November 4, 2024, 6:30 am | Read time: 3 minutes
At the airport, you have to show your passport again and again. Changi Airport in Singapore shows that there is another way.
It’s often stressful enough at the airport. It is particularly annoying to have to rummage around for your passport or ID card to show at security checks. The airport in Singapore has found a solution to the problem of passport control that tourists can also benefit from – at least in part.
As the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has now announced, it has been possible to travel without showing your passport at all four terminals at the airport since September 30. Instead, travelers are identified by eye and face recognition, according to the ICA.
Initially, however, it will only be possible for residents of Singapore to enter and leave the country without a passport. Tourists and transients from other countries will still need their identity documents to enter the country. Travelers from Germany, for example, need a passport.
When leaving Singapore, however, everyone can enjoy the benefits of traveling without passport control at the airport. All you have to do is submit your “SG Arrival Card” at least three days before your arrival and have it scanned on site.
‘Smart gates’ speed up the process
According to the ICA, the average checking time has fallen by 60 percent. Instead of an average of 25 seconds, passport control now only takes 10 seconds.
While Singapore claims to be the first airport to fully implement the concept, it is not the only one with passportless controls. In Dubai, most gates are already so-called “smart gates”. Experts assume that more and more airports will have such contactless checkpoints in the future.
Important: Even if you don’t necessarily need your passport at the smart gate, you should always have it in hand – because border officials may always want to take a closer look.
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Germany has ‘EasyPASS’
In Germany, it is not yet possible to enter and leave the country without a passport, but there are “EasyPASS” airlock systems at some airports without a manual check. If you have an electronic passport, you can scan it there and then simply look briefly into the camera. Already, you’re through the checkpoint, as the website of the capital’s BER airport states.
The same applies here: officials can still wave travelers aside for a manual check. According to the Federal Police, there are now eight German airports that offer “EasyPASS”. In addition to BER, these are Hamburg, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, and Munich.
With material from dpa