SINGAPORE - Singaporeans will no longer need to pay a fee when collecting their passport or identity card (IC) at SingPost outlets from Oct 1. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Wednesday (Sept 22) that it will bear the cost to provide the convenience. In a statement, senior assistant commissioner Dominic Chua, director of ICA's citizen services centre, said: "This initiative to encourage the collection of the IC and passports at post offices is part of ICA's transformation plan to provide greater convenience to our customers." Members of the public can choose to collect their documents from 27 designated post offices islandwide. Currently, citizens and permanent residents are charged a collection fee that ranges between $6 and $12 when they collect their passport or identify card. Those with previously unsuccessful biometric verification in transactions with the ICA will still need to collect their documents at the ICA Building. Applicants will be informed of the collection options available to them when the documents are ready for collection. Eligible residents will need to make an online appointment at this website to collect at their preferred post office. In May, the ICA announced that the validity period of Singapore passports will be increased to 10 years for citizens aged 16 and above for those who apply from Oct 1, to reduce the frequency of passport renewals. More on this topic Related Story S'pore passports to be valid for 10 years for applications from October: ICA Related Story S'pore passport remains 2nd most powerful in the world, behind Japan's
SINGAPORE - Singapore passports will be valid for 10 years, up from the current five. This will be the case for citizens over 16 years old who apply for their passports on or after Oct 1, 2021. The fee remains unchanged at $70. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Friday (May 7) that this will reduce the frequency of passport renewals and offer more convenience to Singaporeans. For citizens below the age 16, the passport validity period will remain at five years, as children's facial features continue to change as they grow. This means that the photograph on their passport needs to be updated more frequently. The Singapore passport used to be valid for 10 years until April 2005. The validity period was reduced to five years when the biometric passport system was introduced. It was reduced for the ICA to monitor the stability of the technology, the authority said. Explaining the reasons for a change back to a validity period of 10 years, the ICA said: "It has been 15 years since the introduction of the biometric passport. There is now widespread use of biometric screening technology by immigration authorities around the world." The ICA added that biometric passport technology has now stabilised and that it has greater confidence in the durability of the microchips embedded in such passports. "In view of these developments, ICA has assessed that it is now viable to increase the validity of the Singapore passport to 10 years without compromising security or global confidence in the Singapore passport," it said. More on this topic Related Story S'pore passport remains 2nd most powerful in the world, behind Japan's Related Story Singapore passport renewals down with travel unlikely amid Covid-19
MANCHESTER, UK, Dec 14, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - British cyber technology company VST Enterprises (VSTE) has today launched the worlds first public 'FIT TO FLY' secure health passport designed for air travel. The cross border platform called V-Health Passport(TM) can already be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play by searching for 'VPassport' or by visiting www.v-healthpassport.co.uk.It is the worlds first publicly available secure digital health passport that the public can download and use alongside any form of Covid 19 testing and vaccination that does NOT use unsecure bar codes and QR code technology. Airlines and transport carriers can also download and use the system.It comes at a time when security over the use of bar codes and QR codes in airline travel has come under intense scrutiny following the cyber attack on the former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot. The former PM had his Qantas airline boarding pass hacked. Details including his passport, mobile phone and messages between Qantas staff about him were intercepted. The wider threats of fake Covid 19 test certificates have also been prevalent with an alarming rise in the sales of fake Covid 19 certificates booming in Russia and the Middle East.VST Enterprises the Manchester based cyber security and technology is the first company in the world to have a fully functioning LIVE heath passport that can be used cross border and across all transport by air, land and sea.The V-Health Passport(TM) is the worlds most secure health passport using next generation VCode(R) code scanning cyber security technology. Using the most advanced closed loop technology with end to end encryption, V-Health Passport(TM) has 2.2 Quintillion collision free combination codes. These decode based on geo location, time & date, device type and user login... meaning it cannot be hacked.It can provide airline passengers and airlines with a secure digital passport that validates the passengers's identity, authenticates their Covid 19 test result and vaccination/immunisation details in one secure app. The V-Health Passport(TM) also uniquely provides airline passengers and airlines with a contact tracing technology which uses anonymised data.Unlike other health passports, V-Health Passport(TM) has been designed with a citizens privacy front and centre. The technology does not track your live location and provides all data in a secure GDPR compliant framework giving citizens a unique 'self sovereign identity' style technology putting them in control of who, when and how they share their data.VSTE CEO and inventor of the VCode technology and V-Health Passport(TM) Louis-James Davis said;"We are the first technology company in the world to have developed a secure, multipurpose, cross corporate & cross government digital health passport that does not rely on using bar codes or QR codes as its authentication technology. Both bar codes and QR codes have huge potential security implications as they can be cloned and hacked with the latter being subject to a process called 'Attagging'. Therefore any suggestion of using this type of technology in a health passport for air travel has very real security risks. Not only is a citizen's personal information at risk, but their Covid test status, vaccination records and also their credit card information. All of this can lead to the very real potential of a massive data breach and a persons personal information and data hacked and stolen. This is of particular concern when using a bar code or QR code technology designed for use to authenticate a persons Covid 19 testing and/or vaccinations records."With the alarming increase and black market trade in fake Covid 19 test certificates this also puts a very real threat and risk to passenger safety on airline carriers with the potential to infect and contaminate other passengers on what would be a Covid safe bubble onboard an aircraft.It is well documented that bar codes and QR codes can be hacked so any airline who considers using a health passport for Covid 19 testing and vaccination using this method of authentication risks a serious potential breach of its passenger data. In 2018 British Airways was fined a record GBP 20M for a data breach on 400,000 of its customers which affected their personal and credit card data.Louis-James Davis went on to state that both bar codes and QR codes - which represent first and second generation technology - are unsecure and vulnerable to hacking."QR codes were originally developed as a scanning technology for close proximity car parts tracking, a world away from identity and banking use cases and now digital health passports. It was then used to skip the input of websites in marketing and promotional purposes. They were never designed with security or privacy in mind... they are simply not fit for purpose and should not be used at all in any form for delivery of sensitive information, travel or event tickets or health passport.QR codes can be subject to a process called 'Attagging' or 'cloning.' The process of 'Attagging' is where a 'genuine QR code' is replaced by a 'cloned QR code' which then redirects the person scanning that code to a similar website where personal data can be intercepted and breached. The problem is that serious that in India alone there are over 1 BILLION fraudulent financial transactions each day using QR codes. As the scanning user journey is the same, it is only tech savvy individuals that may notice the domain name has changed."As reported by a recent Forbes Magazine investigation, it is predicted that over 11 Million households in the US alone will scan a QR code this year and the majority of them, some 71% of people who have interacted with a QR code will not know if it is the start of a malicious hack. It is envisaged that over 5.3 Billion QR codes will be redeemed this year making it one of the fastest growing tech scanning interactions and also posing one of the greatest cyber threats.QR codes can be cloned and redirected to other information points or websites. Often criminals and hackers will exploit this by putting a fake QR code over a genuine QR code. So a QR code for example on scanning would link to the genuine website www.similardomain.com but a fake QR code can be made up printed off and placed over the genuine code to redirect to www.similar-domain.com at this point the member of the public is tricked into entering their personal information, private data and financial information. The rogue website looks and feels exactly like the genuine one and is made to mirror it precisely.VCode(R) which is the ultra secure digital code which powers the V-Health Passport(TM) cannot be cloned. Even if it was printed off, or a photograph was taken and placed over a VCode(R) or V-Health Passport(TM) it simply wont scan as it works on a call and response system of information between the code and web platform to verify location of the code, user ID and time and date and much more."Louis-James Davis added; "We developed and built the V-Health Passport and health wallet to be the most secure technology on the planet that you could use as a health passport where you could combine your test status, vaccination record, boarding pass, airline ticket, music or sports ticket all in one app.With V-Health Passport(TM) we wanted to provide functionality and greater mobility to allow citizens to return to work, be fit to fly or return to the sports stadiums. But at the heart of the technology was the ability to protect and respect data privacy of the individual.The lack of engagement and interaction by the public with Government track and trace app/s over the pandemic was over privacy, security of data and the tracking of a persons live location. This is why we have built a unique system in the vein of 'Self Sovereign ID' with the ethics of privacy & security by design. The V-Health Passport(TM) puts the citizen in control in a way which they share information with who, when and where."V-Health Passport(TM) will help employers safely return their employees back to their offices, factories and warehouses. It will facilitate airlines to allow their passengers to be fit to fly and avoid the need for quarantine restrictions. At the same time it will ensure their airline ticket or boarding pass is secure and won't be hacked.A citizen will be able to share their health pass and confirm their Covid test status, or present their vaccination record. They will also be able to show their credit score, work permit or visa, scan their travel or event pass. At the heart of each interaction they will have peace of mind that their data and information is highly secure and ultimately, they control who sees what, who scans what, where and when.For more information on VCode(R) and VPlatform(R) technology please visithttps://www.vstenterprises.comFor more information on V-HEALTH PASSPORT(TM).https://v-healthpassport.co.ukFor all media enquiriesPlease contact Gerard Franklin - Head Of Communications & External RelationsM: 07885 388398 e: gerard@vstenterprises.comVST Enterprises Ltd | The Lexicon | Mount Street | Manchester | M2 5NTNOTES TO EDITORSAbout the V-Health Passport(TM)Search 'VPassport' Apple App Store & Google Playwww.v-healthpassport.co.ukAvailable on the Apple App Store and Goole Play by searching for 'VPassport' and downloading to your device.It has 5 key 'enabling' features to its technology;- Powered by the worlds most secure cyber security coding technology VCode(R) it is the worlds most secure 'next generation' code scanning technology using a closed loop system with end to end encryption and 2.2 Quintillion collision free codes (A VCode(R) can only exist once due to being encoded from a centralised system).- V-Health Passport(TM) is a test agnostic system so it can record results from all global Covid testing manufacturers and protocols from PCR to rapid antigen and antibody testing.- V-Health Passport(TM) also has its own unique contact tracing capability 'True Contact(TM)' built within the technology designed for travel, sports stadiums, venues, factories, offices and construction sites.- The ultra-secure platform can now also hold vaccination records of all the major vaccination manufacturers which will be crucial in a person validating they have been vaccinated, the vaccine type, batch, dosage and date.- Uniquely V-Health Passport(TM) is the only health wallet and cross border platform in the world that is multi-functional and GDPR compliant. It allows acts like 'self sovereign identity', meaning a citizens personal data is protected and they choose what they want to share and with whom they want to interact or authorise.SOURCE: VST Enterprises Ltd & VHealth Passport Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com
SINGAPORE - For more than three years, Chinese national Chen Bichun paid for new forged passport stamps in order to remain in Singapore illegally to work as a sex worker. Her illicit stay started on March 19, 2016 and came to an end on July 23, 2019, when she was finally caught in a Balestier hotel room during a police raid. On Thursday (Nov 5), Chen was sentenced to 14 months' jail and a $2,000 fine for two charges, one under the Immigration Act and another for the forged documents. One other similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing. The court heard that her passport contained 19 entry stamps and an application to extend her short-term visit pass, all of which were forged. Investigations found that Chen came to Singapore on March 4, 2016 and was granted 14 days of stay on a social visit pass. A friend then told her that she could help her stay in Singapore and make it seem to the authorities that Chen's stay was legal. Each extension would cost $200 and last about two months. Chen agreed to the arrangement. After her friend was arrested in April 2017 and repatriated to China, Chen started getting contacted by an unidentified person to get the extensions. She was finally caught on July 23, 2019 during a police raid at Balestier Hotel. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirmed that the 19 entry stamps and an application to extend a short-term visit pass were forged, after her People's Republic of China passport was seized. More on this topic Related Story Courts & Crime: Read more stories Further investigations found she had stayed in Singapore illegally for a total of 1,222 days, or about three years and four months. Deputy Public Prosecutor R. Arvindren urged the court to sentence Chen to at least 15 months' jail and impose a $2,000 fine, noting that Chen "went on a pattern of conduct to get forged stamps". In sentencing Chen, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said that the sentence was appropriate to reflect the seriousness of the crimes and deter other like-minded offenders from following suit.