The Immigration Department is exploring the possibility of allowing people to renew their passports without having to take a new photo, but with their existing photos!
According to a message from the Director General of Immigration, Dato’ Seri Kairu Zemi, the Immigration Department has set up a special team to handle online passport applications to solve the problem of people waiting in long queues to renew their passports.
The Director General of Immigration pointed out that the passport is an important identification document for people to enter and leave the country, so the Immigration Department needs time to review it, which leads to slow renewal and long queues of people waiting to renew their passports.
Currently, the Immigration Department is exploring the possibility of allowing Malaysian citizens over 30 years of age to renew their passports using the existing photos in the system, instead of having to take a new photo, which would shorten the process of renewing passports. However, people still need to visit the Immigration counter to collect their new passports and there is still no option to send them by post.
Although the Immigration Department now offers an online passport renewal service, people who renew their passports online still need to have their photos taken when they arrive at the Immigration Department, which makes the online renewal process less effective than it could be.
Immigration has also increased staffing and extended opening hours to improve the congestion at immigration.
