Over 33,000 foreigners denied entry into S’pore in 2024; posed immigration, security risks: ICA

SINGAPORE – More than 230 million travellers passed through the Republic’s checkpoints in 2024, about 38 million more than in 2023. 

But this spike also saw more visitors being turned away by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Its annual statistics released on Feb 14 showed 33,100 foreigners were denied entry in 2024 after they were found to pose immigration or security risks to the nation.

This was 4,500 more than the 28,600 foreigners refused entry in 2023.

ICA said these people were assessed to either potentially overstay or work illegally, or commit crimes here.

ICA said the jump in annual visitors was largely due to an increase at Singapore’s land checkpoints, accounting for more than 75 per cent of all travellers.

For example, a record number of

more than 562,000 land crossings in a single day

was logged on Dec 20, 2024 at the Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints.

ICA said its

New Clearance Concept (NCC) at Changi Airport,

with automated lanes and passport-free clearance at the airport and progressively at all sea checkpoints, has helped to weed out undesirable visitors.

The facial and iris biometrics data collected via the NCC is analysed by ICA’s new Integrated Targeting Centre (ITC) unit. It uses data analytics to identify high-risk foreigners before they arrive here.

These foreigners are flagged for more stringent checks when they try to clear immigration.

ICA said the automated lanes possess counter forgery detection capabilities supported by multi-modal biometrics screening systems.

“This enables ICA officers to detect travellers using fraudulent passports, as well as repeat travellers impersonating and/or using false identities, as we would have their biometrics in our database,” it added.

Those who previously committed crimes in Singapore and try to re-enter the country under a different name will be identified.

In a September 2024 Parliament sitting, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling

said no visa regime can completely keep out undesirable visitors from entering Singapore.

She added that besides using technology, ICA also employs advance passenger information, such as flight manifests and arrival cards, to assess foreign travellers.

She was responding to Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai’s query on whether allowing foreigners to use automated lanes increases the risk of suspicious persons entering the country.

Ms Sun said repeat travellers will be flagged in the biometric database, as ICA would have captured their biometric data during their previous visit.

On Feb 14, ICA said all travellers will also be screened against a watch list of persons of interest.

These travellers will then be stopped for more stringent immigration and security checks.

ICA’s statistics also showed that the number of immigration offenders arrested fell to 536 in 2024 from 587 in 2023.

The number of overstayers arrested in 2024 dropped to 475 from 542 in 2023.

But the number of arrests of illegal immigrants rose to 61 in 2024 from 45 in 2023, with 25 of them nabbed by the Police Coast Guard before they entered Singapore.

More people were also arrested for harbouring or employing immigration offenders. That number increased to 389 in 2024 compared with 327 in 2023.

Arrested employers claimed to be in the process of extending or renewing the pass validity of the immigration offenders, or admitted to not tracking their employee’s work pass status.

Significantly, there was a more than fivefold rise in the number of people arrested for marriage-of-convenience offences in 2024 compared to 2023, when there were eight cases.

ICA said the 41 people arrested in 2024 were the result of increased enforcement efforts to investigate and disrupt such syndicates.

ICA invited the media to one such

raid in Bukit Batok on Dec 11, 2024.

Officers discovered a local man and a Vietnamese woman who allegedly solemnised their wedding but were living apart.

When officers entered his Housing Board flat, there were no traces of a woman living there. The man’s mother told officers she did not know her son was married.

He was arrested for making false declarations in applications for immigration facilities.

Those convicted for their involvement in a marriage of convenience can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $10,000, or both.