There are four facts of life when it comes to crossing the Johor Bahru checkpoints.
- If you go during peak hours, you might be stuck in traffic for hours.
- And if you go by bus and reach the checkpoint within 40 minutes, you might be stuck in the queue at the immigration hall for hours.
- To jump the queue, you can try your luck at getting train tickets into JB.
- And if you are a frequent visitor to our neighbourhood makan paradise, you can get yourself a MACS card to skip the queue.
Malaysia Automated Clearance System (MACS)
Plenty of Singaporeans have made use of the MACS system to make their trip into Johor Bahru as hassle-free as possible.
While the rest of the idiots are stuck waiting for their turn at the immigration counters
You can head on to their automated gates and breeze through within 5 minutes, just like Malaysian passport holders.
But now, you can’t do that anymore.
Malaysia Stop Automated Immigration Clearance System For Foreigners
Malaysia has temporarily suspended its automated immigration clearance system foreigners at all checkpoints since 4 Mar 2020.
The reason? Covid-19, of course.
In view of the Covid-19 situation, Malaysia is putting into place stricter health screening at all checkpoints.
Immigration clearance will be done manually for the time being.
Thankfully, Malaysians who work in Singapore are not affected. Imagine thousands of them queuing to cross the checkpoint every morning.
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Fingerprint Collection To Stop
Now, if you’re familiar with passing through the Malaysia checkpoint, you’ll know that fingerprints are collected at the immigration counter.
For the time being, Malaysia immigration will also fingerprint collection.
Which makes sense because thousands of people touch the panel every single day.
Slow But Necessary
Of course, this also means it will take a longer time for you to cross over to the other side.
But honestly? It is great to see Malaysia being more vigilant about monitoring its borders against the coronavirus.
After all, this helps to prevent cross-contamination between our two countries. And it also means that when you get into Johor Bahru, you’re marginally safer as well, right?
So I guess all we can say is, *SMRT Voice* please be prepared to add 2 hours to your journey when planning your trip. Thank you and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.
Or maybe not, since, you know, not many people are travelling to JB now.
Make Sure Your Passport is Stamped Properly
But with that said, do be careful and check that your passport is stamped properly when you cross the customs or you might just end up in trouble like this couple.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said this before:
“Singaporeans travelling to and from Malaysia, in particular via the land checkpoints, are reminded to ensure that your passport is presented to a Malaysian immigration officer and stamped correctly before leaving the Malaysian immigration booth,.”
Failing to do that might result in severe consequences including:
- Detention (Put behind bars)
- A fine
- A ban from entering Malaysia
Yup, the last one scared us the most too; how else can we get cheap food and shopping done?!
