38.3% more foreign visitors refused entry at S'pore's checkpoints in 2025: ICA

The number of foreign visitors who were refused entry at Singapore's checkpoints went up by 38.3 per cent in 2025, compared to 2024.

These foreigners were refused entry on the grounds of immigration or security risks, such as potentially overstaying or committing crimes.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), which released its 2025 annual statistics on Feb. 23, attributed the increase to strengthened checks under the New Clearance Concept, which leverages advanced information and data analytics to identify high-risk travellers.

45,700 visitors refused entry in 2025

In a news release, ICA explained that it has further strengthened border security through enhanced targeting by its Integrated Targeting Centre (ITC), a 24/7 facility that leverages data analytics to conduct pre-arrival risk assessment of travellers, conveyances and cargo.

The ITC is part of a New Clearance Concept, which also saw frontline officers being redeployed from manual counter duties to other functions such as profiling and investigative interviewing.

This has resulted in "more effective detection of undesirable travellers and smuggling attempts", ICA said.

In 2025, an estimated 45,700 foreign visitors were refused entry due to immigration risk and security reasons. 2024 saw 33,100 entry refusals.

Notable detections include two male Indian nationals with forged Ministry of Manpower documents.

A male Thai national with previous convictions in Singapore was also caught trying to enter the country under a different name.

Other statistics

The number of contraband cases also increased by 30.6 per cent, from an estimated 43,900 cases in 2024 to 57,400 cases in 2025.

ICA also detected 667 vape-smuggling cases across all checkpoints in 2025, seizing more than 350,000 vapes and vape-related components.

Multiple identities cases dipped slightly by 4.3 per cent, while forged or tampered travel documents cases went down by 39.3 per cent.

The number of immigration offenders arrested remained about the same in 2025, with a slight 1.9 per cent increase in the number of overstayers arrested.

In 2025, 127 million travellers cleared immigration using passport-less clearance.

In total, ICA processed 244,864,000 travellers in 2025, a 6.3 per cent increase from 2024.

Top image via ICA / Facebook