This is quite alarming, considering that many people frequently travel back and forth between Johor and Singapore!
Just last week, a Singaporean netizen took to Facebook to share their experience with an immigration officer while they were entering Johor with 7 other family members. The user’s post reads,
“There have been many reports about people having problems / issues with their immigration stamps when entering Johor Bahru. Yesterday something happened that made us glad that we were alert and ‘anal’ about checking the accuracy of the stamps.”
After all 8 family members went through immigration, they realised that the immigration officer mistakenly stamped their entry on the 4th of October instead of November!
Upon noticing the error, they quickly pointed out the error to the immigration officer, who promptly voided the “4th October” stamp and corrected the date on all 8 passports.
After this incident, the Singaporean netizen then decided to share this with others in hopes that they will not encounter any problems with any immigration department. The netizen suggested checking the following things to ensure that their passports have been stamped correctly by immigration officers;
- Date of stamp
- Type and colour of stamps: Blue and rectangle when entering, Red and triangle when you exit
- If you are using Malaysia Automated Clearing System (MACS), please make sure they scan your passport
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened!
Back in 2013, a Singaporean man was detained at the Johor checkpoint for two hours while trying to return to his country because the stamp on his passport was “reversed”. This was reportedly due to an error from the immigration officer’s behalf.
“Thankfully, nothing happened this time. If it was a lapse on my part, the ending would have been much worse,” the Singaporean told Asia One.
So, take extra precautions by checking your passports properly when travelling between Malaysia and Singapore!
Also read: Singapore Implements Thumbprint Scan For Car Travellers, Netizens Worried Over Traffic