Finally, I renewed my passport, which expired in 2022. Yes! I am planning to resume my travel adventure again this year, provided no WHO Drama and vaccine-selling propaganda going on again. May God on my side help me fulfil my dreams before reach 50 years old this year.
Here is my experience renewing my passport. Overall the experience could be better especially government which has billions of budget allocations in implementing good service to the public.
As long as you are 13 years old and above, you must renew your passport online. I saw the officer rejected some walk-in renewal applicants. Oh! They accept walk in application for senior citizen and people who accompany below 12 years old applicants.
Tips for online passport renewal
1. There are some common problems when renewing a passport online. First, you couldn't upload the photo. Just make sure you follow the immigration photo specification guidelines. You can always check on Immigration Malaysia's Official Website. I got my photo taken at some shop from Sungei Wang. My photo was rejected on the first time try uploading, and then found out the size was too big. So make sure you resize it properly.
2. Make sure you enable the pop blocker on your computer for a smooth application experience.
3. After filling up the details click submit for the payment. Here I have another problem. The website shown as " Sistem Mengalami Masaalah, Kembali ke halaman utama. Do not panic! What I did was just close all the windows and wait 5 minutes. Then I open back to the website and click as if I want to restart the passport renewal process again. As soon as I keyed in the old passport number, the status was 'permohonan diterima' and directed me to the payment window. I proceed to make payment using the credit card online. For your information, it's a cashless system even onsite at the immigration office. So make sure you complete the payment online and print out the receipt. Then wait for the email notification.
4. The result of my application came in only 10 days after my online application was submitted and payment was made. I was lucky because there was no problem with my application. I just went to the selected immigration office which in my case I chose Kajang. The collection was smooth and the total time spent was around 1 hour. I reached the Kajang Immigration at around 10:30am, and still need to queue for the number to collect my passport. I queue for almost 45 minutes. Just show the old passport and payment receipt to the officer. My case is straightforward since the email notification was received for collection. The officer gave me the number and I just need to wait for my number. I got my new passport after 15 minutes of waiting. So, overall 1 hour.
5. While waiting, I chatted with some people. The lady in front of me renewed her passport online for more than 3 days and didn't receive any email at all. She had an urgent case to buy her flight ticket, so she just walked in with her old passport and online payment. She was given a different type of number to wait for and had to do another long wait after getting the number from the officer. The man behind me received an email saying thumbprint problem. The office gave here another number but he needs to change his MyKad first because it is too old and more than 20 years old. He was lucky the JPN was just next door. He needs to bring the temporary MyKad replacement form to Immigration for new passport collection on the same day.
There are many other problems. So, if you are holding an old MyKad, it is advisable to change it before renewing your passport. I saw many people go through the same ordeal as that man.
To be honest, I should have come in the afternoon after lunch instead of in the morning. Too crowded in the morning and the place isn't big with not enough proper place to wait.
I don't understand why Kajang Immigration is in the same condition as before with no proper and better upgrade after many years. The place is still the same with no improvement at all. I am talking about the shabby-looking environment. I wonder where the office improvement allocation goes? The place looks totally like the Myanmar Government office I visited 10 years ago or should I say it's more like 'Zaman P Ramlee' vibes. So, shabby looks office. In my opinion, if you are in the mindset to serve the public, it should be a better environment, not this shabby-looking place which is so demoralized even for the officers who work there.
Important documents to bring during new passport collection - Old Passport, Online Payment Receipt, MyKad.
You can renew your online passport here at Immigration Malaysia's Official Website.