On 31 March 2023 at about 10:40am, automated immigration clearance at the checkpoints became unavailable. Preliminary investigations found that there was a technical glitch during a pre-scheduled system upgrade, and this caused an unanticipated system overload. Automated clearance lanes at all the departure terminals at Changi Airport were affected, as well as the arrival terminals at Terminals 2 and 4. Certain automated lanes for departing and arriving bus passengers, and all the automated lanes for motorcycles, at both Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints, were also affected.

2.          ICA immediately activated our business continuity plan. Travellers were redirected to manual counters for immigration clearance. Off-duty officers were immediately recalled, and these additional resources were deployed to man all the manual immigration counters and perform crowd control. We advised travellers, through the Expressway Monitoring & Advisory System and radio broadcasts, as well as through ICA’s Facebook account, to factor in additional time for immigration clearance.

3.          Automated immigration clearance progressively resumed, and full normalcy was restored at about 4pm.

4.          ICA apologises for the inconvenience caused, and would like to thank travellers for their understanding, patience, and cooperation with our officers on the ground. We are conducting a thorough investigation and will be putting in place additional safeguards to prevent reoccurrence.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY
31 MARCH 2023