Singapore's Changi Airport is one of the busiest in the world — but from next year, travelling through it could get a whole lot smoother.
Earlier this week, the island nation's parliament passed legislation allowing passport-free travel as early as the first half of 2024.
"Singapore will be one of the first few countries in the world to introduce automated, passport-free immigration clearance," Josephine Teo, second minister for home affairs, said in a speech to parliament on Monday.
Passport-free travel from Singapore's Changi Airport could soon be a reality. Source: AAP / Wallace Woon/EPA
"This will reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at these touchpoints, allowing for more seamless and convenient processing."
Passport-free travel would initially only apply to those leaving Singapore — and passengers flying from Changi to destinations that don't offer passport-free travel would still need to keep their physical documents handy.
Changi isn't the only airport moving away from passports.
Those travelling through Dubai Airport's terminal three from November onwards will also be able to check-in, clear security, and board their flight without taking out their passport.
When will passport-free travel be available in Australia?
Australia's peak tourism, transport, and aviation industry group in July urged the federal and New Zealand governments to consider immigration reforms that would change how travellers enter both countries.
The Tourism and Transport Forum (TFF) called for the governments to establish a joint task force before the end of August to that could be trialled by the end of the year.
It said reforms could include using to do away with the need to produce boarding passes and passports, which could help reduce delays on arrival.
TFF chief executive Margy Osmond said that, since then, "considerable progress" had been made behind the scenes towards a first meeting of the group.
"I think it'd be fair to say that border forces everywhere, but certainly in the context of Australia and New Zealand, are looking very carefully at developments, like the Singaporean one, and what the future of technology and biometrics is going to bring to the travel experience," she told SBS News.
"Making sure that traveller experience is all it can and should be, is really a number one aim for us as an organisation at TFF, and the opportunity to be able to trial some of those things potentially on the trans-Tasman is a really good outcome."
Concerns over biometric data use
Three-quarters of passengers would prefer to use biometric data over passports and boarding passes, according to a 2022 survey from the International Air Transport Association.
Facial recognition technology is already used in Australia's major international airports to verify the identity of travellers leaving and entering the country via SmartGates.
Katina Michael, a professor at the University of Wollongong's School of Computing and Information Technology, is among those concerned that passengers could be putting sensitive data at risk through passport-free travel, all in the name of convenience.
"Our biometrics are unique," she told SBS News.
"They will likely be stored in an encrypted manner, so that people can't actually hack into them – but we have had hacks of biometrics in the past.
"Once a credential is taken, that's it — you can't change your eyes, your fingerprints, your face."
Michael said the potential for biometric data to then be sold on the dark web or used to make deepfakes wasn't her only concern.
"There will be cases where one-to-one matches won't work, and then what happens?" she said.
"Someone may be interrogated or put to the side and asked a whole bunch of questions, but you can't actually prove your identity if you're not carrying a secondary token."
Michael warned against moving away from physical passports entirely.
"No problem if you want to go with biometrics, but you should also give the individual the right to prove who they are through their identification documentation."
SBS News has contacted the Australian Border Force for comment.
