ICA to stop accepting Malaysian 'group passport' from January next year

[SINGAPORE] Malaysians who travel to Singapore as a group from next year will have to use individual passports instead of group travel documents.

The Singapore authorities will stop accepting the Malaysian Collective Travel Document (MCTD) from Jan 1 next year, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Wednesday.

The MCTD is a travel document issued by Malaysia's immigration department to groups of five to 20 Malaysians, substituting the use of individual passports.

The group document poses security concerns and stopping its use will strengthen the security and efficiency of immigration clearance at Singapore's checkpoints, ICA said.

"As ICA moves towards greater use of automation and multi-modal biometrics for clearance, the MCTD poses operational concerns as it requires manual data entry of all travellers' details, resulting in longer clearance times," it added.

Malaysia is the only country that has a group travel document arrangement with Singapore.

The ICA said it has informed its counterpart - the Immigration Department of Malaysia - of its plans to stop accepting the group travel document.

Malaysian travellers using the MCTD should apply for passports if they plan to travel to Singapore from Jan 1, 2021.

THE STRAITS TIMES