By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, Jan 15 -- Traffic flow through the land checkpoints at Woodlands and Tuas is expected to be heavy during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said.
In a statement today, ICA said traffic departing from Singapore is set to be heavy between Jan 17-28, 2020 while arrival traffic is expected to be heavy between Jan 25-28.
“About 415,000 travellers use the land checkpoints daily and this number increases during the festive peak periods.
“For the Friday before Christmas last year, we cleared 475,000 travellers across the land checkpoints – the highest number we have seen in recent years,” it said.
As such, ICA said travellers using the land checkpoints during the Lunar New Year holiday season can expect delays.
ICA also reminded travellers not to bring in prohibited items such as firecrackers, “Pop-Pop” or controlled items such as ‘bak kwa’, eggs and potted plants.
“If travellers bring in dutiable or controlled items, they should proactively make declarations to our officers prior to checks,” the statement read.
ICA noted that foreign visitors are encouraged to submit their arrival cards online via the “SG Arrival Card” e-Service on the ICA website (eservices.ica.gov.sg/sgarrivalcard) or mobile application (available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store) for greater convenience.
"They can submit the electronic arrival cards up to 14 days ahead of their arrival in Singapore.
“This means that they do not need to fill up the paper-based disembarkation/embarkation card and will only need to produce their passports for immigration clearance upon arrival,” it said.
However, ICA said foreign visitors arriving via cruise liners and those entering Singapore to assume work pass status should continue to submit the paper-based disembarkation/embarkation card until further notice.
-- BERNAMA
