SINGAPORE: Some passengers from India may find it more difficult to enter Singapore after the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) of Singapore announced in November that it would soon be issuing notices to prevent “undesirable” persons from getting on flights to Singapore.
This came to light after India Today published a piece on February 2 titled, “Singapore remains a top pick for Indians, but flying there just got tougher.”
These No-Boarding Directive (NBD) notices would be issued starting from January 30 to airline operators at Changi and Seletar Airports against people who don’t meet the entry requirements to the city.
It acknowledged that the Little Red Dot is one of the most popular destinations for Indians, and the publication underlined the new regulation for entering the city-state.
Singapore’s new approach is simple yet effective—individuals barred from entry or not meeting standard immigration criteria will be stopped at the boarding gate prior to takeoff, avoiding the need for rejection after they land.
This information is sure to be important to many Indians, given that in 2024, India was one of the top three countries for visitor arrivals to Singapore, following China (3.08 million arrivals) and Indonesia (2.49 million arrivals). India’s 1.2 million arrivals were one of the drivers of Singapore’s post-pandemic tourism recovery.
No-Boarding Directives
In the first 11 months of 2024, 41,800 foreigners were disallowed from entering Singapore. This figure is almost 26% higher than all of last year and 46 per cent higher than in 2023.
While these travellers were stopped from entering Singapore when they arrived at the airport, undesirable or prohibited travellers, or even those without a travel document with at least six months’ validity, as well as a valid visa, won’t even be allowed to enter an aircraft.
The ICA also said in November that airline operators that do not comply with an issued NBD may be liable on conviction to a fine of up to S$10,000. Furthermore, a pilot or airline employee who allows a person who’s been given an NBD to board an aircraft, whether by act or omission, will also face a fine of as much as S$10,000 or jail time of six months, or both, upon conviction.
Singapore is not the only country that has begun imposing this type of regulation. The United States and Australia also have pre-departure screening and/or “no-fly” directives.
The US has a mandatory pre-screening Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Secure Flight program for both international and domestic flights, checking passenger data against government watchlists even before passengers arrive at the airport for their flights.
Australia’s Movement Alert List (MAL), meanwhile, is a database belonging to that country’s Department of Home Affairs. It contains biographic data and travel document details and is used for screening non-citizens applying for visas, travelling to, or entering Australia, as well as tracking lost, stolen, or fraudulent documents. /TISG
