What happens if you lose your departure card in Singapore?

When entering an Asian country you usually have to fill in a form which consists of an arrival card and a departure card. The arrival card has to be handed in at the immigration office, the departure card needs to be carried until, well, departure obviously. So far so good. The question is what happens in the unlikely event of the departure card being stolen or lost. In Thailand the answer is easy: Just fill in a new departure card when leaving the country. However, in Singapore things are a little bit different as authorities are known to be much stricter than elsewhere in Asia. And indeed, the departure card has a unique code on it, linking it to the arrival card you handed in previously. And of course it had to be me to test what happens if you loose it.

Although I don't know it for sure, I must have lost the slip when looking for my credit card in my top secure money belt. Recognizing it on the day before heading on to Malaysia I asked at the reception of the hotel what would be the best thing to do. They recommended to call the immigration office. Because it was already too late to do so on the same day, I postponed it. The day after however, the tight schedule of our group of the German National Academic Foundation and my hangover left me with no possibility to make the call. Thus, I arrived at the counter for the Bus to Malaysia asking what usually happens at the border in this case. But somehow I seemed to the first person to encounter this problem. All they could tell me was that this might be a severe problem. As the bus was leaving I thought I just might give it a chance and see what happens.

When travelling from Singapore to Malaysia by bus you have to stop two times. First, before leaving the island to emigrate from Singapore. Second, after a short ride over the bridge and a few kilometres of fenced highway to immigrate into Malaysia. The critical part obviously was the first one.Especially because at both stops the bus leaves after a certain time and passengers who do not proceed fast enough are left behind (i am not kidding).

In the end, everything went out quite smoothly. After waiting what felt like ages I arrived at the emigration desk, committing that I had lost my departure card. I was led to the backoffice where I had to fill in an official replacement card and let my fingerprints being scanned. Overall this took about 15 minutes but I was lucky to be the only guy in trouble and finally was able to catch my bus.

So, if you ever ask yourself what happens if you loose your departure card in Singapore or if you are in the same situation. This is what happens.