Commencing in June, all visitors entering Singapore by land, air or sea will have their fingerprints taken for security screening.
In a speech to Parliament, Desmond Lee, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority will capture the fingerprints of everyone entering Singapore through its BioScreen initiative to verify a visitor’s identity as part of plans to increase border security “and facilitate automated self-clearance during departure”.
More than half a million people pass through Singapore’s checkpoints every day. The USA introduced fingerprint checks in 2004, following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, while Japan, South Korea and Taiwan introduced fingerprint scans in 2007.
