigration smoothly without any difficulties. For the remaining 10 percent who encountered some issues, one key factor was unfamiliarity with the process of iris/facial imaging, leading to unsuccessful attempts to capture quality iris/facial images for verification.
T4 trial – Two types of contactless immigration clearance flows at Changi Airport
5. The trial at Changi Airport T4 will similarly only require the verification of travellers’ iris and facial images for immigration clearance. Two types of contactless clearance flows are being tested, to allow ICA to compare their feasibility, efficiency and accuracy in clearing travellers. The testing of one of the flow types has started at one automated lane, while the testing of the other flow will commence at another automated lane from early 2020. Please refer to Annex for a depiction of both flow types.
6. ICA has also taken on board feedback received from the Tuas Checkpoint trial and enhanced the user interface for the T4 trial, such as the use of animated graphics to better guide travellers.
Who is eligible for the trial and what to observe?
7. Singapore citizens aged six and above holding passports beginning with the letter K and issued after 1 Jan 2018 are eligible to participate in the trial. No prior sign-up is required.
8. Those participating in the trial should remove any sunglasses, caps or other head-gear that may obstruct the scanning of their iris and facial images when passing through the clearance lanes. They are also advised not to wear any coloured or patterned contact lenses.
Trial results will help enhance passenger clearance experience
9. ICA continually strives to enhance the experience of travellers using our checkpoints. The findings of ICA’s Customer Perception Survey 20181 saw the overall customer satisfaction index rise from 7.72 in 2016 to 8.3 in 2018, and the satisfaction index for our automated clearance system rise from 8.62 in 2016 to 9.05 in 2018.
10. ICA encourages all eligible citizens travelling via Changi Airport T4 to participate in the trial. Our officers will be on-site to assist travellers. The results of this trial, including those at Tuas Checkpoint, will help us assess the feasibility of extending this initiative to other checkpoints, in line with our goal of implementing 100% contactless clearance for all eligible travellers from 2022.
IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
4 DECEMBER 2019
1 ICA’s Customer Perception Survey measures the satisfaction of ICA’s customers in ICA’s performance in its core functions of border security and identification. The 2018 survey was conducted from November 2018 to January 2019 with 3,225 customers at ICA’s checkpoints and services centres.
ANNEX
The two flow types that will be trialled at Changi Airport Terminal 4 are depicted in the diagrams below:
Clearance process concept #1
Clearance process concept #2. This is the same process used for the trial at Tuas Checkpoint. This process will be trialled at T4 from early 2020.