Long queues were seen at the Causeway as ICA warns of delays due to "intermittent slowness". - MOHAMEDSHABIYUDEEN/FACEBOOK, CHLOE TAN/FACEBOOK
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Delays are expected across some land and air checkpoints due to a disruption in the immigration clearance system.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) first announced the disruption on Facebook at 11.28am, adding that it “regrets the inconvenience caused to travellers and seek their understanding and patience”.
In an update at 12.03pm, it advised travellers to postpone all non-essential travel.
Official updates would be put up on ICA’s Facebook page, it added.
Meanwhile, motorists entering Singapore through either the Woodlands or Tuas Checkpoints griped online that they had been left waiting in the queue with no reprieve in sight.
In a Facebook group for Malaysians who work in Singapore, several people had posted photos of long queues of vehicles on the Causeway, and of people in the immigration hall.
Most said they had been waiting for about an hour, with one commenter saying that the automatic counters were down.
Similarly, long queues had formed at Changi Airport as well, with throngs of people waiting to enter departure gates.
Facebook user C Tse Yang said that with the system down, immigration officers at the airport had taken to manually calling out people whose flights were about to leave.
“(There’s) no queue, no crowd management. Staff all don’t know what to do, waiting for instruction(s),” he said.
This story is developing.
