Singapore seeks bids for iris scanners at immigration checkpoints

Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs has asked interested parties to submit proposals for iris scanners that could be installed at the island-state's immigration checkpoints.

The MHA last week issued a Request for Information seeking vendor proposals by October 10, with a view to holding small-scale trials, reported The Straits Times.

Contactless iris capturing and authentication has been picked as "a potentially viable technology to complement our existing biometrics system… for use at our checkpoints", a spokesman for the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) told the newspaper.

“This Request for Information allows MHA and ICA to assess the existing state of iris scan technology and its viability for use at our checkpoints. As this is still at the exploratory stage, it is premature for us to provide the operational details at this juncture.”

Singapore has a history of innovation in using biometrics at borders.

In May, it was announced that Singapore immigration authorities were considering setting up self-service kiosks to capture the fingerprints of foreigners arriving at Changi Airport's new Terminal 4 when it opens in 2017.

Besides fingerprinting, foreigners could also have their photos taken or irises scanned at the kiosks.