Due to Passport Number Discrepancy, Indonesian Child Held at Singapore Immigration

Jakarta, KORANTRANSAKSI.com – A young Indonesian girl was temporarily held at Singapore immigration due to a discrepancy in her passport number. The incident was experienced by Mia, the daughter of Karina Theresia, during a family vacation to Singapore.

Through her Instagram account @karinatheresiaa, Karina shared the experience on Tuesday (March 31, 2026), and the post garnered over 1.4 million views by Wednesday (April 1, 2026).

Initially, the family—consisting of twin children, a boy and a girl—traveled together to Singapore. Karina passed through immigration with her son, while her husband accompanied Mia.

Karina and her son successfully cleared immigration through the autogate system without manual inspection. However, Mia was stopped while attempting to pass through the same autogate with her father.

Despite having traveled abroad before without issues during manual immigration checks, Mia was held due to an error in her passport number. Karina later learned that the passport number printed on the document was inconsistent—while the top section showed “210,” the bottom section displayed “224,” resulting in a mismatch of three digits.

Singapore immigration officers gave Mia two options: visit the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore to correct the passport within one to three days, or return to Indonesia to reissue the passport.

“My husband explained that we had a cruise scheduled the next day and even showed the ticket as proof, so we couldn’t go to the embassy or return to Indonesia immediately,” Karina said.

After further discussion, Mia was eventually allowed to enter Singapore, with a warning that she could face similar issues at other immigration checkpoints if the passport was not corrected. “Even when boarding the cruise, we were briefly held again. Fortunately, I explained that airport immigration had already allowed us entry and that we would fix the passport once back in Indonesia,” Karina added.

Karina admitted she had not previously paid close attention to passport details and decided to share the experience on social media as a lesson for others planning international travel. “Let this be a lesson—always check your passport before traveling abroad. It may seem trivial, but the impact can be significant,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, the Public Communication Coordinator of the Directorate General of Immigration, Achmad Nur Saleh, responded to the incident. He stated that such discrepancies are rare and have been addressed by the Directorate General of Immigration.

In cases of printing errors—such as incorrect names or passport numbers—applicants can report directly to immigration officers. “The correction process depends on the issue, but it should not take more than a week,” Achmad explained. (TIM)