Self-service passport counters in Australia now available for Singaporeans
Good news for Singaporeans with electronic passports — you’ll no longer need to brave the queues at Australian airport immigration.
As long as your passport has an electronic chip in it (the hard plastic first page with your photograph and details), you can now use it to pass through the self-service counters at eight international airports in Australia, all of which are equipped with facial recognition technology.
In Australia, you will be recognised by your facial features instead of your thumb prints — the method employed in Singapore’s biometric system. This process, termed SmartGate, is aimed at cutting immigration queue times at the eight airports by 15 to 20 minutes.
Singapore will be the first country in Asia to be allowed the new option, with citizens aged 17 and above who have electronic passports being eligible for the trial, which starts on Wednesday.
The participating airports — Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and Darwin — currently accept American and Swiss electronic passport holders on a trial basis, as well as Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom citizens permanently.
Last year, some 385,300 people travelled from Singapore to Australia, more than the number the country received from any other Southeast Asian nation. The figure was also a 12.1 per cent increase from 2012.
