The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA, Chinese: 移民與關卡局；Malay: Penguasa Imigresen dan Pusat Pemeriksaan) is a law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in Singapore.

In addition, their duties also include counter-terrorism, part of which is to detect and deter the illicit importation of radioactive and nuclear material by terrorists or criminals.

At its Kallang Road headquarters, services are provided from "cradle to grave", starting from birth registration to the issuance of identity cards and finally to the registering of deaths.

[11][12][13] Immigration offenders are referred to ICA's Enforcement Division (ED) which oversees investigation, prosecution and repatriation matters.

[14] Prosecution officers from ICA work together with deputy public prosecutors at the Attorney-General's Chambers to ensure that offenders are lawfully detained and given trial.

[15] Home owners who have been found guilty of renting their houses to immigration offenders and not carrying out one or more of the mandatory checks may be sentenced to a jail term, fine or both.

ICA is Singapore's first line of defence against potential terrorist threats by restricting the movement of security sensitive persons across international borders.

ICA also works closely with other agencies such as the Police and ISD to prevent terrorist attacks from occurring in Singapore.

During the lead-up to the 2018 Trump-Kim Summit, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam revealed that four people had been turned away at the checkpoints for terrorism related reasons.

[16] ICA is part of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group within the Republic of Singapore Navy's Maritime Security Task Force.

The Citizen Services Centre issues the pink National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), the certificate of citizenship and the Singaporean passport.

[24] A new Immigration Depot was built at Telok Ayer Basin (East Wharf) while the head office was moved to Empress Place Building.

Customs control was started when the Monopolies Department was founded in 1910 to collect excise duties on goods such as hard liquors and opium.

[26] After Singapore separated from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, freedom of movement continued to exist between the two countries for a short period of time.

On 16 October 1981, the NRO, RBD, ROC, MACU and ROS merged to form the National Registration Department (NRD).

Tobacco, liquor, motor vehicles and petroleum became restricted goods after Singapore was granted independence as a sovereign nation.

The Customs and Excise Department (CED) cooperated closely with other government agencies such as the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority and the Central Narcotics Bureau.

A new logo was launched by then-Minister for Home Affairs, Wong Kan Seng, at the foundation stone ceremony for the SI Building in 1995.

On 1 April 2003, SIR and the border control functions of CED were merged to form ICA in response to the 9/11 attacks and the Jemaah Islamiyah plots.

The first Commissioner of ICA was Lock Wai Han, who was in the Singapore Police Force before he oversaw the merger of the two agencies.

ICA's first major challenge came with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003, testing the agency's ability to control Singapore's borders and screen passengers for contagious diseases.

On 1 July 2011, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) and the Malaysian CIQ agencies were relocated to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP).

The Singapore government immediately started border health control procedures, announcing travel bans on foreign visitors arriving from affected areas and temperature screening at checkpoints.

If you have made the application earlier and the process requires you to proceed to the building itself for physical collection (e.g. NRIC and passports), you will have to book the appointment via the e-Appointment service.

[36] On 10 April 2020, it was announced that a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the ICA building at Kallang Road, where 3 officers had tested positive for the coronavirus.

[37][38] On 1 April 2022, the Causeway fully reopened at midnight, signalling the return to normalcy since Malaysia closed the land border with Singapore on March 18, 2020.

[42] These officers, who are known as "Management Executives" are typically deployed to ICA's services centres and do not perform border security functions at the checkpoints.

Direct Entry Sergeants are typically trained into specialists in different fields such as profiling, cargo examination and firearms shooting.

Since 2003, the uniform has not changed from its current Navy Blue design which was chosen to establish ICA as a member of the Home Team.

The Biometric Identification of Motorbikers (BIKES) System at ICA's land checkpoints can be used by residents and work pass holders entering and leaving Singapore by motorcycles.