Immigration Department postpones rollout of new Malaysian passport

Malaysia’s rollout of a new international passport has been delayed. Originally scheduled for a gradual rollout starting from 1 June onwards, the Immigration Department of Malaysia has announced that it will be postponed to a later date.

In a statement posted by the Immigration Department, Immigration Director General Dato’ Zakaria bin Shaaban said that the move to delay the rollout was to ensure that immigration services can remain smooth and that the public can continue to expect a smooth experience at all times.

The new passport would have been significantly improved over the existing one, with 94 security features compared to the current Malaysian passport’s 49 security features. These features included new holograms, ultraviolet printing and special security threads in the passport stitching itself. It was designed to be safer for travellers and harder to forge.

That being said, had the new passport change taken effect, you still can use your existing passport until it expires. Also, if your current passport is expired or expiring soon, you can still renew it to get the existing passport type, and it too will be valid till it expires.

The Immigration Department also stated that any further updates regarding the new passport’s rollout will be announced in due time.