QR code clearance at the checkpoint by car: MyICA and MyNIISe

QR code clearance for a car trip to JB takes two apps, because each country runs its own. Singapore's MyICA app makes the code that replaces your passport at the car counters at Woodlands and Tuas, and one phone can hold a group code for up to 10 people in the same car. Malaysia's MyNIISe app makes a separate code for the lanes at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI), the checkpoint at the end of the Causeway, and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the Second Link. Neither app lets you leave the passports at home.

Set both up at home the night before. The MyICA side is quick: add each passport once, save a group code named after the people in it, and scan it at the counter. The MyNIISe side is where people get stuck. On its first day, 22 September 2025, many Singaporeans could not get past the passport scan, so that step belongs at home with time to spare, not in the queue at BSI.

Below, in order: the Singapore steps, the Johor steps, what still needs a passport, what went wrong when MyNIISe launched and what to carry in case it fails again. The edge cases come last: a passenger who stays home, a renewed passport, a first-time foreign visitor, a phone with no data.

Key takeaways

• MyICA (Singapore) and MyNIISe (Malaysia) are separate apps. ICA says the MyICA code only works at Singapore's land checkpoints, so a JB trip by car needs both apps, or passports.
• A MyICA group code holds up to 10 travellers and must match exactly who is in the car. If someone stays home, make a new group code, or the code is rejected and everyone hands over passports.
• Every traveller still carries a passport on both sides. A first-time foreign visitor, or anyone on a passport not used to enter Singapore before, shows it at the Singapore counter.
• Register on MyNIISe days before the trip. The passport scan is the step that failed for many Singaporeans when the app launched in September 2025.
• Renewed your passport? Update the MyICA profile and make a new code before you drive, or the old code fails at Woodlands or Tuas.

Two apps, two sets of checkpoints

The MyICA app belongs to Singapore's Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), and its code is read at Woodlands and Tuas when you leave Singapore and again when you come back. The MyNIISe app belongs to Malaysia's Immigration Department (Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia, JIM), and its code is read at BSI and KSAB, the Malaysian ends of the Causeway and the Second Link. On a day trip each code is scanned twice: MyICA on the way out of Singapore and back in, MyNIISe on the way into Malaysia and out again.

The QR code clears people, not the car

Drivers mix these up often enough that it is worth one paragraph. The QR code clears the people; the VEP and RFID tag clear the car. Every Singapore-registered car needs an approved Vehicle Entry Permit from JPJ and an activated RFID tag, fitted on the headlight and linked to a Touch 'n Go eWallet, before it drives into Malaysia. A clean MyNIISe scan at BSI does nothing for a car whose tag was never activated. If that side is not sorted, read what a VEP is and the SG to JB VEP checklist first. What happens at the border without one is in our guide to VEP penalties.

Singapore side: Woodlands and Tuas with the MyICA app

Who can use it

ICA's QR code page, last updated on 27 October 2026, covers Singapore citizens, permanent residents, long-term pass holders with a FIN and foreign visitors, arriving or departing by car, motorcycle, lorry or bus. ICA's answer on AskGov adds that age does not matter, so the children go into the group code with everyone else.

Two kinds of traveller cannot use it on this trip: a foreign visitor entering Singapore for the first time, and anyone coming back on a different passport from their last visit. Both show the passport at the counter. From the next trip, the QR code works for them too.

Set it up at home: one phone, every passport

1. Download MyICA, which is free on the App Store and Google Play.
2. Add each traveller's passport details: Singapore citizens, PRs and long-term pass holders can pull theirs from Singpass, and anyone can scan the machine-readable zone, the two or three rows of characters at the bottom of the photo page, with the app's camera, or type the details in by hand.
3. Make the code: an individual one if you drive alone, or a single group code for everyone in the car, which ICA caps at 10 passports.
4. Give the group a name you will recognise at the counter. ICA's own examples are Family and Friends, and you can keep several groups, one for each set of people you travel with.
5. Read the validity date printed above the code. ICA tells travellers to check it and to generate a new code before the trip if it is about to expire.
6. Open the code once before you set off. ICA says it can be generated and retrieved offline, so it does not need mobile data at the counter.

The profiles stay in the app, and ICA's March 2024 notice says the same group code works trip after trip as long as the same number of people with the same passports travel together. ICA's own example is a family of four whose details all sit on one family member's phone, so the passengers do not need the app at all.

At the car counter

Drive into the car zone as usual and stop at the counter. Scan the code yourself at the QR scanner on the counter; the passports stay in the car. The officer then checks each face in the car against the details the code brought up, so have the rear windows down before you pull up.

When the scheme started, ICA estimated it would save about 20 seconds for a car with four people and about one minute for a car with ten. Between 19 March 2024 and 19 March 2025, about 70% of car travellers cleared with a QR code, ICA said in March 2025.

Scan the wrong code and ICA says the system or an officer will guide you through the next steps, and clearance takes longer. A code that does not tally with the people, or the number of people, in the car is rejected, and then everyone produces a passport.

What still needs a passport on the Singapore side

• Every traveller carries one. ICA says you must still bring it, and officers may ask for it to verify who you are.
• A first-time foreign visitor, or a passport never used to enter Singapore, is shown at the counter this trip.
• A renewed passport means updating the MyICA profile first, because the old code fails. The steps are in the edge cases further down.
• Foreign passengers still submit the SG Arrival Card, whether they use a QR code or a passport. ICA reminded drivers of this in March 2024.
• Anyone can hand over the passport instead. At launch ICA said travellers could still present it to the officer as before.

Johor side: BSI and KSAB with the MyNIISe app

What it covers today

JIM started QR clearance through MyNIISe at the car lanes of BSI and KSAB on 22 September 2025, an early step in its NIISe project, the system that replaces Malaysia's older MyIMMs. The trial was due to run until 28 February 2026. By that date JIM's own newsletter listed three modes at the two checkpoints, car (individual and group), motorcycle and pedestrian, and counted 229,457 users from Singapore.

Singapore's MFA travel page for Malaysia, updated on 1 November 2026, says NIISe entered a phased national rollout from 31 March 2026, and that eligible travellers may use QR code clearance at selected checkpoints, subject to Malaysia's requirements and schedule. For a Singapore car the checkpoints that matter are BSI and KSAB. Note the word may: MFA also says a valid passport remains a mandatory travel document even when you clear by QR code.

Register before the trip, not in the queue

1. Download the app from an official store only: JIM's site links it on Google Play, the App Store and Huawei AppGallery, where it is listed as NIISe, and MFA warns against unofficial websites, third-party services and anyone asking for payment to register you.
2. Create the account with your passport, at home and days ahead, because first-time users scan the passport photo page and then the passport's chip, and that scan is the part Mothership readers said took them several attempts in September 2025.
3. Register everyone who will be in the car. A driver who tried it in the first week told a border crossers' group he had to put each person in his car through registration before the app would make a group code, Mothership reported.
4. Generate the code and open it once.

You do not need the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card. JIM added the MDAC to MyNIISe in January 2026, which makes it look like part of the process, but MFA says Singapore passport holders are exempt at all entry points. The exception is a Singaporean who wants to enrol fingerprints for Malaysia's e-gates on a later entry. MFA says to submit the MDAC three days before arriving in that case.

At the booth

Join a lane with a MyNIISe QR scanner and scan the code there, then take a moment before you drive off to make sure the crossing went on record, because MFA tells travellers to check that their entry and exit movements were recorded and to tell Malaysian immigration officers about any discrepancy before leaving the checkpoint.

What went wrong at launch

Day one did not go well for Singaporeans. When Lianhe Zaobao went to BSI on the morning of 22 September 2025, nearly all the Singaporeans it spoke to could not finish registering, Mothership reported. The passport scan failed, or the app would not load. The app had a 1.1-star rating on Apple's App Store that day, and a few who did get through put it down to using a Malaysian mobile network.

A few days later, readers told Mothership that once they got in, the app showed another person's passport photo against their own name and details, and MyNIISe support's reply was that updating the passport details in the app may fix it. Three months on, on 15 December 2025, Malaysia's Home Ministry said it would add 40 NIISe e-gates and 145 MyNIISe QR scanners at BSI and KSAB by the end of that month. It also promised faster upgrades to MyIMMs and NIISe and a special task force checking the work every week, Mothership reported.

JIM has not published what was fixed and when, so plan as if the app can fail on the day.

What to carry as backup

• Every passport in the car, with its owner, not in a bag in the boot.
• The app logged in and the code already generated before you join the queue.
• A charged phone, because a code you cannot open is no use at the booth.
• Patience with the counter. If the scan fails, hand over the passports. Restarting the app with a row of cars behind you helps nobody.

Edge cases that catch drivers out

A code that worked last month can fail this month once the people or the passports in the car change. Here is each case, and what each side says about it.

The renewed passport is the easy one to miss, because nothing warns you until the scan fails at the counter. ICA's March 2025 notice spelled out the two ways to update a profile. Do it the week the new passport arrives, not the morning of the trip. For a company car or a fleet the people side works the same way, and the car side is on our company and fleet VEP page.

What changes next at Tuas and Woodlands

ICA is moving from QR codes at manned counters to lanes where the car clears itself. It calls the car version APCS@Car. Drivers and passengers present their QR codes or passports at the lane, then pass a facial biometric check, with tablets docked at the lane for passengers, and nobody gets out of the car. ICA said on 8 May 2026 that live trials would run at Tuas first, and that APCS@Car would be rolled out at Tuas progressively from early 2027, then at the redeveloped Woodlands Checkpoint. ICA's 2023 plan put the redeveloped Woodlands from 2028.

The MyICA code you set up today keeps its job. ICA's plans have travellers present the same MyICA QR codes at the new lanes; what changes is that a scanner and a camera take over from the officer at the window. On ICA's timeline, Woodlands gets the new lanes only after its redevelopment.

And on the Malaysian side?

MFA describes NIISe as being in a phased rollout and tells travellers to follow Malaysia's requirements and schedule. MFA's Malaysia page, last updated on 1 November 2026, is worth a look before a long weekend. For timing the drive itself, our JB traffic guide covers the queues.

Frequently asked questions

Does the MyICA QR code work at the JB checkpoint?

It does not. ICA says the MyICA code is for Singapore's land checkpoints only, so at BSI and KSAB you use Malaysia's MyNIISe app or hand over your passport.

Can one phone hold the QR code for everyone in the car?

On MyICA, yes, with one group code covering up to 10 travellers who must all be in the car. MyNIISe also has a group mode for cars, and a driver who tried it at launch said each passenger had to be registered first.

Do I still need my passport if I use the QR code?

Yes, on both sides of the Causeway. ICA may ask to see it, MFA says Malaysian officers can inspect it at any point, and it is your way through when a scan fails.

Can I use the MyICA QR code without mobile data?

Yes. ICA says the code can be generated and retrieved offline, so generate it before you leave home and there is nothing to load at the counter.

Do Singaporeans have to use MyNIISe at BSI or KSAB?

MFA's travel page, updated on 1 November 2026, says eligible travellers may use MyNIISe QR clearance at selected checkpoints. Either way, the passport remains a mandatory travel document.

Do Singaporeans need to fill in the MDAC to use MyNIISe?

MFA says Singapore passport holders are exempt from the MDAC at all entry points, even though the form now sits inside the MyNIISe app. The one exception is enrolling fingerprints for Malaysia's e-gates, which needs the MDAC three days before arrival.

Sources

• ICA: QR Code for Immigration Clearance at Land Checkpoints (last updated 27 October 2026)
• ICA: Car travellers can use QR code at Singapore's land checkpoints from 19 March 2024 (12 March 2024)
• ICA: Update on ICA's QR code initiative at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints (21 March 2024)
• ICA: QR code clearance extended to motorcyclists from 15 August 2024 (13 August 2024)
• ICA: Full implementation of QR code clearance at the land checkpoints (27 March 2025)
• ICA: Advancing the next chapter of the New Clearance Concept (8 May 2026)
• ICA: Plans to address traffic congestion at the land checkpoints (27 May 2023)
• ICA on AskGov: Who is eligible to use the QR code for immigration clearance?
• ICA on AskGov: Can I use the same group QR code if not all travellers are travelling?
• JIM: Makluman pelaksanaan kod QR MyNIISe di pintu masuk negara (BSI and KSAB car lanes from 22 September 2025)
• JIM: Now it's easier with NIISe (official app store links)
• JIM: eNewsletter PERKASA Edisi 05, December 2025 to February 2026 (QR modes at BSI and KSAB, user counts to 28 February 2026)
• JIM: MDAC kini boleh diisi terus melalui aplikasi MyNIISe (21 January 2026)
• MFA Singapore: Malaysia travel page, entry and exit (updated 1 November 2026)
• Mothership: S'poreans travelling to Johor can use QR codes to clear immigration from Sep. 22 (September 2025)
• Mothership: Many S'poreans unable to register on passport-free app on 1st day of Johor QR code clearance (22 September 2025)
• Mothership: S'poreans using M'sian customs app report seeing other users' photos (September 2025)
• Mothership: Johor checkpoints to get additional 40 e-gates and 145 QR code scanners by Dec. 31, 2025 (15 December 2025)
• JPJ Vehicle Entry Permit portal

Radiant VEP Solutions is not affiliated with JPJ, ICA or Malaysia's Immigration Department. You can apply for a VEP yourself for free at vep.jpj.gov.my, and both QR codes cost nothing to set up in their own apps. If the car's VEP or RFID tag is the part that is not ready, our VEP application service handles the paperwork for you. JPJ decides on approval, usually within 5 to 10 working days.