All they need do is to make an e-Appointment with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). And then pick up their passports in under 30 minutes on the day of collection.

This is a breeze compared to walk-ins to the ICA building in Lavender, who have to wait for as long as 1 1/2 hours and queue behind as many as 400 people before they get their passports.

Some 4,400 people have used the online collection service since it started this month, said ICA spokesman Lim Jing Jing on Wednesday.

However, with up to 1,700 people flooding the ICA building daily to collect their passports, the ICA wants to improve the present 16 per cent take-up rate.