Seniors can't have special counter but ICA will help them

4 Jul 2009

The Straits Times

WITH reference to Mr Paul Chan's letter, 'Elderly having a tough time at checkpoints' (June 20), since 1997, Singaporeans, permanent residents (PRs) and long-term pass holders have been able to apply for an access card for automated immigration clearance.

The card is valid for three years and carries a fee of $30. In 2006, the enhanced Immigration Automated Clearance System (eIACS) was rolled out to enable Singaporeans and PRs to enjoy automated clearance without pre-registration or payment of fees, as long as their fingerprints were on Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) records.

By last year, more than three million travellers had used eIACS. With more Singaporeans clearing the automated lanes, we could facilitate other travellers at the manned counters and cope with an increasing traveller volume.

The use of fingerprint recognition technology for automated clearance has limitations. New and infrequent users may take a little more time and effort to familiarise themselves with the system, especially the need to place their thumb on the centre of the scanner. Our experience shows that this form of automated clearance may not be suitable for less than 1 per cent of eligible users.

People with excessively wet or dry fingerprints may find it hard to use the system. It is not uncommon that fingerprints of the elderly fade with age. As an accurate match is required for positive identification, scanned fingerprints must meet the minimum technical and security requirements.

Hence, officers performing secondary checks have been guiding users who encounter problems to clear the manned counters. If the quality of the existing records of a traveller's fingerprint does not meet requirements, we will record a better set from him. If a traveller's fingerprints are unsuitable for automated clearance, we will advise him to use the manual counters in future.

Singaporeans can already seek immigration clearance at any manned counter. With the limited number of officers and manned counters at various checkpoints, it is not feasible to dedicate a counter just to senior citizens.

Nonetheless, we will continue to help people with special needs who may approach us for assistance at the checkpoints.

We welcome Mr Chan to contact our senior customer relations executive, Mr Wee Yew Boon, on 6391-6340 so we can look into his experiences with eIACS.

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


Elderly having a tough time at checkpoints

20 Jun 2009

The Straits Times

DESPITE the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's reply on Monday ('Long queue? Passenger cleared immigration in 6min', Forum Online) elderly passengers have genuine problems with automated clearance channels.

When I returned from a Malaysian visit with a group of elderly family members last year, we had difficulty at such channels at the Second Link checkpoint. Finally, we had to be checked and cleared at the officer's booth manually.

Three weeks ago, we visited Malaysia again and suffered the same problem: our passports were rejected. I asked the officer on duty why it was so and she said it could be the fading lines of our ageing thumbs.

Yet, the computer screen showed my thumbprint clearly.

When I queried the officer, she told me to move on. The two other elderly family members with me suffered the same difficulty. The crowd at the checkpoint that morning were about three busloads. Ironically, 70 per cent of them cleared the manned counters while we were still stuck at the automated channel.

And this wasn't the peak period.

We learnt out lesson and upon our return, we opted for the manned counters. It seems evident from letters to this page that other passengers using other checkpoints, like Changi Airport and Woodlands, experience a similar hassle.

The ICA should rectify the problem.

Until then, it should open a manned counter for senior citizens.

Paul Chan