Key takeaways:
- Go to immigration office at UTCs on weekdays
- Come as early as possible
- Prepare copies of required documents
- Wear dark-coloured clothes
- No need to take passport photos beforehand, including for toddlers
- Prepare to inform your height
- Bring books or gadgets to keep you occupied
- 6 hours average waiting time
- Passports issued on the spot
- Electronic payment only
So now that we have visited all 14 states and territories in the country, it’s high time we fly out of the country to see something foreign and something new. As always, I tried to search around the web for some kind of guide for first time passport applications but most that I found are pretty generic and not really detailed, first person experiences. Now that I’ve been through the whole experience myself, I thought I would want to share them with anyone who has never had a passport before just like me.
For the official guide from the Immigration Department of Malaysia, you can refer to this website. If you refer to the website, there are many different documents required for different categories of applicants. In my example, my family and I are all born in Malaysia so it’s a pretty straightforward process. Let’s use this hypothetical family of six example below.
For first time applications, you do not need to take passport photos, even for your toddler despite the recommendation on the website. If you can make your toddler or infant look straight into the department’s camera for a few seconds, you’re good.
Now which immigration office do you go to? If you look on Google Maps, there’s about a dozen immigration offices in KL and Selangor that you can go to including those in Urban Transformation Centres (UTC). Naturally, I went to the nearest Immigration office next to my home at Hentian Kajang which is open on weekends. We got there around 8 o’clock and got in line with about a hundred other people. By 9 o’clock, the officers finally told us there’s a power outage and the technician can only come after 10:00 AM. Even then, there’s no guarantee they can fix it in time before the office closes at noon. So we basically spent nearly an hour queuing in that hot shoplot for nothing. While I can’t blame the officers for something beyond their control, the lackadaisical attitude of the building’s management was really appalling.
I don’t imagine all other immigration offices suffer such issues but we’ve decided that we don’t want to risk it again. The next day, we picked the Keramat UTC some one hour away in Ampang. Why? Because I got a tip that it was not so crowded (it is still crowded but bearable). Also, we went there on a Monday. Yes the kids will miss school but going to Immigration counters on weekends is simply not worth it because the queue will be really long and the office closes at noon so there's no guarantee you will get a queue number or finish in time.
We got to Keramat around 8:30 AM. There's the Damai LRT station (KJ8) next door if you want to take the public transport. The first counter we went to (11), the officer checked to see everybody was present and made sure all our documents and copies were in order. Then he gave us our queue number which was 1102. Since the current number was 1003, I assume there’s over a hundred people before us and braced ourselves for the long, long waiting time.While waiting, you can measure yourself and your kids at the measuring wall next to the benches. You will need to provide your height as well as your phone number in the application form. Since you’ll be waiting for a long time, it is prudent that you bring a book, a Kindle or even a laptop to fill up your time. Sure there’s always your phone but there’s only so much scrolling and reading you can do on your phone before your eyes get tired for looking at the small screen. The immigration office at this UTC is small but at least it’s air-conditioned and cool and the crowd was still under control.
The other benefit of choosing a UTC, is that there’s a few shops around so the kids can get food and drinks and in Asif’s case, toys to keep him occupied. If you go to the Keramat UTC, you can park for free at the Keramat Mall next door. I assume other UTCs in the state also have similar facilities (although no free parkings). I happen to have eczema on my thumb so my left thumb print doesn’t register on the biometric scanner. Lucky for me, there’s a National Registration Department counter just next door so while waiting for my number, I got in line and requested a letter confirming the issue with my fingerprint. Without that letter, I could have had a hard time getting my application processed.
Protip: wear some dark-coloured dress for the photo-taking because if you wear light-coloured clothes, they will ask you to wear either a tight sleeveless blazer or cover your shoulders with a black piece of clothing (I assume a hijab?).
5 hours later, we finally got our number called. I went to the counter and submitted all our documents. Then we took turns to get our pictures taken and papers processed. Those above 18 need to sign the application letters while those under 18, have to have their fingerprints inked on the paper. You may notice that Mama Zila had 4 copies of her MyKad above. This was because all children under 18, in our case 3 of them need to be assigned to either the father or mother for confirmation. While waiting for our passports to be ready (yes they issue them on the spot), we made ourselves to the payment counter to pay for the passports. As a reminder, this immigration office only accepts electronic payments, either debit or credit cards. No QR codes, eWallet or online transactions accepted.
After 6 hours and 15 minutes later, we finally got our first shiny red passports. It sounded like a pretty straightforward process but the long waiting time was a real bummer. Could have they improved the processing speed? Without procuring more staff or acquiring some state of the art techs, I doubt it. I believe the officers did the best they could to process our application along with hundreds of others daily using the current system. Whether you go to a UTC or an actual Immigration office, the queue will be just as long and the only way to beat that is to come early and queue outside the office at ungodly hours, say 5 or 6 in the morning.
Thankfully we only need to do this once for our first time application. 5 years later when our passports expire, we can always do the renewal online at their website. Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments!
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