How To Use QR Codes At The Immigration When You Drive To & From Singapore

Starting from 19 March 2024, travellers arriving and departing Singapore by car via the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints can use QR codes instead of passports for faster and more convenient immigration clearance (this is especially for Johorians who commute for work daily).

As written on the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Singapore website, this is what to know about using the QR code:

1. First-time visitors and those re-entering Singapore using a different passport from their last visit to Singapore will need to present their physical passport for immigration clearance. They will be able to use QR codes for immigration clearance on their subsequent trips.
2. Foreign visitors who have visited Singapore before can use the built-in camera function within the MyICA mobile application to scan the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) of their passport biodata page to auto-populate their passport information. The MRZ is the two or three rows of characters at the bottom of the passport biodata page.
3. If you like to keep things old-school, even after this initiative is rolled out, you can still opt to present your physical passport to the ICA officer at the counter, as per current practice.

Steps to Using the QR Code

1. Download the application for free from the App Store or Google Play store.
2. Fill in your passport details.
3. You can then choose to generate an individual QR code or a group QR code. Travellers in the same car can populate their passport details and generate one group QR code for immigration clearance.

For example, a family of four can have their passport details stored in the MyICA mobile application on one family member’s phone, and generate a family group QR code for immigration clearance. So this means you don’t have to scan four QR codes successively at the checkpoint like you’re at the supermarket.

4. You can also create multiple QR codes for travels with different groups of people. Up to 10 travellers’ passport details can be included in one group QR code and each group QR code can be stored and named in the application (e.g., ‘Family’ or ‘Friends’). The QR codes generated are encrypted, and can only be retrieved and decrypted by ICA (since everyone is paranoid of scams nowadays, and rightly so).

5. Once the QR code is scanned, ICA officers will conduct face-to-face checks of the traveller(s) using the data retrieved through the QR code.

Note: Those travelling in a group must use a group QR code containing the passport details of those travelling in the same vehicle. QR codes that do not tally with the details and number of travellers in the vehicle will be rejected.