Online passport renewal – what a surprise!

Online passport renewal –
what a surprise!

07 Apr 2012

4 and the half years ago, I was surprised at the efficiency of our
passport unit when I went to renew my passport. It took me a total of
2 hours from submitting application to the time the passport was given
to me. I have blogged about this at that time.

Recently I noticed that my passport has only 6 months' validity which
essentially means that I cannot use it anymore to travel overseas.

I have heard about online application for passport and so i tried to
apply for a new passport online on Thursday ( 2 days ago).

It took me less than 10 minutes to do so , including uploading a
passport size photo, payment via credit card and printing out the
receipt. The website is quite user-friendly, and once I keyed in my
old passport number, all my info were uploaded automatically to the
application form, and all i was required to do was to upload my photo
and agree to the terms and conditions and fill in my handphone number.

There was a column in the form for me to choose where to collect my
passport, and I opted to collect from kelanaJaya immigration Office.
When I printed out the receipt, it indicated that I should collect it
from the said office at 4pm yesterday ( 24 hours from the time I
submitted my application online).

I went around 3.50pm and got a queue number and within 20 minutes, I
got my new passport.

It  was really hassle free, and the whole process was so fast that I
have nothing but praises for the department. The staff there, despite
being very busy, was very pleasant, and I even got a smile from the
officer who handled my case.

I was surprised to learn that not many people use this online service.

For those who like to do so, upload a photocopy of your passport photo
( must be most recent ), and go to this link:

www.imi.gov.my/index.php/en/

Click on the column 'Online services" and choose MyOnline passport.
The rest will e a step by step guide as to fill in your old passport
number and how to upload your photo and payment. The last step will be
to print out the receipt .

Do not forget to bring along your old passport and ic( for
verification) when going to collect your new passport.

This is one instance that I think Malaysia can beat and at least equal
other countries. And being a Malaysian, I am proud of this!