As a newly minted Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, Lee Wei Ting’s first real test of leadership did not come in a briefing room.
It happened on a crowded afternoon at Woodlands Checkpoint when a woman suddenly collapsed in the middle of the bus hall. Wei Ting was the team leader overseeing the bus zone.
Barely a year into her first posting, the 23-year-old felt the weight of dozens of officers waiting for instructions, hundreds of travellers watching, and seconds slipping away.
Closing a checkpoint cluster was not a small decision. But hesitation, she knew, would be far worse.
She closed a few lanes so officers could move in to administer first aid with the AED, a portable automated external defibrillator that will analyse and help to restore the woman’s heart’s rhythm.
“I thought I would struggle under pressure,” recalls Wei Ting, now 26. “But when it happened, I knew I had to make the call – and stand by it.
“Our job is to protect lives as part of our duty to secure the borders. Responding to incidents is a part of our duty too.”
Before stepping into her first posting as a group leader at Woodlands Command, Wei Ting had already made a deliberate choice about the kind of career she wanted.
A law graduate from the National University of Singapore who had received the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Uniformed Scholarship, she joined ICA in 2022 as an immigration officer, drawn by the agency’s blend of service, security and law enforcement.
“I grew up loving mystery and crime stories,” she says.
“For my career, I wanted to do something meaningful – something that would let me contribute to the community.”
That motivation led her to ICA where she spent six months after graduation completing the ICA Basic Course (Inspector) at the Home Team Academy.
The training provided essential foundations, covering everything from immigration law to front-line and first-responder duties, including firearms handling and contraband detection. Yet, she soon realised that applying these lessons in real-world situations was where the learning deepened.
“Training prepares you for the basics,” she says. “But once you are at the checkpoint, you are learning while leading.”
In her early days at Woodlands Checkpoint, Wei Ting was responsible for managing a team while having to familiarise herself with the physical layout and operational flow of one of the world’s busiest land borders, which sees up to 370,000 crossings daily.
She was called on to resolve incidents that could quickly spiral – from vehicle accidents blocking lanes and bus breakdowns paralysing access points to smuggling attempts requiring swift, coordinated action.
“These incidents have the potential to escalate quickly into a major crisis and affect checkpoint operations and border safety, so keeping such situations under control is critically important,” she says.
What struck her most was the level of trust ICA had placed in her when she first started out as a young officer.
“Even if we weren’t familiar with a task, we were never left alone,” she says. “There was always someone to turn to – another officer, a supervisor – to consult with and receive guidance from.”
She adds: “I have learnt so much on the job and I am proud of myself for being able to take charge and manage the challenges that I didn’t think I could.”
In March 2025, Wei Ting moved from Woodlands Command into a policymaking role as a senior executive in the immigration policy and operations branch under ICA’s policy and development division.
The move took her from split-second decisions on the ground to long-horizon thinking at the policy-development table.
“At the checkpoint, you are making decisions in seconds,” she says. “Now, I am looking at the history and rationale behind policies, and how changes might shape operations and affect people over time.”
“We are not just enforcing the law, we attend to the public too – issuing identity cards and passports to citizens, facilitating visas and long-term visit passes for people around the world – while safeguarding border security.”
– Lee Wei Ting, recipient of the MHA Uniformed Scholarship (ICA)
“I was taken out of front-line operations into a world that looks at the whole-of-government perspective,” she explains.
The confidence she developed on the ground carried through into her current role, where leadership looks less like issuing instructions and more like managing perspectives.
Her work includes reviewing a portfolio of policies, coordinating stakeholders and contributing to shared goals from various angles.
Just three years into her ICA career, Wei Ting is not only well trained in border security operations but she is now influencing policies that support national interests.
That breadth of experience, she believes, is what sets ICA apart.
“We are not just enforcing the law, we attend to the public too – issuing identity cards and passports to citizens, facilitating visas and long-term visit passes for people around the world – while safeguarding border security,” says Wei Ting.
“This balance of service, security and policy is something I would not have experienced if I had chosen to go down a typical corporate route career-wise.”
| About The MHA Uniformed Scholarship Depending on your interests and aspirations, this scholarship will allow you to kick-start your leadership journey as a uniformed officer in one of five Home Team departments: Singapore Police Force (SPF), Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Prison Service (SPS) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), or as a paramedic with SCDF. |
This article is brought to you by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
