Longer Waiting Time Expected for Passport Collection During Peak Periods


We refer to Mr Teo Keng Hon's letter "Frustrating wait to collect biometric passport" on ST Online on 20 November 2009.

The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) processes about 28,000 passport applications monthly during non-peak periods. This volume increases by 35% for peak months, like before and during school holidays. Since October 2009, the number of passport applications received has increased by more than 78% to almost 50,000 applications received in a single month. A longer waiting time is to be expected should customers choose to collect their passports during this peak period.

In the case of Mr Teo's mother, she came during this peak period and sought services over-the-counter even though she had not received her passport collection card. The passport production card is automatically generated and sent to applicants when their passports are ready for collection. Mr Teo could have used the online enquiry mode to check his mother's application status. If only he had done that, he would have known that her passport would not have been ready for collection. In any case, when Mr Teo's mother came to ICA on 16 November, we still assisted to expedite processing of her case so as not to inconvenience her to return the next day. Her case was handled at dedicated counters for pending cases which also include those whose photographs are rejected due to failure to meet requirements, and those who have provided particulars that differ from our official records. These exceptional cases take a longer time to process and at the material time when Mr Teo's mother came, there were already 100 such pending cases ahead of her. Hence, she had to wait for some time whilst her passport was produced, undergo quality control checks and readied for collection on the same day. Notwithstanding exceptional demands for any of our services, we do accede to specific requests from those with special needs.

We would like to invite Mr Teo to come forward and provide more details as to his allegations that photos submitted were missing and payments done online were not recorded in the system. Mr Teo's uncorroborated comment on missing online payment records is unlikely as any online application would not have been able to proceed further if the e-payment is not successful. As for his observation on why the queue numbers were not called in sequence, we wish to clarify that there are different queue series assigned for different customer groups, ie by e-Appointment, walk-ins or pending cases.

The e-Appointment system was introduced to help our customers better manage their time when they plan a trip down to ICA Building. Successful passport applicants can make use of the system to make an appointment with ICA to collect their passport and they will be served at their allocated time. As demand for our services can be unpredictable, walk-in customers may have to expect a longer waiting time depending on the remaining number of limited counters that are available to serve them. To avoid long wait during the peak periods, Singaporeans are advised to apply for their passports early and not to do so at the last minute.

Chia Hui Keng (Ms)
Head, Public & Internal Communications Branch
Corporate Communications Division
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority


Frustrating wait to collect biometric passport

Straits Times Online

20 Nov 2009


I RECALL when I collected passports for my children in 2006, the whole process took less than 30 minutes.

However, when my mother collected her new biometric passport on Monday, she had to wait almost five hours before finally receiving it at around 5.30pm, even though the official closing time for the office was 4.30pm.

The situation at the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building was chaotic. Submitted photos were missing; payments done online were not recorded in the system. Queue numbers called were terribly out of sequence. Some of the elderly folk present did not dare go for lunch as they were worried their queue numbers would be called in their absence. Many people were complaining about the long wait.

Can ICA do something to improve the collection process?

Teo Keng Hon