ICA to stop Saturday services at Lavender from September

SINGAPORE: The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Services Centre will only operate on weekdays from Sep 2, announced ICA on Thursday (Jul 25). 

The centre, located at ICA Building near Lavender MRT station, is currently open on Saturdays from 8am to 12.30pm, as well as weekdays from 8am to 4.30pm.

This will change from September when the centre will be open only on weekdays.

The number of visits to the Services Centre dropped by about 50 per cent from 2019 to 2023, said ICA, adding that 95 per cent of customers now submit their applications online.

ICA attributed the drop in physical visits to the online availability of many of its services. They include including the processing of birth and death certificates (since May 2022), as well as long-term passes - such as the Long-Term Visit Pass and Student's Pass (since February 2023).

Users can retrieve these digital documents remotely with the MyICA mobile app, MyICA e-service on the ICA website, My Legacy Portal and FileSG. 

Passports and identity cards will still need to be collected physically, either at the ICA Services Centre or designated post offices. All post offices are open on Saturdays, while several also operate on Sundays. 

Almost 70 per cent of passports and identity cards are now collected at these designated SingPost outlets, said ICA.