10-year passport renewal now available via MyOnline Passport

 The immigration department says the system will offer the choice of five- or 10-year validity periods.

The new passport renewal online facility will be available from Nov 2.

PETALING JAYA:

The immigration department has activated the Malaysian passport renewal service via its MyOnline Passport system.

The department said the system will offer the choice of five- or 10-year validity periods, Bernama reported.

“This initiative provides more flexibility and convenience for Malaysians to choose the validity period of their passports according to their individual needs,” the department said in a Facebook post.

Since July 1, the immigration department has offered Malaysians the option to renew their passport for 10 years, instead of the usual five years.

But the facility was only available for in-person renewal at immigration offices nationwide.

The 10-year passport costs RM350, while the five-year version remains priced at RM200.

However, a problem arose with the 10-year renewal option, when it was discovered that some airlines had an issue with the new passports.

Malaysians took to social media to highlight that they were prevented from boarding flights back to Malaysia because the airlines’ system did not recognise validity periods exceeding 10 years.

Some Malaysians had renewed their passports six months before the documents expired, with the fresh 10-year validity period added on top of the six months.

On Aug 13, the department said it will stop issuing passports with validity periods exceeding 10 years and only issue passports with a maximum validity of 10 years, regardless of the remaining validity period in the old passport. - FMT