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Immigration (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 15/1977

Read the first time on 2nd September 1977.

An Act to amend the Immigration Act (Chapter 81 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Immigration (Amendment) Act, 1977, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the definitions of “authorised airport”, “authorised landing place” and “authorised point of entry” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following: —

“ “authorised airport”, “authorised landing place”, “authorised point of entry”, “authorised departing place” or “authorised point of departure” mean respectively an airport, a landing place, a point of entry, a departing place or a point of departure declared as such under section 5;”;

(b)

by inserting immediately after the definition of “immigration signal” appearing therein the following new definition: —

“ “leave” means —

(a)	in the case of a person leaving Singapore by sea, embarking in Singapore on a vessel which is about to leave Singapore and remaining on board such vessel at the time of its departure for any place outside Singapore;
(b)	in the case of a person leaving Singapore by air, boarding an aircraft in Singapore which is about to depart from Singapore;
(c)	in the case of a person leaving Singapore by land, boarding and remaining in a train or other vehicle which is about to leave Singapore;”;

(c)

by deleting the definition of “senior immigration officer” appearing therein; and

(d)

by deleting the definition of “stowaway” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following: —

“ “stowaway” means a person who is secreted in a vessel or aircraft without the consent of the master or other person in charge of the vessel or aircraft and includes such a person who is arriving in or departing from Singapore on board any vessel or aircraft without the consent of the master or other person in charge of the vessel or aircraft;”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the Immigration Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Appointment and powers of Controller and immigration officers

3.—(1) The Minister may appoint a Controller of Immigration and such number of immigration officers as he may consider necessary for the proper carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

(2) The powers and discretion vested in the Controller under this Act, and the duties required to be discharged by him may, subject to the provisions of section 4 and to such limitations as the Controller may impose, be exercised and discharged by immigration officers duly authorised by the Controller to act on his behalf.”.

Amendment of heading

4. The heading of Part II of the Immigration Act is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —

“ADMISSION INTO AND DEPARTURE FROM SINGAPORE”.

Amendment of section 5

5. Section 5 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the marginal note thereto and substituting therefor the expression “Entry into or departure from Singapore.”; and

(b)

by deleting subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(2) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, prescribe approved routes and declare such immigration control posts, places of embarkation, authorised airports, authorised points of departure or authorised departing place, as the case may be, and no person shall, unless compelled by accident or other reasonable cause, leave Singapore except at an authorised place of embarkation, airport, point of departure or place of departure.

(3) Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.”.

Amendment of section 6

6. Section 6 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the marginal note thereto and substituting therefor the expression “Control of entry into or departure from Singapore.”;

(b)

by inserting immediately after subsection (1) thereof the following new subsection: —

“(2) Any person who has entered or remained in Singapore in accordance with a pass lawfully issued under this Act shall complete an embarkation form and submit it together with his passport or other travel document for examination by an immigration officer at the time he leaves Singapore.”; and

(c)

by re-numbering the existing subsection (2) thereof as subsection (3) and by inserting immediately after the expression “(1)” appearing in the second line thereof the expression “or (2)”.

Amendment of heading

7. The heading of Part IV of the Immigration Act is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —

“PROCEDURE ON ARRIVAL IN AND DEPARTURE FROM SINGAPORE”.

Amendment of section 16

8. Subsection (1) of section 16 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the words “arrives in” appearing in the first line thereof the words “or is about to leave”.

Amendment of section 17

9. Section 17 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by inserting immediately after the words “arrives at” appearing in the fifth line of subsection (1) thereof the words “or is about to leave”; and
(b)	by inserting immediately after the words “arrives in” appearing in the first line of subsection (2) thereof the words “or is about to leave”.

Amendment of section 18

10. Section 18 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the marginal note thereto and substituting therefor the expression “Aircraft arriving in or departing from Singapore.”; and

(b)

by deleting subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(1) The captain of every aircraft which arrives in or leaves Singapore shall land his aircraft at, or fly his aircraft away from, an authorised airport.”.

Amendment of section 19

11. Section 19 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the word “down” appearing at the end of subsection (1) thereof the expression “, or board a vessel departing from Singapore after it has been examined by an immigration officer just before its departure”.

Amendment of section 22

12. Subsection (2) of section 22 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the words “disembarking in” appearing in the first and second lines of paragraph (b) thereof the words “or embarking from”.

Amendment of section 23

13. Subsection (1) of section 23 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the words “landing in” appearing in the second line of paragraph (b) thereof the words “or departing from”.

Amendment of section 26

14. Section 26 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the word “post” appearing at the end of subsection (1) thereof the expression “and shall, if so required by such immigration officer, furnish particulars about himself in such form as may be prescribed”.

Amendment of section 49

15. Section 49 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by deleting the word “senior” appearing in the fifth line of subsection (1) thereof.

Amendment of section 51

16. Section 51 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “senior immigration officer” appearing in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “immigration officer generally or specially authorised in writing in that behalf by the Controller”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “a senior immigration officer” appearing in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “an immigration officer referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection”.

New section 51A

17. The Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 51 thereof the following new section: —

“Person registered under Enlistment Act

51A.—(1) An immigration officer may prevent any person from leaving Singapore and require him to surrender his passport to him if he has reason to believe that that person is a person subject to the Enlistment Act (Cap. 229) who has been registered under section 3 of that Act or is deemed to be registered or is liable to be registered under that Act and is attempting to leave Singapore without an exit permit issued by the proper authority.

(2) For the purposes of this section “person subject to the Enlistment Act” and “proper authority” shall have the meanings assigned to them by the Enlistment Act.”.

Amendment of section 52

18. Section 52 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “Ordinance” appearing in the second and in the fifth lines thereof and substituting therefor in each case the word “Act”; and
(b)	by inserting immediately after the word “Act” appearing in the fourth line thereof the expression “or persons who have been found guilty of an offence under paragraphs (a) to (e) of section 56 of this Act,”.

Amendment of section 53

19. Section 53 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by deleting the expression “a Deputy Controller, Assistant Controller or Deputy Assistant Controller” appearing in the fifth and sixth lines thereof and substituting therefor the words “an immigration officer generally or specially authorised in that behalf by the Controller”.

Amendment of section 56

20. Subsection (1) of section 56 of the Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after the word “enter” appearing in the first line of paragraph (b) thereof the words “or leave”.

New section 57A

21. The Immigration Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 57 thereof the following new section: —

“Compounding of offences

57A. The Controller or any immigration officer authorised by name or by office in that behalf by the Minister by notification in the Gazette may compound such offence under this Act or the regulations made thereunder as may be prescribed as being an offence which may be compounded by collecting from the person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum of money not exceeding one hundred dollars.”.